Jon blinked, but when he opened his eyes he was somewhere else. It was dark. The only light seemed to be coming from the grey mist that lazily drifted around him. He looked down, and his eyes met the cavernous freckled cleavage framed by the V neck of his sundress.
"Still in this stupid body..." He muttered in his wispy exasperated soprano. His voice was annoyingly high, like the buzzing of a fly. Weren't women's voices supposed to get a bit deeper as they got older? His seemed a bit softer, but maybe that was just what his voice sounded like to himself, and it was just as bright and whiney to everyone else's ears.
He had been pondering his voice to distract himself from the darkness that surrounded him, and he knew it. It was daunting to face the consequences of the stone, especially after such an open ended wish... Zoe could be so careless sometimes...
He heard a voice, his new motherly voice, calling out into the darkness. It was distant, and sounded muffled through the fog.
"Zoe, Sweetie, I know you've got after school dance club, but you need to pick up after yourself." Jon was sorting through a scattered after school mess. Shoes go on the shoe wrack, socks to the laundry, and jacket on the hook by the door. He didn't touch the book bag or mess of papers. "I've got my second shift coming up, I don't have time to pick up after you." He explained.
"Y-yeah! Sorry mom. I know you're busy."
The Zoe that descended the stairs was not the sister he was used to seeing. This Zoe was wearing bright colors for one, but she was also younger. Maybe a preteen? Jon watched his new body brush the dark hair from Zoe's face, but he also got a vague personal sense of brushing the dark hair from her face at the same time.
"Take care of your chores first, then you don't have to worry about anything for the rest of the afternoon." Jon instructed casually.
"I know mom." Zoe replied with a patient tone.
"Alright give me a hug. I'll be back after dark."
The two wrapped their arms around one another and the scene faded from his eyes. Jon remembered what the hug felt like. It was... bigger and softer than he was used to. It was nice. It was one of those special moments. He was always so busy, it felt like only yesterday Zoe was just a little... Jon shook his head and realized he'd been staring into the swirling mist of the darkness.
"What was that?" Jon asked the darkness, holding his head, and staggering backwards. He looked up to find another cloud of mist before him.
"Ashton and Sandy sitting in a tree." A voice called out through the mist.
"Noooo!" Jon cried, his voice bright and girly and embarrassed.
"K-I-S-S-I-N-G" The girl teasing him couldn't have been out of elementary school, but something about the glint in her eyes was familiar.
Jon squealed and hit the girl with a pillow, the two erupted in laughter as they fell into Jon's bed.
"First comes love." The girl continued, undeterred by the assault. "Then comes marriage. Then comes Sandy with a baby carriage."
"Linda! I haven't even told him." Jon whined, and tittered.
Linda? That was his mom's name... So why did he think of her as his older sister? Ok things were getting confusing, but an inkling of the truth was starting to come to him as the vision faded.
Another cloud swirled around him, and out of it another vision presented itself. This time Jon didn't just watch the scene unfold, he was welcomed into the cloud. No longer a fly on the wall, he WAS Sandra.
"Hey sweet thing." Linda called out to her, as Sandra waddled into the coffee shop. Linda stood and offered her a side hug, but Sandra insisted on a full on hug, wrapping both arms around her older sister. Linda leaned past the quickly growing bump around Sandra's middle.
"How's the boss?" Linda asked with a smile, as she put her hand on Sandra's gravid belly.
"Oh, Zoe's been cranky today." She admitted. Sandra and Jon looked down at the swell beneath her dress and asked it, "Haven't you?" She rubbed her belly to sooth the achiness that wrapped around her middle, and strained her back, but it didn't really help. With a sigh that was half amused, and half exasperated, Sandra explained. "She woke me up twice last night. Twice!" She lowered her voice to a whisper, "I swear, she aims for my bladder when she kicks!"
"Better get used to it." Linda tittered, as she looked over to a baby carriage on chair with a napping toddler inside. "If little Zoe is anything like Mikey, the first year is going to be 'adventuresome'." she said the words with snarky emphasis.
Jon and Sandra smiled broadly. "Ohhh~ That's why I have an older sister to watch her when mommy needs a night off!" She declared, as she laughed. Sandra dropped her purse on the table, positioned herself, and fell back into one of the cafe chairs, realizing for the first time just how dainty and wobbly these things felt. She would have traded that cute curly white aluminum for a sturdy wooden chair in a heartbeat. Her hips spilled over the sides of the little round seat. Clearly that was the fault of the chair as well, and not her own eating habits.
"Oh, but I wouldn't want to deprive you of those special special moments..." Linda insisted... then continued. "2 am in the morning... 4 am in the morning... in the middle of your afternoon nap..."
The pair laughed.
"It's a lot easier with the two of us working together..." Jon and Sandra sighed. The unspoken lamentation was clear and Linda sighed as well, then took her sisters hand...
Jon panted. This was getting intense! He still felt like himself, but he was starting to feel a bit like Sandra too. He hoped it would be over soon... But as he looked up into the darkness he saw more and more clouds materializing, until the darkness was nearly banished by the softly glowing clouds gently descending upon him.
Jon blinked.
Had the wish even done anything? He felt a bit dazed, but really still felt like himself. He reflected on the past day with growing concern, but was satisfied to find that he still remembered being himself. He still remembered being Jon, and he still felt like Jon. He wasn't sure what the wish had done, but he was sure of one thing. Zoe was in big trouble.
He pounded his hand against the door. "ZOE KATHRINE MERLIN!" His shrill voice pierced the air, and cut right through the door and into the heart of the girl. "I am DONE playing around with you." He let the silence linger. Silence was always more terrifying than the screaming. "You are going to open this door on the count of three, or so help me you will face the consequences."
He let the silence linger again.
"ONE." He took a breath. "TWO."
The door opened. Zoe was white faced. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I just. It's dangerous ok. The stone-"
"Zoe. Don't you think I know it's dangerous?" He raised an eyebrow at her, even as he raised his hands to his hips. "Give me the stone, right now." Jon snapped.
"Mom..." Zoe stammered, then paused. She looked bashful, and confused. "Jon..." She corrected herself. "The stone showed me just what's going on. I know how you changed."
"Don't make me ask again." Jon scolded.
"JON! Listen. I know you're worked up, but you can't use the stone yet. You're just going to make things worse, we need to think about this."
"I'm not doing this young lady. Now give me the stone."
Zoe was just as bashful, but then pulled her clenched fist back from Jon.
"Zoe K Gibson." Jon snapped as he took a step forward.
"I...I wish no one could wish on the stone for a week." Zoe cried.
The two of them blinked at one another, and both of their eyes went wide as they met each others gaze.
Jon took the stone from her hand. "We'll talk about this later."
"I... I'm sorry Jon, but we need to think about this first." She stammered her justification. "It's not that bad, but it could get a lot worse if we're not careful." Jon kept one hand on his hip as he continued to stare at Zoe with his lips pursed. Zoe continued. "Just think of it like a vacation from school."
"I would..." Jon's brow furrowed as his own words dawned on him even as he spoke them. "But I have to get ready for work?" His reply became a question as he reflected on the unexpected knowledge.
The two looked at each other, and the tension faded away into confusion and then realization.
"Oh..." Zoe replied.
