No matter what Katie did, she couldn’t escape Zack’s gaze for very long. She studied throughout the day and so had to take the evening shifts. She wasn’t sure what Zack did, but he was often in the gaming store every night. Katie thought he was just a typical socially awkward gamer at first and that he might’ve had a crush on her; she had experienced that with a few of the other gamers, and so, after a while, she had spoken to him, trying to see if he was interested in her. Zack didn’t say anything to her and just looked through her while he stared, getting aroused at the sight of her. From that moment on, Katie avoided Zack as best she could. She had gone to security, but because he wasn’t doing anything, they couldn’t do anything about it; the manager of the gaming store had sympathised with her, but he wasn’t going to ban Zack from the store over the situation. Her own manger had just agreed that Katie could refuse him service when she was working. Katie had considered quitting, but she needed a job and couldn’t find one that suited her needs or would give her the amount of hours she got at TJ’s. So until she was done with her degree, she was stuck with Zack watching her from a distance.
Tonight was no different. Zack had kept his eyes on Katie all night, at least when he could. While Katie hadn’t gotten management or security to deal with Zack, she had successfully made some friendly acquaintances in the gaming store and among her co-workers, who would often ‘accidentally’ block Zack from watching her. It usually worked earlier on in the shift, but eventually those running interference left before Zack did, making the rest of the shift (up until closing) uncomfortable. When she was done for the night, she didn’t see Zack at the gaming store and dropped her guard as she thought he’d already gone home.
Katie was tired both physically and mentally when she finished her shift. She headed towards her car, and that’s when she saw him again. Zack hadn’t gone home; he had just gone to the toilet, and now she was alone with him. Zack just stood there, staring at her while Katie quickly walked past him. He didn’t make any moves towards her, but Katie’s heart was racing nonetheless. As she got a bit further down, she turned back around to see that he was still watching her. That’s when she decided enough was enough.
“Seriously, why do you keep staring at me?” she asked as she took a step towards him. He just looked at her awkwardly. “I don’t get it; you look at me and admire me every time we’re both here, and you’ve never said a word or made any advances. Do you know how much stress you cause me? I love my job, but hate coming here because of you, and you won’t go away, so either tell me what you want or just go away!”
Zack hung his head in shame as he said something to Katie.
“Did you just say something?” she asked as she took another step forward.
“I’m sorry…” he said as he began to cower.
“Sorry for what? Sorry always staring at me, sorry for all the stress you’ve caused me, sorry for being a sick pervert that gets aroused by the sight of me? What are you sorry for?” Katie asked more aggressively as she approached Zack further.
He looked down, avoiding eye contact as he wiped his watering eyes. “I didn’t mean to cause you so much trouble.”
Katie crossed her arms as she stood right in front of him. “What do you even want? Why are you so obsessed with me?”
“I... want to be you…” Zack muttered.
Katie took a step back, unable to process what he’d just said. “I’m sorry, what?”
“I said…” Zack said louder as he looked up at Katie with tears running down his face. “I want to…” he began in his own voice. “Be you…” he finished with hers.
“What the hell!” Katie said as took another step backwards. One moment, she had been looking at Zack; now she was staring at herself, though she was crying, had her hair down and was wearing Zack’s clothing.
“Holy Fuck!” the woman exclaimed as she looked down at her body. “I’m a girl… I can’t believe it, I’m actually a girl!” She wasn’t horrified at this revelation; in fact, she seemed to be happy.
It took Katie a moment to get over the shock, but she realised what had happened, even if it should’ve been impossible. “Don’t you bloody dare!” she warned the woman as she reached to touch her newfound breasts. “Those are mine, and I refuse to let you touch them.”
The woman looked up at Katie, confused. “Wait, so… I am you? I transformed into you?”
The way she said it freaked Katie out; this woman had been Zack a moment ago, but now looked like Katie, and she seemed to be happy about it. All Katie could do was nod at her, confirming she was now a copy of Katie.
“Oh my god, I don’t believe it! This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me!” the woman exclaimed in joy.
Katie now understood what Zack’s obsession with her had been. He fancied her, but not in a romantic way; he just liked the way she looked and wanted her appearance for himself. Now he had gotten his wish. It may have been a dream come true for Zack, but for Katie it was her worst nightmare. The one person in the world that she truly despised was now wearing her skin. She couldn’t leave this woman standing there for anyone else to come across.
“You’re coming with me,” Katie said as she grabbed the woman’s wrist and began to drag her to her car.
“But my deck is still at the shop…” the woman pleaded as she started to go back to the gaming shop.
“Oh yeah, you’d better go back for it looking like me, someone known to hate your guts. I’m sure they’d let you grab your cards,” Katie said sarcastically, still holding onto her wrist.
“So I’m just supposed to leave it there, for anyone else to take? I spend hundreds on that deck.”
“Look, creep, I don’t care about your cards. What I care about is you looking like me wearing Zack’s clothes entering a gaming store full of guys without a bra on. It’s not happening!”
“I’m still Zack you know,” she countered. “But I guess I can see your point,” she said as she looked down at her chest.
“No staring,” Katie said as she dug her nails into the woman’s wrists. “And you’re not Zack, not anymore, and I refuse to call someone with my face by that name. Understood?”
“Understood,” the woman replied as she followed Katie to her car. “So if you’re not going to call me Zack, what are you going to call me?” she asked as she stood by the passenger door waiting for Katie to unlock the car.
“I don’t know, maybe Creep, Cheap Knockoff, or something else along those lines,” Katie offered.
“You know I’m only coming with you to be polite right?” she stated as she got into the car and buckled up. “I know you hate me; I know you think as me as some sort of creep, but I couldn’t help myself. You’re the most beautiful woman in the world to me; I’m happy to be wearing this face,” she said as pulled down the sun flap and looked at herself in the mirror. “I could be a total bitch to you right now by stripping off and running into that gaming store naked. I’m sorry for all the stress I’ve put you under; I didn’t mean to do that. Hate my guts all you want and refuse to call me Zack, that’s fine, but at least give me a name with some respect, like Kathryn or Kitty. Actually yeah, call me Kitty, I love Shadowcat.”
“First of all, I don’t know who that is, and secondly, I’m not calling you Kitty, it’s too close to Katie. But Shadow’s fine; it suits you, you’re a dark reflection of me at the moment,” Katie said as she started the car and drove off. Shadow just rolled her eyes at her new name, letting Katie have it.
* * * * *
Katie and Shadow didn’t say another word to each other as they got back to her house. Katie walked ahead of Shadow but still kept an eye on her. She opened the door and motioned for Shadow to come inside.
“Gillian, I need you!” Katie yelled down the hallway. “Now, Gillian!”
A door opened down the hallway and a half-asleep Gillian walked out, wearing her pyjamas. “This better be an emergency, Katie,” she said, rubbing her eyes to wake herself up. She wasn’t impressed at all about being disturbed after just going to sleep, but then she saw Shadow. “Why are there two of you!?”
“Remember that guy Zack I told you about?” Katie asked her roommate.
“Told me about? That’s putting it mildly, I remember you once saying how you wanted to cut his dick off and make him eat it. Though I don’t get what this has to do with why there’s two of you.”
Shadow gave Katie a dirty look.
“Funny story. This is Shadow; up until twenty minutes ago, Shadow was Zack.” Katie chuckled nervously as she presented Shadow to Gillian.
“Wait! What!?” Gillian went over to Shadow and began to poke and prod her. “This used to be Zack?” Gillian asked in disbelief. “She looks exactly like you, aside from having her hair down and wearing men’s clothing. Oh my god…” Gillian spotted something on Shadow’s arm and grabbed it to show Katie. “This is the burn scar you go from work!”
Katie looked at Shadow’s arm and then her own to compare them. “They’re exactly the same!” Katie then lifted up Shadow’s top. “Oh my god, he has my appendix scar, too.” She then grabbed Shadow’s arm again and looked at both their fingerprints. “Even these are the same. This is so much worse than I feared; you’re not just a copy, you’re an exact copy of me. Change back, change back right now!”
“I don’t know how,” Shadow said. “I don’t know how I even became you; I mean I said I wanted to be you, but I didn’t think it would actually happen.”
Gillian looked at Shadow for a moment. “Wait, that’s why you were always watching her? You wanted to be a girl?” she asked.
Shadow nodded. “Not just any girl. Katie. I don’t know what it was, but something drew me towards her.”
“So what you’re saying is, even if you could change back into Zack, you wouldn’t,” Gillian offered. “How do we know you’re telling the truth, then?”
Katie threw her arms up in the air. “I’m getting dressed. You watch her; make sure she doesn’t do anything,” Katie instructed Gillian as she went to her room and got out of her uniform.
When Katie left her room she saw Shadow walking up the hallway towards the bathroom.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Katie asked.
“I need to use the toilet; Gillian told me where it was,” Shadow offered.
“I don’t think so!” Katie snapped. “You’ll do nothing of the sort.”
Shadow resigned her position. “So you’d rather I wet myself?” Shadow spat back.
“No…” Katie didn’t know how to handle this, so she pulled Shadow into her room and grabbed an eye mask. She put it on Shadow’s head. “That’s better,” she said as she guided Shadow to the toilet, making sure she didn’t see or touch anything.
After she had gone to the toilet, Katie led Shadow to her room and replaced Zack’s clothes with a set of her own, keeping her blindfolded the whole time.
“So this is how we’re going to do things, you’re going to keep me blindfolded as you dress me and wipe my butt?” Shadow asked in a sarcastic tone when Katie removed the eye mask.
“Yes,” Katie replied seriously. “You’ll also be showering when I shower. I refuse to let you see me naked and I certainly refuse to let you touch me either.”
“I wouldn’t be seeing you naked, I would be seeing myself. I wouldn’t be touching you, I’d be touching myself,” Shadow protested.
“What did we establish ten minutes ago? You’re an exact copy. You touch the boobs on your body, you’re touching my boobs. You look at that body naked, you’re seeing me naked. You masturbate with that body, you may as well be fingering me. No, Shadow, I’m not letting you do any of that. Think of my appearance as something protected under copyright laws, and you as someone breaching those copyrights. I can’t send you a cease and desist notice, but I can control what you do and how you look. Speaking of which, tomorrow you’re getting a haircut and getting it coloured for good measure. I can’t control you looking like me, but I can certainly ensure there’s some differences.”
“No.” Shadow crossed her arms in front of her breasts tightly, in an act of defiance. “I like MY hair and I’m not going to change it because you don’t like how similar we look. If you want us to have different hairstyles, you change yours.”
“I’m not changing my hair; you’re the copy, so you change yours!” Katie countered.
“I like how I look now, so I’m not changing myself to suit you!” Shadow said as she took her top off and looked down at her breasts. “Oh, these are more lovely than I imagined,” she said as she began to caress them. “You know, I have a few friends in the shop that would love to see these.”
“You bitch!” Katie screamed as she pounced onto Shadow and began pulling at her hair. Shadow tried to fight back, but Katie knew exactly where to strike. Moments later Katie had Shadow pinned face down on the ground.
“What’s going on here!?” Gillian yelled, frustrated, as she came through the door. “I’m trying to get to sleep!” Gillian assessed the situation and saw Katie on top of Shadow and sighed. “Look, I know this is the first night, and there’s going to be adjustments later, but here’s something that might help you both put some perspective on things. Shadow, while you’ve gotten your dream body, remember it belongs to someone else too and you need to respect that. Katie, I heard some of what you were saying, but realistically you can’t ask that of someone. Shadow is going to see you naked; she’s going to want to experience the sensations of being a woman. You can’t stop that forever, and if you try, you will only create resentment in someone that can destroy your life.”
Shadow smiled as Katie got off her. “Yeah, Katie, be careful how you treat me from now on.”
“Don’t you start, Shadow; you’ve caused Katie so much stress over the last few months and in this form you’ve created even more. While you’ve got the power to destroy Katie’s life, remember she has control over yours -- not just physically. If you stay as her, that means you have to rely on her for all sorts of things; that includes medical and financial information. Good luck getting a job in Katie’s body without her help, or renting your own place. Oh, and before you suggest using Zack’s, keep in mind he’s ‘missing’ at the moment, so using your cards or going home is going to get you both into trouble. Now set up a few ground rules with each other, and if I hear any more fighting, I’m tying you both up for the night.”
Gillian felt she’d gotten the message across and exited the room, slamming the door shut behind her.
“I think that went well,” Shadow suggested as she stood up.
“Shut up,” Katie retorted as she threw her pyjama top at Shadow. “Put this back on! Also, while Gillian may have had a point about my privacy, if I ever see you looking at me in a way I don’t like, I’m going to scratch out your eyes, and seeing as you’re currently me, those wounds will look self-inflicted.”
Shadow just nodded to Katie. “I’m sorry. I know you hate me and think of me as your stalker. The truth is I’ve wanted to become a woman for as long as I could remember, and when you got your job at TJ’s, I found you to be the prettiest woman I’d ever seen, but I wasn’t interested in being with you. I like women, you know. I wanted to look like you, not have your life, just look as you do. When you came up to me that one time and you saw me as a creep because I got aroused, that was because I was imagining myself as you, just living out my day in your body; there wasn’t anything sexual about it. But I caused you stress; I made you hate your job, then I became you and I thought, finally, this is my wish come true. You take me back to your place and I think about you teaching me how to live as a woman; I didn’t expect you to be controlling, so I lashed out. Of course you’d have a problem with me being you; you consider me your stalker. I will try my best to respect your privacy from now on.”
Katie found herself doing the unexpected as she got up and walked over to Zack and gave him a hug, tears running down her cheeks. “It’s okay, I understand, Kitty.”
The two women sat on the floor together, Kitty’s head in Katie’s lap. Katie patted Kitty on the head like some lost animal. They were both tired and tonight had been a roller coaster of emotions. Katie’s worst nightmare had come true, and she had been violated in a way she’d never thought possible. Zack’s wildest dream had also come true and it wasn’t how he’d thought it’d be. Katie wasn’t sure if she could forgive Zack for what he had done to her, but Kitty, Kitty was different. Kitty wore her face and as such Katie found it impossible to hate her. That’s why she hugged her, she thought. She saw sadness in her own face and she needed comforting. She might’ve told Kitty she understood but she really didn’t. Why did Zack chose her, out of every other woman he had come across; what made her so special? How did he even become her; did he have control over this? These were the questions racing through her mind as she comforted Kitty. She knew it was Zack in her lap, who had seen her breasts, but while he was wearing her face she was unable to see Kitty as Zack. Katie knew her life would never be the same after this night though, neither would Kitty’s; they had no choice but to get through these changes together.