Humans are fascinated by gore and violence, but even more so the mysterious and unsolved.

Interest in these disturbing and unpleasant subjects is called morbid

curiosity, and it has gripped millions of people throughout the ages. I am one of those people.

My name is Halley, and this is the Morbid Curiosity podcast.

Every year on Halloween, the MCP presents a short horror story. This year, author L.J. Stanton wrote a

story just for us. There is a content warning for this story, as it features body horror,

pregnancy, and birth horror. And without further ado,

the MCP presents Perfect Skin by L.J. Stanton. Happy Halloween. Talking to your baby is normal. My midwife

encouraged me to talk to her. Give her a nickname until I'm ready to reveal her name to the world.

I was torn between Sprout and Spark. One all too firm kick to my bladder changed her nickname to Gremlin

real quick. I love her. She loves me too. She's told me so. I hear her little voice in my mind. I was terrified when I found out I was

pregnant. I thought my birth control was working, but miracles can happen anyway. Her father, well,

he said he was thrilled when that test had two little lines on it. He stayed for three weeks

before he said he had to go home. I guess that lie is better

than going out for milk. I heard her for the first time when I realized he wasn't coming back.

We'll be okay. I thought it was just me at first. Just a little self-talk, externalize and

projected onto my little gremlin. My midwife said

that was fine. If I wanted to talk to myself, using my gremlin as a stand-in to cope with my

abandonment while growing a baby, that's fine. Just so long as it wasn't detrimental. And it wasn't.

Gremlin made sure I drank enough water, made sure I ate the right foods,

reminded me to get my prenatal supplements when I felt too exhausted to get back up and open the

cabinet after sitting down. When no one else was there to look after me, my little Grumlin did.

...