Chapter 4: The Claws

Linus ran a red light on the way home from Scarlett’s hotel. He was so distracted. The Fortis Beach Police that pulled him over recognized Linus from his days in the municipal court before he joined the firm. They talked about all the speeders and drunk drivers Linus had convicted as a junior prosecutor and those he’d gotten acquitted in his brief time as a defense attorney. The officer told Linus he’d let him go with a warning as long as nothing came back when he ran his license through their computer.

But as much of a relief as that was that Linus wouldn’t get a ticket  — he was even more in a panic when he pulled away to finish the drive home five minutes later.

While Linus had waited in the car for the officer to run his license and registration through the crime computer, he’d done what they tell you to do these days; Linus kept his hands in plain sight at “ten and two” on the steering wheel. He stared over the wheel at the infotainment screen of his brand new Toyota LandCruiser SUV thinking about green eyes and Valeria. He absently noted the navigation said he was 2.1 miles from home and had a turn in six hundred feet. The clock read 11:59pm.

And then, as the time flipped to 12:00, Linus saw it. Or rather, he saw them. In the glow of the strobing blue light atop the police car, Linus’s hands on the wheel were visible in flashes, tingling and shimmering. Everything seemed normal at first. But after each strobing flash, his hands changed. For a few seconds, he thought it was a trick of the light. But then Linus knew it wasn’t.

Not only could he see his fingers become smaller, more slender, and the skin smoother, but he could see the nails slowly get longer and take on a lustrous glow. When he pulled his left hand back to look, Linus saw then that the nails were shiny. Very shiny. And pink. He was still staring at them when the police officer’s body passed in front of the lights as he returned to Linus’s car door.

Linus quickly lowered his hands out of sight. The patrolman tore off a warning citation from his pad and passed Linus’s license and registration through the window, waiting for him to take them. But Linus just stared at the man.

“Sir, please take these and drive safely,” the officer said in a flat “cop” tone.

Linus nodded. “Th…Thanks.” But he didn’t dare move to take the items. “You…you can just drop them.”

“What?” The cop leaned into the window, incredulous and growing impatient.

Linus realized that his reluctance to take his license and paperwork would make the officer suspicious. So, he closed his fist and reached up, trying to time it with the strobe so his fingers wouldn’t be lit. He grasped the cards between his knuckles and snatched them from the cop’s hand. Somehow it worked, and the patrolman didn’t see what Linus was hiding.

He wanted to wait for the cop to pull away, but that wasn’t police policy, as the flash of the police car’s headlights and a chirp of the siren told him. So Linus put his slender new hands on the bottom of the wheel and slowly pulled out, his feet slipping weirdly on the brake and accelerator. Linus’s heart was beating so fast that his Garmin watch warned him of being overly stressed.

Somehow, he made it home and into his garage. With some difficulty, he released the seatbelt and opened the car door. Linus stumbled as he got out of his SUV. His size eleven shoes, suddenly too large, fell off his feet as he wobbled into the house. This barely registered with him, though. Linus’s mind could comprehend nothing. Fear had totally replaced logic.

Once inside, the terrified man stumbled clumsily, the large socks flapping on his feet, to the bathroom. He flipped on the light with one of his new taloned fingers and stared into the mirror. His impossibly large and newly green eyes were now even larger and filled with terror. He moved those eyes from the mirror to his hands. They were petite, very slender, and flawlessly pale white.

He pushed up his sleeves to find that his arms looked different, too. Though mostly hairless and white instead of his normal tanned and hairy limbs, they still appeared to more or less be his arms. But for how long?

Returning to his hands, he turned them over. On the inside of his left wrist was a small tattoo of a fairy. On the right was the symbol for the female. As Linus tried to comprehend what these foreign eyes were seeing, his brain had had enough. Between the sex and the shock of these developments, his mental fuse finally blew. And in a moment, lightheadedness became darkness, and he slumped to the bathroom floor in a heap.

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The next sensation Linus experienced came hours later, with the sun already shining brightly. The sensation was sound. It was a ringing sound. His phone. It was still in the pocket of his slacks. On automatic, he reached for the phone. It felt so large. But he managed to pull it out of his pants and turn it around.

Two things terrified him. First, he was looking at the image of his boss’s face on the phone, the senior partner at his firm. And second, the long-nailed, pale white hand that held the phone wasn’t his.

Somehow, though, he was able to use the tiny foreign index finger to answer. Before the phone was to his ear, he could hear Edgar Washington yelling. “Where the fuck are you, Newcombe?! Gulf Coast has been waiting for an hour!”

He put the phone to his ear and spoke in a shaky voice. “I’m sorry, boss. I’ll be…” He started to say “right there,” but realized staring at the glossy pink nail of his other hand that he couldn’t possibly go to work looking like this. He heard a siren passing by his house and got an idea. “I’m at the hospital. Got food poisoning. I…I’m sorry to miss the meeting.”

Edgar Washington growled. “Food poisoning! Really Newcombe! You sound like a teenager cutting school. You expect me to believe that shit?”

Linus switched into defense lawyer mode and cashed in some reputation. “Sir, I know what it sounds like. But have I ever called in sick before? Have I ever missed any meetings? Would I risk the Gulf Coast Financial account?” He was sweating now and felt ill.

The old man on the other end of the phone paused. And then after several seconds of uncomfortable silence, Edgar Washington spoke in a much calmer tone, saying, “No. I don’t suppose you have.” Another pause. “Food poisoning. Seafood?”

Linus exhaled heavily. “Yes, sir. Clams. If you want to put Ms. Marshall on the phone…”

“Um. Yeah. Don’t…don’t worry. I’ll sweet talk her. She owes me a favor or two, and we’ve been doing business with Gulf Coast for decades. You may have to burn some late hours when you get back, though. But it’ll be okay.”

“Thanks, boss…Mr. Washington.”

“No problem, son.” There was another pause It was clear that Mr. Washington wasn’t fully buying the story. “Food poisoning? Are you at Fortis Beach Medical? I’ll come by to check on you.”

Linus thought quickly. “Uh, no. I was coming back from Fort Myers. They brought me to University Medical. Going to keep me till tomorrow.”

His boss sounded guilty now. “Do you want us to send a car tomorrow? I can send Isaac and one of the runners. They can bring your car back.”

“That’s…That’s kind of you, sir. But I should be fine. If I need help, I’ll call Isaac myself.”

“Okay, Linus. Sorry for going off on you.” The mention of Isaac seemed to satisfy his boss.

Linus could hear a woman’s voice. Edgar spoke. “Hey, Julie wants to talk to you.”

Linus’s administrative assistant came on the line. “Hi Linus. I overheard. God, I’m so sorry. Food poisoning is no fun! Bad oysters?”

“Thanks Julie. Um, no. Clams. Can you help Mr. Washington deal with the Gulf Coast folks?”

“You don’t worry about a thing. Just get better. Want to see those bright green eyes of yours sparkling again soon. Um, gotta give Mr. Washington his phone back. Call me if you need anything, boss. Bye, dear.”

Linus came back, “What did you say about my eyes, Julie?” But it was too late. She had hung up.

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Chapter 5: The Cause

Linus lay there on the floor, trying to get a handle on what was going on. He continued to stare at his hands, flexing the alien fingers. They felt more supple and deft. When he rubbed the fingertips together, he received more sensation. Rubbing his palm, he found it soft and smooth, free of any calluses. Other than that there were five digits on each hand, not one thing about them was familiar. Or manly.

Linus managed to stand up, holding on to the sink it was a struggle. He stood before his bathroom vanity and then got lost looking at the nails. They were beautiful, but so utterly feminine. He remembered his wife going to a salon and spending hundreds of dollars on her nails, and they didn’t look this good. The soft pink color was girlish, but also not childish. Whoever these hands belonged to, it was a woman. A young woman. But who? And why were they attached to his arms?

Linus staggered from the bathroom, almost falling. As he reached for the towel rack to regain his balance, he looked down and received another shock. He remembered walking out of his shoes in the garage, but now he knew why. One of his socks had slipped off when he slumped to the floor the night before, revealing what he now saw. His toes were painted the same soft pink as his fingers, and there was a gold ring on the second toe of his left foot. But more than that, the feet were tiny, hairless, and pale white.

His ex-wife, Beth, wore a woman’s US size eight shoe. He knew this because she complained about how big her feet were and she constantly called attention to them. Linus’s feet now were much smaller than hers, he was sure. But it wasn’t only that they looked small. He now knew why he’d stumbled so much getting to the bathroom. Walking with such small feet was difficult for someone of his height. Far less stable. Linus continued to notice this as he had to hold on to the walls to make it to the bedroom. 

He also tended to walk on the balls of his feet now instead of heel to toe as he was used to. No, these, like his hands, weren’t simply smaller versions of his feet. These were someone else’s. And, judging by the size and the nail polish, whoever owned the hands also obviously owned the feet.

Linus couldn’t think straight. Part of it was because of his mind’s inability to wrestle with the bizarre things that were happening to him. But the other reason was that his head was pounding. He made his way carefully into the kitchen and started the automatic coffee maker. The grinder started up, and he immediately regretted the decision to use it. But it was going now, and so he let it finish.

While the coffee brewed, he retrieved three Tylenol from the cabinet and dry-swallowed them. Linus knew he had a caffeine deficit, but that didn’t explain why his head throbbed. He’d only had one drink the night before, so it couldn’t be a hangover. He mirthlessly thought, “Maybe I got the hangover of whoever owns these hands and feet.”

With the coffee poured into what now seemed to his hands like a much bigger mug, he leaned against the counter and stared into space. However, it wasn’t empty space he was looking at. It was the eReader lying on the counter. A little white light flashed in one corner, and something about it drew him to investigate.

He tapped the fingerprint icon in the middle of the screen with his finger, and the device instantly unlocked. I didn’t have to do the password thing. The reader again opened to Anna’s Journal. And once again, two entries were displayed. But these weren’t the two from the last time he looked. Linus hadn’t checked the reader on Sunday. But there was an entry for Sunday. Well, Sunday ten years before.

September 28, 2015, 11pm

Marie came over. She’s been having a hard time since she and Paul broke up. But she seemed better at first. My twin sister always falls hard for men who show her any attention. I kept telling her that girls were better and that she should try one sometime. She never thought that was funny before…and she didn’t today, either. She was so angry when she left. I just don’t want her to settle for “anything with a dick.”

We are supposed to be fraternal twins. But I think we’re “mirror twins.” She’s right-handed, while I’m left-handed. I like girls. She likes boys. She’s blonde and I’m a ginger. I always thought that we were natured alike, though. But after my night with Valeria, I think I’ve grown more assertive. And I might have taken things a little too far in that direction tonight with my sister. But Marie crossed the line. She said some things that really hurt me. Attacking me and my choices like she’s some paragon of virtue. I cried for an hour after she left. She really got to me this time in the ways that only your twin can. I know she didn’t mean what she said, but it still hurts. I hope she’ll call me tomorrow.

As I write this, I’m staring at my hands…at my nails. They are beautiful. Thanks to Marie. One great thing is that she brought over her supplies. Having a sister who is a premium, what does she call it, esthetician, is fantastic. Before the fight, she did my nails and, wow! They look incredible. I love this shade of pink! It’s “strawberry cheesecake.” I won’t take the polish off until Marie and I are okay again. I need my nails to remind me how much we do love each other, no matter how awful she was to me tonight.

I called Valeria in tears, and damn if she didn’t come right over. I was so glad she did. Helped me to have someone to talk to after Marie left in such a furious state. We polished off two bottles of wine. I know I’m going to feel it tomorrow! We didn’t make love, but we lay there naked together, just being. Just touching. She is amazing. I wanted her to stay over and hold me, but she has to be at work early.

I think I love her.

Linus stared at the dull black text. Over and over, he read the entry. Everything Anna described, he could see and feel. Her hands were now his hands. Her feet were now attached to his legs…or are these her legs, too? His joke to himself earlier was true. I do have her hangover.

Above the diary entry for “yesterday” he had just read was one dated ten years ago today. Linus was sure now of what was happening, though he did not know why. Whatever the journal mentioned would happen to him the next day. Remembering his hands changing the night before, he thought, Or, to be precise, this will happen at exactly midnight.

Two days ago, he’d resisted the temptation to peek further into Anna B’s life out of respect for her privacy. Now he resisted because of fear. Linus didn’t want to read the entry from ten years ago today. But he knew that he had to. He had to know what was to come in just fourteen short hours.

September 29, 2015, 6:30pm

Nothing from Marie. I want her to call. I could call her, but this time I need her to make the first move. The things she said…I just can’t simply call her and say it’s all okay. I need her to take it all back first.

And on top of the Marie thing, I hate my job! Well, that’s not true. I hate my bosses. Dwayne, the owner, gave me a hard time again today about my hair. Yes, it’s long and wavy, but I keep it neatly tied up when I’m at work. I don’t look like a hippie, as he says. But he keeps insisting I either get it cut or put it up in a bun. Yes, I work at an advertising agency. But I’m a creator. I’m supposed to be a free spirit. And free spirits don’t wear their hair in a bun! And getting it cut? No way. Valeria loves my auburn locks. She says I look like an Irish princess. So, I’m going to ignore Dwayne. I’ll quit before I cut my hair!

And then there is Millicent, my direct boss. I thought we were going to get along great at first. She’s gay, too. I thought we’d have a bond there. But no, she’s just…just a dyke. And I mean that in the worst possible way. She’s only five-six, but she stands over me like she’s a butch giant, pointing out all I do wrong and trying to make me feel inadequate. Being petite never bothered me. Until now. I wish she could know what being five-one was like! Maybe she’d not be such a bitch! How her girlfriend puts up with her, I’ll never know. I’m so lucky to have Valeria.

 

And there it was. The journal was somehow the cause of his changes. His hands and feet changed at exactly midnight. If the prior entries were any indication, then Anna’s words about herself would become reality for him at midnight tonight. But how? How on earth could all this happen? How could the journal of this woman from ten years before cause him to change? And what could he do about it? It was only a matter of time, it seemed, before he became…her. As it was, he was becoming more and more like her every day. He had to stop this. Had to keep from becoming Anna, whoever the hell she was.

Linus tried to eat a light breakfast. He had no appetite, but knew he needed to keep his strength up so that he could think clearly. After eating, he realized that he still smelled of sex from the night before. Walking on his new girl feet was getting easier, and Linus wasn’t having to hold on to the walls as much. But he was still unsure as he made his way back into the bathroom for his shower.

He stripped off his clothes and turned on the water. While the water heated, Linus studied the changes. The one interesting thing about his feet was that they somehow looked like they fit. His long, smooth legs looked out of place with his enormous feet yesterday, but not anymore. He squeezed his thigh. His legs were fit, but certainly carried a little extra fat around the thighs and seemingly had little of the definition he’d had. Likewise, his calves were trim and tight. Muscular had become shapely. As much as he hated his new tiny feet, he had to admit they worked with his gams. Gams. Yeah. That’s what they are now.

Linus shook his head and adjusted the water temperature. Before stepping into the shower, he absently rubbed his legs to feel if they were still hairless and stubble-free. They still felt perfectly smooth and soft, except for a spot above his left ankle. He picked up one of the new pink razors sitting by the tub to touch up the stubbly spot. Razors that hadn’t been there before today. Suddenly, his mind came back to him as he ran the blade across the spot. “Damn it! What the hell am I doing?” he said aloud, staring at the razor held by his new petite hands.

He shook his head to clear his mind and threw the razor across the bathroom. Why am I worried about my legs being smooth? Even as he asked himself that question, his fingers were running along his smooth calf again checking where he’d just shaved.

His nipples were still distended and sensitive as he gently washed his newly hairless chest. He guessed he had Anna’s nipples now, and he feared what was to follow behind them. And then he came back to today’s journal entry. Linus thought, At least she’s not talking about her breasts.

He fearfully wondered as he replayed the entry in his mind, Can I really shrink over a foot in height? Is that possible? If Anna’s diary came true, that would be his reality. “I am screwed!”

His mind wandered to the conversation he’d had with Julie and how reality seemed to accommodate these alterations; against his memories of who he was. Julie mentioned his green eyes. Does that mean she thinks I’ve always had green eyes? Scarlett didn’t count. She’d never seen his eyes before. But Julie had known him for years. In fact, she’d commented before that his “slate-blue eyes were like him; always cool.”

And there was the “Valeria” question from Scarlett. Did I really call out that name in bed? He must have, he reasoned. How else would Scarlett know that name?

Linus pulled on his underwear, losing his balance momentarily as he lifted one leg. These damned feet! After getting his boxers on, he sat on the edge of his bed staring down at his nails, thinking. Thinking about his eyes and about the waxing kit and then the pink razors. Something in his world was out of sync. It’s like I change, and then the world catches up the next day or something. He shook his head and stood again to finish dressing. The cool air conditioning was causing his nipples to harden again. Got to get some clothes on.

Linus decided he needed to get out of the house. Dressed in a pair of joggers and a long-sleeve T-shirt, he found a bottle of his wife’s old acetone nail polish remover and cleaned the pink polish off his nails; fingers and toes. He clipped his fingers back to a normal man’s length and removed the toe ring and tossed it at his dresser. His hands were still tiny, as were his feet, and both looked decidedly feminine, but if he kept his hands in his pockets, Linus thought he might be okay for a quick outing.

But that left shoes. Of course, none of his shoes would fit; he could almost put both of his feet in one of his shoes now. In the garage, there was a pair of Beth’s old demoted running shoes she wore while gardening, but even tied as tight as they would go, they, too, were much too big. So, Linus opened the little purple backpack that had put all this in motion. He’d remembered something.

Withdrawing the worn-out pair of Teva sandals from the pack, he sighed. Linus felt that even trying this was like giving in. But he had no choice. If he was right about the journal as the cause of these changes, then these sandals should be a perfect fit. There was a distinct impression in the insole where Anna had worn them. He was sadly sure that his feet would settle into those same indentations.

With trepidation, he dropped the size 5-1/2 shoes on the kitchen floor and stepped into them. They fit. Of course they fit! And once on, Linus found walking to be much easier. More natural. As if the shoes knew how to walk even if he didn’t.

The desire to get out of the house and do something…anything…was strong. But at first, Linus didn’t know where to go. And he had to be careful not to run into anyone from the firm or it could put his job in jeopardy. As he had this thought about job preservation, he wondered if he was being delusional. Worrying about his job meant he believed, at some level, he’d be able to get his life back. But of course I believe that! I have to!

For today, however, he also had to think about midnight. He had to think about what was likely to happen to him if the journal’s power was what he believed...what the evidence of his legs, eyes, nipples, hands, and feet showed. And so he found himself heading to Wal-Mart. He picked that store because no one at the firm would be caught dead at a Wal-Mart.

On the way, he saw a text pop up from Isaac. “Dude! Food poisoning? Noice! So, guessing you and Scarlett are still at it, huh? Sacrificed the GC Financial account for a good fuck? I like it! ‘Bout time you used those balls again. Don’t worry. I’m covering for you. I’ll add it to the tab for what you owe me. You dog!!”

Linus hadn’t counted on or thought about Isaac. He’s a good friend. Hope he stays a friend. I have a feeling I’m going to need him. They’d begun working together at the public defender’s office, and Linus had helped Isaac get his job with the firm. He was glad he’d helped Isaac, but he regretted knowing and helping Isaac’s former high school classmate.

Linus tried not to think about Conrad Stephenson, Jr. Fucking prick! Just thinking about Conrad made his blood boil. He’d been what Beth really wanted, at least the type. He was the first of many she’d screwed around with during their marriage, but it went further than that. There seemed to be a cosmic link between the two men. When things happened to Linus, there always seemed to be a Conrad-factor.

Returning to the present, he walked into the garage, sandals snapping on his tiny heels, and climbed into his Toyota. With his smaller feet, he’d had to adjust the seat a little closer to drive, but with a shake of his head at this new accommodation, he backed the big SUV into the quiet street.

Parking at the far end of a row in the crowded parking lot, Linus took a deep breath, attempting to clear his mind. Got to focus on what’s happening. With his first few steps toward the store entrance, he again found walking difficult. But Linus consciously relaxed, and it became easier.

At the store, he went straight to the boy’s section looking at shorts, T-shirts, and sweatpants. In a matter of hours, if the journal trend continued, Linus would be a very small man. And so he bought five sets of small clothes to get him by until he could figure out what to do to reverse all that had happened. Linus bought socks and boy’s underwear. He also bought two pairs of basketball shoes in Youth Size 4. At least he’d be prepared. And if he didn’t shrink, he could always bring the clothes back.

As he was walking to checkout, he saw a young girl with her long blonde hair gathered in an elastic scrunchie. Remembering the journal entry, long, wavy auburn hair, he sighed. Linus watched the cute girl, probably a coed at Fortis Tech, go by and, resigned, found himself in the hair care aisle selecting a five-pack of the little stretchy hair bands.

As he handed his Amex to the cashier, she stared open-mouthed at his hands. He couldn’t really blame her. A six-foot-two man with the porcelain-skinned hands of a petite woman would look funny whether or not they had polished fingernails. Linus quickly stuffed the hands in his pockets, but the cashier continued to watch him all the way out of the store. He glanced back as he exited, thinking, Wait till you see me tomorrow, lady.

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Chapter 6: The Office

Back home, Linus threw the bags of clothes into his closet unceremoniously. Buying the clothes was an admission he couldn’t control what was happening to his body. At least not, yet. But at least he was doing something. Now, though, he didn’t know what to do with the rest of his day. What do you do when you are becoming a replica of a woman you’ve never met? How do you stop someone taking over your life through some unknown supernatural force? Should he return the eReader and the backpack to the tree where he’d found them? Would that stop these changes? Would that reverse them? A flicker of hope and determination rose in him.

Linus returned to the kitchen and picked up the pack. Unzipping it intending to replace the eReader in it, his eyes fell on the items still inside. He paused, a delicate hand resting on the bikini and t-shirt, feeling the fabrics. Linus stared at the objects, his breathing quickening, and then began slowly removing each one. He sniffed the Ed Sheeran T-shirt. It still smelled vaguely of laundry detergent. He fingered the bright yellow bikini and the thin lavender shorts. They felt familiar somehow, and he sensed these objects had a reason for being there. He sighed heavily. Whatever is doing this to me isn’t going to stop just because the pack is gone.

His expressive green eyes then turned to the eReader. If I don’t have the journal, I won’t know what’s coming, and will lose my only source of information about this Anna person and the reasons she’s doing this to me. The idea of returning the eReader and the pack suddenly seemed like a bad idea. It won’t stop the changes. It won’t stop midnight from coming.

And then it occurred to him. Stopping the changes himself wasn’t the answer. Linus needed to stop her…or them. Whoever or whatever is behind all this. He needed to find this woman. This Anna. He’d find her and take this cursed eReader back to her and have her change him back. She was the key. She was the cause. And she could damn well fix it.

Linus put the clothes, neatly folded, back into the pack. Somehow, he couldn’t just stuff them in there. As he handled the feminine items, he felt an urge. Something drew him to them. He easily resisted this new impulse, but it troubled him that the urge was there at all. As he zipped the pack again, his heart racing, he thought, Is this Anna changing more than just my body?

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The private investigator the firm employed had a license to use search software normally reserved for police called DeepSrch. Linus had the login info. He wasn’t supposed to have it, for legal reasons, but during his divorce he’d talked the investigator into letting him use it as long as he kept it confidential and only during the divorce. There was a very good chance the investigator had changed the password, but it was worth a shot.

The problem was that the DeepSrch password was at the law firm. He’d have to go into the office to retrieve it. Linus looked at his watch, noticing the band seemed looser on his arm now. Or is that just my imagination?

It was only 1pm. The office wouldn’t officially close until 5pm, and even then there would be some staying later. He’d have to wait until at least 6pm. What do I do until then? I can’t just sit here doing nothing. Can’t let my mind wander to…He rubbed soft fingers together; the memory of the feel of Anna’s clothes lingered. Got to focus!

Linus decided that using regular Google or some of the consumer pay sites was worth a shot. So, he set out using public record searches. He found typing to be difficult. Linus had always been a fast typist. But these new smaller hands made finding the keys much more challenging at first. If he hadn’t cut off the long nails, it might have been impossible for him. But within thirty minutes, he had adjusted and was nearly as proficient as he had been before. Linus noticed that his new hands, though not as strong, were more precise. More…supple on the keys.

Proficient at typing or not, nothing very useful came up. There was an Anne Blumfeld, 33-years-old and living about forty miles away, but he didn’t think Anna would misspell her own name and actually go by “Anne.” Linus knew Anna could have married this Valeria or someone else and changed her last name, too. So he looked for anyone named Anna with a “B” as a middle initial.

At 5pm he gave up. Nothing in the searches he had accessed was bringing him any closer to finding Anna B, and he’d spent nearly $200 on the crappy “people find” sites. So, Linus changed to a pair of jeans and a hoodie and slipped the Tevas back on. He figured he’d grab a quick bite and then sit in the parking lot across from the firm until the cars he knew were gone from the office. It was only after he was driving near downtown that he realized he’d put Anna’s shoes on without a second thought. I just bought men’s shoes…well, boy’s shoes. Why did I put these on?

Linus went through the drive-thru at McDonald’s and ordered a Big Mac and a large drink, keeping his hands out of sight as much as possible. He parked in the strip mall across from the firm beside a large delivery truck that partly hid his vehicle from view and waited and ate. Holding the burger in his slender, delicate fingers, it didn’t look like a Big Mac. It looked like a Giant Mac. A Colossal Mac. They should use girls in their commercials more.

He saw Julie leave at exactly 5pm with two others, and several other staff followed in the next few minutes. The senior partner, Edgar Washington, left around 5:30pm in his big Mercedes. That left two cars there. One was a top-end Porsche 911. It had a temporary dealer tag, so presumably was brand new. Parked beside it was a black Range Rover that he knew well. “C’mon, Isaac. I know you’re not working. Go on home, dude.”

At 6:05pm, Isaac exited the building. Linus was hopeful his friend was finally leaving, but his hope was quickly dashed. Isaac opened the rear of his SUV, withdrew two liquor bottles, and returned to the building.

Thirty minutes later, Isaac and whoever owned the Porsche were still inside, and Linus had to pee. Shouldn’t have gotten the large Coke. He decided it was time to take a chance. Losing his job wasn’t his primary worry, of course; nevertheless, he didn’t want to throw it all away on his lie about food poisoning.

There was a single security camera over the main door to the firm, but none inside the building. He knew if he stayed close to the front wall, the camera wouldn’t pick him up. But to be sure he wasn’t spotted, Linus put on a Marlins baseball cap, pulled it low over his face, and raised the hood of his sweatshirt.

He’d have to use his badge to get in. Linus could only hope that no one checked the access records for that night. I have no choice, he thought. He hugged the wall of the building, making his way to the entrance. As he passed by the front of the new Porsche, he cursed. “Fuck me!” On the front of the $180,000 sports car was a bright orange decorative license plate with a big white tiger paw in the middle. He knew there was only one person in the area who would put one of those on their car. Linus muttered bitterly, “Fucking Conrad Stephenson.” The man that had shaped much of the last decade of Linus’s life was inside the building.

Working as a new public defender for the county eleven years prior, Linus’s boss had instructed him to attend a high profile DUI case being defended by the largest law firm in the area, the Washington and Jordan Law Firm. Conrad Stephenson, Jr was the defendant. He was up on charges of drunk driving. This would be his third offense, and he wasn’t even twenty-three. In this case, Conrad struck several parked cars, narrowly missing a fire hydrant along the side of the road. The trial was not going well for Conrad as the officer’s body cam and the street monitoring cameras painted the picture of a man clearly intoxicated and out of control. If convicted, Conrad could have been sentenced to five years in jail.

Linus noticed at the end of the first day of the trial, though, that the highly paid defense team had missed a crucial mistake made by the arresting officer. It was pouring rain the evening Conrad was arrested, and the police officer, apparently trying to hurry things along, failed to wait the required twenty minutes before administering the breath test for alcohol. It was a basic legal requirement the defense should have known.

Linus left the courthouse that afternoon and thought about what to do with this information. Conrad was obviously guilty, and Linus, who at that time had never even met the man, already disliked him. After a restless night and a long heated conversation with his wife Beth, Linus wrote a note the next day about the cop’s error and passed it to the lead defense attorney, who used the mistake to have the case dismissed. It was this hastily scribbled note that changed Linus’s career trajectory and possibly contributed to his marriage ending in divorce.

Returning to the present crisis, Linus balled up his tiny fists and looked briefly for something with which to attack Conrad’s gleaming new car. But the feeling of his small soft hands reminded him of his situation, and he forced himself to calm down. He moved toward the glass door of the building and soon stood under the camera, outside of its field of view. Linus held his badge to the RF reader, and the light turned green. He noticed his fingers. Are my nails already getting longer?

Linus slipped in the firm’s entrance and made his way as quickly as his petite feet would carry him toward the associates’ offices. He was passing through the lobby when a conference room door opened and he ran straight into Conrad.

“Bro! Back from the dead, I see!” Conrad had a smug expression on his handsome face and was clearly drunk. He was holding a highball glass and gesturing magnanimously, arms wide open, in the classic way drunks do. “You look pretty good for a guy who ate bad oysters.”

Linus stuffed his hands in his jeans and gritted his teeth. “It was clams.”

“Clams. Oysters. I don’t give a fuck what they were. Just glad to see my ol’ buddy buddy.” Conrad moved to put an arm around Linus’s shoulder.

Linus took a step back and looked around the corridor. “What are you doing here, Conrad?”

“Oh, you haven’t heard?” He took a swig from his glass. “My dear old pa-pa kicked the bucket last month. God rest his fucking soul.”

Linus softened his expression momentarily. “Sorry to hear that, Conrad. I liked your father.”

“Of course you liked him.” Conrad chuckled. “He got you your job here, didn’t he?”

“No. I mean it. He was a good man.” Linus’s ire returned, and his eyes narrowed. “You didn’t answer my question. What are you doing here?”

“Oh, just working out the details of my inheritance with my old friend Isaac. He just ran to get some papers for me to sign.” Conrad’s arrogant grin turned positively giddy. “Eighty million dollars by the end of the year and another fifty million once we sell everything else.”

Linus was appalled at Conrad’s lack of caring for his father and his absence of grief at his passing. He already despised Conrad, but in that moment, his hatred burned hotter than ever. However, much as Linus wanted to punch Conrad, he couldn’t. Not only would his new hands, Anna B’s hands, be ineffective, but it would defeat his whole reason for being in the building. No, I need to focus. Go to the bathroom and then get the password.

He wouldn’t attack the man, but he had to respond to Conrad’s comments. “Sounds like a lot of money for you to blow. Guess you’ve already started with that Porsche I saw parked outside.” Linus instinctively pulled his hand out of his pants pocket to point, but hastily shoved it back in. Conrad didn’t seem to notice.

“Yes, indeed. And you know what?” Conrad raised his now-empty whiskey glass to Linus. “I owe it all to you, compadre. Had I gone to jail eleven years ago, my wonderful father would have written me out of his will.”

Linus shook his head bitterly. “Don’t remind me of my mistake back then. I should never have passed that note to your attorney. You should have gone to jail back then.”

Conrad tutted sarcastically. “Don’t give me that bullshit, Linus. That note…and my case made you. You’d still be a poor chump in the public defender’s office if it weren’t for me. You owe me just as much as I owe you. I mean, I got you your job here, and then I fucked your wife. We’re even!”

Linus said nothing more, biting his lip and fighting for control of his emotions. He started past his nemesis, but Conrad blocked him, grabbing his shoulder and lowering his voice to a sympathetic tone. “Seriously, though, buddy, Beth should never have left you for that boob-job surgeon. I mean it.”

Linus stared at Conrad. He didn’t know what to say. Conrad had never said anything kind before. And coming from the man his ex-wife had cheated on him with, Linus wasn’t sure how to respond. Beth had gotten her breasts enhanced and ended up starting an affair with the surgeon. She left for California with the doctor after the divorce.

Conrad continued, the smug grin returning. “No. Beth should have left you for me instead. I have a lot more money now and even bigger dick than both of you…combined.” He roared with laughter at this, grabbing at his crotch.

Linus flushed red, about to lose control. All the tension over the last few days added to his state of instability. Fists balled up again in his pocket, he flinched toward Conrad as if he was going to attack him. They were about the same size, and Linus was sure he could have taken him…yesterday. But now.

In the end, Linus jerked his shoulder away from Conrad and moved down the hall, almost tripping in his small sandals as he looked back at the arrogant man still smiling like the devil at him.

Conrad called to him, “Hey, I was just messing with you. Don’t be such a tight-ass. Why don’t you come by my father’s mansion  — I mean my mansion  — on Thursday? It’s my birthday, and we’re having an all-day pool party. Guarantee you’ll get laid.”

Linus tried to ignore Conrad, determined to get to his office. And just when he thought he’d made it  — only fifteen feet away from his door  — out stepped Isaac from his adjacent office.

Echoing Conrad’s earlier greeting, Isaac exclaimed, “Look who’s here! Well, you don’t look too bad for a man sick with bad oysters.”

Linus bristled. “It was fucking clams.”

“Oh, yeah. Sorry. Clams. I’ll try to keep that straight.” Isaac was holding a thick folder, with an alcohol-enhanced grin on his face, too.

Linus stared hard at Isaac. “Conrad, huh? Why do you put up with that guy? How do you do work for him?”

“His dad and mine were lifelong friends, and I’ve known him since we were on the crewing team at school. I know you hate Conrad, but…”

“But nothing! He’s an asshole, and you know it!” Linus was fuming. “You’re supposed to be my friend. And you are working for…” He again almost exposed his hands to gesture.

Isaac looked down at the folder, guiltily. “I know. I know what he did with Beth was shitty. But Mr. Washington wants me to handle this. I didn’t ask for it. Honest. I’d hoped I could get this done while you were ‘in the hospital’.” He’d air-quoted the last phrase.

“Whatever, dude. It’s your conscience.” Linus tried to move past. “I just need to get some Gulf Coast files and I’ll be on my way.”

Isaac tried to stop him. “Wait. I am sorry. Really. Let me get rid of…him. And then let’s grab something to eat. I want to hear all about Scarlett. She must be something amazing in the sack if you’re risking your job to be with her.”

“N…No, Isaac. I already ate, and I really am not feeling well. I just want to get those files and go home.” Linus was getting more and more nervous. Though the office was closed, anyone could still come in.

“Okay, man. Do you forgive me?” Isaac stuck out his large hand. A hand that seemed immense to Linus given recent events.

Linus froze. No way was he showing his hand to Isaac. He could see his slender new hand swallowed in Isaac’s. Linus shrugged again. “I forgive you.”

“Nope. Don’t bullshit me, man.” He swayed a little. “And I’m not leaving till you shake my hand, dude.”

Linus thought quickly. “You shook hands with Conrad, didn’t you?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “No way I’m touching those filthy things!” He moved quickly past his friend toward his own office next door. But Linus moved a little too quickly. Still not used to his small feet, when he tripped this time, he didn’t regain his balance. He had to reach out to catch his fall, grabbing the knob of Isaac’s office door. He barely got his hands out of his pockets in time. In hindsight, it might have been better if he’d fallen.

Isaac called after him. “Watch out!” And then he said what Linus feared he’d say. “What the hell is wrong with your hands?!”

Linus didn’t answer. He regained his balance enough to stumble to his office door, stepping out of one sandal as he did. He made it inside and locked the door behind him.

Isaac tried to come in, rattling the doorknob. “What the hell is wrong with you, man? Your hands. They’re so small.” And then he said, obviously seeing the sandal. “And this can’t be your shoe. Looks like it belongs on a…girl.”

In a panic, Linus called back through the door. “You’re drunk, man. There is nothing wrong. Go take care of Conrad and then go home.”

Isaac pounded on the heavy door. “Open up, bud. I’m worried about you.”

“No, Isaac. Really. I’m fine. We’ll talk…we’ll talk tomorrow…once you’re sober.” Linus’s heart pounded in his chest. Please go. Please go. Please go!

After a full minute, he heard Isaac. “Alright, I’ll go. But we’ve gotta talk tomorrow for sure. Something is up with you. Something is all kinds of fucked up with you.”

Linus looked out his window. He couldn’t see Conrad’s and Isaac’s cars, but he’d be able to see them pull out when they left. After thirty endless minutes, the big black Land Rover turned right onto the street and drove off, followed by the Porsche, tires squealing as he peeled out onto the busy street. Linus slumped in his chair and put his head in his small hands. I’m losing control of my life.

He sat there until his bladder reminded him of the other reason he’d come into the building. So, Linus took a deep breath and got up. He opened his office door, looking both ways down the corridor. The Teva was propped up against the wall outside the office. He slipped his foot into it again and carefully made his way to the men’s room.

Returning from the bathroom, Linus got on with his mission. He searched in his file drawer and found the folder from his divorce. Written on the front of the folder were the login and password for the search program. Linus pulled out his phone and took a picture of the info, and then replaced the file.

He stood to leave, but as he neared the door, Linus noticed one of several framed pictures on the wall. It was he and Isaac and one of the female interns. It was at a Fourth-of-July party. He knew the setting. It was by the enormous pool at Mr. Washington’s estate along the Gulf. But that wasn’t why Linus stared, mouth agape.

In the picture were Linus and the girl, both wearing shorts, comparing their smooth legs side by side while Isaac ran his hands down each leg and mugged for the camera.

The caption under the picture said, “Linus wins smoothest leg contest…again.”

The hell?

===============================================

Chapter 7: The Search

Linus made it back home and poured a stiff glass of Scotch. He sat on the sofa, shaking, for several minutes, trying to deal with all that had happened at the office. With Conrad. With Isaac. The photo.

Eventually, his common sense and determination returned, and he decided to try the search software. He’d probably lost Isaac as a friend and maybe his job in the last two hours, so he might as well see if the password was still good. He powered on his laptop and voila! Slack security measures to the rescue! The old password was still valid.

Two hours of searching later, Linus had still found nothing useful. He’d tried every combination he could think of for Anna as a first name and middle name and had gone through every person with Anna in their name with a last name beginning with “B” within a hundred miles. There were plenty of hits, but a ninety-two-year-old woman in Cape Coral was not likely to be the Anna that Linus was looking for.

There were one or two close possibilities, but nothing matched up totally. Finally, at 11:15pm, he struck gold. A search revealed an Anna Bouknight Garcia, thirty-three, married to a Leslie V. Garcia, thirty-eight. Try as he might, he couldn’t find out what the “V” stood for. Could it be Valeria? It must be. It has to be. The address was in a swanky neighborhood called Fortis Garden.

Linus wanted to go over to the address right that minute. He picked up his keys and made it as far as the garage. He could probably get there before midnight. It was only about thirty minutes away. But Linus thought better of it. Or something in him did at least. It’s too late. If Anna wasn’t home or didn’t answer the door, and who could blame her given the time, then he’d be a long way from home when midnight came. Who knew what would happen?

Besides, in all of his research, he hadn’t considered what he’d say or do when he found Anna. No, Linus resigned himself to the changes to come that night. But, for the first time since he had woken up with Anna’s silky legs, he had hope. Linus considered searching social media to see if he could find out more about this Anna, but he was not in the mood to wade through the Meta mess just then. Besides, there was an urgency building for something else that was becoming impossible to ignore.

The one thing he had been fighting besides panic and anger was arousal. Unbelievably horny all day. Finding his soft hands in his pants or tweaking a nipple, he was constantly turned-on. It was like an incessant buzzing in his brain. His cock stayed hard and leaked pre-cum into his underwear to the point that he’d needed to change before going to the office earlier. He’d never felt this way before in his life, and he was convinced it had to be because of that journal. Was this Anna always looking for sex? It was because he believed the journal was the cause of his randiness that he resisted self-pleasure. But, in a moment of weakness and exhilaration from finding the Anna Garcia lead, Linus found himself in bed with his favorite lotion.

His tiny hands made his cock look huge, and he had to smile at that, at least. He imagined Scarlett and the “ride” she’d taken him on the night before at her hotel. At first, he thought he’d make short work of this “problem” using Scarlett as his fantasy. But something was interfering, and he couldn’t get off. Linus was about to give up when an image of a woman he’d never met before leaped into his brain. She was Hispanic…and stacked. He imagined her there with him, licking his feet and attacking his crotch. Linus felt her tugging at his nipples and then, boom! He came with such force that he bounced up off the bed. As his cock softened in his sticky new slender hand, he began to cry.

Linus felt overwhelming emotional exhaustion on top of by post-orgasm drowsiness. It was 11:40pm. All he’d been through in these last two days was just too much, and he drifted off. He jerked awake once, then a second time. He fought the mental fatigue. I want to make it to midnight! I don’t want to miss it! I want to face this head-on!

But he could not stay awake. Midnight found a sleeping Linus. He missed the changes that would further reshape his world.

===============================================

Tuesday morning came in with a literal bang. Loud thunder woke Linus from his sleep at 8am, and heavy rain could be heard on the tile roof of his bungalow. And he knew immediately what had happened as he found himself staring through a massive head of curly hair. Red hair. No. Auburn hair. He sighed, realizing the hair was likely only part of what the day brought.

As he sat up, a sense of incredible lightness was his first sensation. He was a feather. And he was tiny. Dangling his smooth legs off the side of the bed, his feet not coming close to the floor, Linus shuddered. He then put his hands to his face and nearly shrieked at what he saw. His long fingernails were back. And they were pink again.

A sense of helplessness overwhelmed the now-small man. He was not in control. He felt not just physically weak, but powerless in what was being done to him. Even the promise of the solid lead to find Anna Garcia seemed meaningless now.

It was then that his phone rang. It was his assistant Julie. This was the moment. Or at least it was “a” moment of truth. If he answered the phone, it meant he wasn’t giving up. It meant he wanted to save his job and have a life to go back to when this was all over. When he found this Anna, or whoever was behind these changes, and got his life back, this could be the moment he remembered.

If he let it go to voicemail, it meant he had given up. He’d simply let the journal finish its work. He wouldn’t even try to find this Anna Garcia. And soon he’d no longer be Linus. Maybe no longer exist at all.

Linus had to stretch out a long way across his now oversized bed to reach the phone. His arms had shrunk, too, both in length and mass. Once he had the phone in his small hand, he paused over the answer button just like he’d hovered over the journal icon on Friday. Except the hovering finger was very different. The finger this morning was the gorgeous pink-nailed finger of a woman he did not know. No matter what the finger looked like, though, Linus had to decide quickly what to do with it.

“Hey, Julie.” He heard his voice. It sounded strange. It wasn’t high like a woman’s, but it didn’t have the resonance it used to have. I guess losing a foot in height can cause that.

“You don’t sound good, bright eyes. How are you feeling? Are you out of the hospital?”

 “Um. No. Not getting out today. Hopefully released tomorrow. They are still running some tests.” He hated the new sound of his voice. It was somewhere between a munchkin and a man breathing helium.

“Well, everyone is asking about you. Did you get the flowers and balloons?”

Oh shit. They sent flowers! “Yeah. Yeah. Really brightened my day! Thanks!” He started to tear up again. “Look, Julie, they are taking me for an X-ray. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Hopefully, from home.” He ended the call. I should have just let it go to voicemail. It didn’t matter.

As he surveyed his bedroom, the immensity struck him. Losing height didn’t just make everything higher. It seemed to make it all bigger. Linus thought, I’m not only shorter, I’m literally smaller.

Buying clothes for his new size might have prepared him to be covered, but it didn’t prepare him in any other way for the reality of this change. He’d gone from being one of the biggest men in any room to the smallest.

Linus hopped down from the bed, landing softly on his tiny feet. He stood for a moment taking in his surroundings.

As he walked, his stride felt both normal and alien to him. He covered far less ground with each step now, and it only added to how big his house now felt. But yet, walking was easier than yesterday. His feet were the right size for his body now.

Before, Linus had never used a stepladder. Now he would need one to reach almost anything. Fortunately, the coffee supplies were on the counter, and five-foot-one was still tall enough for that. Also on the counter was the eReader. He dreaded seeing what today’s entry would be, and he decided to wait to find out. Seeing the eReader, its light blinking at him mockingly, woke up his resolve. Linus had work to do. He was going to find Anna…today.

With coffee and a muffin consumed, he made his way to the bathroom to face the day. Part of him felt like he was just pointlessly going through the motions. But there was a part that burned deep within him that would not give up.

He kept trying to maintain a sense of normalcy and calm. Like Julie had said years ago, “Unlike your fiery green eyes, the rest of you is cool and calm.” Wait a minute. That’s not what she said. My eyes were blue. She said I was cool like my steel-blue eyes. He tried to figure out why he had that additional, distinct memory. I guess if she always thought my eyes were green…

Linus was now even more shaken and scared as his memories seemed to be changing as well as his body. But something in that slightly altered memory kicked him into gear. It strengthened his determination further to find Anna and figure out how to “grow up” again and reclaim his life. I won’t lose who I am to this.

He struggled to strip out of his much too large T-shirt. Though his body volume was greatly reduced, the volume of hair on his head more than made up for it. It also didn’t help that he was far weaker than he had been. Suppose I have Anna’s muscles, too.

Bucking the trend of “smaller,” there was one part of him that was certainly just as big as always, and, unlike his voice, no less manly. His formerly larger-than-average cock now looked positively immense on his new diminutive frame. Hanging from his new small body added to the relative impressiveness. I wonder if I can make it proportionally bigger when I get back to my regular height? If I get back there…

Stepping into the shower now became climbing in. And Linus had to jump to reach the showerhead in order to aim it downward to hit his head. Never having had long hair, he hadn’t thought this part through, though. Once wet, his hair became very heavy. Washing it was difficult, as getting shampoo in and out took forever. He could go get it all cut off, but why bother? Judging by his fingernails, it would be right back like this again the next day.

Linus’s beautiful fingers passed by his eyes repeatedly as he washed his new hair, and it triggered a reaction. Seeing a woman’s hand that way, his cock rose to full attention. Along with it, his large nipples began to extend, too. They always seemed to become erect in perfect synchronization with his cock.

Linus’s hand found his left nipple. The long nail pinching the tip in an unexpectedly erotic way, he closed his eyes, biting his lip. Horniness again supplanted his worry, and he found pleasure in imagining himself making love to Scarlett. His long nails felt electric as he gently scratched around his engorged areola. As if by predetermined agreement, Linus’s other delicate hand moved from his soapy hair to his cock. He moaned softly as the delayed pleasure grew and grew till he thought he’d pass out.

But, as in bed the previous night, it took an invasive image of this mysterious Latina woman to bring him to climax. She joined Scarlett in his fantasy, each attending to one of his two erogenous zones, their soft dream fingers mimicked by his own real ones. And with that threesome in mind, he orgasmed with such mind-blowing intensity that he nearly fell in the shower.

 

Chapter 8: Anna!

Say whatever he would about these changes to his body, there was no denying that through it all, Linus felt alive. For the first time since Beth’s betrayal, he actually felt emotion. Fear may have been the primary feeling, but at least his malaise was gone. This revelation gave him pause. Could what was happening be a good thing? Were the gods sending me a present? Am I being offered a new life? A chance to start over?

But this notion was ridiculous. No, he didn’t want to be whatever this woman’s journal was turning him into. Maybe he hadn’t been happy, but he certainly didn’t want this…whatever this was.

Out of the shower, he wrapped his hair in a towel and then his body in another. It was only when he passed the mirror in the bedroom that he realized what he’d done. His hand flew up to his mouth in shock. Linus hadn’t simply thrown a towel over his new long hair. No, he’d wrapped it in a sort of towel turban. How the hell did I know how to do that?

What’s more, the towel he had around his body wasn’t around his waist. He’d put it around his chest…like girls always do. Scanning his reflection from head to foot, he looked like a girl. With his hand over his mouth, covering his still mostly masculine face, and displaying the long pink nails there, the only thing that spoiled the feminine illusion was his completely flat chest. Well, that and the proportionally huge erection poking out of the towel. I have to find Anna!

The next surprise came when Linus retrieved the Wal-Mart clothes from the day before. The clothes were still in the bags he’d tossed in the walk-in closet. That wasn’t the surprise. The surprise was what he found next to the bags in that closet. All of his shoes had changed. Some were like the shoes that had been there previously, while others were entirely different. The one constant, though, was that they were all in his size. His current size. The clothes that hung in the closet above the shoes were still made for his old six-two frame. But the shoes on the floor below were not. Another mystery. Another unfathomable nuance in this unfathomable series of events.

Something about the shoes changing felt wrong. He decided to wear the ones he’d bought rather than the magically changed ones in his closet and not the Tevas! At least Linus felt he was the one deciding, not the damned journal. Not this Anna person, whoever the bitch was.

His hands found his nails again. I guess I should take off the polish and trim them again. But then, Linus had a different thought. If I’m going to confront this Anna, maybe I should do it as I am now. For some reason, this idea made sense in the bizarre, life-altering scenario he was walking through. And with that in mind, he also pulled on the kid’s Fortnite T-shirt and a pair of new Wal-Mart boy’s gym shorts instead of the sweatpants he’d intended to wear originally.

Once dressed as an adolescent boy, albeit one with long manicured nails, wild long hair, and supermodel legs, Linus returned to the laptop to print out the information for Anna Garcia. His still-damp hair kept falling into his eyes, and so he had to resort to the scrunchies he’d bought to keep it under control. The nails were the aggravation he’d feared they would be while typing. And it wasn’t simply their length. They were so damned pretty; they were a constant distraction. And every time he looked at them, he felt like he was missing something important.

With the printout in hand, Linus programmed the address into his phone GPS. The part of town where Anna Garcia lived was very high rent. The sort of place where an advertising executive, like Valeria might be by now, would want to live. It was Tuesday, so there was every chance that no one would be home. So, he called the number DeepSrch had found first to see.

The call went to voicemail. And what a voicemail greeting! This Anna Garcia sounded the part. Sexy and youthful with a slight giggle at the end of the greeting. This has to be her! But she didn’t pick up, and Linus had no clue what to say. “Uh, yeah. I’m a guy turning a copy of you because of some journal thing on an eReader.” He shook his shaggy head and smiled wryly. Sure, that would work.

He hung up without leaving a message. There was a moment’s hesitation about going to see this Anna. He still didn’t have a plan. Linus briefly again considered searching social media, but no. I need to act. I need to go. It’s my only lead! My only…hope. I can’t miss another midnight without fixing this. If she’s not home, I’ll just hang out there and wait. I’ve got nothing else to do…till midnight.

He wedged his wallet into the small pocket of the shorts and picked up his keys and the backpack, now containing the eReader once again. He removed the elastic band from his long hair. It was nearly dry, but without brushes or combs, it was a wild mess. Hippie-like indeed. So, before stepping out, he’d put a scrunchie back in place as best he could.

In the garage, Linus was met with another mountain to conquer; getting into his LandCruiser. He’d been able to just step right up when he was six-foot-two, but now thirteen inches shorter and far weaker, it wasn’t so simple.

He opened the door and calculated the best way to enter the now-oversized vehicle. As he did, he noticed three objects on the floorboard: his license, car registration and the traffic violation citation. Linus had apparently dropped them there after the cop handed them back two nights ago. He picked them up and was going to slip them back into his wallet when he saw his picture on the license. It was him. The old him. Except for the eyes. On his license, he was still six-foot-two with short dark hair, but the eyes read “green” and, in the license photo, they positively sparkled…like emeralds.

Linus managed to climb into the driver’s seat on his second attempt, his mind still thinking about the license. Reality hasn’t caught up.

He had to adjust the seat all the way forward and up to its maximum height to see over the dashboard. Apple CarPlay displayed the GPS directions. Linus rode in silence, working out what he’d say to Anna. How he’d confront her. Nothing he thought of saying made any sense. Just like none of what was happening made sense, either.

Distracted and anxious, Linus nearly hit an ambulance, his feet on the brakes taking far more effort to stop the big SUV. In fact, he’d instinctively used both tiny feet on the brake pedal when the vehicle had pulled out in front of him.

He pulled into a parking lot, hands shaking, after the incident. Linus had to pull over because he couldn’t see. As soon as he’d come to a stop behind the ambulance, realizing how weak he was, the tears started to flow. He banged his small fists on the steering wheel. “Stop it! Stop it! You’re not some silly emotional girl!”

Linus rested his head on the steering wheel as he tried to calm himself down. This morning was too important. He couldn’t afford to “lose it.” A shaky finger tapped the CarPlay Spotify app, and his delicate finger picked a song he didn’t know. But he knew the artist. He’d seen the name recently. Ed Sheeran? Why’d I pick that? I don’t even know his music.

The song began to play, and despite not knowing it, Linus found himself mouthing along with the singer.

“So open your eyes and see

The way our horizons meet

And all of the lights will lead into the night with me

And I know these scars will bleed, but both of our hearts believe

All of these stars will guide us home”

Something about the song and those words calmed Linus. His breathing slowed, and he felt more relaxed. This has to be the right Anna.

With renewed calm, he wound his way across town and through the posh neighborhood to the “Anna address” twenty-five minutes later. During the riden, Linus thought of some things he could say when he met this Anna. And by the time he reached the location, he felt prepared. Just like a day in court. Keep your cool.

He pulled into the circular driveway and saw a bright yellow early-year Mazda Miata parked there with a vanity plate reading “ANNA-G’S92.” Almost like her email address. This is it! It has to be. Can’t be a coincidence!

Linus almost ran to the towering front door but had to return to the Toyota to get the old purple backpack. He attempted to steady himself and took a deep breath before pressing the Ring doorbell. A few moments after pressing the button, the huge door opened.

All he’d planned to say left his head as Linus beheld the woman. She was petite with blonde hair. It wasn’t red…auburn…but she could have colored it. She was wearing sunglasses, so he couldn’t see if her eyes were “emeralds” like his.

The attractive woman, looking at him eye-to-eye, stepped out of the doorway and considered the bearded, small man with the shaggy red hair and long pink nails. “Can I help you…sir?”

He couldn’t speak and stood there for several seconds, gawking, before finding his voice. Weakly, he croaked out in his munchkin voice, “Are you Anna Garcia? Anna Bouknight Garcia?”

She nodded. “Yes. That’s me. And who are you? What’s this about?”

Before Linus could respond, he heard a booming voice calling, “Who is it, Anna?”

Anna turned toward the voice. “I don’t know, Les. Trying to find out.”

Les. Not Valeria. Linus knew then that this was not his Anna. Not “the Anna.” Whatever the “V” stood for, it wasn’t Valeria. His conclusion was confirmed when Anna Garcia was joined by a mountain of a man who stepped out onto the stoop of the opulent home to join the woman who was apparently his wife.

“Who are you?” the big man asked with considerable derision in his voice. “Are you some kind of midget tranny?”

Anna turned to her husband and softly punched his bear-sized chest. “Stop that, Les. We’ve talked about this.” She gestured to Linus. “People like this are…” She apparently realized there was no good end to that sentence and blushed with embarrassment. “Sorry about my husband. Now, what can I help you with?”

Linus shook his head sadly. “Nothing. Sorry to have bothered you.” Without another word, he turned back to his car. But he stopped halfway, questions still in his mind. What have I got to lose?

Meekly, Linus faced them again and spoke, “Mr. Garcia, can I ask you something?” His voice was unsure and sad.

The big man didn’t respond, instead giving a stony stare as an answer. Linus continued, “Can you tell me what your middle name is? All I know is your middle initial is ‘V’.”

Les Garcia took a step off the porch. “None of your damned business, pervert!”

Linus jumped backward and then walked that way to the Toyota, not taking his eyes off the angry “bear” staring him down.

Anna Garcia grabbed her husband’s arm. “Stop it, Les.” With more courage than Linus had, she then sharpened her tone. “I mean it! Back off! You’re scaring her…him.” Her husband relaxed.

She then turned to Linus. “He was named for two uncles, Victor Garcia and Vincent Hernandez. His dad chose the ‘V’ so both could claim he was named for them.”

Linus nodded and smiled sadly. “Thanks.”

He threw the pack into the backseat and, with even more difficulty, climbed shakily behind the wheel and started the LandCruiser. Linus turned the big SUV around until it was facing out of the driveway. He stopped for a moment. I know what this magic is doing to me. But I don’t know if I’m the first. Linus rolled down the window. He swallowed hard and leaned out the car door toward the couple.

He asked one last thing, desperate to know for sure, “And you’ve always been a man, Mr. Garcia?”

There was a moment of hesitation and confusion on the big man’s face, but then Les Garcia charged full-speed at Linus, who pressed the accelerator and pulled quickly out onto the road again, heart pounding.

 ============================================

Chapter 9: The Sketch

Linus was devastated that this Anna Garcia wasn’t the right Anna. Everything seemed to line up that she was. But I have to let this go. And I can’t give up! He arrived home and sat down in the kitchen, resisting the urge to cry. Resisting the insistent urge to jack off again. Instead, he poured another cup of coffee and opened his laptop once more.

After not finding the real Anna B among those living locally, Linus expanded the search to the entire state of Florida and then to the entire southeast and then to the entire country. The more the search expanded, the more hits he got. But those hits were far less likely and far too many to possibly review in the apparently very short time he had left to be a man named Linus. He glanced at his watch hanging loosely on his wrist and then at the eReader, “today’s” entry still waiting. “Thirteen hours left till midnight.”

With great reluctance, after lunch he gave up on his current searches and turned to the unpleasant idea of searching among those who had died. What do I do if I find out she’s dead? Within the state of Florida alone, there were well over a hundred Anna B’s who had passed away over the last decade. When that search result number came up, it caused him to pause. He stared at his lovely hands atop the keyboard, trying to think of a more efficient way to find this woman. As he stared at the soft strawberry cheesecake pink, the light finally came on in his brain.

The nails! Anna’s journal entry mentioned her sister did her nails. And her name is…Marie! Now he had two names to cross-reference. Why didn’t I think of this before?

Linus started over with the local area using both names. His first, using Anna B and Marie B together yielded nothing helpful. But he had hope. Until he didn’t. Returning from a trip to the bathroom, he was greeted by a message from the DeepSrch app saying, “User Log Out Successful.” I didn’t log out. What the heck?

He tried to log in again, but the app now said, “User Account Already Logged in On a Different Device. Please Log Out of Other Device and Try Again.” Linus tried several more times, but received the same message.

He retrieved his phone and found out why. He had several messages from Hector Mendoza, the investigator who had loaned him the search log in. Hector kept asking if Linus was using the app.

The last message from the investigator said, “Never mind. App support fixed the login. Hope you’re feeling better. That’s why I don’t eat shellfish!”

So, that meant that Hector was using DeepSrch. I’ll just have to wait, I guess. I’m so close, he thought. So close to finding this Anna. The real Anna B. If I’d only thought about Marie sooner!

Linus killed time trying a few Google searches including Marie’s name, using some public record sites, but found little new and nothing promising.

He gave up and went to the kitchen for a drink. As he passed the counter, the light still blinked mockingly on the side of the eReader. Linus decided he had to know what this midnight would bring. He hoped that there wouldn’t be a “new” journal entry, but every instinct told him it was a distant hope.

Linus switched on the reader and placed his index finger on the fingerprint. It unlocked. It still gave Linus the creeps that he had Anna’s fingerprints. Anna’s petite hands. He sighed.

There was a long post this time, including a sharp gray-scale image.

September 30, 2015, 1:20pm

Valeria stopped by my desk at lunch today and casually dropped off a large manila envelope. I opened it and almost started crying. Inside was a charcoal sketch…of me…of my face. I’d always thought I had some talent for drawing, but seeing my image, created by her from memory, told me I was dead wrong. She has talent. Genuine talent. I’ve seen myself in the mirror all my life. But not like this. To see my face through her eyes was…different and so exciting. My nose looked cuter. My lips were fuller. My cheeks rosier. My neck more graceful. My eyebrows, arched mischievously, looked seductive. Is this how I really look? Am I that pretty?

I don’t know if I can wait till tomorrow to see her. I’m so fucking horny. She is perfect and, if I don’t mess things up, she could be…No! I can’t say that. Can’t jinx myself. The goddesses won’t like my being presumptuous. At the bottom of the sketch she’d written, “My fiery redheaded seductress.” Is that what I am? Am I her seductress? God, I hope so. “Fiery” is our new code word in bed. If she says that, she wants me to take control and be the aggressor. On the back of the sketch she’d written, “More to see tomorrow.” I can’t wait!

Linus looked at the image under the entry, enlarging it until it filled the small screen. Anna had apparently taken a picture of the sketch and saved it to her journal app on whatever device she used to create this diary. The image was surprisingly very clear, and he could see just what Anna was talking about. And the face was amazing. This beautiful face in sharp black and white was soon to be his face unless he found her or could somehow stop midnight from coming.

He returned to searching with fevered intensity. Linus kept trying the DeepSrch app, but every time it rejected his login the same way as before. “User Account Already Logged in On a Different Device. Please Log Out of Other Device and Try Again.” Using every other online tool he could find, including some from the dark web, he still came up empty or with too many possibilities. Linus saw the sun set through the westward window, and with it his hopes darkened, too.

He ran his fingers through his impossibly long wavy hair as he stood to his full sixty-one inches and stretched his tight, slender shoulders. He recognized he was unconsciously plucking at his auburn curls, like women did, as he paced back and forth.

Linus went to the mirror again, looking at his reflection for more changes. He was acting like some diva, always checking his reflection, though his reasons were not simple vanity. In his reflection, he saw his movements were subtly different. His motions were more fluid. His body might still be all male, well, mostly male, but it appeared to Linus that there were changes to his…aura. Aura? Where did that thought come from? He realized he was losing not only his form, but maybe even his very self. He was…adapting. But Linus didn’t want to adapt. Stop it Anna! You can’t have my body or my mind!

His hair was wild and untamed, having dried on its own. He had no hair dryer or brushes, so there was never a way for him to style it or control it. And yet he felt himself compelled to “fix it.” Am I going to buy combs and brushes? Tonight? The question seemed rational, ridiculous, and out of nowhere as he twirled his locks with his pink-tipped fingers. Am I actually contemplating living with this hair? These hands?

His reflection on his reflection was interrupted by the sound of a text from his phone in the bedroom. He strode into the room, noticing his walk was also quite different from even this morning. It seemed almost languorous. The fast cadence of his normal purposeful masculine walk was replaced by a slower, more sultry and gliding toe-first stride.

The message was from a number Linus didn’t recognize. “This is Scarlett. You remember, right? The girl you drilled and thrilled on Sunday? I got your number from Isaac. Naughty boy. I expected to hear from you by now about our date tomorrow. I’m saving myself up, and you better be, too! See you in the hotel lobby about 7pm? Or do you want to come straight to my room, big fella?”

Though he’d forgotten about the date with Scarlett, Linus didn’t care. There was clearly no way he could see her like this. And if his face changed tomorrow, she’d not even recognize him, anyway. He thought about answering her, but decided it wasn’t necessary. He didn’t care about being polite. She’d never know. She’d probably not even remember him a day or two from now.

With the failed searches and the hopelessness of stopping what was happening, Linus couldn’t think anymore. He wanted to get away from this reality or find a way to stop time. But escape was impossible, and the clock kept ticking forward toward midnight and the changes to come.

Logic failed him. His sober mind held no answers. Escape was what he now sought. And the only escape available to him was in a bottle. The only thing to do now was to get drunk. And so he did.

The good thing about this body is that it took a lot less alcohol to do the job. Two whiskeys and a quick, lusty jerk off featuring the mystery Latina later, and he was passed out on his bed, tiny hand still wrapped loosely around his cock.

=============================================

Chapter 10: The Last Time

Linus woke with a pain coming from his right ear. He reached for it to find that his long hair had become tangled in something there. It was an earring. For a brief moment, he was confused. Long hair? Earring? But then this bizarre reality came back to him, along with the pounding headache of another hangover. This hangover he’d earned. But the thought of the earring hurt more than his head. It meant that the journal entry had done its insidious work once again.

He could feel that his face was different. His entire head felt different, in fact. But Linus needed to see the difference. If nothing else, he had become braver over these last days. Bolder. As bad as this was, he was more alive. Fighting for survival. Fighting for yourself, for your very identity, can cause you to fight or flee. Up until his ill-advised drinking the previous night, Linus had been fighting and growing braver.

“Fleeing” last night by getting drunk was a mistake. It was time to resume the fight. And so, with that resolve, and with undeniable excitement over what he might see, the small man made his way to the mirror over his dresser and turned on the light.

The eyes. The eyes he’d thought were a misfit for his manly countenance fit now. They were the centerpiece of the cutest face he’d ever seen. She looked so innocent. So sweet. Her resting face was a slightly pouty smile. Full lips surrounded a generous mouth, and behind them were beautiful white teeth. Anna was spectacular. Not in the “so hot it’s unbelievable” way that Scarlett was, but in the “would spend my whole life with this woman” (if she wasn’t trying to take over my body) way. Linus once again asked himself whether being this person was something to consider. She was younger than he was. She was attractive as hell. Can I give up being me? Do I want to? Have a fresh start as a new person? As a woman?

He shook the pretty head atop his slender neck and thought to himself, No. I’m me. He pushed the hair from around his face and leaned in. She’s shown me what it’s like to be alive again, but I want to be that way as me. Not as Anna. And then he said aloud, “I am Linus Newcombe.” But he didn’t sound like Linus Newcombe. He didn’t sound like any Linus. His voice was high and breathy. Sweet and…female. With his slender new neck came a new voice. Anna’s voice.

Linus screwed up the pretty face and started to well-up again. But before a tear fell, he balled up his fists, nails digging into his soft palms, and growled. He tried to make his voice deeper as he said again. “I AM LINUS NEWCOMBE!” The attempt to sound like himself failed, and the waterworks started. He cried before the mirror for only a minute, though before wiping the salty discharge away from his swollen eyes with the tips of his fingers...like a woman would.

Seeing his fingers as he wiped the tears away, he was angry with himself. It was like he was giving in to being Anna. It was like this Anna…or at least the Anna journal…was indeed forcing him to conform to what the body wanted. No, this had to stop. I am a man, damn it! He closed his eyes, his head bowed for a moment. When he opened them again, Linus’s resolve softened. His large eyes looked so sweet, so childlike, so girlish. Who am I kidding? There is nothing manly left, he thought.

But he was wrong.

When he looked down, Linus didn’t see his feet. He saw something in the way. The most “Linus Newcombe” thing about himself was awake. His cock was straining the boy’s underwear he wore, demanding relief. He laughed then. A high girlish titter that would have charmed him a few days before. Now, it represented what had to be corrected. He flicked his dick and said silently to himself, Not now, big man. But hang in there! Don’t go anywhere.

Determined to resume his search, Linus attempted to log back in to DeepSrch. But this time, the message told him something much more dire. “Invalid Password.” He tried again. “Invalid Password. One more attempt left.” He tried a third time, already knowing what this meant. “Password Violation. Account Locked. Call Support to Reset.”

Hector had changed the password. It should have been changed long ago, but why now? This simple password violation meant that his best chance of systematically finding Anna was gone. Linus thought about calling Hector, telling him he needed the password again. But how? He didn’t look like himself, and he didn’t sound like himself now, either. Hector wouldn’t believe him.

Linus attempted a few more searches using other means, but his enthusiasm and confidence were flagging. He decided he needed more motivation.

He returned to the eReader and unlocked the screen again. As he feared, a new entry and a new image were there. Gray-scale monochrome as before, but this sketch was the full picture. The full depiction of his future.

October 1, 2015, 2:25pm

Another envelope. I was sopping wet all morning anticipating Valeria walking by. I couldn’t focus on anything. Our date is tonight, and I know she is getting me revved up for what is to come. And boy, is she succeeding. Her outfit today was full-on “slutty secretary.” Her job as creative editor means that she’s required to dress up more than us poor sketch jockeys, but today she went all out. Her skirt was almost too short to be allowed, and her blouse tight against her full chest. I saw her unbutton two buttons as she approached me. She is so bad! I wanted to push her up against the wall and lick her to death!

Valeria said nothing as she dropped the envelope. Her perfume trailed behind her with a second accompanying scent. She was wet, too! I could smell it. Ah, this is going to be the best night! I need to ask that bitch Millicent for the day off tomorrow. I don’t think I’ll be able to walk in the morning!

And the sketch. Oh my god! Is that me?? It can’t be! Are my breasts that full? That round? Yes, they are big for my height, but surely not so big as this. And not so firm, either. Or are they? Okay, on the waist, she’s imagining things. I’m not that skinny! But I’ll take it. If that’s how she sees me, then I’ll get there! I’d love to have such a tiny waist. Yeah, my hips are one of my best features, and she’s captured them well. I know how to use them, too. I can shake my shapely ass with the best of them. But from now on, I’ll only want to shake it for her.

I guess all this means she likes what she sees. And I’m so happy! Can I tell her tonight that I love her? Please, goddesses of love. Show me a sign!

The sketch showed Anna almost nude in bed. Her breasts. Her hips. Her smooth mound inside panties. All there to see. But even if the sketch didn’t say it all, the entry filled in all the blanks. Linus knew this was it. This was the end of being himself, of being a “him” of any description. At midnight, he’d be the creature reflected in the black-and-white picture before him. What could he do? What was left but to give up?

 

 

Linus sulked around the house all morning. He then sat out on his lanai after lunch, trying desperately to find answers as he gazed into his swimming pool. What have I missed? Why is this happening? But just like he was locked out of DeepSrch, he was locked out of those answers, too.

Linus returned to the whiskey bottle and picked it up, planning to drink the entire bottle this time. It would probably kill him, but would that be worse than this? A small voice inside said, “That’s not the answer.” He set the bottle down, curled up on the couch, pulled a pillow to his chest, and cried. Cried like the little girl he was soon to be.

His tears were interrupted by a text. He opened one sparkling green eye to glance at his phone. It was from Scarlett. “Hey little man. You didn’t text me back. I didn’t hurt you the other night, did I? I like short men. They are fun and…bite size. Your little hands make my breasts look so big! And besides, you are not little where it counts! Please call me or text! I want to see you. Want to see those incredible eyes and run my fingers through those flaming curls. I want to put a coin in and mount you like the drugstore pony ride you are. Or should I call you a drugstore stallion?! I’m leaving on Friday. Please don’t make me go home wanting. Oh, and please shave your manly face close. I don’t like a scratchy beard. XOXO”

His mind vaguely registered what she’d said as he stroked his soft face. To her, had he’d been the same size he was now when they were together at her hotel? Somehow, reality had shaped itself around what had happened to him. He was still Linus to her, but Linus like he was now. What does that mean for tomorrow? Will I be a woman named Linus Newcombe to her…to everyone?

Linus realized something was still off, though. She’d said he should shave close. But his face was silky smooth. She said his face was manly. It was not. Reality is still a day behind or something. She described me like I was yesterday…I think.

With nothing else to do and feeling like a doomed man, Linus got to his feet and went to the bathroom to relieve himself. He looked around the bath and laughed mirthlessly. Now there were brushes and combs on the vanity and a hair dryer, too. Reality had provided what he needed. He half expected to see cosmetics for this new face, too. But those weren’t there…yet. Tomorrow, I bet.

As his cock dribbled the last bit of processed coffee, it suddenly made sense. He saw the changes as changes, but those around him and the world thought this was how it always had been. Except reality took a day extra to adjust. That’s why I didn’t have these hair products until today. My hair changed yesterday, but the stuff to take care of it showed up today.

These concepts gave his mind something to consider, to occupy him during his last hours of maleness. He entered his closet. The usual assortment of shoes was there. Athletic shoes in either youth sizes or some unisex pairs, embarrassingly, in women’s equivalents. Some shoes had thicker soles and a bit of a heel. They were designed to make him seem like a taller man. Well, a less short man.

Above his shoes, he found his clothes. All tailored to fit his five-foot-one height now, with some pants a little longer to hang over his raised shoes. He moved the stepladder that wasn’t there two days ago and climbed up to look on the top shelf. More of the same. One pair of women’s shoes was there, too. But those were Beth’s and much too large for his tiny feet.

He climbed down the ladder and looked again around the bathroom. The vanity looked different. It was lower. It was made for a shorter person. Both he and Beth were tall, with her five-foot-eight, and so they’d made all the counters two-inches higher than standard. But now, they were maybe even shorter than standard height.

More of the same in the kitchen and in the garage. The new step stool beside the sink. His Mini Cooper, which would fit him perfectly, parked in the garage instead of his tall Toyota LandCruiser. The Bianchi road bike, in the smallest size they made now, sat in the corner on the stand waiting for him where his large one had been.

Linus passed a picture on the fridge from the charity ride last month. He posed there with Isaac and two women from the firm. He was the shortest by far, but he beamed up from the photo as he made a face, leering at the busty blonde beside him. The face in the photo confirmed his suspicion; it was his old face. His hair, though, was the long redheaded mop he now possessed. So these photos are not caught up yet. That’s it. They are a day behind.

 For the rest of the afternoon, he scrolled through photos on his phone and looked at videos from trips with Beth. In all of them, he looked as he does now, but with his old face. His manly face but shorter than almost everyone else in the photos. His hair was not as long in some pictures, but most of them had him with long auburn hair tied in a tight ponytail or hanging loose in more casual photos.

Linus’s brain was on overload. After a sandwich to quell his hunger, having not eaten all day, he fell on the couch again, intending to rest for a few minutes before resuming his futile search for his soon-to-be identical twin. Within minutes, though, he fell mentally exhausted into a fitful sleep.

Sometime later, long after the sun had set, another text notification woke him. Linus’s phone glowed brightly. He raised his head, brushing the ever-present hair from over a sleepy eye, and peered at his phone on the coffee table. It was a message from Scarlett. “KNOCK! KNOCK!”

Oh fuck! She’s here! He jumped up and ran to the wall, switching off the lights. Maybe she’d think he wasn’t home. But no such luck. She was using her phone as a flashlight, and he could see her moving through the kitchen. He heard her heels on the tile floor and then her voice.

“Hey handsome. Where are you little man? I’m mad at you.” She was in the room with him. Her phone light blinded him momentarily, and he turned away. He could smell her perfume and the distinct scent of alcohol. “Glad you at least left the door unlocked so I could get in.”

“Sorry.” His voice. It was too high. He tried again to lower it. “I’ve not been well.”

“Yeah. I heard. Food poisoning. Poor baby.” She laughed. “You don’t sound right. But Momma’s got what you need to feel better.”

He stood stock-still, unable to see in the unlit room, eyes still not adjusted. He wanted to run, but which way? Linus saw a flash of something shiny and then felt himself being lifted bodily and carried across the room toward the hallway.

“Let’s put the baby to bed, shall we? Is this the way?”

Scarlett carried him through the hall and into the primary bedroom, banging his head on the door frame as they entered. He was too stunned to fight her, and she threw him onto the bed as if he weighed nothing.

Linus could hear her removing her clothes. She cooed. “Strip, baby. I want to rub something all over you. It’s called ‘Scarlett Lotion.’ It will make you well. I promise.”

Her voice was sultry and oh so hot. Despite his terror, he was rock hard. It was as if all his remaining masculinity had migrated to his cock. Manly lust, one of the remaining parts of his old psyche, took over. He pushed the boy’s underwear down his body just in time for her to straddle him. She put her hand around his massive erection. “Well, even with baby sick, I’m glad I can get a rise out of you.”

Linus didn’t speak. He was part scared and part not wanting to lose the moment. He needed relief. And it might be his last time as a man.

Scarlett mounted him, pinning his arms to the mattress. “Momma Scarlett’s got you, baby. Just relax. I’ll do all the work.”

Minutes flew by. Screams and moans of bliss escaped Scarlett’s lips, and Linus stayed rock hard. Her breathing eventually became ragged, and she slowed down her pistoning on his engorged and raw cock.

Scarlett leaned down and blew on Linus’s chest, and he mewed like a kitten. A girlish groan escaped his lips. She couldn’t see his face in the darkness, but if she could, the expression would have shown his face, shown Anna’s face, simultaneously full of fear and arousal.

“I think I like your sick voice, baby boy. You kind of sound like a girl. But, you know what would make it even hotter?” She leaned to the side of the bed. “We need some light. I need to see those sexy green eyes.”

He shook his head and, as manly as he could, said. “No. No light.”

“Oh, baby. You’re ashamed of being so small?” Scarlett leaned down and kissed his new plump, soft lips and then his cheek and neck. “You did shave. So soft! You should keep your face that way all the time!” She growled, “Your sick girlie voice and smooth skin are kind of a turn-on. I’ve always wanted to do it with a chick…”

She didn’t finish the sentence, but Linus knew she was going to say “chick with a dick.” For a flash, he wondered, is that what I’m going to be? Am I going to look like Anna but still be a man? But there was no time to contemplate this possibility. The Scarlett roller-coaster ride wasn’t over, and his mind returned to the present version of himself.

The woman pinning him to the bed was in control. Linus could do nothing but let her have her way. And there was a part of him that responded differently than he would have ever expected. Scarlett was hot and beautiful, and he had felt lust as a man when she first mounted him. But now, his perspective seemed to have shifted. He was just as turned on, but now it seemed more like he was her woman. And though he had his massive dick, it seemed to belong to her now. It almost felt like she was inside him. Linus’s mind wandered to the question she’d asked him in her hotel room. The one about if he ever wondered what it would be like to feel a cock inside him. Was that going to happen?

These foreign thoughts and this new form of lust were hard to bring into focus. His cock still wanted to speak, and Scarlett was making sure that it didn’t get its say until she was ready. After a howling orgasm, where she squeezed his skinny, boyish hips like a vice, a desperate whisper of, “Please,” escaped his pillowy lips. All he could do was softly beg for the release he so craved.

Scarlett heard his weak plea and stopped. Sweat dripped from her breasts onto his T-shirt clad tiny chest, topped by its engorged womanly nipples. She leaned down and kissed him again, her tongue licking the inside of his full lips and then down his neck. She moved to his ear and blew hot breath through his auburn locks.

Breathlessly, she said, “Almost midnight. Time for the baby to have his fun.” She lowered her mouth to his chest. She grabbed his sweat-soaked T-shirt with her teeth and lifted it up to his neck, her arms still holding his tiny hands down. He was totally at her mercy.

He heard “Almost midnight” echoing in his head. This is it. In the darkness, the vision of the Latina woman joined Scarlett. She floated onto the bed and went to Linus’s chest.

“No,” he squeaked. But as the vision-woman lips found his nipples, he bucked and screamed in a voice that was not his own, “Yes! God, yes!”

In that moment, he came so hard that even his tiny body shook the bed. Wave after wave of cum flooded from him. Scarlett had another orgasm, saying through clenched teeth, “There’s a good baby. Give it to me, baby! Give me all you’ve got!”

And he did. Linus gave every bit of manhood he had left to her. The semen escaping his cock seemed to propel outward. As the clock beside his bed showed 12:00, the Latina woman disappeared and Linus came again, this time in a completely different configuration. He wept as a womanly moan of pleasure leaped from his throat again.

His dimensions shifted. Scarlett suddenly was empty. But, strangely, her legs were forced much further apart as she sat astride her changed lover’s widened childbearing hips.

Scarlett laughed. “I’ve never seen anyone go soft that fast! It was like your cock just disappeared.”

Green eyes looked up from the darkness, glistening. Reality for him was complete. But for Scarlett, a shock awaited.

Scarlett climbed off her conquest. She switched on the light and then gasped. She screamed at the young woman lying in the bed, large bare breasts protruding from a boy’s T-shirt. “Who the fuck are you?! Where’s Linus?”

The woman who had been Linus Newcombe could not speak. He felt more vulnerable than he’d ever felt as Linus and was paralyzed with fear and realization. His breathing was still coming in pants as generous new breasts rose and fell. Anna’s brilliant green eyes followed the other woman as she gathered her clothes, her shouting of expletives continuing.

“I don’t know who you are, bitch, but you tell that Linus Newcombe he’s a perverted bastard.” She yelled, “Linus! I know you’re here somewhere. You are an asshole! A tiny, pencil-dicked asshole!”

At this, the girl on the soaked mattress spoke to Scarlett in a soft but firm tone. She needed to stand up for who Linus had been. “I didn’t have a pencil-dick.”

Linus saw Scarlett regarding the girl he now was and his nonsensical defense of who he had been. Scarlett seemed to assess Linus in Anna’s body as if now “she” was competition for Linus’s affection. But then a reality seemed to dawn on Scarlett. “Are you his little sister? He sent his own baby sister to fuck with me like this? That’s sick!”

With that, Scarlett pulled on her second shoe and turned to the bed, extending her middle finger. “Fuck you! Fuck you both!” She stomped through the still-dark house, and the sound of stumbling, glass shattering and more expletives followed her.

Linus lay there in the post-coital fluids for a long time. He wasn’t sure what to do next. Under the curly hair, above the breasts, and behind the cute, sweet face, he was still Linus. Mostly Linus, anyway. That hadn’t changed. But everything else had.

=======================================

Chapter 11: Revelation and Resolve

The sun eventually rose, and nature called. Linus sat on the toilet, his toes the only thing reaching the floor, and released a stream like any other woman. He hadn’t considered standing; he hadn’t given it any thought as he sought to relieve his bladder. He then rose and wiped in the most normal, womanly way. Once he did, he stared at the moist tissue and marveled at how fast he’d adjusted. Or was it Anna still adjusting him?

Modesty demanded that he cover himself…cover his wet dream body. He pulled a robe from the closet and over soft, naked skin. Well, naked below the waist. The boy’s T-shirt was now stretched to breaking over his very large breasts. Breasts that bounced as he made his way into the kitchen.

Linus’s mind inside the girl made coffee, as usual, and scratched at her shapely hip while it brewed. Knowing innately somehow that the journal’s work was not quite done, he turned on the eReader and unlocked it.

An entry from ten years ago today, unsurprisingly, greeted him.

October 2, 2015, 11am.

Not working today. Can’t sit still! Told that bitch Millicent I was taking today off, no matter what she said. I might not have a job tomorrow, but I don’t care. I’m in love! I’m in love! And best of all, she loves me, too! We said it. We both said it together! At the same moment, at exactly midnight. I’m the luckiest girl who ever lived. The goddesses approved! And I will be hers…forever! We talked about marriage. I’m going to take her last name. No more JoAnna Bailey. No! I’m going to be JoAnna Rodriguez! I want to yell! I want to sing! I’m so happy! Val couldn’t skip work today, so I’m on my own. Think I’ll walk back up to Oak Ridge and sit under that oak tree to read. It’s where this started. It’s where I knew I was destined to be with her. And then I’ll go over to Val’s condo and lay out by the pool to wait for her. I can’t wait to show her my new lemon-yellow bikini. She loves yellow. And I love her! I’m in love! And the world is beautiful!

To complete my happiness, I want to try to fix things with Marie. I texted her. She hasn’t answered yet, but I hope we talk soon. I can’t stand having this tension between us. Despite how much she hurt me, I do love my twin so much. I want to share my joy about Valeria and me. I know she’ll be happy for us if she’ll just... I need Marie to approve. I need my twin to be part of this, part of my happiness.

Linus rubbed his impossibly large emerald eyes and smiled sadly. “JoAnna. Joanna Bailey.” It was “JoAnna,” not just “Anna.”

 Linus turned on his laptop and did a search. His long nails had barely started typing when he saw how close he’d been early on. As soon as she put in “JoAnna,” it came up. Linus had found this entry on the first day of his search. But he’d set it aside, thinking the name was wrong, and so he’d ignored the result. Now he read the death announcement from ten years ago of the woman he now was.

October 3, 2015. Fortis Beach Sentinel.

“JoAnna Bailey, 23, died yesterday from an apparent hit and run on Winding Lane near Oak Ridge Cemetery. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Police are still looking for the driver. The vehicle appears to have been…”

Linus didn’t need to read further. Now it made sense. Well, it made some sense, at least. He was strangely calm after all that had happened, but found himself nibbling the end of a long pink nail as he absorbed this new revelation. He poured a cup of coffee, played absently with his long wavy hair, and contemplated his new life.

Returning to the laptop, he put in another search and found Anna’s obituary. He nodded to himself and smiled another sad smile. “Of course. Of course it would have been there.”

“JoAnna Bailey will be laid to rest on October 5 at Oak Ridge Cemetery. Visitation will be at 6pm on October 4 at the funeral home there. She is survived by her father, Joseph Bailey, mother, Anna-Marie Bailey, and a twin sister, Marie Bailey Evans. No flowers. Please make donations to World Wildlife Fund or the animal charity or environmental cause of your choosing.”

He sipped the coffee, blowing to cool it through his full lips. The coffee tasted bitter and stronger than he…than Linus…remembered. He added a little milk and sugar for the first time ever, and tried to pull together what he needed to do. Though the physical changes were seemingly complete, there was more to do. The journal entry today wasn’t a prediction. It was an instruction. An instruction he felt compelled to follow and not resist, this time.

But something else was gnawing at the lawyer’s brain inside this young woman. Something from his past that bore on her past. With hesitation and trepidation for what it might reveal, he sat at the laptop and searched for the case involving Anna’s death in the public legal records.

The case still had not been solved. There was a ten thousand dollar reward for anyone bringing forth evidence leading to a conviction, but that money remained unclaimed. Linus found articles about the accident, including pleas from Marie and Valeria for information.

Linus scrolled through pictures taken at the scene. Broken plastic. A crushed iPhone in a bright yellow case. And, chillingly, an eReader case with a large gash. There was a photo of the backpack, too. If Linus needed any further proof of who he now was, there it was. But the question remained. Why? Why me?

The answer came like a hot poker to his brain from an article on the Fortis Beach Sentinel newspaper website. A story was published a year after the accident trying to reawaken interest in solving the case. More photos. Photos of the tree. Photos of skid marks and the makeshift memorial. But it was when he saw the last picture attached to the article that Linus’s mind reeled, and he collapsed onto the floor. It was the essence of what the former defense attorney had feared for eleven years. In a ditch mere feet away from where Anna’s body was found, had been a bent orange license plate with a white tiger paw in the middle. A plate just like he’d seen at the law office on the front of a brand new Porsche. I helped Conrad get off on that drunk driving charge. It was a technicality. He was guilty, and I knew it. Conrad would have been in jail the day Anna was killed if I hadn’t been so selfish; hadn’t given in to Beth. He killed Anna, but I am a party in her death. Her blood is on my hands, too.

Linus looked around his spacious and well-appointed house. It was in a nice neighborhood and worth north of a million dollars. Linus had money in the bank, too, and a vacation condo in Vail. And this was only what was left after giving up half of everything to Beth in the divorce. All of this opulence. All of this prosperity. It started with a note handed to a defense attorney. It started because I was trying to keep Beth. It started because I gave up my convictions for a love that was already lost. I knew it was wrong then. Now I know just how wrong.

Linus remembered again coming home the first day of Conrad’s drunk driving trial. He and Beth were living in a small stucco house in an old subdivision outside town. He’d asked his wife over dinner whether he should let the drunk go to jail or help the defense. Her answer was immediate. “This isn’t about right and wrong. Think about us. If you help the defense, it could be your ticket to the big time. Our ticket out of this piece-of-shit house.”

Linus bought that “ticket” a year before Anna died, and now he knew what that ticket wrought; what he allowed to happen. This last week wasn’t random. He was now inhabiting Anna’s body because he was partly responsible for her death. He needed to see who she was. He needed to know her through her journal. He needed to know how tragic and senseless her death was. He needed to feel the guilt for what he’d unwittingly helped happen.

But more than that, he was the only one who could get her justice. He picked up his phone and called Isaac so they could meet. He would help. But the new Anna wasn’t thinking. Isaac didn’t know “her,” and there was no way he could convince him of who he was. Isaac answered, and Linus hung up before saying anything.

Isaac called back immediately, but Linus let it go to voicemail.

Gracefully, he stood from the floor. He was shaking as he made his way to the bedroom and stood before the dresser there. Conrad’s drunk driving case had always bothered Linus. He’d felt for a long time that the moment he passed that note, he’d sold his soul. No one was hurt the night Conrad was arrested. Conrad had simply been pulled over after clipping some parked cars after a birthday celebration.

Linus knew Jr was guilty, and the smug arrogance he showed when he got away with it was something that stuck with Linus. The same look he’d seen on the investigator’s photos of Beth and Conrad outside a hotel. The same look he’d seen at the office two days ago on Conrad’s face as he’d taunted Linus. Linus knew that day in the courtroom then the spoiled rich kid would be in that courtroom again one day, and he worried it would not be a simple drunk driving charge. And now, the reality of that worry was reflected in the dresser mirror. The full lips mouthed, “I’m sorry” to the reflection, and then guiltily lowered her sparkling, tear-filled eyes.

He picked up his iPhone again. If the journal did its thing, this phone would be gone tomorrow. Everything “Linus” possessed would be gone, replaced with…who knew? Anna’s stuff?

The resurrected fingers of Anna tapped out a text to Isaac. “Hey, bro. Sorry I butt-dialed you. Have a question. You remember a hit and run ten years ago up on Cemetery Ridge? Young girl.” He hit send.

Seconds later, three dots indicated Isaac was answering. Then the dots stopped. Then they started again. Then they stopped. Finally, a message appeared. “Why do you ask?”

Linus shook his head, and auburn hair covered his eyes again. Isaac could have said “no” or even “yes, it was a tragic case.” Could have blown him off. But he didn’t. The words in Isaac’s text were not a question; they were an answer.

More tears streamed down Anna’s face as the young nimble fingers worked the phone. “You knew all along it was Conrad?” This question was also not a question.

The phone rang again. It was Isaac, of course. Linus let it go to voicemail and then texted again. “We have to make this right. Before Conrad inherits that money. Before he hurts someone else.”

The dots on the phone screen appeared and disappeared several times again before Isaac answered finally. “Let’s talk. Call me. Please! It’s complicated.”

Linus formed a wry smile on his new cute face, saying aloud, “Complicated? You have no idea.”

He texted Isaac back. “Nothing to talk about. Just do the right thing, Isaac. JoAnna Bailey deserves justice. And no one else deserves to be hurt by that asshole.”

Isaac called again. Again, Linus didn’t answer.

One last text came from Isaac a minute later. “OMG! I just looked at the case file on my phone. I hadn’t looked at it in years. I never realized your face looks just like hers! If you were a girl, you could be Joanna Bailey’s twin! WTF?! Call me. Please!”

This last text highlighted the other awful truth. Yesterday’s change is today’s reality. To Isaac and everyone who knew Linus, he’d had always had Anna’s face. Isaac couldn’t help because Linus was now completely Anna, but not to Isaac or anyone else. Tomorrow these texts would probably be gone. The phone would probably be gone. Linus and everything connected to him would likely cease to exist. Might never have existed.

Worst of all, he would have been changed from Linus to Anna for no reason. Justice would not be served. The death would remain pointless, and the killer would be free and soon unimaginably wealthy. Freer to continue hurting others with added impunity from being rich.

Beyond becoming this female creature. More devastating than changing from a man to this long-dead girl. The truth that there was nothing she could do now to right the wrong was the part of this new reality that caused the most despair. He could not let the injustice stand, but Linus was powerless to do anything.

It was too much to bear. Linus’s mind began to shut down. His life was over, but more than that, the ideals he’d killed when he passed the note to the defense team more than a decade before came back to him. My bad judgment haunts me more than this ghost’s body.

But then something sparked from these last thoughts. Ghost. Haunting. “Maybe that’s the answer,” he whispered. He nodded Anna’s head as the rest of the thought formed in Linus’s mind. It was like a plan already made was laid before him, or at least an idea. I’ll confront Conrad. Make him confess. Make him tell the truth about what he did to Anna ten years ago. She looked into the mirror again…“what Conrad did to me ten years ago.”

But this quest for justice. This idea had to be acted upon today. This plan, which seemed to come from nowhere, would not be possible tomorrow. But how could it work? He knew what needed to be done, but had no idea how to do it. Yesterday’s feelings of helplessness returned with a vengeance, with guilt heaped on top.

But at that moment, unbidden, just like in the car two days before, a song that Linus had never heard entered his clouded mind, and things seemed clearer. More possible. He sang softly in the sweet voice of the angel Anna had been,

“I'll be your oxygen

I'll be the cure, be the medicine

You're my battlefield

You'rе sunbeams in a velvet dream

On another road

Maybe I can make your heart beat again

And in another life

Maybe it would be much sweeter than.”

Humming the mysterious tune, Linus directed Anna’s beautiful body, his new body, to the bathroom, where her feminine skills took over. Her skills managed to get the tight kid’s T-shirt over his head. Instinctively, she massaged the foreign new breasts like they’d always been there. They were soft and sensitive and large. She helped him bathe carefully, not allowing the long hair to get wet and avoiding stimulating sex or sensitive breasts.

Out of the shower, Anna’s routine continued, and she rubbed the lotion that had appeared that morning onto his soft, youthful skin and skillfully applied the light makeup now arranged on the vanity to make up the face he’d received two nights ago. Using the brushes that had not been there yesterday but were not new, she tamed the long curly hair and took it from shaggy to wholesome angel.

In the closet, she frowned for him. There were no clothes for this body. She opened Linus’s dresser to find the same disappointment. Reality hadn’t yet adjusted to “full Anna.” He tried to pull on a pair of boy-sized Y-front briefs, but there was no way they’d fit over her wider hips. Linus’s old underwear of days before might have barely fit over her new shape, but those briefs and all the other clothes belonging to six-foot-two Linus were gone. He didn’t exist. The ones available were designed for a boy or a homunculus, not a grown man, and certainly not for a shapely young woman. The clothes in the house were from yesterday’s reality. The magic hadn’t provided for what she had to do today.

Or had it? Something bright like the sun flashed in Linus’s mind again, and he turned Anna’s body toward the kitchen, where both the eReader and backpack still sat.

Opening the old purple pack, he smiled wryly as he removed the bright yellow bikini, purple short-shorts, and Ed Sheeran T-shirt and returned to the bedroom. Considering these clothing items, the idea that what had happened being random these last days seemed less and less plausible. There is intent behind all of this…all of it. My changing is just the beginning. The mysterious plan for today is what this has been leading up to.

Linus removed the tags from the bathing suit. Ron Jon Surf Shop, huh? With a skill he hadn’t possessed before today, the hands knew how to pull the tight string bikini bottom up her smooth legs and into place. The bottom hugged her womanly hips, revealing the cleft between her legs. The bright green eyes took in the sight with awe and appreciation, and an urge to explore his new anatomy came upon him.

But that would have to wait. Linus turned to inspect his new rear in the mirror. Anna’s body provided a rewarding tingle, and Linus realized he was really getting turned on staring at what was now his own body.

As well as the warmth and moistening felt between those smooth thighs, Anna’s nipples hardened, and he shuddered with a chill and goose-bumps. Keep it together, Linus. He focused on the now-prominent peaks of her chest while, with practiced ease, Anna's fingers danced over the bikini top strings, tying and adjusting them to cradle perfectly her ample breasts. Once secured, Linus gazed at Anna's full reflection in the mirror of the bedroom door.

His mind was spinning. He felt aroused. He felt sad. And he felt longing. The woman in the mirror was beautiful and, judging by the journal, had been happy and alive with hope. She was so different from Beth. And Anna clearly lived life with so much joy. He again spoke directly to Anna’s reflection. “Why couldn’t I have met someone like you instead?”

Anna’s voice saying his words woke him from his distraction, and his mind returned to preparing to confront her killer. Linus put on the Ed Sheeran T-shirt and then pulled the tight shorts on over the swimsuit. The straps of the bikini top stuck out of the top of the shirt, something that Linus had always found sexy.

He opened his iPhone and found Conrad’s social media page. He had to be sure that what Conrad had shouted a few days ago at the law office as Linus walked away was true. Sure enough, there it was on the front of Conrad’s page: “All-day pool party starting at 11am at the Stephenson mansion. ‘Cum’ celebrate my birthday.” What an asshole.

Over the next hour, Linus downloaded several photos and articles from the internet, organizing them like a good attorney would. Facts and circumstantial evidence were summarized and saved as well. He then emailed everything to Isaac and Mr. Washington at the firm. He believed that all these things would disappear at midnight, but it was worth a try. Linus printed out a copy too, and put the documents in an envelope, not knowing exactly why.

With this done, headed to the kitchen, passing a mirror in the hall. His eyes were drawn again to his body and face. My face. Isaac thinks I’ve always had Anna’s face! This prompted a critical question. Will Conrad recognize me as Linus? His body would scream “not Linus,” but his face was another story.

Into the bathroom, he eyed the makeup there, having no idea what to do. But Anna knew. In moments, she’d gone from the light makeup applied earlier to a dramatic, sexy look that was different enough to fool anyone. I hope. And with this body…yeah, I should be okay.

Linus hurried to the kitchen and tucked his phone and wallet into the backpack along with a towel and the eReader. For the plan to work, Linus, or rather Anna, needed to be there early, before any invited guests arrived. It was already 9:00, and it would take half an hour to get to the mansion.

Anna’s toes found their worn home as he slid into her Teva sandals, noticing the toe ring was back on his left foot as it had been that morning after his hands and feet had changed. No time to consider any of this, though. Time was running out. He hoisted the small backpack, its nylon rough against soft fingertips, over one shoulder, and stepped toward the Mini Cooper that had replaced his LandCruiser two days before. With each stride, Anna’s breasts bounced, a warm, distracting sensation. Her hips swayed with a rhythm that felt undeniably provocative but also completely natural. Even with the urgency tugging at Linus, a surge of heat flickered within him, a response to the simple act of his fully female body moving.

Climbing into the Mini, Linus found the seat to be adjusted perfectly to his tiny stature. Programming the mansion into the GPS, he backed slowly out and then entered the Thursday morning traffic. Everyone around him was going about their business like any other day. It seemed so surreal. But it wasn’t the commuters that were surreal; it was his presence in Anna’s long-dead body.

Linus pulled up to the electric security gate of the Stephenson mansion thirty-five minutes later. He sat there for a moment looking down the long drive at Conrad’s late father’s home. He’d been here once before. The week after Linus got Conrad off on the drunk-driving charge, he and Beth had been invited to dinner by Conrad, Sr. The dinner where Beth met Conrad, Jr and the seeds of their affair were planted. Hell, for all Linus knew, Beth and Conrad might have fucked that night.

Linus hated this place, and though his old melancholy returned, the Anna inside him would not let him fall into despair. But he needed a plan. Resolve to confront Conrad had gotten him this far, but he hadn’t thought through how to get Conrad to confess to killing Anna. This was a bad idea. I’m not strong enough to intimidate him now. Not in this tiny body. I have nothing to force him to confess. I should have brought a gun.

He put the car in reverse, but suddenly flushed white hot. Anna’s breasts, his breasts, tingled, and his new sex became wet and warm again. He let out an involuntary moan of pleasure as he felt his nipples tenting the T-shirt clinging to his breasts. His breathing became ragged. “What the hell is wrong with…me?” Then Linus knew. He had a weapon more compelling than a gun; Anna’s body. Anna’s raw sexuality. But, no! I can’t do that. I can’t…

Even as these terrifying ideas and the impossibility of what they meant ran through his mind, Anna’s delicate finger was pressing the security gate call button. Linus watched it, detached and unable to stop it. He froze, staring at the little speaker, holding his breath and waiting for someone to respond. The reply didn’t come. Instead, several seconds later, the gate slowly opened.

Chapter 9: Justice

Linus took a deep, ragged breath, his voluminous chest rising and falling, and pulled through the gate. He followed the drive to the spacious brick-paved area beside the entrance to the enormous house. Conrad’s gleaming new Porsche was there along with a massive pickup truck also sporting the decorative orange license tag with the big white paw in the middle. Seeing the truck, a flash of horror ran through his mind, seemingly from nowhere. Anna’s heart pounded in his chest, and Linus felt light-headed as he put the car in park, hands shaking.

He looked around and saw, standing outside the door watching him park, was Conrad Stephenson, Jr himself. He was dressed in a pair of swim shorts and a wife-beater T-shirt.

Linus was transfixed as he watched, terrified, as Conrad approached. When the man neared the car, the first thing Linus thought was, he’s huge! The truth was, Conrad was no bigger than he’d ever been. No bigger than Linus had been a week ago. It was their relative sizes that had changed. I’m just so tiny and weak.

The driver’s window was still rolled down, and Conrad put his arms on the car door frame. “Hey there, sweetie. I saw you through the security camera. You’re a little early for the party, but that’s fine. I like eager beaver.” Conrad winked as he uttered the double entendre.

Linus worked Anna’s jaw, trying to respond, but no words would come. He panicked. This is impossible. I don’t know what to do. He’s so big and strong. Linus was, for the first time in his adult life, desperately afraid of a man. Is this how women always feel around men?

Conrad reached in and touched Linus’s hair. “I love redheads. You’re always so fiery. Are you fiery?” He then caressed Linus’s new face with the back of his rough hand. Linus fought the impulse to pull away from the unrequested touch, a word echoing beyond his mind and growing louder held him there. Fiery. Fiery. He fought the instinct to flee. It took all of his courage to remain still. He realized, it’s not my courage. With each pounding heartbeat, the words repeated. Fiery. Fiery.

Linus could smell the alcohol on Conrad’s breath. He’d clearly already been drinking that morning. The large man spoke again. “It’s okay. You don’t have to talk, honey. I know other things you can do with that pretty mouth.” With that, Conrad turned Linus’s face toward him and kissed Anna’s soft lips roughly. Linus was repulsed, but couldn’t pull away from the kiss. Something held him there, yielding to the man he hated. Fiery. Fiery. The words Conrad used echoed again, but now in the voice of someone else. A female voice. Fiery. Linus then remembered the journal entry. “Fiery” was Valeria’s code word when she wanted Anna to take control.

Slowly, Linus’s fear evolved as Conrad kissed him. It became something else entirely as once again the body, his body—Anna’s body — despite all that was at stake, became aroused. Intimidation turned to lust. And while neither Anna nor Linus had ever had any attraction to men, her body seemed to have other ideas now. Fiery. Fiery. His thought at seeing Conrad approaching the car earlier ran through his mind again, but changed from fright to attraction and the woman’s voice in his mind sounded now sultry; “He’s so big and strong!” Breathing adrenaline-quickened by fear remained fast and heavy, but now with desire and something more.

When Conrad broke the kiss and leaned back out, Anna’s tongue tasted the alcohol from the man’s breath, and she licked her full lips dramatically. Linus hadn’t done that. Anna had. Linus realized that she was beginning to respond in his place. Beginning to control her body.

Linus could still feel everything, but the actions and sensations were emanating from Anna. Joining the lust in her mind and body, a new perception rose; vulnerability. Not her vulnerability this time. She sensed his vulnerability. Lowered inhibitions and an out-sized confidence in himself will be Conrad’s final undoing.

Linus’s mind watched all this, feeling the sensations. He was in there, but someone else…Anna…had taken over control. She was fiery. She was fury. She was turned-on. And she had a plan.

Conrad opened the car door. Linus watched Anna’s hand unfasten the seat belt, letting it slide seductively between her breasts as it retracted. Her legs swung over in a practiced movement, knees together. Conrad took her tiny hand in his and pulled Anna out of the car. She grabbed the backpack from the passenger seat as she slid out and touched her tiny feet to the pavement.

The size difference was even more apparent now. Anna was over a foot shorter than Conrad’s six-foot-two and weighed about half as much. But the evolved thinking in Anna’s mind saw this size deficit as an advantage. He’ll never see it coming.

Conrad looked down on what he had to believe was the first of many birthday conquests to come today and asked, “Do I know you? Your face seems so familiar. Do you have a brother?”

For the first time since arriving at the mansion property, Anna’s voice spoke. It was a huskier, sultry version of the sweet sound Linus had heard at home. She smiled. “No. No brothers. But, yeah, you know me. You bumped into me some years ago.”

Conrad grinned lustfully, staring at Anna’s chest bouncing as they walked. “I hope I’d remember bumping into someone like you.”

Linus felt Anna’s hand run through her auburn hair playfully as she responded with a wink, “Oh, I think you do remember. You just need a reminder.”

There was no pretense. No polite pleasantries. Conrad apparently assumed this girl was ready…now. Linus felt the moisture between Anna’s legs and smelled her juices. He was sure that Conrad had picked up on the scent, too.

Inside the home, Conrad led Anna down a long first-floor hallway, his hand resting on her oscillating rear. At the end of the corridor, they entered a large, beautifully decorated bedroom. It was elegant, with a distinctly feminine touch. The femme fatale Anna voice asked sarcastically, “Your mother’s room, little boy?”

Conrad laughed. “My parent’s room, actually. But yes, my mother decorated it twenty years ago. Just a few years before she died. My weak, sentimental father couldn’t bear to change it. But I plan to. This will be a den of…fun when I’m through with it. For now, though. The bed is soft and ready. You’ll be the first girl to…be…in this bed with me.”

Anna’s hand ran up and down the bedpost in an obviously sexual motion. “The first of many girls, I’m sure.”

Conrad smiled, confidence and lust apparent on his rugged face.

There was a moment of inaction. A pause where each tried to decide what to do next. Linus wondered what was going to happen. He didn’t have to wait long as he felt Anna’s hands removing the T-shirt, her breasts bouncing again. She threw the shirt at Conrad, knowing it carried her scent. She then removed the shorts, wiggling her hips and ass with purpose as she made a show of dropping the pants to the floor. She tilted her head and looked up at Conrad. “Remember me now?”

Linus could feel the heat and intensity in Anna’s body. There was a mix of lust and power there. Conrad thought he was in control, but he was wrong. The guiding presence inside Anna’s body was orchestrating the scene, and Linus was starting to enjoy every moment.

Conrad’s mouth went slack at the vision in front of him for a second, but he recovered. “I’m not sure I remember you. I might need to see more.”

Anna smiled coyly, adjusting the bikini top and pinching her nipple in an overt display of sexual power. “Nope. Your turn to show me something.”

Conrad put his phone on the bedside table and quickly undressed, shedding his swim trunks and shirt in seconds. His manhood stood out proudly and large. For all the deception Conrad might be guilty of, he wasn’t lying about his cock. It was huge. A flash of fear again entered Linus’s mind, but it was quickly quashed and replaced by the buzz of Anna’s lust and control again. The feminine voice of Anna whispered to reassure Linus, I’ve got this.

Anna’s lips formed an appraising pout and tilted her head at Conrad. “Not bad, Mr. Stephenson.” She approached him slowly, putting one petite foot in front of the other, and gently scratched his hairy chest, keeping just out of range of the large rock-hard penis pointing in her direction. Linus could feel Conrad’s heart pounding through Anna’s fingers and the heat of his cock inches away from her stomach. With her free hand, she picked up Conrad’s phone. “Unlock this for me. I want us to get a selfie so maybe next time you’ll remember me.” Linus felt like he was watching a VR movie. He knew all she was doing as she was doing it…and why…but had no knowledge ahead of Anna.

Linus watched Conrad unlock the phone. He held it out to Anna. She reached for it, but he pulled it back. “I’ll remember you better without that bikini top.”

Linus felt momentary annoyance, but in seconds Anna’s top was off and Conrad handed her the phone. She took the picture and then unceremoniously pushed the big man onto the bed. Deftly, she manipulated the phone for several seconds and then set it back down on the table. Linus could see what those slender fingers on the phone screen were about and figured out why. Smart.

Conrad asked, “What were you doing?”

“Just sending myself a copy of the pic so I can remember you…and also give you my phone number.”

The man smiled and casually stroked his erection. Linus could see the extreme arrogance of Conrad. And he could feel in this smaller, feminine body why women found such confidence attractive, too. No wonder I wasn’t good at picking up women.

Anna turned to look around the room and then sauntered to an open door at the far end, making a show of walking. The doorway led to a walk-in closet. Inside, along with rows of tailored suits, she found a long rack of expensive silk ties that had belonged to Conrad’s father, and she took five of them and turned back to the bed. She saw Conrad watching as she tied one necktie around her neck. It hung between her breasts, down past her bikini. Anna stood before the bed and wriggled out of her bright yellow swimsuit bottom, the necktie blocking Conrad’s view of her moist opening. She stroked her sex with the tip of the tie and moved her hips seductively, softly cooing.

Conrad let out a low moan. “That’s so hot! Come here! Let me put something else inside you. Something harder.”

Anna smiled. “Not so fast. I’m still upset that you don’t remember me. So you’re going to have to answer some questions. And just so you won’t get handsy…” She leaned over him. “Give me your arm.” She tied each hand to the headboard as tightly as she could. The old oak headboard was strong, as was the silk of the ties. He might be able to free himself, but it wouldn’t be easy. She did the same with each of his feet.

With Conrad immobilized, she straddled him, just below his turgid cock. “Okay, first question. I know you’re a bad boy. And I love bad boys. Tell me. What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?”

Conrad pulled at the neckties. “Come on! Don’t do this. Let’s just fuck! I don’t mind being tied up, but don’t make me wait.”

Anna bent over and licked her own erect nipple. She then started to get off of him. “Okay, if you don’t think the reward is worth the game, then I guess I’ll go.”

He jerked again at the ties. “No. Wait.”

She paused.

Conrad looked up at the ceiling, thinking. “Okay. Um. When I was in high school, I, um, screwed my history teacher and then got her fired.”

Anna rolled her eyes. Linus knew what she was doing. It was what prosecutors do with suspects who think they are smarter than their accusers. “That’s nothing. I know you’ve done worse. Give me something better. Have you stolen money from anyone?”

He nodded. “Yeah. From my parents. I used to steal money from my mother’s purse, and I pawned some of my dad’s rare coins to buy pot and X.”

She laughed. “Who hasn’t? Come on.” She leaned down over him, her hand inches away from his throbbing cock. “I need something really, really bad. Have you ever taken advantage of a girl? You know, gotten her drunk or maybe slipped her something and then had your way with her?”

 

Conrad grinned. “I don’t have to do those things. Look at me. Look at this house. Look at my cock.”

She leaned back, still straddling his legs. “So you aren’t really a bad boy at all, are you? You’re just a spoiled momma’s boy. So disappointing! I only get off on bad boys because I’m a very bad, very naughty girl.” Anna again started to slowly un-mount Conrad.

He panicked. “I’m a bad boy. You just don’t know!”

“Okay, then. I think you just play at being bad in your fancy house. But I’m so horny I’ll give you one more chance to prove to me you are as bad as you claim.” She paused and then inserted a finger into her soaking cunt. Anna moaned and thrust her hip to meet her fingers. “Prove me wrong. It’s not like you…not like you ever killed anyone.”

For the first time since they’d arrived, Linus saw Conrad look uncertain. He didn’t answer.

Anna smiled, and Linus felt another flash of arousal. “You have! You have killed someone! Tell me about it! Oh! I’m getting so wet.” She moaned and stroked herself with the tie again.

Conrad looked to the side, away from him. “It…it was an accident. I don’t want to talk about that.”

Anna held the moist end of the cunt-soaked tie out to Conrad’s nose. “Then I guess you don’t really want some of this, then. You don’t know what you’re missing.”

Conrad’s eyes widened. He seemed to contemplate her tease. Calculating. “Okay, I’ll tell you.”

Anna cooed. “Tell me every detail. And you got away with it? Probably just had your daddy buy your way out of it, didn’t you?” Linus’s senses were on fire now. All the fear he’d felt was gone. He was so aroused by all of this, even if he was along for the ride at this point. Linus wasn’t sure if he was turned on by Anna’s game or by Conrad’s manliness. But as Anna’s eyes moved past Conrad’s cock, part of him wanted it. Wanted it inside him the way Scarlett had talked about it.

She could sense Conrad fighting himself, and Linus knew why. The fortune that awaited Conrad was too important to risk for this girl he didn’t know…didn’t remember. But the lust-driven man had no chance against Anna’s wiles. Conrad stared at the gorgeous creature in front of him, and she returned his gaze, knowing that the cock was fighting to overrule his brain. And the little head atop the cock was winning.

She knew he wanted her, and she was sure he was close to giving in to desire. Just a little push. “Don’t lie to me, either. Tell me the truth. Tell me all of it. I promise I won’t tell a living soul. Cross my heart and hope to die.”

Conrad’s cock won out, and he began to tell the story that had been hidden for so long. “Her name was Joanne, I think. Or Anna. Bailey or Bryant. Something like that. Doesn’t matter. She was nothing. Just some hippie chick. It was ten years ago. Ten years ago today, in fact. I was coming home after another wild birthday party. She was walking along the roadside. I didn’t see her.”

Anna had him. “Did you stop to help her? Did you call 911? Or did you just keep on going? Tell me you just kept going. That would be so freakin’ hot!” She threw back her head like she was having an orgasm.

Conrad looked into Anna’s bright green eyes. He seemed to sense danger and looked a little scared now. But she could see he was also still turned on. So turned on. She circled his stomach with her fingertip, right above his cock, and scratched at his pubic hair. “Tell me more!”

Conrad swallowed hard. “Yeah. I stopped for a second, but then I saw another car, and I panicked. I just drove off. I guess the other car might have called 911.”

She blew on his dick and rocked back in forth, inches away from his hard-on. Her hot breath and puckered lips caused him to moan again. She cooed and hissed, “And you got away with it.”

Conrad bucked his own hips, trying to reach her. “Yeah, I did. I have a friend who’s a lawyer. He helped me. Called in some favors with the local PD. They buried it. No one even questioned me.”

Anna smiled, satisfied. She silently got out of bed and picked up Conrad’s phone again. Linus watched through her eyes as she saved the recording and sent it to the police. “Thank you, Conrad. That’s all I wanted to hear. You are a bad man. The worst. I believe you.”

Still wearing the tie, she pulled on her bikini bottom as Conrad watched, looking totally confused. “Wait! Where are you going?” He pulled at the restraints, getting one foot free. “You can’t leave me like this. Don’t be a goddamn prick tease. I need you to fuck me.”

Anna strolled over and grabbed his dick, squeezing as hard as she could, saying, “You don’t know it, but you’re already fucked. So fucked. And you don’t need me. You fucked yourself. Happy birthday.” Anna pulled on her shirt and picked up her bikini top, sandals, shorts, and then her pack. She slipped his phone into the pack and blew him a kiss.

It wouldn’t take long for Conrad to free himself. But Anna paused at the door and Linus felt an emotional shift. Anna’s voice changed as she spoke. The seduction was over, and the sweetness was back, but with an edge. “Do you know who I am now?” Linus could tell she was nearly exhausted emotionally. Playing the seductress role for Conrad had taken a toll on her, but she had more to say.

Conrad stopped struggling and stared at Anna, the T-shirt clinging to her sweaty, heaving breasts. Petulantly, he spoke through gritted teeth. “No. I don’t know who the fuck you are! But no one does this shit to me! No one! I’ll find out who you are, and you will pay!”

She faced him, still speaking softly, her voice growing weaker. “I’ll tell you who I am. Who I was. I’m Anna Bailey. I’m the girl you killed ten years ago.”

He shook his head. “No. That’s impossible! And that’s not fucking funny! You fucking cunt!” Conrad pulled his other foot loose and bucked, trying to get his hands free.

Anna continued as tears flowed. “Winding Lane just before Oak Ridge Cemetery. You were driving some big off-road pickup truck like the one out front. I remember seeing it coming toward me that day really fast. That orange license plate. Heard that loud motor growling and music booming. Felt pain. Horrible pain. And then blackness as I died. I was twenty-three. You killed me on the happiest day of my life.”

Conrad’s voice dropped, hearing her recount just what had happened. “No! It couldn’t have been you! You’re alive! How?”

Linus felt control of Anna’s body returning to him as her will faded, and he ran as fast as he could down the hall, out the front door, and to the parking area. He ignored his untethered breasts bouncing in the T-shirt and the girlish way he swung his arms as he ran.

He jumped into the car and drove toward the gate. It was closed, but as soon as he got near it, the car triggered the exit sensor and the gate slowly opened. Linus looked back to see Conrad, naked, running after him down the drive, a necktie still tied to one arm. As soon as the gate was opened far enough, Linus pulled out onto the road and drove away as his pursuer reached the end of the driveway.

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Chapter 10: Comfort

Linus parked in the garage and slowly entered his home once more, the smell of his sex and the tingling there a physical reminder of where he’d just been. He felt spent. He’d driven home on autopilot, his mind replaying the last hour looking for answers that would not come. All he had were emotions, not facts. And as a lawyer, Linus relied on facts. For once, though, he saw, given the state of his life on this day, the futility in seeking rational answers. I’m not Linus anymore. I’m not an attorney or even a man. Looking at his manicured hands on the wheel as he turned onto his street, he finally let go of being the attorney searching for answers. It’s over.

But before he totally stopped being a lawyer. Before he ceased to be Linus Newcombe, he did one more thing. He pulled Conrad’s phone from the pack and unlocked it using the code he’d seen the stupid man enter during Anna’s seduction. His birthday. Idiot!

Linus found the recording and forwarded it to Isaac and Mr. Washington along with links to the evidence he’d found that morning. He sent the same to a friend in the prosecutor’s office along with a short note saying he (Conrad) was filled with remorse and wanted to come clean about hitting Anna.

 My phone may disappear tomorrow, but my bet is that Conrad’s phone won’t. The confession Conrad made might not stand up in court, but it would certainly be enough to get the case moving again. And if what Conrad had said was true, if he went to jail, his father’s estate would not go to him.

Two minutes later, Conrad’s phone lit up with a call. It was from Isaac. Linus didn’t answer. A minute later, there was a text. “Bro! WTF are you doing? Did Linus come to see you? Have you lost your mind? You could lose everything! And you’ll be taking me down with you! Call me! NOW!”

Seconds later, Linus’s own phone rang. He glanced at the screen. “Yep. That’s Isaac.” He powered off his phone. I have nothing more to say.

Linus smiled at the responses from his old friend as he made his way to the laundry room and stripped. He dropped the bikini, T-shirt, and shorts into the washing machine for a delicate quick wash. Linus touched his breasts, feeling confused and disoriented, mentally and sexually, but also more at peace than he’d thought possible. He was totally conflicted about exactly what had happened with Conrad in that bedroom; about his feelings and desires. The sensations Anna’s body had transmitted to him, including a lingering arousal that appeared would go unsatisfied, were still there. But Linus was otherwise at peace knowing justice would be served or, at the very least, knowing he’d done everything possible to ensure Anna’s killer would be caught and convicted.

Linus turned on the shower and stepped in, immediately feeling better as the warm water cleansed his silky skin of the encounter with Conrad. His mind wandered, letting his fingers explore where they wanted. It wasn’t until a moan escaped his pillowy lips that he realized one finger was massaging his clit while the other tugged at an engorged nipple.

At first, the image of Conrad’s impressive cock flashed through his mind. But it was soon replaced with images of Scarlett and the mysterious woman he now knew had to be Valeria. The orgasm then came over him from nowhere, and he fell to his knees screaming in ecstasy. Something told him his pleasure was a reward for what he’d done this morning. I don’t know if I’ll “be” after today, but if I am still here, I’m going to have to do that again…often.

Once the sexual release was complete, the emotional release began, and Linus sobbed. And he knew the emotions were not just his own. The water cascaded down his slender back where he remained on his knees as tears fell from his expressive eyes. This time, his hair hadn’t been spared from getting wet, and it fell, dripping, across his face. Once the crying was done, he stood again, reaching for shampoo and conditioner.

After patting dry, Linus wrapped his wet hair, donned a robe, and went to the laundry again to move the clothes from the washer to the dryer. He then returned to the bedroom with the backpack.

While the clothes dried, he lay in bed and closed his sparkling green eyes to think. His mind ran not to Conrad, but to Anna and to her recounting the day she died to her killer. The change in her voice as she spoke of her last moments on earth was powerfully evocative, and he realized it was the first time she’d felt the need to be angry at her killer. She died that day in an instant, happy and in love. Her last words, “You killed me on the happiest day of my life,” were incredibly moving and sad.

Today was the first day Anna had dealt with her own death. He could still feel her pain. He wasn’t alone inside Anna’s body. A part of Anna, maybe all of her, was with him, just out of conscious reach. Linus had vaguely realized this before as feminine habits and knowledge became automatic, but hearing her tragic story had made her presence more real. He’d felt her in the shower, too, as he cried. And though he had likely ensured justice for her killer, Linus knew from her lingering pain that there was more to do. There is pain beyond Anna to deal with.

He pulled the eReader from the pack and re-read the last journal entry. Ten years ago, Anna Bailey was a happy girl in love. She planned to hike up to Oak Ridge by the cemetery and sit under the oak tree before moving on to Valeria’s condo to lie by the pool. But she never made it. She never had that moment under the tree. That’s why the pack was there and not where she died. I need to go there. To return the pack. I need to complete her hike.

This imperative was stronger than going to confront Conrad had felt. I have to do this. I don’t know exactly why. But it’s important. It’s what Anna wants. It’s what she needs.

The dryer buzzed, and Linus got up. He relaxed as he stood and realized as he walked through the house he was getting used to this body. The sensations of large breasts bouncing and hips rotating felt more normal. He no longer felt small. He felt that this was the size he was supposed to be. Is this magic helping me to feel like I belong in Anna’s body?

Linus brought the clothes to the bedroom and pulled on the bikini bottom again. Linus put on the top, too. And it was him this time. He had learned this skill. It was letting Anna dress him earlier that had taught him, and now the skill was his. The T-shirt and shorts were easy, and Linus smiled at his cute reflection with a positively pleased expression at what he’d done all by himself.

But when it came to his wild, wet hair, he was lost. So, Anna’s skills came to the fore and helped him to dry and brush his hair; she wasn’t satisfied until it was perfect. Linus sensed she wanted to look good for this hike. He applied makeup, another skill he’d been gifted earlier this morning, but he could feel Anna directing his hands here and there to make sure it was done to her satisfaction. He thought, if I didn’t know better, I’d think we were getting ready for a date. But that’s impossible.

Water bottle filled, he placed it in one side pocket of the now nearly empty bag. He picked up the eReader next and again stroked the tear in the cover. A fleck of orange paint clung to his soft fingertip, and there were more flecks of paint like it inside the gash. The orange license plate did this.

He returned the eReader to the main pocket along with the evidence envelope and zipped the pack. He tightened his Garmin sports watch on Anna’s little arm and slipped his iPhone in with Conrad’s into the other side pocket. He then lifted the bag onto both shoulders for the first time since bringing it home as Linus that first day. It seemed heavier than it should be, but he realized that no, Anna was simply much weaker than his old body had been. The straps were also much too loose for Anna’s frame, and he remembered, as Linus, that he’d loosened those straps for the ride home just a few days before. While most of reality had aligned itself with his new proportions, the pack had not. It was somehow immune to the changes. It was a constant.

It was a beautiful fall day in Fortis Beach. It would have been a nice day for a stroll along the Gulf. But that wasn’t the destination. Oak Ridge was programmed into the hiking function of the sport watch. “Ugh! Eight miles!”

By road, it was almost twenty miles from his house to the oak tree, but he’d be taking trails and cutting through neighborhoods, so it wasn’t as far. The only time he’d be on a public road was on Winding Lane, not far from the cemetery. The same stretch of road where Anna was killed.

Yes, it was a gorgeous day for a hike. The breeze blew gently through Anna’s hair as he started out, and the sound of wrens and cardinals filled the air. The leaves hadn’t turned color yet, and flowers were still abundant and waved at Linus as he passed, offering beauty in sight and scent.

Slowly, the rest of the feelings from the morning’s discovery and event at the mansion were carried away on the breeze. He breathed in the clean, crisp air and softly mouthed another song that he didn’t know. Yes, Anna was with him, and these songs were her way of reaching out to him.

“So we will share this road we walk

And mind our mouths and beware our talk

Till peace we find, tell you what I'll do

All the things I own, I will share with you

And if I feel tomorrow like I feel today

We'll take what we want and give the rest away

Strangers on this road we are on

We are not two, we are one.”

A smile formed on his face out of nowhere. It was a smile so pure and so genuine. Linus felt Anna’s head look up, alert. There was a bounce in his step now, and not just the breasts. Anna’s jewel-like eyes saw newness in every mile of this trail. Linus had walked this way many times before, but never seen things this fully. There was renewed hope in the heart beating inside her youthful body. Hope given simply from being in the moment. He still questioned why all this had happened and what the next midnight would bring. No answer came. But what came instead was a sense of purpose. Anna’s purpose. Getting to the top of that hill and returning to the oak was important, and he could feel her inside longing to get there.

A little less than three hours later, he stood under the old tree sipping water. He reached out with a soft finger and caressed the oak’s scars as he drank from Anna’s water bottle and adjusted his bikini top once again with an elastic snap.

Anna’s eyes looked around with anticipation. The man inside the girl didn’t know what to expect, but expected something to happen. So he, inside her, waited patiently, like she had for a decade.

They didn’t have to wait much longer.

A car and a pickup truck pulled in the gates of the sprawling cemetery property. The emerald eyes watched as the vehicles stopped some two hundred yards away. The driver’s doors of the two vehicles opened. A tall, dark-haired woman stepped from the BMW coupe that had led them into the cemetery, and a petite blonde woman emerged from the pickup. The two hugged for a long time and then made their way to a grave with a small headstone.

Linus in this Anna body felt compelled to approach them. He picked up the purple pack and sauntered unhurriedly toward the two newcomers. The air smelled sweet, and the gentlest breeze insistently pushed from behind.

Nearing them, the two women came into focus. The short blonde with her hands respectfully behind her back was cute and petite. She was attractively shaped, with long fingernails flawlessly painted in a soft pink that was so familiar. A thought whispered to Linus. That’s Marie.

The other woman was a tall Latina with a very shapely figure and a natural smell that made it to the petite nose of the new young woman. He recognized her as the woman in his dreams. Linus gasped as he felt his heart explode with love and a sense of intense loss all at once. The part of Anna inside him was breaking through, and for the first time, her intense longing for the beautiful woman before him were his. “My Valeria!” escaped his full lips in a halting whisper.

The two women were obviously emotional. Valeria spoke, sounding profoundly sad and angry. “It didn’t work. And I won’t do this again. It’s too hard, Marie. It’s too hard.” She then seemed to reconsider. “But I miss her so much.”

“I know, Val. I know. I miss her too. We have to keep trying! I need to tell her I’m sorry for what I said that last night I saw her. I need to know she forgives me. Even after all these years, I feel so lost.”

Valeria spoke again through bitter tears. “The witches said so many times this would work. Why doesn’t it? Are they lying? They said it might take a year, but it’s been nine years since we met with them that first time here.”

Linus saw the side of the woman’s face and his breath caught. Love was joined by lust. For Valeria, Anna had been gone for a decade. For Anna, peering from inside her old body, no time had passed. Lust that had been buried for a decade, along with the deep, innocent love and excitement of finding the one you were meant for, erupted from her heart.

Marie answered, as she had the prior nine times, “No. Harriet and Flora weren’t lying. They are good witches. They told us it had to be the right person at the right time. They said the goddesses would know.”

Anna’s sadness and empathy for Marie joined the other emotions in Linus’s mind as an unfocused memory of this Marie floated into consciousness. Unresolved hurt was there and left open as a wound for both twins.

Linus stood waiting, not moving closer. Like earlier at Conrad’s security gate, he didn’t know what to say or do. The breeze tossed the soft auburn curls that framed Anna’s cute face. And before he could form words or even the thoughts, a whimper escaped his lips and the two women turned toward him. At first, what they saw didn’t seem to register.

But then Valeria shrieked, “Anna! Anna! My God! You came back! They…They weren’t lying.” The beautiful woman fell to her knees. “Thank you, goddesses! Thank you for bringing her back to me!”

Linus took a step back. He suddenly knew what she had to say. Knew why he was there. “I’m sorry, Valeria. I’m not your Anna.” The words came out with such pain that his heart wanted to stop.

Marie ran to hug him now. “But you are! You are! You are! Oh, my God! I am so sorry, Anna. I’ve been waiting…” She broke down in tears, unable to speak.

Linus studied Marie through Anna’s vision. She looked a lot like Anna, though ten years older now. Her short blonde hair was attractive, and her body, though less dramatic, was still lovely.

Valeria stood and joined them, wrapping her arms around them both. “I prayed for this moment! I prayed, and it came true!”

The touch of these two women was almost too much for Linus. In their embrace, he could feel all the years of sorrow, regret, and unrequited love, and Anna’s feelings for them were overwhelming and complex.

Linus was overcome. He cried and spoke in a choked voice. “No, Marie. Both of you. You need to listen. I’m not her. I’m not Anna. I think…I think I’m here, though, to give you something you need. I’m here to give you…comfort. Closure.”

Valeria shook her head. “No! You came back to me! Stop saying these things, my little fairy! My fiery seductress. Stop! I can feel you. I can smell you! You are here, and we can be together again. Like we would have been if you hadn’t been taken from me.”

Hearing these last words reminded him of the morning’s events. “I…I have something for you.” Linus handed Conrad’s iPhone to Valeria. “This belongs to the killer, Conrad Stephenson. He recorded his confession on it this morning. I sent it to some people who should help, but in case…well, now you have it. The phone pin is 1002  — today’s date and his birthday.”

Linus smiled wryly, turning to Marie. “If anyone asks you, Marie, you met Conrad today at his house, and he confessed to you. It will make sense later if you listen to the recording.” Linus then handed the envelope containing the evidence he’d gathered that morning to her as well.

With this, Linus’s remaining burden for his actions more than a decade before was gone. He’d done his part. The evidence was safe in their hands. And now all the regrets of his entire lifetime floated away with the fluttering oak leaves.

Linus felt light and free. Something inside surfaced and warmly embraced him, speaking to him directly for the first time. “Thank you,” Anna silently told her host. Her soft voice then asked Linus, “May I speak to them? May I show them something else?”

Linus didn’t answer, but nodded to the voice instead, relinquishing control of the body he inhabited so that its rightful soul could emerge one more time.

Linus watched from inside her as Anna gently kissed the two women and dropped her worn backpack on the ground. He felt these kisses and her many emotions fully now, seeing the two people that meant the most to her this way.

Anna removed the eReader, caressing it like a treasured friend. She turned on the device and unlocked it with her pretty finger. She then let both women read the entries. All of the entries, not just the ones for the week of her death.

The three women read and cried and read and cried for a very long time. They felt the love and comfort they’d been looking for since the day Anna died. The tears flowed. But they soon turned to tears of joy at having this moment.

And when the tears stopped, all four of them were at peace. Anna ran her hand over the deep gouge in the eReader’s cover. “There are no more wounds,” she said. “We are healed. We can all move forward.”

======================================================

The three women stood together, shoulders touching. No one knew what to say next. But Anna, still controlling what had been Linus’s body, knew what she had to do.

Anna sighed. She kissed Valeria and then her sister before putting the reader back into her pack and lifting it to her shoulders. “It’s time for me to go.”

Valeria took her hand. “You…can’t…” She didn’t finish the sentence because, looking into her former lover’s sparkling eyes, Valeria saw that the time magic had granted them was indeed over.

Marie took longer to reach the same conclusion as she held onto her sister’s other hand, their matching nails mingled together. She refused to let go. “Why can’t you stay?”

Anna smiled sweetly. “This isn’t my life. My life ended near that tree a decade ago. But yours didn’t. You both have mourned me for far too long. I was happy that day I walked up here. Now you must be happy. You have to move on.”

The resurrected girl turned to Valeria. “I’ve watched you. You’ve had chances to find love again, but you keep pushing them away. There is far too much passion in you. Share that love. Let others see your heart the way you showed me in those joy-filled days we were together. There is someone there for you. She’s just around the next corner. Watch for her!”

She then looked at Marie. “And you, my dear sister. You have been carrying around this guilt about one night out of the thousands we happily spent together growing up and as adults. Yes, we fought that night, but you still loved me, and you have to know I still loved you. But if you need to hear it, let me say now that I am sorry for what I said then and I forgive you. And you, too, need to find someone to love. Who knows, it might be the next man you meet.”

Valeria asked, “Will we see you again? Next year? Will you come back to us?”

Anna shook her head. “No, my love. I am dead. I am a memory. Your love for me has given us this hour, but that is all there will be.”

With that, Anna turned from them and started walking back toward the oak tree. The two women didn’t follow. Said nothing more. Anna did not look back.

Once she had passed the tree, Anna removed the pack and sat down against the ancient trunk and closed her eyes, smiling. “Thank you, Linus.”

Linus answered, “I don’t deserve your thanks. If I had not…”

She interrupted him. “I am not here for retribution. Fate had its plan. You were just playing your part back then, and you have made full amends today. Now, you get to choose your tomorrow. You get to choose what happens at midnight and afterwards.”

“I don’t understand…any of this.”

“Yes, you do, Linus. Don’t lie to yourself. You know exactly what comes next. You know the choices. I will be gone in a few moments. You have to choose who you will be when you wake up.”

“You mean choosing between the sad and lost man I was or the girl I am now?”

“Those aren’t your only choices. Stop ignoring the truth. I was allowed to come here to comfort my sister and the love of my life, but I was brought here for and because of you, too. We are connected.”

“But what should I choose?”

Anna said finally, her voice fading. “You already know. You already know. You already…”

 

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Chapter 11: Strangers

Linus pulled onto Winding Lane and selected a lower gear for the final two-mile climb to Oak Ridge. The bright green Bianchi shone in the Florida sun as he pedaled up the steep, curvy road. His long, powerful male legs once again made taking on the incline almost effortless.

His mind returned to the morning’s revelations and wondered what was to come after the tumultuous last week. Linus awoke that morning in his own bed and immediately saw his manly, muscular, hairy arms and, significantly, he did not see them through long auburn hair.

He wondered sleepily at first if the events of the past week were a dream. But facing the bathroom mirror minutes later, the truth was reflected. He was fully Linus again, but the eyes staring back at him were Anna’s sparkling green ones. This really happened.

Back on the bike, Linus heard a loud horn that jerked him back to the moment. He hugged the edge of the road as a city bus passed; the driver pointed an accusing finger at him as he went by. He turned his head back to the road. Don’t lose focus. Not today. Not after all this.

But a minute later, his mind again drifted again back to the morning. Today felt like Friday, but it was actually Saturday. It was two days ago that he woke up fully as Anna. Two days since he’d sat by the oak tree and fallen asleep.

The confrontation with Conrad was still fresh in his memory, as was the hike in Anna’s body and the time later that day with Valeria, Marie, and Anna at the cemetery. This morning revealed, though, that two midnights had been missed since then. While he slept…or whatever he’d been doing…the world kept going. Kept adjusting. Reality adjusted back to where it had been before.

Almost.

Linus looked over his shoulder as he made way for another car to pass, glancing at the faded purple strap atop his broad shoulder. Anna’s pack was the reason he was riding up to the fateful spot again. Something pulled at him that morning when he saw the pack by the kitchen door. By now, he knew everything had happened for a reason. And though he did not know how the pack was there this morning, he could only think of one reason why. One last thing to do to complete what had started under that tree that rainy Friday eight days before. He had to return the pack to the scarred old oak.

Linus shifted gears again and reached down to withdraw the water bottle attached to his bike frame. The bottle, bearing a logo from one of the charity bike rides he’d done, took Linus’s mind to Isaac and then to the actual news he’d read that morning. Conrad Stephenson Jr. had been arrested Thursday night. Apparently, the recorded confession and evidence Linus sent made it to the right hands that very day. The police came to Conrad’s birthday party and took him away in front of all of his guests. How fitting.

There were two other mentions in the news story about the arrest that surprised Linus. First was that the Florida statute of limitations on hit-and-runs involving death was ten years, something Linus had forgotten in his time in corporate law. Had charges not been filed on Thursday, ten years to the day from Anna’s death, the statute would have run out and Conrad would have been immune from prosecution.

The second surprise in the news report disturbed Linus. The article mentioned that there was evidence someone was with Conrad when his truck struck Anna. The reporter said that this person was a “close friend of Conrad.” Linus hoped it wasn’t Isaac, though that would explain the cryptic texts his friend had sent Linus the morning he figured out Conrad’s involvement in Anna’s death and the one from Isaac sent later to Conrad’s phone.

As Linus approached the sharp blind curve just before the cemetery, the curve where Anna was run down, he went to replace the water bottle in the bike frame so he could put both hands on the handlebars for the turn. But he dropped the bottle. It bounced under his rear tire, and he momentarily lost his balance. Linus swerved to the left, quickly recovering his balance as he saw the bottle roll off the road into the grass.

But the moment of distraction was a moment too much. When Linus looked up again, he saw a terrifying sight. A pickup truck had crossed the center line in the middle of the curve and was coming at him head-on. Had Linus not swerved to regain his balance, there would have been room for the truck to pass. But his bike was too close to the middle of the road now, and a collision was inevitable.

The driver of the pickup apparently saw Linus at the same moment. Both reacted instinctively and, thankfully, steered away from each other. Instead of a head-on collision, Linus’s front tire glanced off the rear wheel of the truck. It was still a violent impact, though, and his bike crumpled against the side of the pickup.

Time seemed to slow down as Linus felt himself flying over the back of the truck and onto the grassy road shoulder. He tumbled several times, coming to rest on his chest, with the breath knocked out of him. His head was fuzzy for a moment, but he quickly regained consciousness and struggled to catch his breath.

Linus lay there in silence trying to assess his injuries. For a moment, the only sound was the wind in the trees. But then the silence was broken by the slam of a vehicle door and the screams of a woman.

“Oh, my God! Are you alright?!” The woman was weeping. “I’m so sorry. I…I didn’t see you!”

Linus responded, “I think I’m okay. Just give me a minute.” Still on his stomach, Linus moved his arms and legs. “Yeah. I don’t think anything is broken. Let me…Let me catch my breath.”

The woman continued to speak rapidly in a choked voice. The voice sounded familiar. “I…I was coming from the cemetery. They just arrested the man who killed my sister. I went to the grave to tell her. I…was distracted and…I’m so, so sorry.”

To anyone else, the woman’s words might have sounded like nonsense. But not to Linus. He froze. He couldn’t move, but not because he was injured. He couldn’t speak, but not for lack of breath. It was the implication of all this, not his fall, that muted him and paralyzed him. My god! This is Marie.

Marie kneeled down beside him in the grass, now sobbing uncontrollably. “This is the same curve where Anna was killed! I almost killed you in the same place my sister died!”

Linus turned slowly over and sat up. He was sore and had a few cuts and scrapes, but was otherwise okay. Marie had her hands over her face, crying into them. Marie’s nails were still painted in the same “strawberry cheesecake” pink. Linus gently pulled her hands away from her face, saying softly, “But you didn’t kill me. I’m fine. Really.”

Pent-up emotion and sudden affection filled his heart as he looked at a face much like the one he’d grown familiar with in the mirror. He lifted Marie’s chin and brushed away her blonde hair. Anna’s green eyes looked into the bright blue eyes of her sister again. Linus spoke to Marie…and to himself. “It’s going to be okay.”

Marie stopped sobbing and smiled wanly. “Are you sure you aren’t injured?”

He grinned, sensing the real purpose of his ride today. I wasn’t just supposed to return the pack. I was supposed to... He realized he’d been staring silently, so he answered her. “I’m okay.”

She tilted her head inquisitively, studying him as if sensing something meaningful in the moment, too.

Linus continued to take in the woman. Marie was indeed Anna’s twin. Her face was just as innocent and lovely. He couldn’t let her go. But what can I do?

The answers came to him like Cyrano whispering in his ear. He took off the sunglasses that had somehow remained on his face during the accident, saying, “But I do have a favor to ask.” Linus pointed at his crushed bicycle. “Can you give me a ride home?”

Marie nodded and wiped the last of her tears. She first looked toward the ruined bicycle but then returned to Linus’s face. Her eyes found his now, and she gasped. “I…I…Your eyes.” She could not take her eyes off his, but she found her voice. “Sure. A ride. Yeah. It’s the least I can do.”

She brushed dirt from his cheek, her soft hand lingering there, staring still. “Your eyes…” She seemed to want to say something more, but stopped herself. Marie looked away, fighting tears again.

“Don’t cry. You’ve cried enough.” He didn’t mean just this day. Linus meant her tears over the last decade.

“You don’t understand, um, mister. Your eyes look just like my Anna’s.”

Linus stood and extended his large hand. “I’m Linus.”

She took it. “I’m Marie.” She tilted her head again, eyes still locked on his face in a sweet look of confusion.

Linus sighed, suddenly nervous as he returned her intense gaze. “It’s nice to meet you, Marie.”

She asked. “Do I know you? Something about you…”

From deep within his mind again, a phrase came to him. A song lyric he’d learned two days before. He spoke it out loud. “Strangers on this road we are on.”

Her eyes widened, and she nearly gasped. “I know that song! The Kinks! It was one of my sister Anna’s favorites. Marie completed the line. ‘Strangers on this road we are on, we are not two, we are one’.”

Linus squeezed her small hand still held in his and glanced at the glistening fingernails. He didn’t want to let go. “Then I guess we know each other, huh?”

When he looked at Marie again, her face seemed to say the same thing, and she squeezed his hand in return. “I think maybe we do.”

After this shared moment passed, Marie helped Linus lift the crushed bike into the truck bed. And then she noticed on the road, under where the bike had lain, was Anna’s purple backpack. Pointing at it, she asked, “Where…where did that come from? I’ve been looking for it. It was Anna’s.” She peered up at Linus, tilting her pretty head again. “Did you have it? How?”

He smiled once more. “It’s a very long story. If you have the time, I’d love to tell it to you.”

She swallowed hard, still transfixed by his bright green, sparkling eyes. Familiar eyes. “Yeah. Yeah. I’ve…I’ve got time. I’d like to hear that story.” Marie seemed to relax. She mumbled, “It might be the next man you meet.”

 Linus heard what she’d said and knew why, but didn’t acknowledge it. Instead, he said simply, “You take me home, and I’ll get cleaned up. Then we’ll get dinner, and I’ll tell you all about it. It’s an incredible tale, but I think you might believe it.”

He handed her the pack, and Marie clutched it tightly to her chest and nodded.

He opened the driver’s door for her. “How do you feel about clams? I’ve had a craving for them all week.”

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And so it was; two lost souls brought together by pain, regret, and a little magic, found each other…

 

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…and justice was served.

 

Author’s Note: Thank you for making it to the final part of my story. I hope the ending was satisfying to you. I have a favor to ask as you go; please comment in the reviews. Tell me what you liked. Tell me what I need to do better. I’m still learning this fiction thing, and your comments help me improve.

And I need to take a moment to thank Jenny North, Alice Davies, Morphic Muse, and Selkie for reading and helping improve this story. I wrote the original version this spring over two caffeine-fueled days. With the help of these talented and creative friends, I’ve spent the last few months refining it. Jenny, Alice, and Selkie all have stories here and elsewhere for you to read. They are all better writers than I, too. So, if you think this is a decent story, check out their stories to see what real writing looks like.

Lisa