When I woke up, something felt wrong.
It wasn't the flamboyant kind of wrong like if you were driving home and saw that your house had blown up. It was way more subtle than that. If you were walking down a hallway you'd been through many times before but that nagging voice in your head said, "look again Jon-boy," and you look and realize all of the portraits are reversed. Not reversed like on the opposite sides of the hall but literally the people pictured have become their own mirror image in the portrait. It was something like that.
Or maybe I just had to pee.
I slid my feet into the pair of flip-flops I kept by my bed and started walking to the bathroom my little sis Zoe and I shared. We had both long complained about having to share a bath, me especially when her gothic juke started spilling out of her bedroom and into others, but thems the breaks. On my way I figured I should check out some of the family pictures, just to be certain that wasn't it. I had to brush my long, blonde bangs out of my eyes so I could see, but upon close inspection I couldn't find anything strange out about them. Well, there was one thing. I thought I remembered having to look down the last time I had seen them, but now the pictures were right at head height. I only pondered this for a moment though, because nature had renewed her call.
I finally figured it out in the bathroom. The vanity cabinet was right above the sink, which was right in front of the toilet, and as it had a mirror on it I usually checked it whenever I came in. This time I almost passed out, because the face in the mirror wasn't my face.
To be honest, it looked a lot like Zoe's, albeit a little older and without the war paint of makeup. I didn't understand why she did that, because her face, and now my face, was quite pretty on its own. Which is not narcissism by the way because I only got this face this morning.
It had high check bones, but an overall roundish shape, with a cute upturned nose and big, innocent, blue eyes. The mixture of brown and blonde hair fell down to just above the shoulders, which I had thought long before but only because a clump of it kept falling in front of my eyes.
I was shorter now. Maybe a little taller than Zoe, which was nice, but still a good five or six inches down from my old 6'. I did have her figure, athletic and thin, but with some curves. The shape of my unsupported breasts was just seen through my loose tank-top, and my extremely tiny jogging shorts were more or less painted onto my hips, but weren't stretched over them.
That's when it hit me. Up until then I had been seeing this all as a casual, detached observer, but suddenly I realized, this was me in the mirror. Quite literally overnight I had changed from the oldest boy in my family to the eldest girl.
I felt like I had been trampled by an elephant. Unable to support myself, I sat down on the toilet behind me. (Luckily Zoe had closed both lids the last time she used it.) An overwhelming surge of emotions welled up within me, all of them trying to make themselves heard. Finally they all poured out at once and I found myself shaking and sobbing into my hands.
The door opened, and in walked Zoe, bleary eyed and almost my carbon copy except she had dyed black hair. She paused, and I inwardly mustered what little strength I had to deal with the oncoming barrage of questions I was sure to deal with. But instead, my sister smiled a smile filled with more warmth than I'd seen in a long time, sat down next to me and pulled me into a hug. "Hey, hey. It's okay sis. It's okay," she whispered softly into my ear will stroking my hair gently. I didn't even question how she recognized me, I just hugged her back and let it all out.
Some time latter, at least five minutes, I was more or less all cried out and able to pull myself back a little bit. "Thanks Zoe," I said. "I really needed that.
"No problem Jamie; you've comforted me often enough, it's time I returned the favor."
"You make a good shoulder to cry on."
"I should hope so, since I learned from the best." She smiled again and pulled me to my feet. "Now, if there's nothing else, I need to take a shower."
I thanked her again and walked back to my room, because with my emotional outburst out of the way, I could now tackle the bigger problem: how the heck had this happened to me?
Of course there really was only one way to find out. As soon as I had locked the door behind me I went and got the stone. This was easier said than done, because my room seemed to have undergone some remodeling to match my new gender. Most of my stuff was the same, but my bed had upgraded from twin to full sized, so it took me longer than usual to locate the loose wall panel the box was hidden behind. Once I had the stone in my hand, I said, "I wish that whenever I hold this rock in my hand and ask a question it will answer me." There was the now familiar sensation of having to look away, but when it was gone...
Finally. I've been waiting for ages to be allowed to talk again.
What the heck, I thought to myself.
It's me, the strangely androgynous voice laughed. You're friendly neighborhood wishing stone.
I don't understand, I thought again, since apparently it could hear that. I made that wish so the stone--you--could answer questions. I haven't asked one yet.
Actually, I've always been able to talk. A long while ago someone thought I was annoying so they wished I couldn't talk again until someone wanted me to. Your wish undid that.
My head was swimming with a hundred thoughts at the implication of that, but I chose to focus in on the matter at hand. Okay, why the heck have I turned into a girl?
Your wish last night. You wished that something interesting would happen, so I made something interesting happen.
And you thought turning me into a girl would be interesting?
To be fair, I didn't just turn you into a girl, and I didn't just turn you into a girl.
You are going to have to clarify that.
You aren't the only one changed by your wish. People across the world are waking up different from how they went to bed.
How did you manage that? I thought you had a limited range?
My range fluctuates. Last night certain celestial bodies lined up and greatly increased my power.
I sat down in my bed and started rubbing my head. I couldn't believe that I had somehow transformed who knows how many people with one careless wish. The implications of what I had done were just setting in when there was a scream from down the hall. Foolishly leaving the stone unattended, I ran out of my room to see what it was.
The sound had originated from Michelle, my youngest sister's, room, and I barged on in hotly pursued by Zoe and both of my parents. Inside we found a girl who was no longer completely human. Most likely because of my wish, her ears had moved to the top of her head and been transformed into cat ears, and a long brown cat tail was sticking out from under her nightgown.
I quickly shifted to the side to let Mom and Dad deal this, then Zoe and I both ducked out into the hallway. She was clad only in a towel rapped haphazardly around her body, and appeared more annoyed at having her shower interrupted than alarmed by her sister's transformation. "That's...weird," she finally said.
"Weird? Our little sister just grew cat ears and a tail and all you can say is 'that's weird'?" I asked, slightly exasperated both by the whole situation and Zoe nonchalant attitude about it.
"Yeah it's strange, but it's not the strangest thing that could happen."
I gave her a funny look and said, "Zoe, I don't think I'll ever understand you."
She smiled and replied, "I hope so Jamie, since that's what I'm going for." Then she patted me on the shoulder and went back to finish her shower.
It was just then that I realized this was the second time she had called me Jamie. And, while everyone had noticed Michelle's transformation, everyone seemed to think I was normal. I ran back into my room and grabbed the stone. "Why doesn't anyone notice I have changed, but they noticed Michelle?" I asked it, not bothering to think my question.
Actually, young Jamie, nobody noticed Michelle's change. You see, before your wish, you had a 12 year old brother, not a sister.
"Wait, so you're saying that if people had their gender changed, no one notices except for them, but if they get some other change then we'll see that?"
More or less.
The familiar feeling of getting hit by an elephant came over me again. I couldn't handle this. I needed someone to talk to, and it had to be someone who knew about magic. Throwing on some random clothes I stormed out of the house and started walking towards Karyn's.
