Josh Benson pulled into the driveway of his new house and shut off the engine. He turned around and looked at his daughter in the backseat. “We’re here; what do you think?”

Grace Benson shrugged her shoulders as she undid her seatbelt. “It’s fine I guess” she replied.

Josh got out of the car and stretched out his back. They had been on the road for six hours driving to their new house in their new town; Backstrom Kansas.

Josh was yearning for a fresh start. He was a writer with a couple of books out there in the mystery/horror genre that people had seemed to like so he could live and work anywhere really. His divorce had just become final and after he had been granted sole custody, he wanted to get as far away from his train wreck of an ex-wife as he could.

His ex, Lydia, was currently spending six months in a rehab facility to try and kick her drug habit. Josh felt bad for her; she hadn’t been like that when they had met and fallen in love and had their daughter Grace. It was right around the time Grace turned one that she began drinking too much at first. Worse things had come after that and Josh had to do what was best for Grace.

They had picked a new city by pointing at a map. Backstrom seemed like a good place to start over for both of them. Josh had been there to look over a few houses before he settled on the small ranch house on the quiet side street that they were currently standing in front of.

There wasn’t much to the town and what was there was a bit run down. Josh saw a flyer nailed to the power pole at the end of the driveway. It was an announcement for a party in the town park welcoming the new Sheriff.

“Now I know I’m in Kansas…there’s a new Sheriff in town” Josh jokingly drawled.

The moving truck sat parked on the street in front of the house and the professionals were just about done unloading the boxes into the rooms that they were labeled for. Josh and Grace stood off to the side as the last of the furniture came off the truck and into the house. Josh handed over the check and they left just the two of them to enter and explore.

“Your room is off to the right of the living room Gracie” Josh told his daughter. “I gave you the one with the attached bathroom; it’s also a bit bigger but I figured that you’d need more room than me. You’re going to be a teenager next year and you’ll want your privacy”

Grace blushed: The thought of bringing up problems related to growing older to her Dad embarrassed her and made her mad at her Mom for being so unreliable.

“Thanks Dad, but you didn’t have to give me the Master bedroom” Grace said looking around.

“No; honestly I’d rather have the other side to myself. I can set up one of the rooms as my bedroom and the other can be my office. We both get our own bathroom this way too” Josh said.

He looked at his daughter and ruffled her hair. “I know it’s been tough going through everything with your Mom and me. I hope we can both get a fresh start here and I hope that things will be better now”

Grace just smiled and gave her Dad a hug.

She headed to her room and started rearranging and getting things unpacked and set up.

Josh found a radio and plugged it in so they could at least have some music while they worked. He started in his bedroom too. “Might as well have clothes and a place to sleep” he thought as he unpacked his clothes and hung them up or got them into drawers.

After a few hours, they took a break and headed out for a drive around town to get familiar with the place.

They drove past the government office building and past a Police Station with chipped and peeling paint. They found the Middle School Grace would be attending before they went to find a place to eat. They went past a bakery where an older lady waved to them before they found the only bastion of corporate America. The town did at least have a Subway.

After they ate they continued to drive around. They passed the town limits and a sign that read “Backstrom: A Place of Magic”

“Why would their slogan be a Town of Magic?” Grace asked.

Josh shrugged “Who knows, maybe some magician came from here back in the day”

They drove back to their home as the sun was staring to set.

“It’s been a long day and I don’t know about you but I’m tired” Josh said once inside.

“Yeah me too... Good Night Dad” Grace said as she headed for her room.

“Good night Kiddo” Josh said as he kissed her on top of her head. He headed for his room and hopefully a good night’s sleep.

Josh fell asleep pretty quickly but when he woke up in the middle of the night, he knew something was wrong.

The clock read 4:28 and his stomach was cramping “Ugh” he moaned out turning on his side and curling up into a ball. He raised his knees up and brought his hands to his stomach as he closed his eyes and held his breath.

“Shit…my stomach is killing me” he said as he realized that he was starting to sweat.
Josh felt hot all over all of a sudden. “If I’m going to throw up, I’ve got to get up and get to the bathroom” he thought trying to motivate himself to move but it wasn’t working; Josh still lay on his side paralyzed.

“This feels worse than the time I had that kidney stone” he thought recalling what had been the worst pain he had ever experienced before. His eyes opened though when the pain began to fade just a bit. He exhaled slowly through pursed lips but stopped suddenly when he heard a distinct cracking noise.

Josh sat upright in bed and said “What the Fuck was that?” as he turned on the lamp on his nightstand.

He sat up and let his eyes adjust to the bright light for a moment. With his eyes closed, it felt like something was brushing against his cheeks and forehead. Josh’s immediate thought was that he had bought a house infested by spiders and he began swatting around his face and rubbing his forehead and cheeks.

Josh was still disoriented just enough to be thoroughly confused by what he felt and what he didn’t feel.

“What the hell is this…hair?” he said finally fully opening up his eyes.

Josh couldn’t understand why he had hair in his eyes and along the sides of his face and on the back of his neck and on the top of his shoulders.

He swept it all back and out of his face in a single motion but as he did, he felt his thumbnails scratch his skin.

“What the…” he said truly getting scared as he looked at his hands. Josh turned his hands over and over before his eyes. “Those aren’t my hands” he said. His hands were small and smooth and had rather long nails on them. They were clear but the tops were long and a very bright white.

Josh’s eyes trailed back and up his arms. “Holy shit!” he said louder as he noticed his arms looked different as well. They were trimmer and shorter and the hair on them was lighter in color and thinner.

“What the hell is happening to me?!” he said as he flung the covers off of him.

Josh shoved his hands in his mouth to physically stop himself from screaming at the top of his lungs.

When he removed the covers he saw his legs changing shape. He watched as all the hair on them stood on end briefly, and then pulled into his legs, disappearing and leaving behind smooth skin. His legs were shrinking shorter, his calves were thinning and his thighs were getting rounder and fuller beneath his boxers.

Josh jumped up and out of the bed but upon his feet hitting the ground, his knees buckled and he had to use his hands to catch himself from falling in a heap on the ground.

Josh laid his top half on the bed while his legs draped down the side. It was in this position that he watched his feet change shape.

They pulsated once before they began to shrink down smaller. His heels pulled in, the sides narrowed and his toes shrank back and changed shape becoming less knobby and much smoother and smaller. Even his nails changed shape on top of his smaller toes.

As he took in his small feet, delicate ankles, trim calves and full thighs, it hit him “Shit…I look like a girl”

Josh was finally able to stand on his two feet but his legs still felt shaky. As he rose up though, he heard the cracking sound again and felt a pain in his lower back. The arch of his back came out and with it, his hips and ass thrust outward.

As they did, they began to grow and expand. Josh could hear and feel the flesh building up behind him as his hips flared out.

Josh’s eyes clamped shut as he felt a distinctive pinch in the front of his boxers “No” he murmured through the moment of uncomfortableness as his penis retracted and his testicles rose up and pulled into his body. Josh felt his body rearranging internally as well as externally as he now was a fully functioning female.

Josie Benson felt her stomach pull inward as she lost the small belly she had as Josh as her waist pulled in as well.

Josie heard a slight gurgling noise as she felt her nipples pinching. They became very sensitive and stood up as her areolas spread outward slightly. The gurgling noise was followed by a buildup of flesh and mass on her chest. Breasts grew out and shifted her weight and center of balance even more.

Josie’s shoulders rounded and her neck smoothed out as a tingling and burning sensation settled into her face.

She turned and ran across the hall to the bathroom where she flipped on the light and once more suppressed an urge to scream in terror.

Josie’s face was changing from a masculine visage to a feminine one. Her chin rounded and her jawline weakened. Her cheeks and chin were already hairless but they were getting smoother; her cheeks had a shine to them as they rose up more prominently.

Her nose grew thinner and came to a point at the end over pink lips and a small mouth. As her lips parted, she saw small white teeth and she ran her tongue over them.

Her ears shrank smaller as her eyes got smaller as well. Her blue eyes though seemed larger on her over around smaller face. Her eyelashes came out and her eyebrows thinned as that same shininess of her cheeks also came on her forehead.

“Holy Shit; I’m a woman” Josie said in a female voice to her reflection in the mirror. She ran her fingers through her long sandy blonde hair in disbelief.

Josh had been 6’2” and 200lbs but looking at herself now, Josie figured herself to be no taller than 5’2” and maybe 110lbs.

“What the hell happened to me?” she said in wonder.

Josie stood before her mirror for at least twenty minutes before she found enough strength to move. She cautiously walked back to her bedroom and felt compelled to put on a t-shirt to cover up her exposed breasts. She also put on a pair of basketball shorts that were lying on the floor. She sat down on the side of her bed and tried to think straight.

Her feet rose up off the ground and dangled a few inches above it. She swung and kicked her feet mindlessly as she tried to think of what to say to her daughter in the morning.

As Josie chewed on her fingernail, she took out her phone and looked for a non-emergency number for the police in town. There wasn’t any so she decided to call the only number she could find for the town: the Mayor’s office.

It wasn’t even 6 in the morning yet so she just wanted to leave some kind of message but was shocked when the phone was answered on the second ring.

“Hello” Josie heard a female voice on the other end say.

“Um…Hello” she replied.

“Let me guess, you weren’t expecting anyone to answer were you?” the voice said.

“Um…yeah” Josie said hesitantly.

“Well this is Mayor Lams herself” the voice told Josie.

“Um…I don’t know what to say now that I’ve got someone on the line and actually have to say something…this sounded like a better idea in my head before than it’s turning out to be” Josie said.

“Did something happen to you last night Miss?” the Mayor asked frankly.

“What…um…yeah…it…uh…definitely did” Josie said looking down at herself.

“I think you need to come down to my office right away” Mayor Lams said. “I’ll be waiting for you”

Josie clicked off her phone. She was more shocked now than before if that was possible.

Josie wrote out a quick note for Grace in case she woke up while she was gone. She slipped on a pair of Grace’s flip flops that seemed to fit her feet just fine now and she headed into town.

“I hope someone can tell me what’s going on around here” she said as she backed out.

To Be Continued…