The realization of Dr. Kumar hit him like lightning. It was not a tumor but a parasitic, malformed twin. He was filled with a strange cocktail of emotions. Awe, confusion, and horror were all present at the same time. The parasitic creature had been growing inside Rohan ever since his birth. It was a twin brother that never saw the light. Its form looked disturbingly human. It had hair, nails, legs, a skeletal system, and even teeth in its jaw. Untrained eyes might have thought that Rohan had given birth.
His assistants’ initial speculations pointed towards a strange case of disappearing twin syndrome. The phenomenon occurs when one twin absorbs the other in the early stages during pregnancy. Sometimes, the surviving twin will have two sets of DNA. The absorbed twin is rarely able to continue growing in the surviving child years later.
The medical team investigated this medical mystery and concluded that Rohan was a case of Fetus in Fetu, a rare medical condition. The condition is marked by the presence one twin within the body of another. It was such a rare condition that only one case was documented in the 19th century. A mother thought she had given birth prematurely to her baby, but it turned out to be her undeveloped twin. It was both shocking and unsettling to realize that they had witnessed this rare medical condition.
The whispers of the doctors and nurses in the recovery area sounded like a distant echo of a nightmare when Rohan woke up. The sterile hospital atmosphere overwhelmed his senses, as did the pain in his body from the surgery. Rohan was met by Dr. Kumar with a confused expression as his face was etched with tiredness. Rohan could not decipher the enigma on his face, which was etched with fatigue from a long surgery. The room spun erratically with each word of the doctor, as the gravity of Rohan’s condition threatened to drag him into an abyss.
He was flooded with words like “twin”, ‘fetus-in-fetus’, and “unprecedented” that merged into a narrative that made him question his perception of reality. It couldn’t possibly be true. Could he’ve been living with a twin undeveloped within him for all these years?
The enormity of the revelation was beyond his comprehension. It would forever change his perception of himself. His reality was now layered with an uncanny tale that defied the laws of nature.
