Mysterious Changes - Part 6

OTHER PARTS | ALL STORY LIST

We waited ten minutes, watching as people entered and exited the House of Mystery. We saw no one who looked even slightly like an Indian. Andy, Kevin, and Marsha had stayed with Dan and Misty, but the rest of us were now waiting impatiently for our Indian in whatever guise he had assumed.  "Maybe he got away while we were waiting for the other guy," Ron suggested.

I shook my head. "I didn't see an Indian come out before him, did you?"  "No," Ron admitted.  "Well I'm gonna check that place out," I said at last.  "You'd better not," Judy warned. "Let me go. He can't change me into something I already am."  "But maybe he can change you into something else," I pointed out.  "I doubt it," she said. "And I'm willing to take the chance."  I think that's one of the many reasons I've always liked Judy. Like me, she exuded supreme confidence.

Intelligent, attractive, and athletic, she thought like I did. If things had gone differently, we might have eventually ended up as more than friends. Ah well, I guess we'll never know.

We decided both of us would enter the House of Mystery. Judy would be in front of me under the assumption that if the, whatever it was, was still in there, it would be always ahead of us. We'd find whomever it had become and try to herd it out the exit where the rest of our number would be waiting.

We didn't want it to hurt. We wanted to reason with it and find out what it wanted and what was required to change our friends back into their normal selves. If we discovered it still inside the House of Mystery, we'd talk to it, get it to see reason.  It was very dark inside. During the day, light seeped in through tiny cracks in the black-painted surface, but at night, there was only darkness inside. I stumbled into Judy more than once, but as we had agreed, she was taking it slowly.

There were curses from the other patrons behind us who thought we were moving too slowly. To let them by, we flattened against a wall and let the crowd pass. Apparently, ten or so people had all come in together, for once we had let them by, we could hear none of the phony frightened screams or hear the movement of feet on the uneven wooden floor.  I wasn't holding onto Judy, and I'm not sure if it would have made any difference if I had been. I like to think that it wouldn't have mattered.

Besides, she was only a step ahead of me and we were about halfway down the darkened passageway. There didn't seem to be any reason to hold onto her. But while I was following her as closely as possible, something had calculated the space between us. As Judy passed by, a hand must have shot out of the darkness. I felt something warm and small like a child's hand grip my bare leg.

At first, I thought it was just a small child who had gotten lost from his or her family, but the intensity of the grip was too great to be just a helpless child.  Shocked by the unexpected touch, I tried to pull away, nearly losing my balance as the grip proved stronger than I could imagine.

I tried to call out to Judy, but something had paralyzed my vocal cords. I began to realize as my blood seemed to freeze that it wasn't just my vocal cords that were paralyzed; I couldn't move.  "Wakan," a high voice droned. It sounded like the voice of a child probably a little girl.

I cursed myself for being so careless. The way the House of Mystery was designed with its uneven walls and strange angles along the passageway, there had to be small alcoves, too small for an adult but large enough for a child. Our quarry had hopped into the body of a child and was lying in wait for us for me! And I hadn't suspected it at all.

My skin began to tingle and become warm. Unlike my brother and my friends, I knew what was about to happen to me. I was about to be robbed of my sex. I was going to be a girl. I had challenged something I could not defeat, and I was about to pay the price. It was almost as unique a sensation to realize I had been beaten as the changes that were about to befall me.  "Tanka," the voice said, and the tingling increased, causing my very skin to begin to flow. Nothing Lisa or Marsha or Dan could have said would have fully described what was happening to me.

I'm not sure I can describe it myself. It was as if my consciousness was contained inside a substance over which I had no control a substance that had once been my own body.  As the girl's voice continued to chant, I could sense my body becoming smaller and weaker. My nipples were pushing against my shirt as breasts began to develop behind them. I found myself hoping I wasn't going to end up with a chest as large as Dan's. Breasts.

Oh my God, I was going to have breasts! I was going to have the figure of a young woman! As if to emphasize that, I felt my waist begin to constrict and my hips reshape themselves.  Again, I tried to break free, but I could tell my legs were slimmer and not as strong. My arms were losing mass as well.  "Steve, where are you?" I heard Judy's voice not far from me. And I felt the small arm that had held me drop away. I could move again!  But I had no illusions that Judy had scared it away.

As I gained control of my body, I felt long hair tickling my bare neck and shoulders. I felt myself swaying slightly forward until I leaned back, feeling my heels elevated as I seemed to be balanced on my toes. I felt my clothing, tight against my body and the hem of my shorts high along my thigh. It had done its work; I was certain of that.

I was now a girl.  "Tell your father to let me go," the voice of the little girl called to me as I heard her scramble away in the dark.  "Steve!" Judy cried again. I heard her grunt as someone bumped into her. I wanted to tell her to stop the girl, but I was too weak and too shocked to call out. I fell to my knees and my hand brushed against something leather a purse I realized.

Oh well, I guess I would have to get used to carrying one now.  I don't know how long I would have lain there if Judy hadn't picked me up. Her hands encircled my newly slender waist and I heard her gasp with the realization of what had been done to me. She seemed to have no trouble picking me up off the floor. I was obviously much smaller and lighter than I had been before.  "Oh God, Steve, I'm so sorry," she said, nearly bursting into tears.

I have to admit I felt a little like crying myself.  In some ways, being transformed in the darkness was worse than being in the light. Everything felt exaggerated and my imagination was running wild. As I felt my breasts sway when I got up, I was convinced they must be huge. They seemed to thrust out forever. One of my fingers brushed against a fingernail, and I was sure they had been lengthened to the size of small daggers.

I feared I might be a comically proportioned blonde, and I was actually afraid to open my mouth lest a sugary little bimbo voice escaped my lips.  But the worst was when my shorts shifted at my crotch. These shorts were very short and very tight, and I could feel them riding up between my legs, because there was nothing to stop them.

There was only a void between my legs. No, that wasn't quite true because I could feel strange, almost pleasant sensations between my legs. So something was there. But it was buried within me, and I knew that it trailed all the way back to the womb that I surely now had.  I licked my lips. They felt strange and puffy. It was then that I tasted the slightly sweet taste of lipstick. It felt different a little waxy.

But I realized it was a sensation that I might have to grow used to. I would have to wear makeup now. Oh God, there was so much to learn about being a girl. I wasn't sure I could do it.  As we exited, I felt the cool evening air on my legs and the tops of my breasts, and even my midriff. I felt the soft breeze blowing my long hair around and mechanically reached up to push it out of my face.

I tried to ignore the slender arm, devoid of muscles and ending in a shapely hand with slender fingers. This was an arm that had never thrown a football or, or.  "Ron, help us!" Judy called as she grabbed be tightly. I suddenly realized I had been about to pass out.  I saw Ron rushing forward.

He seemed so much bigger than before. His big arms wrapped around me just as I felt my legs collapse under me. "Oh no!" he gasped. "Steve?"  "In the flesh," I replied, giggling senselessly at my own joke. And then everything was black.  I was pretty sure I wasn't out long. Apparently changing sex takes a lot out of you. When I woke up, I was sitting on a wooden bench just off the midway. Ron must have carried me there, I realized. Carrying the old me would have been a chore even for him, but I suspected the new me hadn't been much of a challenge to carry.

When I opened my eyes, I realized I was leaning on Ron's shoulder. I pushed back slowly and groaned.  "How are you doing, Steve?" I recognized Lisa's voice and turned to see her standing there with her friends. They knew what had happened to me, I thought with a blush.  "I'll live," I managed. "I suppose it's Stephanie now."  "Not really," Judy told me. She had what was now my purse in her hand. "Actually, it's Sarah, Sarah Jean Hall."  "It could be worse," I admitted.

I had never cared for the name Stephanie.  "That's for sure," Lisa said with a little grin. "Dan was worried she'd be Danielle, but no such luck. She's Gabrielle or Gabby for short. I think she's more pissed about the name than all the rest."  "How long have I been out?"  "Long enough to miss the latest casualty," Lisa informed me. "Andy is Alicia now. Our Indian or whatever he is caught him over in the restrooms.

He had just stepped away to relieve himself when he got nailed."  "A little girl, right?" I asked.  Lisa frowned. "In the men's room? Afraid not. This was a little Indian boy. It sounds to me as if there's a whole family of them."  "Or just one," I sighed. I quickly told them my body-swapping theory.  "It makes sense," Ron said when I had finished. "So how are we gonna catch this, whatever it is if it keeps changing itself into someone else?"

"We aren't," I admitted dejectedly, realizing as I did so that not catching it meant a life in skirts. Then a thought hit me. "Unless we have help."  Judy looked confused. "But if we get more people to go after it, we'll just end up with more people transformed."  I rose unsteadily to my feet and looked Judy in the eye. We were both the same height Now I noted. "It always looks like an Indian.

Whatever it said before it chanted sounds like something from an Indian language. We need to find someone who knows about Indians and their magic."  "Who?" Ron asked.  I shook my head. "I don't know exactly. But remember when we made that field trip to Lincoln last year and visited the State Historical Society? They've got to have experts on Indians on their staff."  "Sure," Ron scoffed. "And all we have to do is go down to Lincoln and convince a bunch of stuffy old historians that we have something on the loose up here that talks like an Indian, swaps bodies whenever it feels like it, and turns guys into girls. No problem."

"Well I'm going to Lincoln tomorrow," I insisted, a little miffed at Ron's attitude. Was he dismissing me because I was now a girl? "You can stay here if you want. There are no classes tomorrow afternoon, so I'll drive down and try to convince someone. I think after tonight's experience that it's pretty obvious that we need help to handle this. We need to handle things quickly, too.

If this thing is attached to the carnival, they'll be gone in a few days and some of us will be stuck as girls for the rest of our lives."  Even as I said that I realized the odds were very good that we were going to be girls for the rest of our lives no matter what, but I wasn't going to take this lying down. Unless we did something, I had a certain future on the distaff side. That wasn't something I relished.

I was already getting tired of the tickle of hair on my neck and the movement of my breasts. As for what wasn't between my legs anymore, well let's just say that I didn't relish that very much either.  "All right," Ron said with a theatrical sigh. "I'll go to Lincoln with you."  "Nobody said you had to go," I pointed out, folding my arms a little uncomfortably under my breasts.  "Well somebody should go with you if for no other reason than to see that they don't drop you off at a mental ward," Ron grumbled.

It struck me suddenly that we sounded a lot like a married couple bickering about a social engagement. I had heard my parents talking the same way about something Mom wanted to go to that Dad would sooner skip. Good lord, was that going to happen to me and my best friend? Had our relationship already changed to the point that I was now the headstrong female and he was the long-suffering male?

I had watched Lisa over the last twenty-four hours become more and more feminine in her gestures and her attitudes. Part of that, I realized, was just a need to act the way the world would expect a girl to act, but part of it was becoming strangely natural for her the way she had been holding hands with Dave.  "Okay," I said softly, trying to sound more like the decisive quarterback I had been only a short time earlier. "You and I will go to Lincoln tomorrow and try to get some help.

As for everybody else, we should stay away from the fair."  "I think we're probably safe there during the day," Judy suggested. "Whatever this thing is seems to only strike at night."  "Look, I know that's the way it seems," I argued, "but until tonight, we thought we were looking for an Indian fortuneteller. The fact is we don't know what this thing can do. It would just be better to stay away from the fair."  Everyone seemed to be considering that.

I knew the next day would see a large number of my friends at the fair once again. It was too important an event to blow off even given the risks. But I was certain that most of them would be traveling in groups, and most would leave before sundown. At least everyone knew the risks. Only some guy who was crazy enough to want to be a girl would risk being at the fair alone at night.

No one else would try to corner it as we had.  Lisa decided to ride home with Ron, Judy, and me. I was frankly glad for her company. The thought of entering my own house alone and having my father say something to me like, "Hi, princess," would have sent me right over the edge. At least she'd be there when I greeted my parents and trudged up to a room that, while mine, was probably unrecognizable.

And it was also comforting to have as many people as possible surrounding me as we walked back to the parking lot. I didn't want to face any boys who thought I was just a new chick on the block. I had waived off Judy's offer of a small mirror to see what I now looked like, but I had no doubts that I was a babe. First of all, as much as I tried to ignore my new self, I had a lot of exposed skin. I knew I had slim, athletic legs and matching arms, a flat, tanned tummy and prominent breasts and hips, and long, silky brown hair with little highlights of red.

I was wearing a pair of very, very short denim shorts that felt as if they had been painted on me. My midriff top was shaped more like a bra (which I knew I also wore a strapless one, no less), exposing my tummy, shoulders, and the top of my breasts all at the same time. My brown sandals were a little awkward to walk in with their wedge heel, but I managed. They exposed dainty little feet though which looked almost too small to support even my diminutive body.

Then there were my little pink toenails and matching fingernails.  And if all of that wasn't enough to convince me that I must be one hell of a looker, there had been Ron's look when he had first seen me. Yes, his face had shown great concern for his transformed friend, but they had shown something else as well. Call it lust or just typical male interest, but he had let his eyes linger slowly over every swell and curve of my body.

I had seen that look on Ron's face before, but never directed at me, of course. Ron might be shy around girls, but that didn't mean he didn't enjoy the scenery.  As I feared, I seemed to be getting a lot of those looks from a lot of guys as we walked back to the car. I felt almost as if I was running a gauntlet with hungry, sex-crazed men all around me. Was this what attractive women had to put up with all the time?

Just how good-looking was I anyhow?  We didn't talk much on the way home. Ron actually drove my car since I wasn't sure I could drive in my heeled sandals. I supposed I would have to learn. We dropped Judy off first. She committed to meeting me before school to help me get ready.  "I can manage," I had told her. "Lisa did."

She looked at Lisa's makeup critically. "I think maybe both of you could use a little help," was all she said.  "So what's wrong with my makeup?" Lisa asked indignantly as we pulled away. Neither Ron nor I could think of any answer for her.  "Do you want me to walk you in?" Ron asked when we had parked in front of my house.  "What? So you can give me a kiss at the door?" I joked, but somehow it didn't seem terribly funny.

"Well, I assume reality will have shifted again for your parents," he explained as we sat there. "My guess is that they will figure we did this evening on a date. How would it look if I didn't see you at the door?"  "That makes sense, Sarah," Lisa agreed, emphasizing my new name for my benefit.  "All right," I sighed. "I suppose you want to open the car door for me, too."  "Not." I looked at my friend. There was a witty grin on his face. Maybe our friendship would survive this transformation after all.

He walked Lisa and me to the door but held me back for a moment as Lisa entered the house. "Are you going to be all right, Steve?"  "It's Sarah now," I reminded him. "And I don't know. I think so. Thanks for asking."  There was an awkward moment when we stood there, just staring at each other. We had been friends seemingly forever, but now it seemed as if something besides my sex had changed.

I don't think either of us could have verbalized it at that moment, but there was something,  "Well, good night," Ron said, squeezing my hand gently, something he would have never done before.  "Good night." I rushed inside the house, closing the door. I could hear Ron's footsteps receding from the house as he began his walk back to his house.  "Mom and Dad are still out," Lisa called from the living room. I looked at the clock.

It was only nine earlier than I had thought and our parents had a full evening agenda of fair activities if I remembered correctly. That was fortunate. I wouldn't have to face them that evening in all likelihood. Lisa then looked at my face. "Are you all right? You look a little flushed."  "Of course, I'm all right," I said quickly. "I mean, I'm as all right as I can be and still be, you know this."  She gave me a little sympathetic smile as she hugged herself girlishly. "Pretty weird, isn't it?

Just a little over a day ago, our parents had two sons. Now they've got two daughters and won't even know it was ever any other way."  "Yeah," I sighed. "No one to carry on the family name." As if there weren't already enough Halls in the world. It started me on a train of thought, though, that Lisa and I would lose our last name if we ever got, No, don't go there.

I had enough to be depressed without thinking about that.  "Well, shall we go up and check out your new room?"  I wasn't really ready for that, but I had to do it sometime. It might as well be right then. "I guess."  It was everything I thought it would be and worse. There were fluffy things and lacy frills everywhere, and the predominant color was pink. I remembered seeing Lisa's room for the first time and thinking it would be worse if it was pink. Well, this was worse.

Lisa put a hand on my bare shoulder. "Gee, I'm sorry about this. But I guess now we know why my room isn't pink."  I dropped my purse on the soft white carpet. "I think I'm going to throw up. I hate pink."  "Maybe it'll grow on you."  "That's just what I'm afraid of" My voice trailed off. Lisa had closed the door to my room, and when I turned, I saw myself for the first time in the mirror on the back of the door. I supposed it was just as well that I saw myself by accident.

If I had tried to steel myself before looking in a mirror, it might have taken me until morning.  In short, I was a knockout. I had already noted the various parts of my body that I had seen, but seeing them all together was like hearing the individual instruments of an orchestra before hearing the entire orchestra play a Beethoven symphony. And I hadn't seen my face before. It was one of the most beautiful faces I had ever seen. I had blue eyes designed to melt any man's heart.

My nose was small and about as perfectly shaped as I could imagine. My hair was long a vibrant brown that curled softly over my shoulders. My skin was absolutely flawless, and my lips were full and warm. "Oh my GodDan had the quasi-bimbo look that his mother probably had in her youth. And me? Well, I had been the son of good-looking parents. I supposed it was only a simple matter of genetics that had turned me into this vision of female beauty.  I pushed the hair away from my right ear. My ears were double pierced a small gold ring in the lower hole and a dainty pearl stud in the upper one. My makeup was flattering to my already attractive face, and I looked as if I had just stepped off the cover of Seventeen.

I looked down hesitantly. Good. At least my bare belly button wasn't pierced. Thank God for small favors.  "Steve, Sarah, do you think we'll ever get our male bodies back?"  "I don't know," I said honestly. "I hope so."  "Do you want me to, help you get undressed?"  I shook my head, feeling the sensation of hair moving as I did. "No, I'll have to learn to do it.

You did."  "Yeah. I guess so." She started to leave, then turned to me. "Sarah, thanks for trying to find the, whatever it was that changed me. I'm really sorry I got you into this mess, too. If I can do anything for you, let me know."  Lisa was so unlike Lucas in so many ways. I could never imagine Lucas taking responsibility for what had happened or offering to help me. Lucas had been my brother, but we were never terribly close.

I was the responsible one while he seemed headed down a different path. Strangely, I felt closer to this girl I had never known before yesterday than I had ever felt to Lucas. "There is one thing," I began carefully. "Tell me what's happening to you."  She flushed a little and wouldn't look me in the eye. "I don't know what you mean."  "Yes, you do," I pressed, sitting on the side of my bed and motioning for her to sit next to me.

She sat there reluctantly, her eyes downcast. "I don't really like to talk about it."  "I know you don't," I said. "But something tells me all of us who have been changed will go through it, too. If we're prepared for it, maybe we can cope with it better."  "All right," she sighed. She was silent for a few moments as if thinking about how to explain the unexplainable.  "Last night when this happened to me, I was so disoriented I didn't know what to do.

It was as if my new body came with a whole different set of instructions but I hadn't read the manual. I wanted to cry, but I knew Lucas wouldn't have cried. I had these funny little wisps of thought that didn't seem to make any sense."  "Like what?"  "Well, I thought about Dave running away. I was mad at him for doing it, but I felt something else when I thought of Dave as well. It was this strange, attraction.

I don't know how to describe it. I was still Lucas inside, but I felt differently about Dave.  "Then we got back here and we talked. I found I felt differently about you, too. We had our differences and I have to admit more than once I've resented your success. But last night, it was as if you were my protector, my hero. It was weird.  "After I went to bed, I just lay there thinking for a while.

It was almost like being two people. I could remember some of the things I did as Lucas some of the stunts I had pulled. Then I'd think about them as Lisa and think how stupid I had been. I'd think about Jennie Branson. Remember her? She's that girl I had a crush on in eighth grade.

I try to think about how hot she was and then I'd start wondering how that little red outfit she wore that turned me on would look.  "I finally got to sleep, but that wasn't the end of it. I had dreams crazy dreams. I was Lisa in the dreams. Don't bother asking how I knew. I'm not going to tell you about the dreams no matter what. They were just too, embarrassing.  "  "You are one fantastic chick," Lisa said with an evil little grin.  "So are you," I pointed out.  "No," she corrected, "I'm attractive; you're sensational."  "But I don't want to be sensational."  "I don't think you've got any choice."  I supposed I didn't. It seemed that all of us were becoming the girls we would have been if we had been born that way. I could still see a little of Lucas in Lisa. Marsha had Marty's unfortunate weight problem.

Dan had the quasi-bimbo look that his mother probably had in her youth. And me? Well, I had been the son of good-looking parents. I supposed it was only a simple matter of genetics that had turned me into this vision of female beauty.  I pushed the hair away from my right ear. My ears were double pierced a small gold ring in the lower hole and a dainty pearl stud in the upper one. My makeup was flattering to my already attractive face, and I looked as if I had just stepped off the cover of Seventeen.

I looked down hesitantly. Good. At least my bare belly button wasn't pierced. Thank God for small favors.  "Steve, Sarah, do you think we'll ever get our male bodies back?"  "I don't know," I said honestly. "I hope so."  "Do you want me to, help you get undressed?"  I shook my head, feeling the sensation of hair moving as I did. "No, I'll have to learn to do it.

You did."  "Yeah. I guess so." She started to leave, then turned to me. "Sarah, thanks for trying to find the, whatever it was that changed me. I'm really sorry I got you into this mess, too. If I can do anything for you, let me know."  Lisa was so unlike Lucas in so many ways. I could never imagine Lucas taking responsibility for what had happened or offering to help me. Lucas had been my brother, but we were never terribly close.

I was the responsible one while he seemed headed down a different path. Strangely, I felt closer to this girl I had never known before yesterday than I had ever felt to Lucas. "There is one thing," I began carefully. "Tell me what's happening to you."  She flushed a little and wouldn't look me in the eye. "I don't know what you mean."  "Yes, you do," I pressed, sitting on the side of my bed and motioning for her to sit next to me.

She sat there reluctantly, her eyes downcast. "I don't really like to talk about it."  "I know you don't," I said. "But something tells me all of us who have been changed will go through it, too. If we're prepared for it, maybe we can cope with it better."  "All right," she sighed. She was silent for a few moments as if thinking about how to explain the unexplainable.  "Last night when this happened to me, I was so disoriented I didn't know what to do.

It was as if my new body came with a whole different set of instructions but I hadn't read the manual. I wanted to cry, but I knew Lucas wouldn't have cried. I had these funny little wisps of thought that didn't seem to make any sense."  "Like what?"  "Well, I thought about Dave running away. I was mad at him for doing it, but I felt something else when I thought of Dave as well. It was this strange, attraction.

I don't know how to describe it. I was still Lucas inside, but I felt differently about Dave.  "Then we got back here and we talked. I found I felt differently about you, too. We had our differences and I have to admit more than once I've resented your success. But last night, it was as if you were my protector, my hero. It was weird.  "After I went to bed, I just lay there thinking for a while.

It was almost like being two people. I could remember some of the things I did as Lucas some of the stunts I had pulled. Then I'd think about them as Lisa and think how stupid I had been. I'd think about Jennie Branson. Remember her? She's that girl I had a crush on in eighth grade.

I try to think about how hot she was and then I'd start wondering how that little red outfit she wore that turned me on would look.  "I finally got to sleep, but that wasn't the end of it. I had dreams crazy dreams. I was Lisa in the dreams. Don't bother asking how I knew. I'm not going to tell you about the dreams no matter what. They were just too, embarrassing.