What struck Jon as he went through his first three classes of the day was just how... normal everything was. Sure, almost everyone was dressed unusually - his history teacher had been dressed like a toddler, for example - but to everyone else, it was just October, and this is how everything was. No one made fun of everyone else; any teasing or joking was clearly good-natured; anyone who was struggling received immediate support from any passerby. I honestly don't know what to make of a high school that's like this, he thought to himself.
When the lunch bell rang, he hurried as quickly as he could manage without tripping on his heels. Karyn wasn't sitting in their usual spot. Actually, no one was sitting in their usual spot. There was mingling and laughter between mishmashed groupings of all the cliques he previously remembered. Karyn herself was sitting with Tiffany and a number of other students that he only knew in passing. Her eyes lit up when she saw him.
"Jon! Come on, help me settle this debate with Tiffany on where the class trip should go at the end of the year," she patted an open space next to her.
"Actually, Karyn, can we, you know, talk? I had those questions I wanted some help with?" Jon tried to signal with his eyes.
"Ohhhhh, 'questions', is that what we're calling it these days!" Tiffany teased. "Certainly not trying to get Karyn to appreciate your look with more than just her eyes, huh?"
"What? No! I mean, no. I mean, well-" Jon stuttered.
"Easy, Jon, relax," Karyn rolled her eyes, smiling. "Tiffany, we'll finish this conversation later, and I will prove to you that 'the beach' is not the best option. C'mon, Jon, don't get your panties in a twist, we can go to the far table in the corner." She high-fived a few of the people at the table, picked up her lunch, threaded her arm through Jon's and led him to the back corner where they had at least a slight amount of privacy.
"Karyn, please, what the hell is going on?" Jon begged when they sat down.
"Is it really that weird?" she stared.
"No, it's strangely normal, but weird too, and it's weird that it's normal, and I don't know what is going on!" he gestured at the room.
"Relax. Look. Abigail Parris. You don't know anything about her?" Karyn asked.
"No, I never heard the name before you mentioned her on the phone."
"Okay, well, she was a witch, or something like that. She used to live in town here over a hundred years ago. People were jerks to her, because of course they were. She was a witch and why would that be okay for her to live around them? She was ostracized constantly, until finally, she said screw it, packed up her things and left. Everyone in town basically jeered and followed her to the town borders. And I guess she turned around and cursed the town as she left."
Jon closed his eyes in irritation. "I guess I can't second-guess witches not being real, because who would have thought a wishing stone could be real before a few days ago, either. What was the curse?"
"I mean, we're all living it right now. I don't know the exact wording, but it's something about 'knowing what it's like to walk in another person's shoes'. And every October, ever since, everyone in town is basically forced to do exactly that. We all get a different closet each day, and are forced to wear someone else's clothing, just conveniently magically-resized to fit whoever has the closet." Karyn shrugged. "Some days, it definitely sucks the closet you get, but the town is really pretty great to live in because of what we all go through each October. I mean, it gets weird when you get the closets that came from costume stores or theater props or sporting gear, but that's just part of it, and people are good about that, too. Maybe better."
"So Sarah isn't a bitch?" Jon wondered.
"Who? Sarah McMillan? No, she's great. Actually, you like her more than I do. How do you not know that either?" Karyn's eyes bore into him.
Jon tried to change the subject. "You said something on the phone about penalties?"
"Oh. Yeah, that's the second part of the curse. No point in having a curse if there's no way of forcing you to live through it, right? Well, if you don't wear all the clothing you're supposed to, to fully represent the person whose closet you got, or you take it off too early, or damage it irreversibly, or whatever, then you get hit with a physical penalty. Like you change in some way to match the person whose clothing you rejected. And it usually lasts all month, but it gets kind of weird if you get hit with penalties multiple times and how things stack up. Mr. Johnson, my neighbor, refused to wear the clothing of the punk teen girl that he got last year, and he ended up spending the rest of the month with her tattoos. It's generally not worth it to not go along with the curse. Otherwise, you know, I would have found a way to wear a bra under all this instead of the compression shirt." She gestured at her chest.
Jon held his head in his hands. "This is crazy. Absolutely crazy."
Karyn held out her hand. "Look, give me the rock. Let me see why it's so weird for you."
Jon reached into the front of his backpack. Without pants to hold his things like usual, he'd just decided to carry the backpack around all day to make things easier. He handed the rock to her gently. "Be careful now," he warned.
Karyn smirked. "What, like you were? Let's see. I wish that I knew exactly what Jon's last wish did and why he can't remember any of this."
Her head shook as the information rushed in, and when she turned to stare at Jon, the hunger and warmth in her eyes had vanished. "What the fuck, Jon, you did all of this."
Jon leaned back, hands held in front of him. "What? What did I do?"
Karyn's face was slowly turning to anger. "Jon, you wanted to make things interesting, and the rock responded by changing the entire town's history and making us go through all this each year!"
"You said it made the town a great place to live!" he sputtered.
"Yeah, and it's also made it so every now and then I get a closet that means I have to wear a diaper! Or I'm dressed like a stripper for the day! How many days do you think I don't get to wear a bra, which is going to be really awful when I've got a chest like this now? Or the year I accidentally got that physical penalty and got stuck at toddler height for a whole week? Jon, do you realize just how much you fucked with the entire town?" she spat out.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to even make the wish, let alone for all this to happen! Maybe we can fix it! Or break the curse!" Jon tried.
"You can't break the curse, no one has ever been able to break the curse. And if this is what you do when you make a simple wish, I don't want to see what you do with a complicated one," Karyn shot back. "And it seems like you've got some years to make up for since you don't remember your own history, so let me help you out."
Jon tried to grab for the rock. "Karyn, please, it was an accident!"
Karyn pulled the rock out of reach. "I wish that for the rest of this October, Jon would only end up with female closets. And I wish he would get hit with physical penalties a couple times no matter how hard he tries not to. And I wish you wouldn't be able to use this rock to fix the town before the month is over!" Karyn fired off, her hands shaking with irritation and anger. "Ugh, and I wish that by the end of the day, I won't still be angry at you about all this." She tossed the rock across the table to Jon, who frantically snatched it before it could roll away.
"I'm really sorry, Karyn," he offered.
"I know, Jon, I know. And I'm sorry to do all that to you, but you deserved it. I just... I need a little space right now. I'll be fine by tonight, right? Just... leave me alone for a while." Karyn got up and headed out of the cafeteria.
Jon sat there, the weight of those wishes resting on his shoulders. This is going to be a really difficult month, isn't it?
