When the time came for removal, I wanted to die.

Ten hours. That’s how long it took to reject it; my body pained, edematous. Bright lights and masked doctors. Rubber gloves bloodied in the corners where the fingers joined the hand.

They deliberated, unsure-

Cut it out?

I was resilient, masticating my insides, siphoning, virulently alive.

Purple and red-

Bruised like a smashed plum, they extracted it. Snip. Snip. Saturated flesh, slick with bits of me, slither up my chest, violating.

A slimy, new lifeform to make the skin crawl off my bones.

“Congratulations,” the nurse said. “It’s a girl.”