One afternoon, as they wheeled her back from another scan, two nurses paused near the elevator. The younger one looked around nervously, then whispered, “Parthenogenesis.” The older nurse hissed, “Don’t say that out loud. It’s not confirmed.” Tula didn’t understand the term, but the fear in their voices chilled her more than the word.
That night, she looked up the word on her phone. The hospital Wi-Fi crawled. The page wouldn’t load. She stared at the buffering wheel like it was mocking her. Every unanswered question became heavier. Something was happening inside her body—and it was so strange, even the doctors didn’t know what to call it.