Spring cleaning is always an annoying chore. Even more so when you have to go through the attic of a recently deceased family member. But, what choice did I have. At the very least, the attic was spacious, I could even stand up straight. Sighing to myself, I got back to work.
“Sure would be a lot easier if a certain SOMEONE was helping me like she said she would…” I groused, heaving yet another large box full of dusty, out of date, clothes. My friend Anna was supposed to be helping me, but as far as I know, she was still downstairs chatting with my sister, Claire. Who was ALSO supposed to be helping. I grumbled again, to no one in particular.
As I moved yet another large wooden box, my hand brushed against the surface of something, and tingled strangely. Instinctively, I pulled my hand back, looking for the offender. A blank white canvas laid on an easel that had fallen over. I knew grandma used to paint a fair bit, but a blank canvas was a strange thing to keep in the attic. Unless it was magic. Magic wasn’t exactly uncommon in this day and age, but I had no idea that my grandmother, let alone anyone in my family, had had any magic at all.
Curious, I examined the canvas, and brushed my hand across the surface. I was shocked to find my hand kept travelling past the surface of the canvas. As it did so, a colored painting of my hand began to appear on the canvas itself. I pulled my hand out, and the painting vanished with it. I picked up the easel and propped it up. Attached to the side of it was a thin brush.
Experimentally, I stuck my hand in again, marveling as a painted version of my hand appeared on the canvas. I flexed my hand, and the painting moved as if it were my living hand. I pulled my hand out again and flexed it, making sure it was still okay.
Then, I heard the trapdoor squeak open behind me. It was Anna.
“Finally decided to come help, huh?” I grunted.
She stuck her tongue out at me in defiance. “Yeah, I figured you probably needed my help moving all the heavy things.”
I rolled my eyes. She may be surprisingly strong for her build, but I’m pretty sure I was still stronger than her. Probably. “Hey, come check this out.” I waved her over.
“What is it? A blank canvas? So what?” Anna said, as she walked over.
“I think it’s magic.”
“Why would you think that?”
“Well, for starters…” I pushed my hand into the canvas again, and it turned into a painting once more.
Anna let out a shrill shriek. “What the hell!” She screamed. “Your hand!”
“It’s okay, Anna!” I pulled my hand out quickly and showed it to her to reassure her. “I’m alright!”
“But… your hand! It was a painting!” Anna said, her eyes opened wide and unblinking.
“What the hell’s all the racket up here?” Claire’s voice came from the trapdoor, as she climbed up into the attic.
“This canvas is magic.” I explained, pushing my hand in again. Anna gave another shriek, and Claire’s jaw dropped.
“…that’s so cool!” Claire squealed, rushing to the canvas. She poked a finger into the canvas, giggling to herself. “My finger’s a painting!”
Anna approached us cautiously, “And you’re okay? Let me see your hand, Bill.”
“Yeah, totally fine.” I said, offering her the hand I had placed into the canvas. She took it into her own and squeezed it, still in some state of disbelief.
“This is wicked!” Claire’s voice came from behind us.
We spun around to find that Claire was missing. But, there was a painting on the canvas now. It looked exactly like Claire.
My jaw dropped. “Claire! Get out of there right now! We don’t know how dangerous this stuff is!” I practically screamed. Dad would kill me if I let anything happen to my little sister.
“Oh, relax would you? I’m obviously fine.” the painting of Claire said. She waved to us.
“What if you had turned into a still painting when you were in there?” Anna said, sounding a little frightened.
“Um…” Claire hesitated, “Look, that already didn’t happen, so clearly, I’m fine.”
“…right.” I scratched my head. “What’s it like in there?”
“Flat. Smells like paint. I feel a little numb, actually, like my senses are dulled. You sound a little muffled too, like we’re speaking through a canvas. Oh, wait.” She giggled.
I rolled my eyes. “And you can see us?”
“Yeah, though it’s like looking through a window. You should come in too, if you want to see!” Claire grinned cheekily.
“Yeah, right.” Anna said, “Can you get out?”
“Probably. Make some room.”
Anna and I backed away from the canvas, and Claire hopped out of the painting, whole and human once more. “Ta-daaa!” she exclaimed, giving a dramatic bow.
“…thank god you’re alright.” Anna exhaled heavily, hugging Claire in worry.
“Oh, relax, would you? You’re such a worry-wart. Like my brother. It’s disgusting.” I watched Claire roll her eyes. Then, I saw a familiar glint in them. The all too familiar ‘this will be a great prank’ glint.
Before I could warn Anna, Claire already sprung into action, and flung her body weight right at the canvas. I could only stare in horror as the pair stumbled and tripped directly into the canvas, and became paintings. Or a single painting, I guess. Of two people. I stepped closer to examine it. Anna and Claire were painted onto the canvas, in a heap from falling over.
“Oh my god, what did you do, Claire?!” Anna screeched, as she picked herself up.
“What does it look like?” Claire giggled. “We’re in the painting!” Claire stayed put, lying on the ‘floor’ behind Anna. “This is interesting.”
“What is?” I asked.
“Well, you know how we’re basically flat now? Because Anna’s in front of me, everything she’s covering up doesn’t… exist.” Claire said.
A new look of panic covered Anna’s face. “What do you mean?”
“Well, you’re standing in front of where my stomach would be… so I just sorta don’t have a stomach now.” Claire giggled. “I can’t feel it or anything.”
“What?!” Anna spun around to look at Claire behind her. As she did so, her head turned to face away from the front of the painting. Suddenly, all I could hear from Anna was muffled screaming.
“Turn to face out of the painting, stupid.” Claire laughed, standing up. She spun Anna around so she was facing out towards me again.
“Oh my god! My face! I… I didn’t have a face!” Anna screamed in horror.
“Well, yeah. We’re paintings, so all that exists of us is what’s shown on the canvas.” Claire pointed out of the canvas.
“So… is it two-dimensional in there?” I asked, inquisitively.
“Not really. It’s still sorta three-dimensional, like there’s a front and back, but we only sorta… exist… as paint, I guess?” Claire said. “So like when Anna turned around, she didn’t have a face. Or a front. She was just her back. And whatever is painted in front is all that exists.” Claire stuck her arm behind Anna, “So right now, my arm just sorta… isn’t there.”
“Interesting.” I muttered. “So you really turned into paintings, then.”
“Yep! Isn’t this awesome?” Claire exclaimed.
“It is not!” Anna shouted, “Let me out of here, right now.”
I backed away from the canvas, and Anna climbed her way out of the painting. “You okay?” I asked.
“I think so… I’m… whole. I’m back to normal.” Anna let out a sigh of relief.
“And you, Claire?” I asked the painting.
“I’m fine right where I am.” Claire grinned, “You should paint on me!”
“Huh?”
“There was a brush attached to the side of the canvas, right? Paint on me with it! I bet it’s magic too!” Claire said, excitedly.
I spotted the brush in question, and removed it from its’ holster and examined it. It was a thin, nondescript brush, with no branding or anything. I ran my fingers over the bristles. It was soft. “I don’t think we have any paint.” I said, simply.
“You’re actually going to do it?!?” Anna and Claire’s voices screamed simultaneously, one in joy, the other in horror.
“I dunno. I’ve never seen magic up close like this before. It’s interesting.” I scratched my head.
“That’s my best frie- That’s your SISTER in there! What if something happens to her?” Anna motioned wildly at the painting of Claire.
“Oh, relax. It’s probably fine.” Claire waved Anna off. “Paint me, bro!”
“Again, there’s no paint here.”
“Just run the brush over the canvas, see what happens.” Claire suggested.
“I’m not taking responsibility if you kill your sister.” Anna said, darkly.
“Oh, there’s no paint on it, what’s the worst that could happen.” I rolled my eyes, as I stroked the brush in a line over Claire’s waist.
As it turns out, I really didn’t want the answer to that question. The brush completely erased everything it had stroked over, leaving Claire with a large gap between her torso and lower body.
“Oh, fuck!” I screamed. Anna began screeching again.
Claire, to her credit, didn’t panic. She simply looked down at her body.
“Claire, are you okay? Speak to me!” I yelled, shaking the canvas.
“I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m still alive.” Claire said, “Though you did sort of cut me in half…” I watched as her hand wandered over to the missing chunk of herself. She ran her hand straight through her own body, feeling the division. “This is freaky. It’s just like my waist is totally gone. Like it never existed.”
“Can you feel your legs?” Anna asked, worriedly.
“Yeah, I can even move them still.” Claire smiled, kicking a foot up. Her legs started walking, away from Claire’s upper body, as Anna and I watched in amazement.
“This is crazy, I’m in two pieces!” Claire said, excitedly, “And I’m totally fine! Magic is cool! Hey, stand back.”
“Stand back… what are you… No, don’t leave the painting!” I warned. It was too late. Claire’s legs were already running straight towards the exit.
Anna shrieked as a pair of disembodied legs flew straight out of the painting at her, and toppled over with them in a tangled mess.
“Claire! Are these your legs?!” Anna shouted, shoving them off of herself. The disembodied pair of legs stood up.
“Yup!” Claire grinned, even as the legs kicked Anna lightly and playfully. “I can still feel and control them. This is sweet!”
Claire’s legs had indeed vanished from the painting. I stared at my sister’s disembodied lower body. Where I had expected to see her insides, there was instead a covering of skin, like it had always been this way. I tapped her on the waist.
“That feels strange, bro.” Claire laughed. “It’s like you’re poking my insides.”
“I should be, in theory.” I said, scratching my head in confusion. “So you’re totally fine, then.”
“Yeah.” Claire said, “I’m coming out too.”
“No, wait, stay in there. And get your legs back in there too. I need to know we can fix this first.” I stopped her.
“But-“
“No buts.” I said, firmly.
“Well… except the one out there.” Claire grinned. Her lower half waved her butt at me.
I sighed heavily. “Anna, could you put her legs back in the painting for me.”
“Why should I do it?” Anna asked defiantly, stepping away from Claire’s legs.
“Because they’re my sisters legs…” I muttered.
“Perv.” Claire snorted from inside the painting.
“You say that every time I so much as touch you anyway.” I rolled my eyes.
“Yeah, I know. Don’t worry bro, I know you’re not a pervert.” Claire grinned.
“…I’m glad to hear it.”
Anna smacked her forehead. “Fine.” She picked up Claire’s legs by the waist. “You’re surprisingly light.”
“Whoah, hey!” Claire exclaimed, “Put me down!”
“Sure, once we’re in the painting.” Anna said.
“Wait, ‘we’?” I asked.
“I’m just going to make sure she stays out of trouble. And maybe help you get her in one piece again.” Anna said, biting her lip. “Besides, it seems pretty safe, right?”
“Yeah, I mean… Claire’s still alive, so…” I beckoned towards the canvas.
Anna stepped into the painting, dropping Claire’s legs in front of her.
“Hi, legs!” Claire giggled. She hugged her lower body.
“This is so weird.” Anna said. “So, what’s the plan?”
“I’m going to try painting her waist back.” I said, wielding the brush again.
“How’s that?” Claire asked.
“Well, when I brushed over Claire before, I wasn’t thinking of anything. So maybe ‘nothing’ happened, and it turned the painting into nothing. I’ll try thinking of restoring her instead this time.” I explained.
“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard in my life.” Claire frowned.
“…As much as I don’t want to agree with the girl who almost got herself killed as a painting, I have to agree with her.” Anna said.
“Look, just… what have we got to lose? She’s already broken in half. If I just paint over the blank space, either nothing gets erased this time, or she’s fixed.”
“Alright, then.” Anna said, and poked Claire’s legs. “Let’s line you up properly.”
Soon, Anna and Claire had gotten Claire into position, with the gap roughly where it was before the incident. Anna then stood far apart from Claire, not wanting to be anywhere near the brush. I braced myself and made a stroke, making sure to concentrate on painting her waist back.
“Hey, I’m in one piece again!” Claire exclaimed.
I breathed out a sigh of relief, and looked at the painting.
“Wait, something’s wrong.” Anna declared. Claire simply giggled. I knew that mischievous giggle too well.
I examined Claire more closely, and realized what was off. Her legs were indeed attached to her body once more, but they were… backwards.
“I turned my legs around right before you made the brush stroke!” Claire laughed. She did a little shaky jump. “This is cool!”
“How is that cool?!” Anna screamed, “Your legs are on fucking backwards!”
“How is that NOT cool?” Claire laughed, “Make way, bro, I’m coming out.”
“No, wai-“ But once again, it was too late. Before I knew it, Claire was standing before me again, fully human and no longer a painting. Or partially a painting. But just like her painting, her legs were definitely reversed.
“You little freak.” I muttered, loudly enough for her to hear. Claire was grinning from ear to ear.
“Yup, I’m a freak with backwards legs!” Claire exclaimed. She started walking around the attic experimentally.
“What is wrong with you?” Anna shouted at Claire.
“What’s wrong with me? My legs are backwards, that’s what’s wrong!” Claire giggled madly.
I shook my head in disbelief. “Get back in the painting so I can fix you.”
“Nah, I wanna stay like this for awhile.” Claire grinned.
I facepalmed. In that moment, I felt Claire pinch something from me. I looked up, and found the brush was missing from my hands. “Claire?”
Claire was standing in front of the painting of Anna, grinning wildly. “Ohh, Anna…” she sang, in a mischievous tone.
“Claire, please, don’t…” Anna said, sounding terrified.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll be able to fix whatever I do to you.” Claire grinned evilly. Before I could stop her, Claire had swung the brush over the canvas, and Anna suddenly fell silent.
I rushed over to the painting, to find Anna’s painting was now completely headless. “You erased her head?!” I screamed.
“Yup!” Claire said, almost proudly. Inside the painting, Anna was clearly panicking. But at least, she was still alive.
“How did you know you wouldn’t kill her?” I questioned Claire, angrily.
“Bro, my legs are ON BACKWARDS.” Claire rolled her eyes, “I think Anna can survive a little decapitation.” She giggled. “Just a sec.” She turned back to the painting, and reached her hand in. She grabbed ahold of Anna’s arm, and led her out of the painting.
Soon, Anna was standing in the attic with us, in the flesh. Minus her head. Instead, there was a smooth plane of skin where her neck would normally be growing out of. Anna was clearly panicked, her hands feeling wildly for her missing head. At least she was alive. Apparently breathing wasn’t an issue either, her chest was rising and falling so fast she looked like she was hyperventilating.
I gently pet Anna on the shoulder. She seemed to calm down, and stopped flailing about. She stood very still for a moment, and pet her absent neck. Then, she gave a thumbs up.
“See, she’s alright.” Claire grinned.
Anna pointed to her missing head, then back at the canvas. Or at least, I assume where she thought the canvas was.
“She wants her head back. Give me the brush, Claire.” Claire meekly deposited the brush in my outstretched hand. “You’d better lead her back in.”
“Fine.” Claire gently took Anna by the hand and tried to lead her towards the canvas. I say ‘tried’ mostly because she started walking the wrong way. “Oops. Sorry, I’m not used to having to walk backwards.” Claire laughed.
Soon enough, Claire and Anna were paintings once more. Concentrating on how Anna looked, I painted her head back into existence. The brush was definitely magical, as it only took a single stroke to make Anna’s head reappear, exactly as it was before.
“I’m back! My head’s back!” Anna exclaimed, as soon as the brush left the canvas. She reached up with her hands and felt for her head.
Claire was doubled over in laughter at Anna’s joyous reunion with her head. “What are you laughing at, you’re next.” I swiped the brush across her lower body, erasing her backwards legs.
“Hey! I liked those!” Claire protested. “Being normal sucks.” She pouted.
“Too bad.” I said. I noticed Anna start to walk out, and I made way for her to exit the painting
“Oh, come on. Just let me be weird for a bit. Give me four legs! Or turn me into a centaur!”
“I don’t even know if that’s possible.” I frowned. Anna exited the painting.
However, she was still headless.
“Wait, what?” Anna and I spoke at the same time. I looked back at the painting, to find Anna’s painted head still there.
Claire was laughing all over again. “You forgot her neck, stupid!” she pointed and laughed.
“Oh.” I said, feeling rather dumb. “Sorry, Anna. Wait, did you notice that when I did it Claire?”
“Yeah.” Claire grinned cheekily, “It was so hard not to blow it with laughter, too.”
“It’s alright.” Anna said, “I’ll just get my body back in the painting and…” she trailed off.
“And?” I asked.
Anna raised a finger as if to say ‘wait one second’. She turned back to face the canvas, and reached into the painting. She pulled out her own disembodied head. I could only stare.
“This is weird.” Anna’s head said. She was holding her own head in her arms. “I’m headless.” Anna giggled.
“I thought you’d be more horrified than… laughing.” I said.
“Me too.” Claire piped up from inside the painting. I shushed Claire.
“I would be, but… it’s totally safe right? You can just paint my neck back later.” Anna said, cradling her head in her arms. “Besides, this is… actually kinda cool.” Anna gave a weak smile.
“…huh.” I was speechless.
“Hey, if Anna can be headless, can you not give me my legs back too?” Claire asked.
“What?”
“Well, Anna’s all weird now.” Claire pouted.
“I am not weird!” Anna objected.
“You are holding your own disembodied head in your arms.” I said, flatly.
Anna didn’t really have any objection to that.
“You know what, fine, give me my legs back.” Claire suddenly said, “but do the same thing you did to Anna to me.”
“Huh?”
“You heard me, I want to be headless, too.” Claire grinned.
“Oh, fine, whatever.” I relented. I painted Claire’s legs back, then made a careful brush stroke and erased her neck.
“Thanks, bro.” Claire said, stepping out of the painting. “Can you give me the brush, now?”
“What about your head?” I asked, handing over the brush. Claire giggled, and turned back to the canvas.
I watched in fascination as Claire painted herself another new body. However, her new body had its’ arms and legs swapped. Claire stepped out of the painting.
I wordlessly examined Claire’s strange configuration. She was now practically upside-down. Her head hung upside-down from her flipped torso.
“This is awesome!” Claire exclaimed. “How do I look?”
“…fucking weird.” Anna finally commented.
“…yeah.” I agreed.
“Good!” Claire grinned. Meanwhile, her other body had climbed its’ way back into the canvas.
“What are you doing?”
“Having two bodies is a bit too much for me, so I’m erasing that one.”
“But… that’s your actual body.” Anna said, eyes widened again.
“So?” Claire shrugged. Quite a sight, considering her arrangement. “This body works just fine, too.” She grinned, as with a few strokes of the brush, her other body was painted into blank canvas.
“Alright, now to address the elephant in the room.” Claire turned to face me, a grin plastered over her upside-down face.
“…what?” Anna and I echoed.
“Bill’s the only normal person in this attic.” Claire grinned.
“Yeah, that’s not an accident.” I said.
“Well, we’re fixing that now. Get in the painting, bro.”
“No way.” I protested, “I like being normal.”
“It’s overrated.” Anna suddenly piped up.
“…you’re kidding, Anna.” I spun around in disbelief to face her.
Anna raised her disembodied head up, “Nope. This is fucking awesome. And you’re getting in that painting right now, so that we can fuck with you.” She had the most evil grin I had ever seen on her face.
I gulped nervously. “There is no way I’m getting in there, especially with HER holding that brush.” I pointed accusingly at my sister. Given the opportunity, she would probably completely ruin me.
“Then I’ll paint you.” Anna grinned, plucking the brush from Claire’s hand, “I promise, I won’t let Claire so much as touch you.”
“She’s the one who tricked you into the painting in the first place, you don’t think she can steal the brush from you?” I protested.
“I probably would, too.” Claire said, honestly.
“Fine, then both of you get in there. I’ll take suggestions from you Claire, nothing more.” Anna said.
I was rendered speechless again. I turned to Claire, only to see her already walking into the canvas. “C’mon bro. You can trust her, right?”
“…yeah, but…” I bit my lip. “Fine. Fucking peer pressure.” I threw up my hands in surrender. Anna excitedly hurried me to the canvas, and shoved me in.
I practically fell into the canvas, where I was greeted by Claire. “Hey, bro. Nice of you to join me.” She grinned evilly.
I picked myself up and dusted myself off. “So… this is the painting, huh.” It was an expanse of blank white. Everything Claire had described of it before seemed true. It was three-dimensional, but oddly completely flat. I looked out at the attic, as if through a window, up at Anna’s headless body. Anna’s head was perched on a pile of boxes behind it.
“Yep.” Claire danced around in front of me. As she blocked my view of the attic, I felt parts of my body just… vanish. Anything that she was in front of, I couldn’t feel anymore. It was like they didn’t exist.
“That’s really weird. Stop… erasing parts of me. Shoo.” I waved Claire aside. As she slipped aside, my body came back into existence.
“Try turning!” Claire said, as she turned away from the attic. As she did so, the front of her face vanished into blank canvas. She was still speaking, apparently, but it was inaudibly muffled.
Curious, I turned my head to the left, and the entire left side of my face gradually vanished into nothing more than blank canvas. All that existed of me at any given time was the paint that was shown on the surface of the canvas. “This is freaky.” I turned back to face Anna. She waved at me.
“Having fun in there?” Anna asked.
“It’s interesting.” I said. I moved to fold my arms, but found that doing so caused bits of my torso and arms to vanish, which made it surprisingly difficult to do. “So, what are you going to do to me?”
“Ooh, ooh, make him headless!” Claire said, excitedly. “Actually, do me too! I haven’t been headless yet!”
“You shut up.” I said to Claire, poking her harshly. She stuck her tongue out at me.
“I can shut her up for you.” Anna grinned. I watched as the brush descended upon Claire’s face, and when it was gone, Claire’s mouth had vanished.
“Mmph!” Claire was clearly unable to talk without a mouth. She patted the blank patch of skin where her mouth should be. I could tell she was clearly enjoying this, even if she never liked shutting up.
“Boy, it’s nice to have some silence from her from once, huh.” Anna laughed.
“Are you reading my mind?” I joked.
“No, that’s just probably what everyone who’s ever met her thinks.” Anna said.
There was a muffle of protest from Claire.
“So true.” I laughed.
“In fact…” Anna grinned, bringing the brush down on Claire once more. Now, her face was gone.
“Whoah. Did you just…”
“I erased her face, yeah.” Anna giggled.
We watched in fascination as Claire groped the smooth, blank expanse of her face. She gave a thumbs up.
“Of course she likes it.” I said, a little exasperated.
“Let’s see if you do.” Anna grinned.
“Wait wh-“ was all I managed to get out before the brush painted my face away. I shot my hands up to my head, feeling my face for any trace of it remaining, but all I could feel was smooth skin. Even my eyebrows had vanished. I couldn’t see any more, or smell, or talk. This was incredibly strange.
I gave a thumbs-up to show Anna I was okay. I heard her giggle. I still had my ears. I pointed to my blank face in defiance, hoping Anna would get the hint and paint me my face back.
“I’ll do the opposite of Claire to you.” Anna said. I was a little confused about what that meant, but I felt the brush stroke over my face again.
“What does that mean… oh.” I said, discovering my mouth had returned. Anna had given me back just my mouth. As opposed to taking Claire’s mouth away, earlier. Right. “Very funny.”
“I thought it was.” Anna giggled, “This painting thing is fun. I can do whatever I want to you!”
“I trust you not to kill me.” I sighed.
“Of course.” Anna said, “Besides, I’d need someone else around to paint back my neck later. And like hell I’d trust Claire to do it. She’d probably erase my head again.”
“Yeah, she would. So, now what?”
“Now, we experiment.”
“Uh oh. Like how?”
“Like this.” I felt the brush sweep across my body, and then, nothing. I couldn’t feel my body any more.
“Am I just a head now?” I asked, “I can’t feel my body.”
“Yup.” Anna said, “Figured I’d keep up with the whole ‘opposite’ theme.”
“I hope you remember enough of my body to paint it back.” I said, a little worried.
“Oh, don’t you worry. I’ll get your body back right now.” I swear I could hear a hint of malice in Anna’s voice. Not like I could do anything about it though.
Soon enough, I felt my body once more. I flexed my limbs experimentally. “Something’s off.” I muttered. My body felt different. “What did you do to me?”
“Better to show than tell.” Anna chuckled. She painted my face back, and I immediately looked down at my new body.
It was female.
“…Anna… why am I a woman?” I asked, cautiously.
“I was thinking about what Claire said earlier. You were the only one different because you were still normal. Then, you were still different, because you were the only guy. So…”
“So you turned me into a girl.” I said, in disbelief. I examined my new body. At least she had painted me wearing my own clothes.
Far off to the side, I noticed Claire’s faceless body flailing about like crazy. “Just a sec, I think Claire wants her face back.” Anna giggled. She painted Claire’s face back onto her head.
“You turned Bill into a girl?!” Claire screamed as soon as her mouth was returned to her, “That’s hilarious! I always wanted a big sister instead! Oh, hey, my face is right-side-up.”
“Well, it’s upside-down on your head.” Anna noted.
“Yeah, but I’m upside-down overall, so it’s right-side-up.” Claire retorted, “Thanks, that actually helps a lot.”
I was still speechlessly looking over my new body. I grabbed my new chest. It was surprisingly large. “Thanks for the huge knockers, at least.” I joked.
“Just a sec, your head totally doesn’t match your new body.” Anna grinned. “And I thought you’d like that.”
Another stroke of the brush, and I found my head had been redesigned to look more feminine. I rolled my eyes in acceptance. “Well… not on myself…” I frowned. My voice was female now, too.
“Hmm… I can fix that.” Anna giggled.
I examined myself after a few more strokes of the brush. The boobs were gone.
“Well, they’re not ON you anymore.” Claire giggled. She was pointing over to my side.
I turned to look at what Claire was pointing at. It was the huge pair of boobs, floating disembodied beside me. They were also bare.
“I don’t know whether to be aroused or not.” I said, a little confused. I reached out to touch them, and recoiled when I found I could still feel them. They were still MY breasts. That’s… not something I ever thought I’d say. “They’re still a part of me?”
“Yeah.” Anna grinned, “Like Claire said, they’re just not on you anymore.”
“Why are they naked?”
“What does it matter, I painted them. It’s not like there’s any GUYS around to see us LADIES.” Anna smirked.
“Ha, ha, very funny. Show me your boobs then, if you’re so comfortable being around other women.” I challenged her.
My jaw dropped when Anna flashed me.
“Your boobs are nice!” Claire shouted out.
“Oh, gross, I totally forgot your sister was still here.” Anna blushed.
“Hey!” Claire protested.
I was a little confused and taken aback at the current turn of events. Claire wandered up next to me. “Psst, I can’t reach your ear. Bend down so I can whisper to you.”
“Huh?” I knelt down beside Claire’s head.
“I think Anna has a crush on you.” Claire whispered, giggling.
“Um…” I was rendered speechless for what felt like the fiftieth time today. “No way.”
Claire shrugged, “Dude, she just flashed you. Well, us. I’m just calling it like I see it.”
“What are you calling?” Anna asked, “What’s all the whispering about?”
“Oh, nothing.” Claire grinned, cheekily.
“Don’t make me erase your face again.” Anna threatened.
“Go ahead!” Claire laughed, “I kinda liked it. I could spend the day faceless. It’d be kinda zen.”
“Like you even know the meaning of the word.” I muttered.
“Yeah, I totally don’t.” Claire stuck her tongue out, “I do rather like talking.”
“We know.” Anna and I said simultaneously.
“But, I also like pulling pranks. Like this!” Claire exclaimed, and she leapt up and grabbed my disembodied breasts.
“What the-“
Before I knew what was happening, Claire had jumped out of the painting, breasts in tow. I stared out into the attic as Claire fondled my breasts.
I winced. What she was doing… it felt… good. I bit my lip, hard, to stop myself from making any obscene sounds. “Stop that!” I shouted out, weakly.
Claire only grinned at me, squeezing the pair of breasts in her hands. Anna simply stood by, looking very, very amused.
“C’mon, bro. Or should I say sis? Doesn’t it feel good?” Claire taunted.
I groaned in half pleasure and annoyance. I’d have to stop her myself. I took a running start, and leapt out of the painting, tackling Claire to the floor and ripping my breasts from her hands. Claire was cackling like a mad witch the entire time.
I stood up and dusted myself off, still cradling my disembodied chest in my arms. I snatched the brush from Anna, tossed the boobs into the painting, and erased them.
“There.” I pouted. I looked up at Anna’s head, which had fallen over sideways from laughter, and Claire, both grinning at me. “You guys suck.” I said.
“Man, you’ve already got the sad pout thing down pat.” Anna joked, “You’re making a great woman.”
“I am not a woman!” I protested. “I don’t even have boobs!” I said, jutting my chest out.
“Yeah, but you still have a certain other part.” Claire winked.
My face reddened, and I grabbed at my crotch. Sure enough, what I normally would have expected to find was gone. And something very different was in its’ place. Claire howled with laughter.
“You may be flat as a board, but you’re still a girl.” Anna winked. She picked her head up from its’ resting place.
I pet my flat chest curiously. “I don’t even have nipples, now.” I hoisted up my shirt to confirm that my chest was devoid of nipples.
“Yeah, you just erased them, remember?”
“I thought maybe you painted those separately…” I muttered. “Can you turn me back now?”
“Nah. You’re cute as a girl.” Anna winked.
“…but.”
“Nope.” Anna said, firmly. “And Claire, get back in the painting. I wasn’t done with you yet.”
“Ooh, really?” Claire’s eyes sparkled. She got to her feet quickly.
“Of course, I had barely changed you at all.” Anna grinned. Claire practically ran to the canvas and dove right in.
“She’s so frikkin’ weird.” I muttered.
“Yeah, oh well. Got any ideas? You should get some revenge on her for what she just pulled.” Anna smiled at me.
“Heh. Good call.” I grinned back at her evilly. “Paint her back to normal first, she’ll be so disappointed by that.”
“Nice, the ol’ fake out.” Anna got to work repainting Claire.
“Hey, what gives? I’m totally normal now!” Claire shouted in protest, as her body was finished.
“That’s your punishment.” I said, sticking my tongue out at her.
“…that’s pure evil.” She pouted.
“Relax, we’re just kidding.” Anna said, “So, got any weird ideas, Bill?”
“More like… Bill… Billina!” Claire exclaimed, “That doesn’t work. Your name sucks for this, sis.”
I ignored Claire’s jeers. “Not really. In case you haven’t noticed, all the weird ideas were Claire’s.”
“True, I guess. So, let’s take suggestions from her?”
“Really?” Claire perked up. “Alright, erase my face. No, wait, give me two faces! No, two heads! Wait, three, and replace my hands with heads!”
I facepalmed. Anna appeared to have tried to facepalm also, but forgot her head wasn’t attached to her body. “Being headless is kinda inconvenient, huh?” I joked at Anna.
“Heh, yeah.”
“-Wait, turn all my arms into legs!”
“Ugh, taking suggestions from her was a stupid idea.” Anna groaned. She swiped the brush across Claire’s head, and she was faceless once more.
“Thank god. I thought she’d never shut up.”
“We could erase the rest of her, and leave her as a faceless head.”
“Her ears too, so she can’t even hear.”
“She’d make a great paperweight.”
Claire was stamping her foot in protest. Anna sighed, and gave her her face back. “What?”
“If you two don’t have any ideas, let me paint you both instead.” Claire rolled her eyes.
“Like hell!” I shouted back.
“Actually, that’s not a terrible idea.” Anna said.
“…that is the exact definition of a terrible idea.” I retorted.
“Well, apparently neither of us have a single creative thought between us. Claire has millions.” Anna said. “Claire, if we let you do that, can we trust you to turn us back to normal eventually?”
“Keyword eventually.” Claire grinned.
“That works for me.” Anna said.
“Yay!” Claire exclaimed, and started climbing out of the painting.
“You’re serious.” I asked Anna
“Yup. C’mon.” she grabbed my hand and her head, and walked us towards the canvas.
“She’s going to do all kinds of crazy weird shit to us!” I protested, even as Anna pushed me into the painting.
“That’s the idea.” Anna retorted. She tossed her head into the canvas, and jumped in with, landing beside me.
I looked up out of the canvas to find Claire’s evilly grinning face, wielding the brush like a maniac. “Don’t worry you guys,” she said in a fake sweet voice, “you’re in good hands.”
The brush descended upon us, and I shut my eyes tight. It turned out to be unnecessary, as the first thing Claire did was erase both our heads. Then, I felt my body being rearranged by the brush. I lost track of what went where, and what I still had, and after what felt like an eternity, my senses were returned to me. At least, hearing, was. I still couldn’t see, or speak. Apparently neither could Anna, since I didn’t hear her, either.
“So here’s the deal. I think the only people in town who don’t know that you two have a crush on each other is you two.”
I felt myself turn red with embarrassment.
“So, I painted the two of you into something I think you’ll both enjoy. I’ll give you two some private time by stepping into the painting after you’re out. You can turn the painting aside, paint me into a paperweight head, whatever. I promise I’ll have fun either way, just make sure I can’t tell what you guys are doing. I really, really, don’t want to know. I won’t return the rest of your senses unless you agree to these terms.”
I didn’t like it. She was throwing us both into the deep end.
“I’ll give you your mouths back, but erase your ears. Just say whether you agree or disagree. If you don’t both agree, I’ll turn you back and we can forget about this. Or if you agree, I’ll go ahead and restore you two in your new form. I promise, you’ll have fun.”
I felt her paint the sides of my head, and my hearing ceased once more. I thought carefully about what I should reply. Claire was erasing our hearing so that neither of us would know the other felt. Or at least, that’s what she thought she was doing. It was obvious that if one of us agreed and the other declined, we’d both know who said what. I would have shook my head in disappointment if I could. Claire could be really dense sometimes. Finally, I opened my mouth and said, “Agree.”
Suddenly, all my senses were turned on once more, and I felt a hand grab at me through the painting. Claire was helping me out of the canvas. I staggered to my feet, and practically fell out of the painting. My head followed soon after. Wait, my head?
My head was detached from my body, just like Anna’s had been. Alright… what else was different? Claire picked up my head from the floor. She was holding Anna’s in her other hand.
“Okay, you two. You’re sharing a body, but your heads are separate. Play nice!” Claire grinned, turning us to face a tangled mess of limbs on the floor.
The body that was sprawled out on the floor in front of us looked completely normal at first glance. Two arms, two legs, all in the normal proportions. But on a closer glance, there was a clear vertical line right down the middle where two skin colors clashed. The ‘stranger’ part was, the body was naked, yet devoid of genitalia.
“Your um… sexy bits are still in the painting. Detached. I didn’t want to touch those myself. I didn’t think you’d want me to either.” Claire giggled nervously. She set our heads down on a box, next to each other.
“…thanks, we’ll get them out.” Anna muttered. I suddenly felt my body, our body, move. Anna could control it just as well as I could.
“Wait, put me in first.” Claire said, “Like I said. I really don’t want to know what you two get up to.” She winked at us. I blushed in embarrassment. I saw out of the corner of my eye, Anna was doing the same.
“Fine.” I said. I could feel Anna’s control over the body, and I cooperated with her to get up and head over to the painting. Claire was already inside.
“So what should we do to her for putting us in this situation?” I asked Anna. I reached in and grabbed my (thankfully male) genitalia from the painting, and set it down.
“I’m half tempted to erase her completely for this.” Anna bit her lip. She tried to avoid eye contact with me as stole quick glances at my junk. We grabbed Anna’s breasts from the painting next. I noticed they were separated, unlike my earlier disembodied chest.
“…please don’t, my parents would kill me.” I half joked, setting a breast down. “…and I guess you’d die too then, since we have the same body.”
“…right.” Anna set down the other breast, and reached in to retrieve her pussy. I got a good look at it as it emerged from the painting. Claire had made it a small ball of flesh, with Anna’s pussy proudly displayed on it. Anna caught me staring at it and I looked away as quickly as I could. She let out a nervous giggle.
“I guess we shouldn’t let her get too bored. Just erase her face. And ears. And her genitalia too, I don’t want to have to entertain the thought of her getting off to the thought of us.” I said, biting my lip. “Jesus, I never thought I’d have to say these words.”
“Your sister would totally be a voyeur…” Anna agreed, as together we erased bits of Claire. Moving our shared body as a single person was getting easier and easier. “I’m going to erase her neck too, let her play with her head.”
“That sounds fine, I guess. Should we let her come out?” I asked.
“If she wants, I guess.” We reached into the painting, grabbed Claire by the arm, and led her out. She stood before us, feeling for her missing pieces. Meanwhile, we reached into the painting and pulled out her featureless head, and pressed it into her hands. She felt it for a moment, and when she seemed satisfied with what it was, she gave us a thumbs up. Then, demonstrating surprising spatial awareness for someone without any senses other than touch, she felt and stumbled her way to the trapdoor, and exited the attic, leaving Anna and I to our own devices.
We picked up our disembodied heads, and looked at the small pile of our detached genitalia.
“…Well, then.” I said.
“…yup.” Anna agreed.
“Should we… kiss?” I offered.
“Thought you’d never ask.”