A few years ago, I started a small garden in my backyard. I bought a ranch style house and didn’t know anything about plants, let alone fixing up a house. But the place was cheap and I liked the idea of not needing to deal with noisy neighbors. The nearest house not even visible through the trees that lined my driveway. With a lot of help from YouTube tutorials, I got my garden going. Each year I tried to plant something new. I always kept growing tomatoes and potatoes just because of how easy they were to maintain. In the fall I tried to grow pumpkins but ended up with mini ones.

I traded what I grew with a few people I got to know around town. My goal for this year was to plant some watermelons. Even if I grew mini ones like the pumpkins, I was fine with that. The cost of food everywhere went up and I refused to pay the insane price for my favorite summer snack.

I kept meaning to buy the seeds but the season got later and later. By the time I started to look I didn’t find any of the local shops selling watermelon seeds. I did something I normally don’t, and bought some seeds online. I didn’t know if Amazon had such a thing so I just picked the first link when I looked for seed stores. The website used PayPal so I felt comfortable enough using it. If they sent me the wrong thing then I could fight the charges if I felt like it.

The package came within three days and I got to planting them in the failed pumpkin patch. I then forgot about where I got the seeds for a few months. That summer was hot and the watermelons grew perfectly. To my shock, I counted too many melons growing than I could eat. I looked into getting into one of the local farmer’s markets for a day to sell them extremely cheap just to get them off my hands.

When the day came to harvest them, I was amazed at the number of melons and the lack of effort I put into caring for the plants. I heard it was a pretty low maintenance plant but never assumed it would be this easy. I didn’t need to trim any bug worn leaves, and hardly even watered them. I got lucky with the weather being perfect for them to grow so well. I loaded the extras up in my car for the market. I left four for myself knowing I might not be able to eat that many. I left two on my neighbor's front porch because we exchanged extra produce all the time.

The melons sold fast at the market leaving me with none left to take back home. I assumed it was because I priced them so low and they looked so damn good. The wavy pattern on the shell bright and clear in a way you rarely saw with mass produced melons.

I earned back well over what I paid for the seeds. To celebrate my good fortune, I cracked open a watermelon I kept chilling in the fridge. It tasted sweater than any other kind of melon I’ve ever had and the inside looked like a usual deep red. It was grown by seed bought online but I grew it myself. I didn’t have any second thoughts happily eating the best kind of snack to cool me down on a hot summer evening.

I sat on my back porch looking off into my garden proud of what I was able to achieve in the past few years since buying this house. I ate the melon that stained my fingers red making me wonder what kind of weird foreign breed of plant I bought. The seeds were white and soft. I swallowed a few before I even noticed them in the melons dark flesh. I kept some seeds planning on trying to replant some later and to keep my new favorite crop growing. That night I fell asleep feeling the best I’ve had in a long while.

I woke up the next day feeling a bit chilly and terribly thirsty. The chill only went away after I stepped into the sun. I drank down a few glasses of water then got ready for my part time job. I felt fine on the drive to work. I started to feel the chill again as I stood at my register. I blamed the AC in the store. By an hour into my shift, I was shaking so badly my boss convinced me to go home and sleep it off. I almost felt bad leaving because I started to feel much better, if not extremely thirsty again after I walked out into the sunny warmth of the day. I didn’t need to be back at work for another two days and decided to get to the bottom of my strange illness before going back.

The rest of the day I spent outside in the garden, only going back inside to refill my metal water bottle a few times. When the sun set, the chill came back into my bones making me take some cold medicine and to curl up under some winter blankets I pulled from the closet. My body shaking the entire night. The shakes got so bad I ran a hot bath to sit in for a few hours until the sun started to come back up.

I called my doctor and made an appointment. He was pretty booked up. The only open day the next Monday. I just hoped whatever illness I caught went away by then. I tried to make breakfast but after a few bites of toast I couldn’t keep anything down. I simply wasn’t hungry in the slightest. Even the smell of food putting me off. I put my breakfast into the compost bin in order not to waste it.

The next two days were the same. I started to grow weak and unable to do much besides sit in the sun and drink an insane amount of water. I didn’t even eat anything because my stomach felt so sore. It was as if I’d already eaten a full meal and the feeling remained for days. The mystery illness causing me to forget to call into work. My boss sent me a text and I answered it when my mind cleared up enough to do so. I apologized for not calling and told him I still felt very ill and considered going to the hospital the next day if nothing changed. He was pretty understanding saying a few people called out so something was going around town.

My plan of going to the hospital got put off. By the next day my stomach hurt so badly I couldn’t stand up. Any kind of reasonable thought left my mind because of the pain. My hands pressed against the hard spot trying to figure out the cause. The motion spreading hot waves of pain through my body. In the few seconds of my hands being on my stomach, I felt something. Movement that should not be there. I made an attempt to throw up, only to have nothing come up. It felt like hours passed as I carefully half crawled down the stairs and collapsed on the cool kitchen floor.

Out of my mind in pain and fear, I only wanted to do only one thing. Cut out the reason for all of my suffering. My body struggled but I stood up long enough to grab a long knife from the counter. The movement started to become more noticeable within my stomach making me scream out in pain. I needed to get whatever it was out by the fastest way I could think of.

The tip of the knife going into my skin hurt and a trickle of dark blood started to run. But the heavy feeling felt so damn wrong. I needed it out. In a crazed state, I slowly dragged the knife across to slice open the skin in an uneven line. My hands shaking from pain and body becoming cold from blood loss. I expected to pass out but I stayed awake to watch blood spill out from the wound.

With another burst of hot pain, more movement came. I fell onto my back, fear racing through my body. To my horror, something covered in blood and gore reached out from the opening. A hand. I screamed unable to do anything but watch as a person crawled out of an opening they should not have been able to fit through. Their body covered in my own blood, far too much for me to still be alive. I couldn’t move. My limbs heavy but finally, my stomach light.

A wave of relief came that only lasted a second. My mind wavering between being awake and aware of the thing that crawled out of my body. I expected it to be terrifying with a horrible face.

The thing sat on the kitchen floor and spotted a dish cloth. They took the time to wipe away the blood the best they were able off their face. The air stopped in my lungs seeing something I didn’t expect. The face looked similar to my own, but also so perfect. Every feature placed and formed as if God made them. Despite my pain and fear, I found myself loving the thing that I cut out of my stomach. Long hair somewhat covered part of the body and I noticed and odd wavy pattern on the skin under all the blood. Even the hair looked almost green through the dark red color.

“I wasn’t expecting to come out this fully formed. You did well taking care of me, so I’ll take care of you.” The person spoke, the voice as perfect as the appearance.

I should be scared. I should be feeling pain but I just felt so damn cold and tired. Arms lifted me off the floor and I passed out for a few moments from being moved. I should have died from blood loss. None of this made any sense. But my emotions became warped from the sight of the thing that grew inside me. I no longer could see any kind of reason.

I woke up comfortable for the first time. Something soft and warm at my back and more of that warmth being carefully placed over my chest. My eyes opened to the sun shining overhead and the one who wore a better version of my face sat outside a hole in the dirt. They were pushing more of the soft earth over top of my chest. I watched them, my heart aching from love seeing their beautiful features in the bright sunlight. The dirt nearly covering my entire chest and I faintly wondered how I wasn’t dead yet.

Leaning over, the lovely person forced my mouth open and placed a soft seed inside. They let me drink some water which I was glad for. I’ve never felt so thirsty before and wished they gave me more water.

“I won’t waste you. Every part if you should return to the Earth. I’m lonely by nature and would like a great deal of siblings. I feel as if a few are going to be born shortly, but it won’t be enough. Don’t worry. I’ll water you everyday. You’ll be able to rest inside the warm Earth. Only when another sibling grows is when you’ll start to feel pain but it'll be worth it. You’re happy right now, right? You love me so much you’ll endure the process, right? Over and over again until there is nothing left of your body, right?”

The creature got in close and whispered the last words right next to my ear. Only my head exposed in the dirt and I felt so tired. I nearly drifted off. I only stayed awake because I wanted to her their voice just a bit longer. I did love them. More than anything else and more than I ever thought possible. And that frightened me. I would agree to any kind of pain or torment because of this feeling. My mouth started to get dry again and I started to think about just how many others may be in my position soon. I hoped they enjoyed it as much as I did after the pain.

I got one last drink of water and the dirt started to cover my face. Once everything went dark, I found myself in agony wanting to see the creature again. I knew it wasn’t human and something dangerous. That didn’t change how I felt. Deep within my exposed stomach, I felt the seed the creature made me swallow. I didn’t know how long it would take to grow. I knew it would hurt a great deal but waiting until I could see another one of those perfect creatures hurt far more. Every second torture as I waited in the dark Earth for another child to sprout.