Author's note: Content Warning in the description. 

The crowd let out a rapturous applause as the fair-haired middle-aged man in a blue suit bounced up the stairs to the stage. He gave his fans a cheery wave and wide smile as he waited patiently for the hollers and thunderous clapping to die down. 

“Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. I’m Jonah King and thanks to our sponsor Ardour Energy, I have another fantastic show for you today!”

He sat down in a comfy looking red chair and wrung his hands together. “Today, we’re sitting down with Hallie, who claims that her daughter, Eugina, is a lazy slob who refuses to get a job.”

The audience once again erupted into applause as a scowling woman trudged across the stage and sat in one of the chairs adjacent from Jonah. The host gave her a small nod of acknowledgement.

“Thank you for joining us today, Hallie. From that video we just watched, I can only imagine your frustration.”

“It’s the same every single damn day,” Hallie growled, flipping her fringe back with a swift jerk of her neck, “she stays in her room, eats junk and leaves piles of dirty clothes on the ground.”

“It’s every parent’s nightmare,” Jonah sighed, shaking his head, “where is your darling daughter right now?”

“She’s refusing to come onstage.”

Jonah’s eyebrows raised up and he glanced at the left wing of the stage.

“That’s-that’s true. The producer is telling me that Eugina is refusing to leave the soundstage next door. Can we get a camera on her, and a microphone?”

The giant screen behind the duo lit up. A teenager with a shaved head and thick black eyeliner appeared, eyes staring down at their feet. Their eyes were bloodshot, and streaks of black were running down their cheeks.

“Eugina, Eugina, why are you refusing to join us?” Jonah asked.

“I-I don’t like crowds.” The teenager murmured in a soft voice.

“She does this all the damn time,” Hallie sighed, rolling her eyes, “all the damn time!”

Jonah pressed his hands together and pointed them towards the screen.

“Eugina, do you think that’s a good enough excuse?”

“I-”

“Your mother has told us all about the excuses as to why you don’t work. You’re tired, you’re stressed…do you really think those are good enough excuses?”

Eugina gritted their teeth and rubbed their forehead. “The-the medication makes my head feel fuzzy-”

The host opened his arms outwards and raised the volume of his booming voice.

“Newsflash Eugina, hundreds of other people in Ardour take the same medication that you do. Are they spending every day locked up in their rooms? No! They’re getting jobs and contributing to Ardour’s powerhouse of a workforce.”

The crowd began to hoot and holler in response, a cacophony of clapping echoing through the studio. Eugina held their face in their hands, shoulders wracking. Without warning, their entire body began to emit a bright glow.

Jonah leapt up from his chair. “I thought you said she was on meds!”

“She is,” Hallie replied in a soft voice, her body frozen in place. “I watched her take ‘em.”

The footage of the soundstage went blurry and began to shake up and down as if it were depicting an earthquake.

“Gordy, keep the camera on her.” Jonah hissed into the microphone clip on his suit.

A shaky sigh echoed over the speakers as the glowing teenager came back onto the screen. The audience let out gasps of horror as Eugina’s shining body began to shrivel up into a small ball. Simultaneously, their head began to swell like an inflating hot air balloon.

“Don’t you dare take that camera off her, Gordy!” Jonah shouted.

Less than a minute later, the top of Eugina’s bulbous head reached the roof of the soundstage. The glow enshrining the teenager’s new form dimmed.

Someone in the audience let out a horrified shriek. Floating on screen was a huge grey skinned baby, its eyes screwed tightly shut and its cheeks tinted a pale blue. Its umbilical cord tangled around its body like a pale boa constrictor. Its skin glistened with an unknown moisture that trickled down its body and dripped onto the floor.

Hallie’s face went almost as grey as the baby as she kept her focus directly on her child. Beside her, a wide-eyed Jonah let out a shocked laugh.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve been treated to a one of a kind experience! For the first time on The Jonah King Show, we get to interact with a fully hulked-out client!”

He gawked at Eugina’s new form, folding his arms. “Now let’s see…what could this possibly mean?”

Jonah gestured to the floating baby on the screen. “Perhaps Eugina was pregnant and she was too afraid to tell you!”

An ear-piercing screech crackled through the loudspeakers. The audience members covered their ears, wincing in pain. Jonah sneered at the screen on the wall.

“You can’t handle to hear the truth, Eugina? I know you can hear me!”

Wailing, the giant bloated infant began to slam into the wall of the soundstage. The entire studio began to shake. Light started to flicker out. Cracks burst open in the ceiling above them, sending dust and debris falling into the crowd. Yelping and shouting in fear, audience members leapt from their seats and began rushing towards the emergency exits.

“This can’t be happening; this can’t be happening!” Hallie wailed, clinging onto Jonah’s arm. “She takes her meds!”

The host shook Hallie off himself, giving her a disgusted look.

“Someone call the DOPD!” Jonah shouted to his crew as he pointed to the screen. “Get this freak off my set!”

His voice was all but drowned out as the ceiling collapsed on top of him.