I stood in the dark alley waiting for the first door to open; with a quick check around, I entered into the room. Walking across the room, I went to a blank wall but with a simple touch, the false front opened and I slipped through. I continued through a series of dark walkways as I shed my shirt; the slight bloodstains on the front would prove that I did my job, but there could be no connections to this type of work. After winding through, I climbed into the back seat of a waiting car which pulled out slowly into Manhattan traffic.

The car pulled into a parking garage a few miles away in Brooklyn and I got out and into an elevator, taking it up to the 6th floor. Upon opening the doors, I was greeted by the man who sent me out on my task.

“So you made it back” my boss said to me “Any…uh…trouble?”

“No sir” I replied “Everything went according to how I said it would”

“Good: Glad to hear it” he said motioning me to sit.

I sat in the chair across from his desk as he rounded the corner and brought me a drink of Scotch. “Have a drink for a job well done”

“Thanks” I said

“So this is going to hit the news soon” my boss said as a matter of fact

I looked at him cautiously. I had done many jobs over the years, but this one had been my biggest and there was a risk that I might not walk out of this office if he felt like it.

He smiled at my look “Now what’s this?” he laughed in a low rumble “Don’t worry about it boy. I put you on this job because I trust you and I do trust you to keep your mouth shut. I’m going to take care of you, but I’m also putting you out to pasture.”

I raised my eyebrows and began to protest but his hand going up stopped me; he was not a man you argued with quite simply.

“You’re now retired and I’m going to see to that” his voice lowered “You don’t just knock off a U.S. Senator and then go back to working for me ever again, you understand. I appreciate your years of service to me; you’ve always done whatever job needed done and you always saw it through. I’m going to hate not using you again but this is how it is”

I stood up and offered him my hand. He took it and gave it a hearty shake. “Thank You” I said simply as I finished my drink.

“Now you’re going to go back down to the garage and get in the car that will be waiting; it’ll take you to an apartment where you’ll find everything you’ll need” He looked at me with hard eyes then “This is it: take it and go” he said handing me a key.

He turned and lumbered back to his desk and I stepped into a waiting elevator.

We drove just a few blocks before the car came to a stop just over the line into Queens. I walked up to the building and went inside. I walked up three flights of stairs and unlocked the door, once inside I took a seat and finally a deep breath. “Fuck Me” I muttered to the mostly empty room. I was staring to sweat a bit and just thought the room was hot.

There was a large envelope on a single table and two suitcases in the middle of the room. I started to walk toward them but I found myself suddenly dizzy and I lurched forward, pitching myself onto the floor. “Aw shit” I thought “He fucking poisoned me” I went down on my right knee, then fell forward catching myself on my hands. I was burning up and sweat poured down my face as my breathing grew shallow. I eased down to the ground and curled up into the fetal position, sure that I was dying. I brought my hand to my face to wipe the sweat out of my eyes and without realizing it; I scratched myself with my fingernails.

I turned onto my back and stretched my legs out straight. The pain was subsiding bit and I was breathing deeper. After a few deep breaths, I opened my eyes and stared at the white ceiling above me. I felt an itch in my scalp and I reached up to scratch it.

“What the hell?” I mumbled as I sat up. I realized that currently fingernails were scratching hair on my head: I had shaved my head and trimmed my nails less than 24 hours earlier and was thoroughly confused. I let my hands slide off my head and I brought them around to look at those nails.

“Holy Shit” I said louder than before. My hands, quite simply, were not my hands. My hands were busted up, hard and calloused; but what I was seeing right now were small, pale and delicate. My fingers were skinny and my hands were smooth as I rubbed the backs of them. My vision pulled back and I looked at my arms.

My arms pulsated and which each pulse; they got smaller. Muscle contracted inward as well as my arm hair thinned to almost nothing. The paleness of my hands now travelled backward over thin delicate wrists that almost looked fragile and up narrow and skinny arms.

As my head tilted downward watching my arms change before my eyes; something different came before my eyes. Thin strands of black hair were clouding my vision; growing longer and more plentiful by the second. I grabbed a handful of them as they grew down past my eyes, but I could feel hair brushing my ears as well and soon the feeling was of hair crawling over my neck. I was just wearing a white t-shirt as I had earlier gotten rid of my outer shirt and the contrast of the stark black hair on the shoulders of the white shirt jolted me to my feet.

As I stood, I realized that more was wrong than I had previously guessed. I fumbled with my reflexes and it seemed my body was fighting me as I stood. My shoes felt heavy and awkwardly big and as soon as I made it to my feet, my pants began to slip off my waist. I made a grab for the pants as they went down, but my right thigh was still exposed and I dropped the pants the rest of the way to the floor as I caught sight of my skinny, slight leg.

“What the hell? Am I shrinking?” I thought as the pants fell and my t shirt draped down over my waist and thighs. I had been 6’3” and weighed 210 but I could tell both those numbers were going down quickly. My mind didn’t want to understand what was happening yet but I was trying to comprehend my new situation. “I’m not dead physically…but my old life and image sure is” I said to myself.

I stepped out of my shoes and bent down to peel off my socks. As the socks came off, I saw that pale white skin again. My feet had to be half the size they had been. I looked at my toes and thought I saw them get even thinner than when I first laid eyes on them. My nails were tiny and clear and my feet looked very small and soft. My ankles contracted inward and they looked so small that I wondered if they would keep me up. My calves were thinning rapidly and becoming paler now too. I had already lost at least half of my weight by the looks of my legs and now my thighs reshaped themselves.  All the hair on my legs had vanished and I ran my hand over the very smooth and soft skin. My thighs were not touching each other as I stood there but I clamped them together as I felt a new contraction.

I hooked my thumb under the waistband of my very loose and worthless underwear and I yanked it to the ground where it pooled over my ankles and feet and I hiked my shirt up just in time to see my testicles retreat inside my body. It was an odd sensation and I was speechless. My penis began to retreat and slowly pulled inward until I witnessed it contract one last time and become a clitoris. Next my skin refolded itself outward creating a vagina and vulva. My hand clamped over my new female parts partly in shock and partly in modesty.

I noticed the sensation of my touching thighs as I felt my hips shift outward and weight redistribute to my rear as it expanded outward as well, shifting me forward. I was torn suddenly as to if I should lift off my shirt or to pull it down to cover my changing body. Male curiosity beat this sudden female modesty and I pulled the shirt off over my head.

I felt my long dark hair swish with the shirt and I felt it brush across my back as it fell back into place. I looked down and saw that my stomach was now pale and flat and with one last contraction, my sides came inward. I knew what was going to happen next and I took a deep breath in and held it. As my nipples puffed up and my breasts began to grow, I exhaled slowly and by the time I needed to breathe in again, I had small breasts on my pale trim chest. They were by no means large, but there was no doubt that I had a woman's chest. My fingers brushed over them and ran down the front of my chest and I could feel my ribs beneath my forgiving skin.

My hands now went to my face and ran across a smooth and small chin before running over my cheeks and nose. I had to see what I looked like now and I took a small step towards the hall where I hoped a bathroom and a mirror would be located.

A thought ran through my mind as I began to move down the hall “You’re standing on a woman’s foot, walking with a woman’s legs and about to see a woman’s face”

I flipped on the light in the bathroom and saw a face in the mirror with a shocked look on its face. “That’s me” I thought with genuine surprise. My heart raced now with this undeniable evidence before me.

I raised my hand and it was moving towards the mirror when I pulled it back to tuck a few loose strands of hair behind my ear. I saw that my hair wasn’t fully black; it was very dark brown at the ends but closer to my scalp, it was lighter brown, almost auburn. My eyes were dark brown and almond shaped and thin eyebrows ran across my pale forehead. My fingers now traced my nose; it was high and round on the end and while my mouth was small, my lips were actually quite plump and pink.  I saw what my small face looked like and said in a questioning voice “I’m…Japanese?”

I was a bit surprised at my voice as it was now higher and feminine, but I didn’t detect a Japanese accent. My eyes scanned down my thin frame once more taking in a different point of view than I had ever experienced before popping back up to look at my face again.

I stared at the reflection as it sunk in. My boss had taken care of me; there was no way anyone could ever connect this person in the mirror to the crime I had committed last night. No one would ever believe that this tiny 5’ 95lb woman could be mistaken for the man who may have been seen near the Senator’s office. I was free.

I smiled for the first time in ages and I liked how it lit up my eyes and I giggled. I had never been the smiling let alone giggling type, but it seemed like I should be now. “There’s more to this change than I can ever know…” I said with caution and a bit of worry in my new voice. My mind was changing and stretching in its own way. I tried to think about last night but the memory seemed fuzzy and hazy to me; more like a movie I had seen a few years ago than something I had planned for months and executed with precision a few hours ago.

I hurried down the hall and opened the envelope. Inside were a passport, a driver’s license, social security card, a birth certificate, credit cards and several bank account numbers all in the name of Midori Nakamura, along with several thousand in cash.

I opened the suitcases and found women’s clothes and a car key. I pulled out a small pair of black panties and a black bra. I quickly stepped into them before grabbing a pair of jeans and a black sweater. I pulled on the jeans and wiggled my ass to fit in them and after putting on the sweater, I fluffed my hair out to look natural before stepping into a small pair of black flats.

I was surprised at how heavy the suitcases were to me now and I struggled to lift them. I fought them down the stairs and into the back of the Toyota that flashed its lights when I hit my new key. Once inside the car, I slid the seat all the way up and still barely touched the pedals. I adjusted the mirror down and went too far and I caught a glimpse of my own face. I tilted my head at the sight: it seemed totally natural to me; comfortable and right. There was a newspaper on the passenger seat and I opened it to the classified ads; I needed a new apartment.