Matryoshka

Beth's head was pounding as she opened her eyes, her vision was blurry. A ceiling fan rotated above her. Groggily she tried to sit up, but a wave of nausea sapped the strength from her arms.

Collapsing to the mattress, she frowned. There was no pillow, her fingers brushed against the guide rails of the hospital bed. She twisted in place, grimacing as something shifted on her waist.

Her pulse surged, and she patted her hips. Something thick and plastic was wrapped around her, it slipped between her legs. Her cheeks burned as she snapped her head to look. To her horror, she saw a diaper.

She grunted and whined as she pawed at it, scooting up to a sitting position. 'Who put this on me!?' She raged silently. 'No one said anything about this!?'

A dark shadow covered her bed, and something heavy wrapped around the rattan material of her resting place.

Beth froze, a chill rolling down her spine as she curled into a ball. 'This isn't right...' the diaper was snug, she wasn't in a normal hospital bed.

Turning her neck, she gingerly looked at the edge of the bed. Huge pink tendrils drummed along the railing. Her breathing quickened as she turned her neck, looking up and following the mass the tendrils belonged to.

She whimpered and felt herself splay out against the side of her prison. High above her, she recognized her own face, exploded to grotesque proportions.

"Aww, she's scared." Her own voice boomed down at her. She felt tears building up in her eyes. "I'm kinda cute I guess."

Another enormous shape took a place beside her titanic doppelganger. "Indeed, a common side effect of the procedure. Though she has your memories. It probably seems to her like she shrunk."

She blinked up at them in confusion. The giants looked down at her, scrutinizing every inch of her exposed body. "Where did she get her clothes?" The giant version of her asked.

"One of the nurses, she said it helps the clones relax when they wake up." Beth winced, running her hands along the cable knit garment.

"What... clone..?" She said, her voice thin and tinny even to her own ears. Her fists clenched as she fought to remember her past.

Fleeting glimpses of her childhood flooded her mind, as well as her work. "How do you feel by the way? Any symptoms from the partition?" The other figure asked her giant copy.

In a flash, she remembered sitting at a desk and signing some papers, she felt...giddy? Then sitting in the salon-chair-like thingy.

"These are becoming popular." Said the other figure. "Can I ask a sort of personal question?" The giant version of her locked it's enormous eyes on hers, nodding. "Why did you opt for this particular type of clone for your partition?"

Smirking, it reached out brushing its fingers along her cheek. It felt so familiar and alien at the same time. "My partner and I have been arguing about kids. I don't want them, she does. I figured this was a way to split the difference. She can take the bulk of my anxiety and live out her life being dawned over and babies, I can focus on my career."

Beth burst into tears, sobbing loudly in her prison. The giant scooped her up, folding her over her shoulder. "Shhh. Don't be scared." She cooed, twisting back and forth. "Though, I guess you can't help it can you." She teased, pulling Beth away. "Nicole's going to love you."

Beth wailed, trying to calm herself. 'Nicole! She can't see me like this!' She wanted to explain herself, but her mind kept racing, the sobs outpacing her rational mind.

They didn't stop until her enormous doppelganger had placed her in the backseat of her favourite car. Beth could remember buying it four years ago. Part of her mind knew it hadn't been her, it was the giant original seated in front of her. She wanted to speak, but suddenly lost her voice.

Relief and shame washed over her. Her enormous self looked at her in the rear view mirror. "You better not wet yourself, it's a long drive home and we both know I don't do diapers."

---

The diaper edit of Anya is not my work - that piece belongs to this talented artist.