Inflated Intellectual

Our story begins on a rainy saturday morning with a teenage girl by the name of Lynn in the town of Tomorrow’s Wake. She was nearly 18 and just had gotten her first job. Lynn always did very well in school, and was very intelligent. Lynn was fairly popular in her grade despite being a bookworm. She was very kind, and energetic though a bit shy and was always eager to help her friends with their assignments if they asked. Tomorrow’s wake was a small town and the people were fairly close knit, and it had a lot of charm. Though Lynn had never dated, any and all riffraff didn’t even dare try anything as her friends both male and female were highly protective of her. Lynn had many friends but was accustomed to reading many a romance novel and hoped one day to have a whirlwind romance like those she had read so much about.

Lynn ran down the sidewalk trying to avoid the puddles as the rain poured down. Splash! Unfortunately she didn’t miss them all.

“Dammit!” She cursed. Fortunately she was wearing a knee length skirt so the only thing that really got wet was her socks. Rolling back her sleeve to see her watch she realized she didn’t have much time and took off running. Dodging the occasional umbrella using citizen and trying not to crack anyone with her hand bag she wanted to show up early again as it was day 4 of her job and she wanted to keep it. Finally arriving at her place of work she opened both doors dramatically and stepped in one of her favorite places to be, the library. This town’s library was a dual purpose one. It was also in many ways a museum, most of its books were knowledge bases of its exhibits though it sported a well worn fiction wing.

Lynn ran her fingers through her blueish black colored hair trying to remove some of the excess water so she wouldn’t have her back soaked. Shaking her head did the trick, but then her bangs hung straight down over her eyes. Silently cursing the straightness of her hair she tucked it behind her ears and dried off her glasses on the corner of her vest.

“Good morning Lynn! Hell of a storm going on out there isn’t it?” Her employer said. He was in his mid 40ies but had been walking with a cane ever since an accident when he was young. He bit absent minded but helpful and encouraging to the kids.

“Hi Mr. Baxter! Yea, the storms getting pretty bad. I hadn’t realized I forgot my umbrella until I had already locked the door and I didn’t want to be late.”

“But Lynn, you’ve been here early every day so far.” He chuckled. “At any rate, I have a favor I need to ask of you.”

“Yes sir?” Lynn said eagerly.

“Well you see, my wife just called, she’s under the weather.” He paused grinning at his own pun, “And the kids need to be looked after. Do you think you can handle the library alone today? I can call Karen in if you feel uncomfortable at all.”

“No no no. That won’t be necessary! I can handle it!” Lynn said enthusiastically, wanting to prove her capabilities.

“Alright I know you can do it. Also, those scrolls from Aztec just came in this morning. The careless idiots broke their water seal. So when it arrived in the warehouse in Arcadia, they had to repackage it and they didn’t do that great a job. If you could after the library closes, use some of the spray sealant to keep them from disintegrating from the moisture. There are covers for your mouth so that you don’t inadvertently exhale moisture on any of the items as well. I don’t think we have enough for all of them but I placed the crate on the top floor storage so it should be good till at least tomorrow. Just go by the ones on the top first as they would have been exposed to the most air” And with that he was out the door.

Lynn made her way behind the receptionist’s desk and sat on the nice comfy leather bound stool. Opening her handbag she pulled out her latest read, a fantasy novel involving a hybrid girl born as a weapon, a god forced into a mortal body, and a demon child. It was a fairly slow day at the library as no one really wanted to brave the weather just to read. However Lynn did take interest in a rather attractive classmate who seemed to have a large assignment due on monday and was working feverishly at one of the provided tables. So as the day progressed on Lynn read, attended to her duties, and occasionally looked up to observe the busy worker. One time however she must have lost track of time because the worker looked up and smiled at Lynn. Lynn blushed badly and dove behind her book hiding her face. When 4:30 rolled around Lynn picked up the PA.

“The library is now closed. Please return, or borrow any books and make your way to the exit.” She said softly. After waiting a few minutes she walked around the library to make sure everyone had left. When she arrived at the workstation she noticed a small red wallet was beside the chair.

“Hmm, They must have forgotten it. I wonder if a number is inside.”  She thought opening the wallet. She found some money in it yet the thought to take it never even crossed her mind. She found the ID and it had the proper contact information. Making her way to the phone she already could feel the nervousness and apprehension. With shakey hands she dialed the number.

“Hello?” A female voice answered.

“Hi, may I speak to Andrea Greenwood please?” She said, glad this wasn’t in person as she was blushing badly.

“This is her.”

“I’m Lynn Eldritch from the library. I’m just calling to let you know your wallet was left behind here. Ill put it in the lost and found until you can make it back.” She said having to nearly force herself to speak.

“Oh my god! Thank you so much!! I didn’t know where it went. I could kiss you!!” Andrea said happily.

“Buh?” Lynn almost dropped the phone.

“Its just an expression.” She said coyly. When there was awkward pause on Lynn’s side. “Unless you don’t want it to be. Anyway I’ll be there tomorrow to work on my project more so I can pick it up then, is that ok?” She said changing the subject.

“That’s fine. Ill be here tomorrow. If you want…. I could help you with your history project. I’m pretty good at that kind of thing.” Lynn offered.

“How did you know it was history?” Andrea said a bit confused. “Oh! Your THAT Lynn! You’re in my class! As you know I moved here kind of recently so I haven’t gotten acquainted with everyone yet. But yea that sounds great. Thanks a bunch babe, see you tomorrow!”

“B-bye.” She stammered. When she heard the click she let out a huge sigh. “Well that went… better… than I thought it would… I think.” She thought all flustered. “I certainly didn’t expect it to go like that though.”

Attempting to compose herself she walked up the stairs to get to the 3rd level. Pulling a key from her vest pocket she unlocked the door and went into the storage area. It was of course a huge mess like always with tons of previous exhibits laying around gathering an impressively thick layer of dust. The air was very dry thanks to the dehumidifiers scattered around the floor to make sure everything was preserved. Making her way over to the small office where the supplies were kept she found the mask and the can of sealant. Looking in the mirror to make sure she got the mask on right Lynn looked at her reflection. Her lithe frame stood at a diminutive 5”3” in her knee length skirt, plaint white shirt tucked in her skirt and navy blue vest. Adjusting her round glasses she wondered about Andrea.  She had often enough been told she was beautiful but more in cute way than sexy. The number of people that hoped to take advantage of Lynn’s innocent nature but subsequently were sent to the school nurse with various injuries by her friends was proof enough.

“I wonder how she would see me?” Lynn asked herself not really sure if she wanted to know the answer. Placing the mask over her mouth and grabbing the can of sealant and a crow bar she made her way to the crate. She thought she could hear something moving around in there but when she put her ear to the box she couldn’t hear anything. With a resounding crack she pried the box apart with relative ease. Lynn was a lot stronger than she looked or anyone really gave her credit for. Putting on a pair of rubber gloves so her hand oils wouldn’t damage anything she carefully removed the ancient scrolls one at a time and then began spraying one side, very delicately flipping it over, and then covering the back. Lather rinse repeat. This process went on for a while but eventually the aerosol spray started forming a misty cloud around the area she was working in. This started to bother her nose and Lynn felt a sneeze coming on. Dreading the results of sneezing on the unprotected scrolls she pinched her nose and covered her mouth with her hands. Upon sneezing her cheeks puffed up momentarily but other than that crisis averted. However Lynn felt slightly bloated and a bit uncomfortable. Unfortunately for her Lynn was still standing in the cloud and her nose got irritated again.

“Ah- Choo! Ah- Choo! Ah- ah- ah – CHOOO!” Lynn sneezed again, the last one being a big one. Covering her nose and mouth as she did last time  she felt more and more bloated and noticed her shirt was getting untucked from her skirt in jumps with every sneeze. On the Last sneeze it was pulled completely clear of her skirt. Her belly had surged forward with every sneeze. After the last big one it pulled the shirt free from the skirt and jiggled around for a big.  Lynn looked down and shrieked.  She looked as if she were pregnant and a couple weeks overdue. Hastily moving far away from the spraying area she found walking quite different with her large stomach bobbing and jiggling in front of her. Pulling up her vest and then undoing the bottom buttons of her shirt she poked at the large fleshy orb in front of her only to confirm it really was there. Her finger met fairly little resistance and she could poke inwards a surprising amount. When she took her hand back out her belly sprung back to its spherical shape. On her tiny frame her stomach looked especially huge.

“B-b-but… how??” She stammered. Thoroughly confused by the situation. She realized that holding in the sneeze left no where for the air to go, so it went inside her. Lynn simply sat on the ground and kept poking her belly dazed by its presence. She was broke out of her trance when she heard a weak mewing noise. Lynn turned to see a small kitten weakly climb out of the crate.

“Aww.. you poor thing. You must be a stray that got caught in the repackaged crate. Fortunately Arcadia is only a couple hours travel from here.” Lynn said worried for the poor things health. It slowly walked over to her and Lynn carefully extended her hand. The kitten sniffed it and then allowed her to scratch it behind the ears. It then jumped up on her belly and sank down into it a bit, looked up at her and mewed.

“Alright. Lets get you some food and water. You must be starving.” Lynn said smiling. She loved cats. Placing the thing on the ground she picked up the can of sealant and noticed it was empty.

“Good. Thing has caused enough trouble for the day. Looks like I’m done.”  She thought frowning. Placing her hands behind her she propped herself off the ground. The kitten however had decided to roam around. It jumped up onto a shelf and started batting at a Chinese vase. The vase started to wobble and Lynn ran over as fast as she could.

“KITTY NO!!” Lynn yelled as time seemed to go in slow motion. The vase fell from the shelf and Lynn dove for it catching it in her hands safely and crashing into the floor. Landing on her bulbous belly it didn’t actually hurt and she bounced up and down for a while. However her crash to the ground kicked up a ton of dust and it wasn’t long before Lynn got the feeling she was going to sneeze again.

“Ah—ah—ah—ah” She started. But the sneeze never came. Her nose kept feeling ticklish though. Returning the vase to its proper spot and taking the kitten of the shelf she started for the door. “Ah—ah” She started up again. But still nothing. Lynn couldn’t ever remember inhaling this much before. Then it finally hit her right as she touched the doorknob. “AAAHH- CXDBH.” Came the muffled noise as she had plugged her nose again. She dropped the kitten as her belly surged outwards. It looked as if she had eaten an overstuffed beanbag. Fortunately the kitten didn’t fall far it landed on the shelf her stomach provided. Lynn just sighed and left the storage while she could still fit out the door. She went to the receptionists desk to grab her handbag and then went to the bathroom. All the while the kitten purred contentedly as it sat all curled up on the distended sphere that was Lynn’s stomach. Lynn placed the kitten on the counter and then lightly ran the water for the kitten to drink and picked out small pieces of chicken from her sandwich for some food for it. Then she obsereved her reflection again and her eyes went wide. She was thankful she had undone the bottom of her shirt or she would have been missing some buttons for sure. Her midsection now stuck out a good 3 feet in front of her and was almost 4 feet wide. It was forcing her skirt to go quite a bit lower than she ever would have been comfortable with and it caused her vest to ride up higher on her chest.

“My friends would kill me and about every male that ever went near me if they saw me like this.” She mused. Just then she let a most unlady like belch that caused the kitten to jump up in the air and echoed off the tile walls loudly. Lynn was grateful no one else was in the library and blushed putting a hand across her mouth. However looking again at her belly she noticed it had gotten considerably smaller. Forming a theory she pushed in on her belly, in an effort to cause herself to burp again but to no effect. Then she tried running into a wall and bounced back on her bottom but still nothing. Flipping over to her front she lay on her belly and just bounced up and down for a bit. The kitten was observing her like she was crazy and despite herself Lynn was having quite a bit of fun with this. Finally Lynn’s efforts were rewarded with a good 15 second long burp that was the loudest by far she had ever heard. Looking down at her midsection she found it was flat as it once used to be. Lynn smiled and restored her clothes to their previous state. The kitten having had sustenance was looking kind of sleepy. Gently Lynn picked it up and put in her handbag. Having done all her duties Lynn locked up and started to leave.

“I wonder if we have any pepper at home…” She thought with a mischievous grin.