The Inheritor

Part 3

Elise and her three children rode down the elevator and walked back out onto the sidewalk. It was turning out like the little entourage she'd been envisioning.

Elise stopped on the sidewalk, but the kids continued on to the edge of the road. Elise stared, perplexed, while they stopped at a purple minivan on the street and looked back to their mother.

"Could you unlock the car, mom?" Lukas whined.

"The car? Our car?" Elise said. Baffled, she bent down and lifted her purse out of the stroller. On top of it was a set of keys she'd never seen before. She picked the keys up and clicked the "Unlock" button. The car beeped, and all the kids proceeded to pile themselves in.

Elise walked around the van in amazement. This magic ring provided some pretty neat stuff! She spotted the license plate. It read "INHRTR," which Elise took as an abbreviated form of "Inheritor." She'd been seeing that word pop up a lot lately. She supposed it was her "title" now.

She went back to the stroller and looked between it and the car. She was stumped on how she would get the huge thing to fit in there, until she saw something on the handle she'd never noticed before; a small red button. When she pressed it, the stroller folded up, collapsing down into a little square. How convenient.

After stowing the stroller away in the back and buckling in all the kids, Elise returned to the driver's side. As she did, she spotted a woman walking past on the sidewalk. A pregnant woman that looked like she was about to pop with twins.

"Great. Just what I needed," Elise groaned as the woman's belly began to deflate. Now on limited time, she quickly got into the driver's seat and buckled up.

Before she could even start the engine, she felt the blast of warmth in her core, and pressure began to build in her womb. Going back into the apartment would be a waste of time now, so Elise just hoped the grocery store was as close as she remembered. But, in hindsight, ten minutes seemed much longer in this case than in other cases. Nevertheless, Elise started the car and pulled into the road.

Her belly quickly began to fill up like a balloon, and Elise moaned. She caressed the growing orb as it stretched the fabric of her shirt to its limits.

Ava, now thirteen, watched from the passenger seat in distress. "You okay, mom?"

Elise nodded. "Uh-huh. Don't worry about me, honey."

"All right," Ava said. "I just know it's my job to help deal with the babies."

Elise glanced at her. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know," Ava sighed. "Just...ever since I was born...like, an hour ago...I felt like it was my destiny. I knew my mom had a special duty, and that I'd probably need to help her out with it."

"Th-thanks, dear. I really do appreciate it." Elise said, wincing. She'd grown to full term, and her belly was now jamming against the steering wheel. She reached down with one hand and adjusted the seat back as far as it would go.

Rubbing her belly, she found it to be firm and warm. Her shirt was now ridden up under her plump breasts, exposing her entire midriff. The occasional hard kick made her flinch as she dreaded the contractions, which she knew were not far off. She could already feel the babies trying to turn themselves in her womb.