I've given up, I'm giving up slowly. I'm blending in so you won't even know me apart from this whole world that shares my fate. Relient K

Mariah Santo awoke with a start. Breathing hard, she sat up and looked around her room. To her left, asleep, was her six-year-old niece, Hallie. To her right was her dresser with her digital clock on it. The clock read 1:30 exactly. She'd only been asleep for a few hours.

Everything appeared normal. The annoying buzz of the streetlight outside her window, the swish-swoosh of the ceiling fan, the sounds of the cars passing on the highway outside, the light from the bathroom looming under her door left on for her cousin who occupied the bedroom next to hers, everything seemed in order. Nothing was out of the ordinary, no extra-spiritual entities were present, nothing screamed paranormal.

"It must have all been a dream…" she thought.

She tried to recall what had just happened. She saw so clearly in her mind the image of a glowing being standing at the foot of her bed. It had seemed so real…

The being was tall and clothed in flowing white robes, which also emitted light. It was most defiantly a male. His hair was blonde and his eyes were deep blue and radiant. The billowing clothes he had on formed shapes that looked like wings on his back.

"Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mari, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son."1

She shook herself back to reality. No…there was no way. She'd worked hard to keep her virginity, and unless something happened that she didn't know about, there was no possible reason that she should be pregnant.

Still, the vision scared her a little bit. She thought back…when was the last time she'd had her period? Two and a half months ago, she answered herself in a whisper. She'd missed twice. When it happened, she didn't think much of it. She was only 15, almost 16, and she'd only been having a period for about a year and a half. There was a good chance she could still just be irregular. She hadn't mentioned it to her mom, because she was sure there was nothing wrong with her. I mean, how can you possibly be pregnant when you've never had sex?

She breathed hard. She looked over at Hallie again. She was sound asleep, her breathing regular. Mari assumed that Hallie's head was full of dreams of dollhouses and ponies.

She took another look at the clock and decided to blow it off until the morning. She was tired, and she had to get up in time to help get all her nieces and nephews ready to go to school in the morning.

Now that she was thinking about it, she thought she remembered the angel saying something about her sister being pregnant. Mari's sister, Beth, had been married to this guy named Zach for 10 years, and even though she was the oldest of the six girls, Beth hadn't had a child yet. It had only been a few weeks ago when Beth had broken down in her mother's kitchen.

"Mom, I coming over here. I seeing all your grandkids, children of my sisters, who are all so much younger than me! I mean, Kayla is eight years younger than me, and she already has a three-year-old! I can't handle this. I don't think I'll be able to come back over here anymore, Mom. I'm sorry."

Zach and Beth had been to the doctor, and had tried everything from artificial insemination to fertility . They just could not get pregnant.

This thought struck Mari. "If Beth can't get pregnant after being married for ten years, there's no possible way I can get pregnant without having sex." She blew the whole thing off and finally went to sleep.

1 Luke 1:28-31, NRSV