Melody – Six

Up and down.
Up and down.
Miranda looked so peaceful as she slept. Melody almost forgave her for an instant, but sighed a little. She was never very good at revenge. Miranda’s pranks always seemed better. The cricket incident. The thing with the cute guy and the speeding ticket. The other thing with the cute guy and the permanent marker. Always Miranda’s ideas.
“And now,” thought Melody, “she’s turned me into Tinkerbelle.”
Melody, still resting on Miranda’s stomach, collapsed backwards in despair. She had no ideas. What could be “worse” than becoming a living Barbie doll? Even if she thought of something, how was she going to do anything?
I’m a fairy.
The words “Bugzapper”, “Flyswatter”, and “Entomologist” flew through Melody’s head.
Tinkerbelle. An idea hit her, insight is always obvious in retrospect, she thought, while she smiled and started to gather up energy.
Two shimmering butterfly wings, flashing and shining blues, purples, and indigos emerged from her back and effortlessly hefted her up about an inch off of Miranda’s stomach.
“Better. But still…” Thought Melody, as she tried to ponder a trick to play. She let herself land, her feet standing on Miranda’s hard-earned abs, a monument to all the sit-ups Miranda had done when she used to be on the Soccer team.
She looked up dismally across Miranda, thinking of something she could wreck, some feature to distort, or some manipulation that needed to be accomplished. Another look at Miranda’s peaceful face almost stopped her again, her eyes barely closed, mouth almost drooling. It was blissful, serene, perfect, like everyone thinks a sleeping girl should look.
“And the Grinch had a wonderful awful idea.” Thought Melody as a crooked smile slowly crept its way onto her face.
Using her glimmering wings, she hovered over until she was directly above Miranda’s neck, and landed again. Careful not to wake the nearly comatose Miranda, Melody reached both hands down to the tip of Miranda’s chin, and pulled up.
It was working.
“Like peeling off a colorform,” thought Melody as she continued pulling, until Miranda’s face had completely separated from her head, leaving only blank skin underneath, and leaving a soft-leathery sheet of Miranda’s features in Melody hands, still with eye’s closed, and still sound asleep. Even though her face was disconnected, Melody could still feel breath drawing in and out from Miranda’s nose, in unison with her chest heaving up and down.
Looking at Miranda’s featureless face was almost eerie. There was nothing there, not even any trace that an eye, nose, or mouth had ever existed there. Blank. Erased.
Melody turned her attention back to Miranda’s “severed” face. Smiling sweetly, as if she were putting on a show for some invisible audience, she rolled up Miranda’s flattened face into a tube, and carrying it in one hand, marched her way down Miranda’s body to her waist, where she set down the tube on Miranda’s thigh.
Pausing a moment, Melody turned around and raised up the bottom of Miranda’s T-shirt. With a little effort, she managed to hoist the shirt up a little beyond her abs, exposing Miranda’s toned stomach, and a touch of hair leading down from her navel.
Melody picked up Miranda’s face and began to unroll it. After smoothing out a few wrinkles, she spread the face out fully, and set it down on Miranda’s tummy, taking a moment to straighten it. Then, she finalized the effect, fusing Miranda’s face onto her stomach, leaving no trace that it had ever been anywhere else. Miranda remained asleep.
Melody flew up about 3 feet above the sleeping Miranda and admired her accomplishment. She glanced again at the faceless head, and shuddered. It was just too weird, though she knew she’d love to try it some other time. Almost as a reflex, she pointed her hand at Miranda’s head and watched with satisfaction as it dissolved, seeming to sink into Miranda’s body and leaving no neck stump or any evidence there might have been a head there.
Melody let out a little laugh, still appaled at how squeaky she sounded. She reminded herself of a Rescue Ranger or some similar cartoon. Absent mindedly, as she returned to find somewhere to sleep, she wondered if this was how cartoon characters got their voices.
Melody, curled up warmly in a sock, woke up to a scream.
And then a pause.
And then a little laugh.
“Oh god, for a second I thought that was all a dream…”
“Dream. Yea, that’d make sense,” thought Melody, recalling her dream she’d just woken from, where she was being taken apart and distributed for anatomy class.
“I’m sorry Melody. I really thought I was in a lucid dream last night. I didn’t think you’d really like… Get tiny.”
Melody, afraid of sounding ridiculous, remained motionless on top of Miranda’s dresser.
“Hey, this is actually pretty cool. Nice work.”
Melody sighed (a very little sigh) and rolled over. She extracted herself from the sock, and flew over until she was eye level with Miranda, right at her stomach.
“Ok. Can you bring me back?” squeaked Melody.
“I guess so. Hold still.”
Melody felt herself become almost nothing, like being a gas only retaining her shape. Air seemed to flow right through her body, and in the corner of her eye, she could see that she had turned clear, ethereal, like a ghost or maybe an angel. She felt her body expand in all directions, spreading, as the gaps within her seemed to grow, until she felt a warmness brewing inside, a soft light filled everything, and she was herself again.
“Thanks.”
The clock said 7:34. Melody turned around without saying anything and headed back into the living room. Analysing her attire, she found she was more or less acceptably dressed in jeans and an undershirt. She was barefoot though, and the floor in the kitchen was freezing, as she got out milk and Cheerios for breakfast.
For a moment it seemed that she should just deal with it, like she always would. Maybe go find socks or slippers. Maybe just get back on the carpet or turn up the heat.
“Magic,” she told herself, “Use your magic.”
A faint reflection in the microwave reminded her she still possessed wings, as Miranda couldn’t undo them. Beating them softly, she rose up a few inches from the floor. Still, it felt like cheating. She’d already tried wings, and, cool as they were, they weren’t original enough. Still hovering, she thought for a moment, and looked down at her legs.
“If I can fly, I wont need these.”
Melody grabbed hold of her feet and plucked each of them off. She considered keeping them for a moment, but decided against it, instead letting them disappear, following with her legs and entire lower half. She floated down close to the floor and scooped up her jeans and panties, then threw them over into the living room where she presumed the rest of her clothes to be.
Melody set herself down on her round stump, which seemed a lot more stable than her ass. She felt more and more like she’d never need her lower half at all, except maybe for a special something.
A few minutes later, after Melody was already into her second bowl of cereal, Miranda came in wearing a sports bra (so she could see) and matching jogging pants.
“If I tighten my abs, it feels all weird,” said Miranda’s stomach, as she flexed to demonstrate. Her eyes and mouth bulged, while her nose sank into her cheeks. It looked hilarious.
Both girls still a little groggy, neither really said much during breakfast. Melody remarked at how weird Miranda looked feeding herself, and Miranda replied that it was her fault anyway, then changed the subject to her mild hangover.
It all felt almost too normal. Like she’d known this could happen all along, but never knew how.
Miranda said she thought her parents might be back soon. Melody took this as a hint that she should probably change Miranda back.
Melody was still awake, which was surprising. She sort of wanted to be tired, even though she wasn’t. All she could think of was magic. How cool this could be. How weird things could get.
She tried to remind herself of the normalcy spell that whoever-he-was had mentioned. At least then, she wouldn’t become some kind of freak.
It felt almost like a loss of something. The laws and rules of the universe no longer held true. She could wield chaos and order as she desired, and there could be nobody to stop her.
Almost everyone finds a limit sooner or later.
Almost everyone.
Almost.
Maybe there really were no limits. Maybe there wasn’t anything that Miranda or she couldn’t do. Maybe this meant something.
She felt burdened with her new freedom. Along with greater abilities, had come greater responsibilities. She wondered if freedom, the truest freedom any human had ever possessed, would be worth the potential in pain and in loss.
She smiled wearily, realizing that she had the power to make life perfect. She could live forever. She could bend time, space, and the universe as she saw fit, and so what the hell was she doing here eating cereal?
Snap.
Miranda said, “Jesus, I’m tired. Can you change me back so my mom doesn’t freak out? I’m gonna go back to bed.”
Melody grinned and complied, turning Miranda into a floating ball of human goo, then quickly restoring her to a complete person. She was about to stand, when she remembered she still didn’t have any legs.
“Thanks. I’m uh… going. Too tired to face daylight. You can stay as long as you want to.”
“Thanks, but I think I’m gonna go. I wanna go show this to people.”
“Sure. Don’t do too much damage,” said Miranda as she smiled a little. She really did look tired.
“All right then. I’ll call you tonight or something.”
“Yea. Ok.”
“Bye then.” Miranda trudged off back into her room. Melody restored her legs and stood up, walking into the living room to try and gather her clothes.
Melody didn’t have a ride, but decided to walk instead. It was a mostly pleasant day, though Melody began to feel almost tired as she walked down the hill towards the main drag, which could more or less lead her home. The sidewalks were mostly empty, but people were outside, doing stuff in their yard.
So this is freedom.
Melody felt even more alienated than usual. She could imagine all these people, with ordinary boring lives, never understanding, never realizing, as she had, that all the answers were wrong. Answers are always lies.
I am a weapon.
She smiled a little bit, and a thought briefly occurred. She moved her consciousness out a bit, and pushed back against everything.
Around her, the world stopped. A car that was cruising by paused, its driver stuck with a bored and detached look. She turned around a looked for a moment at a leaf stuck in midair.
She could freeze time. It was perfect.
Pushing harder, she watched the leaf fall back up and re-attach itself to the tree. The car backed down the hill.
Melody couldn’t help but sigh a little. She could undo everything – and never make a mistake again – but she felt like perfection was too much. She silently resolved that she would limit her powers as much as she could control herself.
Slightly bored, Melody started home again, the world around her still frozen in a moment.

To be continued.