Emily looked around the corner one more time, just to be sure. From what she could hear, her mommy and Auntie Laura were definitely still downstairs. She quickly waddled over near her mommy's office, and pulled a spare key she had hidden under the floor carpet. Just as she was about to open it, she was startled by a voice behind her.
"Emi?" He sister Jacki suddenly asked. "What are you doin?"
"Shhhh!!!" Emily shushed her, followed by a quick run to the edge of the stairs to hear if anyone heard her. "Pwease Jacki. You gotta wissen to me."
"But that's Mommy's office, we can't go in there!" Jacki rebutted, trying to stay quiet.
"I know that, but it's important. It's hard to expwain. I just need something in there." She calmly told her.
"Why don't you just ask Mommy or Auntie Laura to get it?"
"Because, they won't understand why I need it." She said stretching up. She managed to boost onto her tippy toes and slid it into the lock.
Emily almost cried tears of joy on the spot. It had been years, but she was finally tall enough.
5 years ago, she had been lost in the power of the camera of change. In doing so, she inevitably got herself transformed, and lost access to the camera. First she was a baby, and then a bra, and then it all went black. She just waited for weeks until one day she was greeted with the light again.
At first, she thought Laura had birthed her, but she quickly realized it was Rick, just transformed to be Laura's twin instead of a female version of himself. Alongside Emily were two more girls who she figured were other members of Laura's family.
It took some time to get her strength back, but eventually she was able to move her arms a bit and at least make basic gestures with her hands. She tried to signal to Rick but it was no use. For some reason, Rick wasn't listening. When Emily was 5 months old she was fussing again, trying to get Rick's attention, but to her sadness she got it.
"Look, I know you used to be someone else, but when i fell I wasn't holding onto my memories as well as I should have. Mixed with probably a different awareness feature and here I am. I know I was a boy of some kind, but it doesn't matter. I'm a woman now. Your mother. if you give into the camera's power on this setting you should be able to fully become part of your new life." She coldly explained. She kissed Emily on the forehead and gave her a warm smile.
"Whoever you used to be, whoever we used to be, just let go baby." She said before walking away.
Emily refused. Clearly either Rick had hit his head too hard or the camera was malfunctioning. There was no way she was giving up and just starting life over again. She would fight day in and day out to get everyone back to normal.
Years went by, and Emily slowly learned everything again. She had to relearn to eat, walk, talk, and even how to go to the bathroom. She had to go through preschool again, watch garbage television, and only hang out with people who could barely talk. Sometimes if she wasn't trying to focus too hard she would slip a little into her role.
When she was 3 she forgot what her Mommy's name used to be, when she was 4 she forgot what her relation was to Auntie Laura, and when she just turned 5 she regained an old lisp with a slightly dummer brain. She had always had to pretend to be a normal kid, especially around her Mommy, but now it was getting harder to think at all.
Over the years she had stealthily searched for the camera, checking every nook and cranny of the house. Eventually, she overheard her Auntie mention it being in her Mommy's office. Luckily, her Mommy had long since forgotten that she had ever been anything other than Rita, which meant as long as Emily could get her hands on the camera she was in the clear.
The only problem was, it was an old, likely expansive camera which adults would never let a 5 year old touch. She eventually found a spare key but she could never reach the lock, until now. She was finally tall enough.
"I got it." She softly chuckled to herself. "I got it."
"Got what?" Alice asked as she rounded the corner, happily skipping in a pink onesie.
"Emi is on a secret mission, but don't tell Mommy." Jacki explained.
"OOOOO, I'm telling'!" Alice chuckled.
"No. Nonono." Emily quietly panicked as she pushed the door ajar. "Pwease Awice. I need something in there but... but... it's a surprise."
"A surprise?" Jacki and Alice both asked.
"Yeah... you two can come with me but don't tell Mommy or Auntie Laura ok?" She begged.
"Ok fine." Alice sighed. "I guess it's ok if it's a present for Mommy. Let's go get it."
The three girls walked into the office, all of them fascinated as they had never been in there before. While Emily started opening drawers, Jacki and Alice just stared in amazement. Their amazement was quickly ended, however, with a small laugh from Emily.
"It's here." She chuckled. "It's... it's.... I was starting to think I was crazy." She said tearing up.
"Oh no Emi what's wrong?" Jacki asked.
"Yeah Emi it's ok it's just a weird box." Alice tried to help.
"It's not a box, it's a camera." Emily explained. "And it's gonna fix everything."
"How?" Jacki asked.
Emily thought to herself. How would it help? She had spent so long just trying to get to that point that she hadn't thought about how she'd use it. Would she try herself first? If she did that she might end up as clothing again. Although some stuff in the past was fuzzy, Emily definitely still remembered what it was like to be clothing.
But if she was to change her family, who would be first? She didn't even remember who most of them would be? Should she try and fix awareness first? How could she, she was still learning how to read! The only thing she definitely knew for sure was the picture button, the rest was a gibberish of big words.
Eventually...