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Chris sat in silence, leaning her head against the back of her couch as she stared at the ceiling. It was now 10PM at night and Carrie had left a couple of hours prior. After some gentle chiding and teasing, they said their goodbyes and her new friend departed.
“Being a girl suuuucks,” she grunted as she stood to her feet and stretched while her tee-shirt and boxer shorts loosely clung to her body. With a million different thoughts gnawing away at her mind, she walked to the kitchen and started to prepare a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
‘Why does hanging out with Rodrick have to be weird?’ She asked herself with a grimace, spreading natural peanut butter onto a slice of bread. They had been friends for quite a few years now, so what was the problem? There was no problem, right? She thought back to how she reacted the last time they spent time together-- how strange she felt before stopping that explosion. “Ugh…”
She sat on the couch with her legs crossed and her tail curled to her right. Without any further thought, she grabbed her phone and decided to send Rodrick a response.
~~~
“Sure. How about Saturday if you can wait a few days? I enjoy hanging out, so I don’t see why not.”
~~~
After sending the text, Chris dropped her phone on the coffee table and laid back, resting her head on one of the couch arms with her tail sticking out from under her. She stared at the ceiling and took a deep, slow breath before exhaling. Waiting a few days would give her time to prepare. Should she ask Carrie for help?
As she started to mull over what she’d have to do before her outing with Rodrick, she suddenly flushed and shook her head. ‘Wait, what the hell?’ Why was she fussing so much? Since when did she have to “prepare” to hang out with a friend? What would she even need to do in advance? It wasn’t like she was considering their upcoming hangout an actual date like Carrie seemed to insist on. She had already gotten her hair done nicely, what else was there to do? There was the whole ‘makeup’ thing, which Carrie said she’d be happy to help with. What about her clothes?
She briefly imagined herself in a cute white sundress, imagining how the fabric would hug her curves and accentuate her body’s feminine shape. The image in her head was adorable, but she quickly snapped out of it and shook her head. “Get a hold of yourself,” she muttered. The longer she spent as a woman, the more she felt herself changing from who she used to be. She still had the same interests, same sense of humor, same knowledge and skill set, etcetera, but it was impossible to ignore the fact many of her sensibilities had become more feminine than before.
While completely lost in thought, her phone rang and she answered it without looking or thinking. “Hey, this is Chris,” she responded plainly, expecting Gretchen or Rodrick on the other end of the line.
“Oh wow… Is that really you, sweetheart?” A feminine voice responded in disbelief.
Chris’s eyes widened, adrenaline racing as she immediately recognized the voice. “M-- Mom?”
“I haven’t heard from you in a while, so I was worried-- is that really you?” She asked in disbelief. “Your voice is so soft and feminine; I can hardly believe it.”
Chris turned beet-red and sunk into the couch cushions. This was a conversation she hadn’t been looking forward to. “Yeah… It’s really me, and I guess I do sound different now,” she muttered in response.
“You have such a soft and sweet voice. I bet you’re absolutely adorable,” Chris’s mother cooed. “Does that mean your transience has ended? You’re completely female now, dear?”
Chris rubbed her temples, letting out a low sigh. Mom didn’t have any filters, huh? What a pain in the ass. “Yeah, mom. It’s over and I’m just trying to adjust. There’s a lot for me to learn and deal with; it isn’t easy.”
“Oh, I'm sure it’s not easy at all; there’s so much for you to learn. But, you have me to help!” The older woman chimed. “It’s a mother’s duty to teach her daughter the ins and outs of womanhood; I can help you with bra shopping, makeup, periods-- everything. Do you need me to stay with you for a few days to help? Do you want to come stay with us for a few days?”
Chris raised an eyebrow. What on earth was she to do with her? “That’s not necessary; I have all of that under control… I also have female friends; I don’t need any help with those things, I promise.”
There was a moment of silence before her mom responded. “Oh… Are you sure? I never got a chance to have a daughter, so I missed out on helping my own flesh and blood learn the ins and outs of womanhood. This is a perfect chance for us to develop an even closer bond,” she insisted.
“We can see each other sometime soon, but you’ll have to dial it down a notch,” Chris insisted. “I’m sure you’re excited to have a daughter or whatever, but please keep in mind that my life has been irreparably changed-- I’ve gone through a massive upheaval and it’s very difficult. Maybe try to act a bit less excited about all of this?”
“O-- oh, you’re right. I’m sorry,” her mother softly replied. “You have been through a lot; I’ll try to keep myself calm. Are you doing alright, dear?”
“The initial period of freaking out and feeling like I have no autonomy has passed… Still not a huge fan, but I’m healthy and I don’t look deformed, so I can’t complain.”
“That’s good. We’ll worry about seeing you later. Should I refer to you as my daughter now?? What are you comfortable with?”
Chris paused and considered the question. “It’s really freakin’ weird, but daughter is fine. It’s less weird to just be a girl now; I don’t think it would feel right to be called, he, him, or son at this point.”
“Oh, I see,” her mother replied with a hint of obvious happiness and excitement in her tone. “Well, just know that your father and I love our daughter very much and there’s nothing that would ever make us love you any less.”
“Yeah-- thanks, mom,” she muttered and turned red. She loved her mom, but she could be a handful to deal with.
“Honey!” A male voice called out from the other end of the line. “Try to cut Chris some slack, h-- she has been through a lot.”
Chris faintly blushed, appreciating her dead’s interference.
After heating a sigh and an apology from her mom, Chris heard the phone change hands. “Chris! Are you eating okay? How is everything?” Her father asked.
Chris briefly hesitated before responding. “As good as things can be. The doctor says I’m way healthier and a decade younger now, so there’s that.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” her father replied without missing a beat or commenting on how much her voice had changed. “Just know that I love you as much as always and there won’t be any awkwardness. Son or daughter, I’m proud of you for handling things so well, and still expect me to rant at you about physics and space,” he insisted with a laugh.
Chris and her dad were both massive nerds who often discussed space, physics, developments in magic, cryptids, and everything in that vein. “Sure thing. I’ll call you again soon-- maybe we can have dinner sometimes with just you and mom as long as you keep her under control.”
“Hey!” A feminine voice huffed in the background. “I’m not that out of control!”
“Are you sure about that?” Chris asked before all three of them laughed. She admittedly felt a little less awkward over the prospect of seeing her family now.
Once the call was over, Chris flopped back onto the couch and let out a sigh, deciding to browse her phone to pass the time. She was glad that call went as well as it did, but she was still eager to forget it happened and move on with the night.
While aimlessly scrolling through Reddit, she noticed a few threads with similar subjects regarding inhuman entities. At first, she ignored them and tried focusing on silly, inane distractions like cute cats and funny stories. She was never one to get overly distracted by cute animal videos in the past, but she somehow found them more appealing than she once had.
Despite her attempts at distraction, she couldn’t ignore the increasingly frequent subject lines. ‘Strange beings?’, ‘Livestock killed by tiny human-like creatures,’ and other similar topics. “Hmm?” She pursed her lips while clicking on the second thread.
‘Seven chickens missing, three others mutilated. Called the cops and showed them the footage; all they did was confiscate my recordings, ask me if I had any backups, and then they disappeared after telling me now to spread ‘rumors’ or whatever. I lied, and here’s the footage. WTF is going on?’
Chris looked at some of the comments, many of which were scolding the police force for trying to cover up something seemingly impossible to cover up. ‘Why bother trying to shut you up when it’s a known fact weird shit like this keeps happening?’ Was the common sentiment.
While scrolling, a certain comment caught her eye, causing her to stop. ‘By chance, have there been any loud booms or bangs in your area? Like, something that sounds like the sound barrier breaking or an explosion going off?’
The original poster replied with, ‘Yeah, a couple of nights ago-- a few miles off in the wilderness, I think. It’s hard to tell from where exactly since It’s pretty rural where I live.’
Chris pursed her lips and shifted, adjusting her tail so she didn’t sit on it or sprain it. A boom, huh? She remembered the one she seemingly stopped many days prior. She also recalled the police barricade, the profound scent of blood, and recent rumors of strange, shadowy entities. There was most certainly something strange going on, and she couldn’t help but wonder how life might change in the near future.
Unable to resist her curiosity any longer, she finally clicked on the attached video. Displayed was a soundless view of the outside of a chicken coop at night time. After about fifteen seconds, three diminutive forms appeared near the wooden fence’s edge, moving carefully. They couldn’t have been taller than three feet, and all were donning dark, cloak-like attire.
“What the fuck…” Chris stared in disbelief as one of the figures took the lead, brandishing some type of small blade as it slowly and deliberately crept into the coop. Twenty seconds later, it poked its head out and gestured frantically at the other two, leading to all three disappearing into the chicken coop.
Shortly after, all three emerged holding dead chickens, one of them also carefully holding a sack over its shoulder. No longer exercising stealth or subtlety, they scampered over the fence. While running off, the hood slipped from one’s head, revealing what appeared to be a bald head and long, pointed ears.
Chris wasn’t sure what to do or think. How could she adequately process such a bizarre sight? Could it be a hoax? She somehow doubted it, considering how strange the world had been as of late. What were those? People suffering transience-induced deformities? Perhaps their minds had been warped?
She left the topic and navigated to the ‘Unexplained’ board, which was used to track strange happenings in the world. There was no escaping the rabbit hole she already found herself in. There were numerous topics talking about loud bangs, which had apparently become even more frequent over the last two or three days. Many reported sightings or interactions with bizarre creatures, but offered no real proof.
While scrolling, her eyes stopped on a specific topic of interest which was simply titled, ‘They’re not from here.’
In it, the original poster made a few claims. ‘Those strange creatures everyone’s been seeing. They’re not people deformed by transience. They’re not a phenomenon from our world. I can’t explain everything, but they’re not from here. They’re slipping through from another plane, and there are those among us who have knowledge of this other plane-- this other world. It’s a bit of an open secret already that can’t be covered up despite the major world governments wishing to avoid any type of mass hysteria.’
The original poster then went on to explain that he just quit his job as a police detective and didn’t care if he was risking any trouble by making such claims. As expected, many of those responding accused the original poster of being full of shit; it wasn’t like he really had much in the way of proof. But, was it really so much of a stretch? Chris recalled that explosion, along with the whispers that seemingly granted her the ability to use magic. With everything she’d experienced, was any of this new information really so farfetched?
CHAPTER END
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