I looked down at the pregnancy test for what seemed to be the hundredth time that day, it was positive. I was pregnant. How could this be? I hadn't gotten intimate with anyone in years, let alone kiss someone.

My last boyfriend was when I was 15, I was now 23. I decided to try a pregnancy test for shits and giggles when my best friend Lexi jokingly suggested I could be pregnant due to my moodiness and stomach aches. I had no clue why or how this was happening.

I called in to work the next day and headed to the doctor. I was extremely uncomfortable and extremely scared. I couldn't stop shaking. I was researching it all night, there was no way I could have just gotten pregnant on my own.

I was able to get blood work back first. There were no surprises: everything looked great. But when I did the ultrasound I started to have a panic attack. This was my first time having an ultrasound done on me and of course my first baby.

I had no idea if the fetus was a boy or a girl, what would it look like? Who is this little being that lives inside of me? Where did it come from?

"Its okay, you don't have to be nervous. The ultrasound won't hurt." The doctor reassured me, with a smile. I chuckled nervously, "I have a silly question... have there been cases before of someone getting pregnant without having sex?"

I knew I sounded insane. I couldn't help it, it was the first time I'd ever said it aloud. I just really wanted to know. I waited for her response.

"You're pregnant." The Doctor said, looking at me. It seemed the doctor didnt take my question seriously, maybe she thought I was being silly?

"But, I haven't had any sex in years, not even kissing! How the hell could I be pregnant?" I felt violated and betrayed by my body and my existence.

"Its impossible." The doctor said. "Maybe something happened that you just don't remember, I hate to tell you that. I dont mean to scare you." She said, as she began the ultrasound.

"No, that didn't happen." The only people i had been around in the past few weeks where Lexi and my mom. "Can you tell me how I'm pregnant?" I asked the doctor. "Your uterus is 'to go'", she replied. Oh gee, imagine that. Oh my god this wasn't happening. "Can you, see this, on here?" The Doctor asked.

I felt uncomfortable asking the doctor what exactly she was seeing on my uterus. There was a sudden burst of commotion, the room got quiet. The doctor was hunched over the computer screen, next to me. As she zoomed in I saw myself on a screen, one I'd never seen before.

A surreal feeling had overcome me, I felt my mind come to a halt. I couldn't move, I felt like I was having a seizure. I didn't look at the doctor directly.

She kept repeating, "it's okay, you don't have to look." I knew I wasn't, but I felt like I was already thinking about all the things I would tell someone if I was on the news, my parents, why am I still talking? Was this even real? Do I have to tell my mom? What do I say to my friends?

I never had sex with anyone since I was 15. I never felt these sharp pains. I never was this nauseous. I started to feel incredibly scared and knew I didn't have long to figure this all out.

That doctor's expression changed. "Well, its a girl. She's healthy and oh yea, in two weeks, I think you might go into labor." You have got to be fucking kidding me! Oh my god, this has got to be a joke. I wouldn't let myself feel how scared I was. At that moment I actually felt like this was the reality of it all.

That night was the longest night of my life. I couldn't sleep.

I laid in bed and stared at the ceiling. After midnight I had a contraction, which felt nothing like what I had read in books. The hard part is believing it. There had to be a large difference between the doctor's over dramatic description and a labor contraction.

"Heaven is leaking fluid from her womb." My over active imagination supplied them. How unbelievable it was that I was having a baby, giving birth to a girl, when it was impossible for me to.

That night was the worst. The contractions lasted for three hours and they felt like they were ripping through my body. I had panic attacks and I tried breathing with no control. I fought to breathe in through my nose but had to take in huge gulps of air, just to breathe out once it was all over.

The entire three hours I continued to stare at the ceiling. I called the doctor the next morning and asked her to come in to confirm her words. At the Doctor's, I had another contraction, and another confirmation that it was indeed a true labor sensation.

However, after my doctor left the room, I collapsed on the ground gasping for air. I was panicking. My doctor rushed back in the room, "We need to go to labor and delivery to get your whole labor checked." she said. I continued to cry the entire ride.

I already felt like a burden, I didn't want people constantly asking me questions about what had happened to me. At the hospital, I threw up everything. "I think I have had an episode." I said to the nurse when she came in to see me.

"I'm going to keep you for observation tonight." The nurse's expression said, "stay strong, we have to do this, it's the best for the baby." I felt alone and humiliated.

I knew this wasn't the end of it and knew in the long run everything would be okay.

I just wished I knew what was going on during the car ride to the hospital, or why I was pregnant when it looked like I hadn't had sex in over 5 years. I laid in the bed of the emergency room, wondering who or what had impregnated me? Why was I living a nightmare? Why had my life turned into a mystery?

I slept for most of the night, tossing and turning. I started to be more and more terrified. How was I going to do this.

"Is there a way you can figure out who's the father?" I asked the nurse when she came to do her rounds. "We could do a DNA test, and hope the results come back quick." She suggested, as she looked at me.

"Are you in the testing business?" I asked.

"Of course I'm in the business. That's why I'm here." She said.

"I can't be pregnant. I need to know who the father is, how this is happening." I said.

"They'll put in a urinalysis test tonight and take a few blood samples and we'll get results tomorrow." She said.

"Thanks." I said. "Can I ask who did this to me?"

"No idea." She said. "We have so many stories like yours. It's not a big deal."

"I don't believe you." I said

"We'll get you some in-depth testing as soon as we have it. I'm very sorry."

I don't remember much after that. I went to sleep. It was then that I knew I was trapped. There was no way to get out, this was my life now. I've never felt so alone, scared, or humiliated.

The thought of doing anything, or trying to find the person who did this to me was unbearable. What if I can't find out who did this to me?

The next night I sat there, listening to other people on the floor just screaming and crying. I cried myself to sleep that night.

In the morning, the nurse came in with a crinkled piece of paper in her hand.

"We got the DNA test results, I have some strange news." I waited anxiously for her to respond.

"There was no DNA aside from your own." She said. It sounded crazy, how was there no other DNA? How was there no father of my child? I was pregnant... but by what? I couldn't have gotten myself pregnant.

"Wait, there's no father to the baby?" I asked. "So what's growing inside me?" I said. "We're not entirely sure, I'm so sorry." She said.

"We're gonna keep you here for the night to keep an eye on your swelling and bleeding." She said.

"Fine," I said. "Can you tell me who impregnated me but apparently hasn't left any DNA behind?" I said. "Is there a chance you can figure it out?" I asked.

"It may be possible, but it'd take some time." She said.

At this point, I couldn't imagine there was any other way of doing this. There were no answers to be given, there were no doctors or nurses who would help me escape the prison I was trapped in.

That night, after I finished a few tests, and laid in the bed I was given, I stared at the ceiling, utterly depressed. As I lay there, I could feel the tears flowing down my face. I kept my eyes closed, waiting for the heartbreak to come.

"Wow, hard to put this in words." I said to myself. I got up out of bed, and went over to the mirror. My face was so swollen from crying, and with each tear that ran down my face, my skin turned red and flushed. I felt so embarrassed and ashamed.

I could feel fat forming on my face. All the natural bone underneath had all but disappeared. What was this, what was happening to me? What if I ended up looking like one of the girls on those crazy diet pills, and none of my friends would talk to me anymore?

I could only hope that I could find out the person who impregnated me. Maybe one day they'd tell me.

I laid back in bed, and cried for a while. I was woken up in the middle of the night by nurses, and a doctor. "Sorry for waking you... we require to do another blood test." The doctor said in a stressed out tone, he scanned my whole body and face up and down with a worried look.

"Do you feel okay?" He asked. My whole face felt numb, it was terrifying. "I don't. Why do you need to do another blood test? Is something wrong?" I said, looking at the doctor. "We where reviewing the ultrasound, and... we noticed something looks... wrong." He said, quietly.

"What!?" I yelled, trying to move my body. "So you're saying... It's deformed, or not human...? What are you implying?" I screamed, the tension and fear was gone from my body, I felt a burning curiosity building inside me.

"What are you saying... I'm pregnant, I got pregnant by someone, but they didn't leave any DNA behind, and... it's deformed?" I said. I looked around the room, and it felt surreal, I felt as though I was surrounded by mirrors.

My body was changing again, my skin lost its smoothness, and things started to look out of place, my clothes were ill fitting, they were starting to look more like pajamas, and less like clothes. "Would you tell me what you're talking about?" I said, losing confidence in the doctor.

"It doesn't matter what you say, it's too late for an abortion." He said, almost embarrassed. "I think you better keep it, considering what kind of condition it's in."

"What are you talking about? Can't you just cut it out of me?! When is the labor suppose to happen?" I said, feeling an aching in my insides. "Based off of the tests we've done on the individual inside of you... we realized if we take the thing out of you surgically, you could die." He said. "Wait... you just said 'the thing'... What is it?" I asked.

"It's-" He began to speak, he hesitated and then began to sob.

"It's a... the test results stated that, it's... a clone." He said, his words forming a screech on the last. He panted, trying to regain his composure. "A clone...?! What the hell!" I shouted, feeling scared. "I can't imagine the pain you must be going through..."

"Couldn't you kill it?! Like on an IV or something?" I asked, looking at him in confusion.

"The hospital won't do that, not in case of this situation." He said, shaking his head. "There has to be a way, why did this even happen?! How did a clone form inside of me?!" I said. I paused for a second. Something was wrong with this whole thing. Nothing made sense anymore, and the doctor... wasn't helping.

"Look... Don't worry, we're going to figure this out. The clone is growing at an alarming rate, it seems that the subject is feeding off of you causing you to feel and appear unhealthy." He said. "This isn't normal, we need to find a way to get it to leave you." He said, sighing and placing his face in his hands.

He began to sob, and before I knew it, my thoughts were interrupted by another doctor walking into the room. I jumped a little.

"Are you alright?" The doctor asked me.

"No, I'm not alright. Apparantly I have a clone growing inside my uterus..." I said, feeling uncomfortable saying it out loud. "How do you think I'm going to be okay?" I said, in a hostile tone. The doctor put his hands up, making me stop my speech.

"What am I suppose to do? Am I just suppose to give birth to a baby version of myself?" I asked. "It will all be okay, you can put her up for adoption. We can move on and act like this never happened." The doctor reassured me.

I felt uneasy, like I was hallucinating or dreaming this whole reality that was unfolding in front of me. I decided to try again to get some information on this phenomenon.

"...So you have no idea how the heck this happened?" I asked. "You don't know anything about where it came from? How did it form in my uterus?"

"We don't know how it formed. Based off of our tests, we can not confirm the specific material in the uterus at the time of the conception." The doctor said. "We'll need to check with our experts to figure out how exactly this organism came to be." He looked directly at me, it seemed that he was searching for an answer.

He looked at me, shaking his head in disbelief, and gave me the once over.

"Listen, this is not the time to panic. If you give birth to this organism, you and your baby will be fine." The doctor said, his face turning into an exasperated grimace. "Just keep everything calm."

"It's not my fault that I have a clone growing inside of me!" I shouted, anger taking over. "If I don't get some answers, I might just have to end it all!" I shouted. I was scared of the doctor's reply. All he seemed to do at this point was shake his head in frustration.

"Alright, I'm sure you don't want to talk about this now. Can I get back to you after you give birth? This will all be so much easier then." He said in a condescending tone.

I banged my hand on the table, burning my palm on the metal.

"How about you let me talk?!" I said, fury out of control. I threw my hands up.

"Listen, I am not going to sit here and wait until I go into labor to find out how my own body will be destroyed by giving birth to myself!" I shouted. Tears were beginning to fall down my face. I knew I was showing signs of anger. I was just glad that it seemed to be getting everyone's attention.

I shouted getting everyones attention. "I didn't want this! I didn't even know i had this thing inside of me! Why am I being put in a room for days on end? it seems like you guys actually don't care."

"We've tried to calm you down." The doctor said. "The nurses are bringing you water and something for your anxiety."

I stared at him.

"We're trying to give you an afternoon off from the high-stress. We want you to rest up. If nothing happens overnight, we will be inducing the labor tomorrow." The doctor said. I wanted this over and done with.

"Could you induce the labor now? I'm miserable." I sobbed. "I don't want this to be what my life is now. I'll do anything to have this be over." I asked for permission to induce the labor, and wanted my request granted.

The doctor looked at the nurses and let out a sigh, he then looked at me. "Well, its a little risky... but we can try our best tonight." He said. "Even if it doesn't work, at least we'll know we tried. At the very least, tomorrow the baby should be coming out of the birth with a clean bill of health, and it will be easier for us to talk you through why everything is happening the way it is."

I grabbed ahold of his hand. "Please." I breathed, tears dripping off of my cheeks. The doctor gave me a reassuring smile.

"We will be back shortly." He left the room with the nurses.

As I waited for the doctor to come back and induce the labor, i could feel movement within my stomach. It made me sick to think that somehow a clone of myself was growing inside of me... and what did they mean when they said it's growing at an alarming rate? The movement inside began to feel more like something was trying to push its way out of my stomach. It was excruciating and terrifying.

I think i dozed off. Before I could even really process what was happening, the doctor entered the room. He stuck the needle of the IV in my arm. I felt dizzy as he began the process to induce labor. I felt like i was losing my concentration. He worked quickly and it began to get the baby moving. I breathed in and out. This was all very surreal, he looked at me and smiled.

"You're having the baby tonight." He said. The staff stood, ready to catch the baby... my clone.

It was time.

I began breathing heavily, as sharp shooting pains went off in every direction inside of my body. I felt like I was about to explode. "You're doing great. Fantastic job." The doctor said, as a nurse held my hand.

I continued the heavy breathing, wondering if giving birth always this painful. I felt sort of out of it, the nurses where consoling me and encouraging me to keep going. "Okay, now you have to push." One of them said.

I began pushing with all my might to get this thing out of me. The doctor and nurses looked at me, waiting. My body finally gave it's final push. I screamed in agony, keeping my eyes shut tight.

I felt woozy and on the verge of unconsciousness. Everything below the waist felt like it was torn apart, and shredded. The pain left a burning sensation.

The room went silent.

"What the fuck?!" I heard the doctor yell.

I opened my eyes the best i could, and what i saw... it took my breath away.

I was speechless and stunned.

Laying at the foot of the bed in a fetal position was what I had just given birth to...

A fully grown twenty three year old clone of myself.