Evelyn was walking home from work, arms crossed, head down, lost in thought from a busy day at work, and a Halloweekend ahead that promised little. She barely heard the scuffling, and just turned around in time to see a blur rush past her, a shouting “Move!” and then a race of autumn air.
She shouted at something extra in the breeze, a tickling, tingling feeling that was soft and caressing, and shouted again when she was suddenly not as she had been.
“Oh, dear,” a second voice said, from above, and a witch landed without a sound. “I do apologize, I wasn’t aiming for you.”
“Aiming?” Evelyn said, turning her new mittens over, squeezing them, trying to figure out she felt so light. “Am I…plush now?”
“Yes, in fact. I was going for one of those collectible beanies from a long time ago. Do you remember them?”
“You turned me into a plush bat!?”
“And you came out adorable,” the witch said, running a hand across Evelyn’s chest, feeling the softness with her own fingers. Evelyn’s eyes went wide at the touch, the inspection, which was neither tender, nor unpleasurable. The bat blanched.
“Well, turn me back!”
“But you look so cute! Don’t you want to spend some time as a soft bat plushie?”
“No!”
“It was worth a try. But, I must confess, these kind of full body, full essence transmutation spells can be finnicky. If I restore you now, they might resurface and transform you again when you sneeze. Best to wait a day or two. All Halloweekend, to be safe.”
“But I had plans!” It was a total lie, and the quirked eyebrow look the witch returned told Evelyn she didn’t buy it.
“You can do a movie marathon as a plush just as well as a human. Though…” she paused and smiled, “…if you’re a plushie, you may as well take advantage of it. Is there someone in your life that you’ve imagined owning you?”
“No! Why would I want anyone to own…” Evelyn stopped mid-sentence, as a memory of a high school crush bubbled in her mind. A crush that she had had some odd thoughts about, ones she didn’t quite know what to do with, and so put away in a little box in her mind.
“So there is someone.” The witch took Evelyn by the mitten and pulled her to the broom. “Tell me more.”
“I…” Evelyn was still stunned, trying to understand herself the unlocked pleasures in her mind. But she did have a worry.
“What if they don’t want me? Like that?”
“Nonsense. But in the event they don’t, I’d love to sell you to a stranger, properly, like some cheap bauble.” Evelyn had read far too many trashy ‘sold by pirates’ romance novels not to blush at that. Why was everything the witch was saying exciting her now?
“This is crazy,” she whispered, but the witch was having none of it.
“Listen, doll, if we do this right, you’ll fall so deep in thrall you’ll wish to remain owned as someone’s lush plush toy, kept merely for amusement and display.”
This wasn’t how Evelyn thought to be spending the weekend. But now that it was an option before her, she was beginning to wonder if this is how she’d want to spend the rest of her life.