Amy drove to the office, located in a large medical building on the North Side. She was wearing sweatpants, her boyfriend's hoodie with the hood drawn up, and sunglasses. She looked like a celebrity trying to avoid the paparazzi- which wasn't far off the truth.
The office occupied a large suite on the top floor, and she kept checking her blind spots, hoping no one with a camera or cell phone could jump out at her screaming 'FREAK' at the top of their lungs. She was a nervous wreck by the time she entered the office. No one else was in the waiting room, so she made her way to the receptionist.
At first she thought it was a joke when she saw what looked to be an eight year-old girl wearing scrubs behind the desk. Her nametag said 'Natalie Woods, CNS'. The girl had bright blue eyes and blonde hair, and she smiled up at Amy. "Hello, darling. Are you Miss Watkins, the Doctor's 10 o'clock?"
Amy blinked. "Uh...yeah..uh..."
Natalie smiled. "Come on back." She got off her chair and opened the door. "I'm not going to make you fill out any forms, chances are you have no idea what your current medical condition is, plus, we got your records from Dr. Wyatt."
Amy walked into the door, looking down at Natalie, who was easily a foot shorter than she was. "Uh...are you...I mean..."
"It's ok. Honey, you look terrible. Here, sit down." She expertly guided Amy to a chair. "Breathe. Do you need some juice or water?"
"Uh...juice would be fine."
Natalie walked over to a mini-fridge and came back with a Hi-C juice box. Amy looked at it in disbelief. Natalie laughed. "Sorry, it's an office joke. Because of how I look. Drink up, and I'll explain.
Amy poked the plastic straw in the box and took a sip. Fruit punch. It was good.
"So yes, I suffer from STS. We all do, Dr. Montrose thinks it helps our patients realize they're not alone. A lot of people like us pursue medical careers. I came by it honestly, however, I was already a nurse when this happened. Regression is a common type of STS- subjects spontaneously grow younger, despite the obvious problems with something like that occuring. Law of Thermodynamics? What's that? Where did the mass go? No clue. We treat people here, we don't even try to explain it,"
Amy nodded, trying to grok what she was hearing. "So..how..old?:
"I'm 45, if you can believe that. This happened, oh, God, 11 years ago now. I became the cute little girl you see today, and haven't aged a day since. As you'll hear a lot, there's no physical reason for it, blood tests, CT scans, it doesn't matter. For all intents and purposes, I'm a perfectly normal kid. I just don't age or grow, and I heal" she snapped her fingers "stupidly fast. I don't get sick, and I can drink a fifth of vodka like it was water. You'd think there'd be some super cure in my veins, but nope. Just good old AB. I could solve a lot of our blood shortage by myself, but oh no, people are afraid what I have is contagious."
"I could think of worse things to catch." Amy frowned. "I mean, sorry...I..."
"You're in shock and feeling sorry for yourself. It's ok. You should have seen me. I had a fiance, and two daughters when this happened. Well, I still have the girls, but you better believe the fiance left."
"Oh no, did they...try to take your kids away?" 11 years ago would have been pre-28th Amendment, Amy realized.
"It was rough, but the grandparents helped. It got weird when the girls got older than me. My oldest is about your age now." Natalie was still smiling, but there was a sadness in her eyes. She was going to live to see her children grow old, maybe even die. And she'd be the same.
"Come on, let's go to the examination room, and you can show me what happened to you." Natalie took Amy's hand and gently led her back. The examination room was a little larger than the others Amy had seen, but basically the same. Natalie had her sit on the examination bed while she took her vitals.
"Blood pressure is up, and so is your heart rate. That might be normal, considering the level of stress you're under. Do you mind taking the shirt off?"
This was it. She knew, logically, that Natalie wouldn't freak out or scream at her, but the fear was very real. Slowly, Amy removed the hoodie, revealing her second arms, that were folded across her body.
Natalie responded with a low whistle. "Woah. Multiple limbs. Do they work?"
Amy spread her arms. She had the idle thought to flip Natalie off, but she seemed like a nice ki...er...woman. "Yeah. They work fine."
"Mm, hm. Growth of secondary mammary glands. I wonder if those will get bigger over time. Hon, don't mind me if I sound clinical. I'm not trying to dehumanize you. And if you need me to stop..."
"No, no, it's ok. They, um, they're really sensitive before you touch them."
"That's the Doctor's job, not mine. But thanks for the offer." She winked, and Amy laughed.
"Stethoscope is cold, but I need to see how you're breathing." She wasn't kidding, the metal was cold against the bare skin of her back. "Hm, I can see new bone growth, that's a good sign."
"Is it?" Amy was curious about that.
"Yeah, some transformations, they work, but nobody really can say how. Like, if you could detach your head or something. You wouldn't die, you'd still function. Or if you shrank to the size of a cat, but having such a tiny brain didn't affect your IQ. In cases like that, we haven't a clue how to treat the person. In your case, it looks like the physical changes are at least attempting to make sense. Your arms are mounted on something like shoulders, even if they seem awfully small and aren't immediately obvious. You're breathing alright, so nothing is interfering with your lungs...your abdomen looks like it's larger than normal...oh and that explains the heart rate and blood pressure."
"What's that?" Amy half turned to look at the smaller woman.
"Double heartbeat. Somehow you got two hearts packed in there. They're beating in unison, but if I had to guess, one is smaller than the other. I wonder what else you have two of..."
"Uh...I can answer that." Amy couldn't keep the hesitation out of her voice.
"Nat, shoo, I'll call you if I need you. It's time for me to play doctor." Amy looked up to see the Doctor. And was shocked to see a labcoat and scrubs floating in the air!
"Don't be alarmed, Miss Watkins. I'm Doctor Montrose. And please, call me ELizabeth. As you can see, I'm invisible. Every part of my body is completely transparent, though, as you can see, that doesn't extend to my clothing." Unseen hands pulled a swivel chair over to the examination table, and the Doctor sat down.
Natalie waved as she retreated from the room.
"Don't mind Nurse Woods. She's a great person, love her to bits, but she sometimes acts like she's the doctor just because she's been in the field longer." The unseen doctor had a pleasant, alto voice. "Do you mind disrobing for me?"
"Oh...uh...sorry..." Amy was staring. Well. Trying to stare.
"It's ok, I am so used to that response. Sadly, I'm only visible under certain conditions. And since it would freak out people more if I walked around naked, I think, you get to deal with the Ghost Doctor." Dr. Montrose chuckled.
"Certain conditions?" Amy couldn't help herself. She was really curious.
"Moonlight, if you can believe it. Despite the fact it's only reflected sunlight, nothing else works. And even then, I don't look normal. My skin and hair look really pale. Oh and I'm drop dead gorgeous, but you'll have to take my word for it, I never show up on cameras, infrared sensors, UV, or anything like that. Luckily X rays and ultrasound work."
"Oh. Uh. I'm...I want to say I'm sorry, I hope that doesn't offend you."
"It doesn't, Miss Watkins. I admit my life has it's challenges, but I'm content with who and what I am. I had to learn to live with a lot of things, actually." Judging by the position of her clothing, Amy guessed the Doctor had leaned forward.
"Please, call me Amy. Uh..do you mind..sharing your story? I know it's personal, but..."
"Not at all, Amy. You need to understand what's happened to you, and I and my staff can really relate. Well, where to begin. I was a Marine, actually, just finished my first tour in Afghanistan. Well. Actually I finished early. My platoon came under fire from insurgents, and I lost the use of my right leg. I was a very angry man back then...oh yes, I was born Erik Montrose. I was frustrated by physical therapy, my girlfriend left...I pushed her away, actually. I was a mess. Then one night some of my Marine brothers came into town, and proceeded to get me very very drunk.
I vaguely remember talking to this pretty girl, and I'm pretty sure we had sex. I wish I could remember it, because that was the last time I had sex as a man. I woke up in the morning feeling like hell. I managed to roll out of bed, and without thinking, I stood on my legs. Except, well, I hadn't been able to do that in months. And as I stared down in shock, I realized I couldn't see myself. I felt weird, like really light- I actually thought I was dead!"
Elizabeth laughed. "I mean, at the time, I don't think anyone would blame me for thinking I was a ghost. I'd heard of STS, but you know, it was like one of those urban legends, right? Anyways, I managed to get one of my buddies to run me to the Doc's. My voice sounded weird, like a kid's. But the true horror had yet to be revealed.
Once the Doc examined me, well, really, I kind of knew, but my brain didn't want to accept it. I apparently had the completely invisible body of an 11 or 12 year old girl. Cold no longer bothered me, like, at all, and my skin was thicker than usual, and very smooth to the touch. May I?"
Amy nodded, and the doctor touched her with her hand. It was cool, but not cold to the touch, and very smooth, almost like marble. Amy reached out to grasp the unseen hand. It...wasn't exactly like stone, the flesh gave somewhat, but it was definitely harder than a human hand would be. Elizabeth had long, no doubt very dexterous fingers. "Wow."
"Wow is right. I've grown since then, obviously, but I seem to age slower than normal. Not like Nat, I'm not immortal, but I'm in great condition. So yeah, I had my leg back, but now I was a girl, a kid, and invisible. The Marines saw a lot of potential in that, but I was in no mental state to re-enlist. I had to deal with Doctors all the time, and they kept poking and prodding me, and treating me like a lab rat.
I really thought about killing myself. And then an angel came into my life. She wasn't even a nurse, just a candystriper, a volunteer, working her way through school. I mean, she had a CNA, but that was it. Her name was Charlotte. She told me to call her Charlie. Nineteen and with the prettiest smile. Great legs too."
Amy couldn't help but smile. "You fell in love."
An invisible hand held up a wedding band. "You bet I did. She's Mrs. Montrose now, but it took awhile to get to that point. Legally, I'm still male, even though I've changed my name, so it was easy to get married. That's a provision of the 29th Amendment, even if your gender changes, they can't take your identity away from you. But yeah, she was a ray of hope, and she really cared. She would talk about the stuff she was learning all the time, and she'd explain the big fancy words the Docs used. I started to get really interested in medicine, and the rest, as they say, is history."
"That's a wonderful story, thank you, Doc...Elizabeth."
"You're very welcome. It's not all happy endings. We can't have kids, we've had problems trying to adopt, and while I still have the body of a 20 something, she's getting older, so there's that to look forward to."
Amy stood up and removed her clothing. "Compared to that, I guess this isn't that bad. Just embarrassing."
"Two..I wonder how that works. Well, we'll take some x rays, ultrasounds, see what's going on under the hood, so to speak. Any unusual symptoms?"
Amy blushed. "Uh...I've been super horny. Is there a medical term for that?"
"Hypersexual disorder, but in your case, it's probably more physical than mental. Your body is probably producing more hormones. I can give you something for that, if it's distracting."
If anything, Amy blushed harder. "Uh, well, it's been a good distraction."
"I bet! Ok, let's get you a gown, and we'll see about those x rays."
When all was said and done, it was discovered that she had a second heart on her right side, but it was smaller than her original. There was a large cluster of ganglia attached to her spine where her new arms had grown, that functioned almost like a secondary brain- this explained how she could control her new arms so well. There was another, smaller cluster of nerves at the small of her back, though their purpose wasn't yet evident. She'd gained about 30 lbs. due to her arms and the other changes to her skeleton, musculature, and internal organs. She'd grown three inches taller as a result of having a somewhat larger abdomen. Where she'd been only of average strength before, she was much stronger, able to bench 200 lbs. with her secondary arms, and more than double that using all four arms. Her legs were stronger as well, but not quite as strong as her arms. She still had a single womb, but she'd grown an extra pair of ovaries, and she had two placentas.
"By all accounts, you could actually be impregnated twice, though there's not much room in there for one kid, let alone two. Your lungs are larger, and between that and the juggling of your insides for the new arms, it'd be a tight fit. I don't know that you could carry a child to term safely. Of course, that having been said, we won't know until it happens, but I suggest you try to avoid that."
Amy had nodded. She really couldn't think about kids right now, as turned upside down as her life had become. But she'd applied for her 28th Amendment rights, and was given money by the government to live on, and to pay her bills with. She'd moved out of her home, and had moved in with...