SHE HURT ME
Kayla's face turned from joy to worry to panic all in the span of a few minutes as Baby Jo continued to created words and even sentences with her alphabet blocks. Kayla and eventually Martha were transfixed as the infant began to spin out troubling ideas.
ABUSE
RAPED
CHANGE. I'M NO BABY.
Jo was thinking of a way where she could get close to Dr. Von Hauser. It was pointless to just get the good doctor arrested or in trouble somehow, she could just wish herself out of that scenario. Jo NEEDED to get in contact with her so she could steal the magic ring off her finger. Jo figured that being Dr. Von Hauser's former patient wasn't sufficient to warrant Kayla or Martha to take her across the country, so she needed a little white lie.
HUSBAND. ME. GRETA. MY WIFE.
GREAT CHANGE. HER. CAUSE. CORRUPTED BY POWER.
MAGIC RING.
ME. REVENGE.
**
Kira had taken pictures of Dana and Amanda engaged in the sluttiest sex acts they could think of, from rimjobs to German scheisse porn to turkey slapping one another with the dildo, to bukkake, pearl necklaces and beyond. An idea crossed her mind of leaking these pictures to the relevant social media sites and exposing their sex lives to their contemporaries. Kira's logic was that if they enjoyed humiliation, what bigger source of humiliation was there but public nudity, and further, public ridicule?
But she also wanted to respect their privacy. She wanted these games to go on for as long as possible without interruption by parents or other figures of authority, the prudes. She yelled for them to come upstairs and do the hardest thing a dom ever has to do, ask her subs permission.
**
The two born women walked away from the elementary school to the coffee shop. Mary and Lucy saw their friend Elizabeth leave the demonstration, and after catching her attention, they waved in a friendly way to her. Mary mouthed “Can we talk later?”, holding her hand up to her face in the shape of a phone. Reluctantly, Elizabeth waved back at them and nodded her answer back at Mary, giving her a thumbs up. Then she turned around and followed the god-fearing Filipina protester.
Maria touched Elizabeth's hand.
“It's OK” she said. “I'm not trying to kidnap you or brainwash you. I'm completely sincere in everything I say and believe. You can feel safe around me.”
Elizabeth nodded, more slightly this time, and said “Good”.
The walked inside the shop, ordered some coffee, and sat down to talk. Elizabeth had suggested a booth seat, since she liked watching pedestrians walk past the window. Maria agreed.
Elizabeth thought back to the other day when she had met the two women who had caused all of this. She hadn't told a soul about them. They radiated power, but they clearly weren't gods. They were just as human, as fragile, as she was, and the black woman, Jean was it? She in particular had seemed particularly hurt by her bad experience by this “Joe” character, and wanted to get revenge on all men by proxy.
Elizabeth was conflicted. Rape culture was a very serious issue, and the last thing she wanted to do was minimize the experiences of victims of sexual abuse, if her story was true. The white woman, Greta, had said she was a psychologist. She was the one who wore the magic ring. Had Greta manipulated Jean into thinking these things? Where did the magic ring come from, and was it proof that a God with a capital G existed? Elizabeth didn't know why she was thinking of these things all of a sudden, maybe Maria had been the catalyst.
When the coffee arrived, the Filipina woman opened her pitch with a Bible quote:
“Tell me if you've ever heard of this quote, Sister Elizabeth: “Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.” Do you know which verse that is?”
“I'm sorry” Elizabeth said with mild embarrassment, because she actually did read the Bible for spiritual guidance, but hadn't completely memorized it. “I don't”.
“1 Peter: 4:1, and it's no problem” said Maria with a smile. “It means that to suffer as we do, in our older bodies, is to be closer to Christ. We need to suffer to remind ourselves of how much more rewarding it will be for us when we enter Heaven. We need to be tempted by earthly, material pleasures to test our faith, and if we reject them all in favor of the everlasting truths described in the Bible, the Lord will know that we are His children.”
“I don't see what any of that has to do with protesting by daughter's grade school teacher.”
“Children are young and impressionable. By having someone like Ms. Aaronsohn flaunt her sexuality in front of these young children, well, it's predatory in my opinion. Practically demonic.”
“Millie Aaronsohn is one of the sweetest, kindest people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting” countered Elizabeth.
“You think I wasn't tempted?” asked Maria. “Do you want to see what I looked like when the Great Change happened?” she said, changing the subject.
Maria pulled out her phone and showed Elizabeth pictures from two days ago of Maria as a younger, thoroughly more attractive woman.
“You were beautiful” said Elizabeth, holding the phone to examine Maria. Then she looked back at the middle aged version of Maria, plain and tired looking, not ugly by any means, but a standout of mediocrity in a sea of Venus's. Then again, so was she.
“Don't be fooled, The Great Change is a test. It's not a blessing but a curse. I can sympathize with what you and your husband have gone through, and I can equally sympathize with the temptation faced by your son's teacher Ms. Aaronsohn. I hold no ill will or malice towards her whatsoever. In fact, I came to convert her, to turn her towards the light of the Lord and offer her sisterhood in place of romance. Because I love her, and more importantly I want her to love God. And I sure as dixie don't want her soul to ever go to Hell. She unfortunately cannot revert to her old body as we did to ours, but I can try my best to make her one of the flock nonetheless.”
“Excuse me” said the voice of the patron in the booth behind them. Elizabeth turned around and saw a very attractive black girl no older than twenty wearing a halter top and black slacks, her knees sitting on the booth to get a better look at Elizabeth and Maria.
“I couldn't help but eavesdrop. I heard you talking about a kindergarten teacher named Millie Aaronsohn? I'm her neighbor. Can I put a good word in?”
Mrs. Sabrina Carter was a devout woman in her own right. The church she had gone to near her home she had attended for over twenty years, she knew the minister on personal terms, and she had never, ever, not once, missed Sunday services, despite her bad back forcing her into forced reclusion in her apartment for the rest of the week. Things had gotten worse since her late husband Al had died three years prior, and she largely had to depend since then on the kindness of strangers like Milton, now Millie, just to make ends meet, not to mention the company didn't hurt.
This Great Change had been very good to her. Sabrina had looked in the mirror every morning since the Change and saw the young go getter she had been as a young woman decades ago. In fact, if anything, she was even more vivacious than she had remembered being, being totally rejuvenated by this second chance at life. She had even started looking for a new job, wanting to get out more and meet new people.
And she didn't like what Maria had been saying.
**
“Hey there, champ” said Logan's father, now basically a grown up version of Logan's own body. She barely looked ten years older than her daughter, and was dressed like a teenager, with thigh high boots to complete her outfit. She sat on the couch next to Logan, snuggling up to her in a loving but paternal way. She kissed Logan on the forehead.
“We're both so sorry for what you've been through. It came as a shock to me too. I can see why you'd want to end it all.”
“Thanks...dad” said Logan. She was close with her father, but didn't know how to react to someone who looked more like her older sister. Logan's father, who was now going by Katharine(Formerly Calvin), laughed and understood Logan's trepidation.
“I do look pretty hot now, don't I? If I were my old self, my god, what I would do the current me. But never mind, I'm freaking you out, aren't I?”
Logan giggled. “A little.”
“Well you may as well tell your therapist about it then next week” Katharine joked. “Listen, baby, whenever you feel that low again, please, for the love of God, tell me or your mother first. We were worried sick about you.”
“I will. I think I've found that life just goes on, you know?” asked Logan. “It was just, you know, transformation shock.”
“It's OK. This is going to be a big adjustment, but we'll manage. I thought we could go see a ball game tomorrow. Do you want to go? A little father-son/mother-daughter bonding time?”
“I...I think I'd like that” said Logan. Katharine smiled, and Logan wondered whether or not she knew about her sexual escapades with Allison the previous night.
Katharine left the room for a moment and came back with a cake. She sat it on the coffee table. She had some forks, knives, and plates as well.
“I made it myself. I figured that if I'm going to be a woman now, I may as well learn to bake.”
Logan's mother then entered the home, seeing Logan for the first time since her suicide attempt.
**
Regina smiled as Aziz when she had heard the librarian scold her. Aziz shrugged cutely and went back to her reading, now practicing on how to talk to her new friend via telepathy. Regina did likewise, now taking extensive notes of what she was learning about the universe, when she felt somebody poking on her dainty shoulders. Regina turned around and saw a mysterious younger white man wearing a dapper suit. He had a scruffy week old beard and brown hair.
“Hey, are you the new girl? For the competition?”
“I...am” said Regina reluctantly.
“I'm James Van Thorpe. Nice to meet ya” he said, shaking Regina's hand. “I'm up for the sorcerer's position too. I've never actually been to Earth. I just heard about some new arrivals and went to look for both of you. I assume the Arab girl in the black top is the other competitor?” he asked politely but impatiently. This man seemed a tad hyper.
“Yes”.
“Great!” clapped James with his hands. “Could you give me a bit of a rundown about what Earth is like? Like I said, I'm not from there. My parents were, but they raised me here my whole life, and I was curious about how magic operated in the ground level dimensions. I heard about the Great Change too! What's that like, being a woman? Was that you?"