"If you are Jonathan, can you prove it? And do you know how we can return to our former selves?”
Sei’s questions weighed heavily on Jonathan and as she sat with her hands pressed into her lap, she tried to come up with an answer to both. Finding it difficult, especially when she reflected on, from her point of view, it had been seven or eight years since she’d been turned into a five year old girl and left trapped in the form of a garden statue, she furrowed her brow as she recalled how she’d watched a little girl, a grown man, and a person who might have been part gorilla come and go, unaware of her as she watched them, listened to pieces of their conversations.
Fidgety, she shifted about in place and started to play with her dress as she thought. Before her, Sei continued to peer at her with a look on her face that stated she still found everything rather incredulous, especially that the little girl before her was Jonathan. Taking a deep breath, Jonathan decided to address the questions one at a time and in a quiet voice, she finally said, “It probably is hard to believe, but as I told you before, I’m Jonathan,” and seeing that Sei didn’t believe her, she faltered, almost stopped, but, before she could change her mind, told her friend everything that had befallen her before she started to babble about their friendship and things that no one could know unless they had been part of their group.
Suspicious at first, Sei listened to the little girl, and about the time she began to ramble on about their friendship, and things that the group kept secret, she began to believe. Listening as she was told about the time they went skinny dipping, which ended up with their clothes getting stolen, leaving them to nick things off an unattended table at a outdoor rummage sale, she was unable to help herself when she smiled as the girl recounted their exploits of trying to hit stuff with a baseball bat, besides a baseball, and the way it ended up with them breaking several windows of an abandoned factory, as well as the many times they snuck beer from their parent’s, the few times each of the had gotten to first base with a girl, among a lot of other things, some of which left him embarrassed.
Out of things to talk about, Jonathan lapsed into silence. Looking down, hands clasped together, pressed into her lap, leaving her all too aware of what had happened to her as she felt them pressed into the cotton garment she had on, which in turn caused it to press against her now flat groin, she thought what she’d was ridiculous and wasn’t believable. Glancing up at Sei, certain her friend would claim so, she uttered in the same quiet voice, “I know what I told you is probably hard to believe. Even I have my doubts on how much truth there is. If I was told such things, I’d doubt it myself. Heck, I’d even doubt you’re Sei, if not for the fact that I was able to make out who you were when we were in the garden, as well as I saw you change from my friend to the girl before me who, I dunno, I guess might be about nine,” and voice trailing off, Jonathan glanced down and once more fidgeted with her dress.
Both lost in thought as each digested what had been aired, Jonathan wondered for a moment how it was the two might undo what had been done to them before, with a start, she suddenly remembered the others. Glancing up, she hesitantly asked, “Um, you don’t think it’s possible anything happened to the others?”
Worried as her mind settled on Ryan, Mike and Erick, and whether they were okay, Sei whispered after a second or two, “I’m not sure,” as she shifted to a more comfortable position.
Brought back to the questions her friend had asked, Jonathan thought about how they might return to who they had once been. Her five year old mind struggling with the concept of changing back into a sixteen year old guy, she watched as Sei stood and announced, “We need to find them, convince them we are who we say we are, and either find a way to turn back, or see if they can help,” and liking this idea, feeling it might solve several of their problems, Jonathan stood and, after a giving it serious thought, collected and put back on her hat and coat.
Whilst her friend put back on her outwear, Sei undid the tie on the robe, adjusted the garment, then retied it. When both were ready, they glanced at each other, and unable to stop herself, Sei commented, “Your outfit is pretty. I wish I had something similar rather than going about in my sleepwear,” and realising what she just said, she looked away in mortification.
“Yeah, it’s pretty,” Jonathan explained as she took Sei hand, “But it’s a pain to do pretty much anything in due to how much I have on,” and trying to overlook how girly what she’d said, as well as the discomfort her friend was in when she also engaged in behaviour both saw as appropriate for a girl, Jonathan lead the way out of the cabana.
Neither had any desire whatsoever to return to the garden, and after they’d given the pool a wary look, they edged around it. Both tense, feeling almost as if the cool, blue water called to them, they searched for another door that would lead them into Spelstorm manor. After a couple steps, Sei commented, “I don’t know, and it might be me, but something doesn’t seem right about that pool. It’s almost as if it is trying to lure me, like it wants me to drown myself or something.”
With a slight nod, Jonathan whispered, “Me too,” before she furthered with, “And, I dunno, it’s hard to describe, but it’s not so much as if I can hear it, like a voice calling to me. Rather, it’s more like a feeling. Like I should shuck off what I have on and jump in.”
Her attention focused on the water, Sei could concur with this. The siren call of the water so strong, she found she wanted nothing more than to strip down to her birthday suit, never mind that she’d be naked, and jump in. Ready to do exactly that, she almost reached for the tie holding the robe closed, but, when her friend suddenly griped her hand tighter, it was as if she’d been pulled back from the edge she almost went over.
Aware of how scared her friend was, and that she was as well, Sei reciprocated the gesture. The two giving each other a look of comfort, they began to hurry in their search and before long found another door. Both worried the door was locked, the lure of the water getting stronger, they breathed a slight sigh of relief when they discovered it wasn’t, allowing them to escape the room. Finding themselves in a long hallway that had a carpet running down the middle of the hall, the two girls stared down the dimly lit corridor. Each thinking close to the same thoughts, it was Jonathan who broke the silence with the question, “So, where do you think the others are?”
Sei shrugged and after a moment she stated, “I dunno. Mike and I were on the second floor before we got separated and whatever happened to me happened. Ryan I think headed for the basement, which, I dunno about you, but I don’t like the idea of trying to find a way down there. And Erik was on his own in a wing that went off the main entranceway,” and lapsing in silence, she wondered who they should go look for.
Jonathan again broke the silence after a bit with the venture, “Suppose we start with Mike?” and when Sei nodded, the five year old furthered, “The basement sounds scary, whilst to find Erik, we’d have to somehow get back to the back entranceway,” in a quiet voice, missing how much she sounded not only like a girl, but also a frightened child.
With a nod, Sei figured that since she was now the older of the two that she should take the lead. Ignoring how her friend had sounded, she took the other girl’s hand and lead the way. Slipping down the hallway, Sei’s bare feet making nary a sound, whilst Jonathan booted feet made a soft clump noise, they ignored the decorations set at odd intervals, the pictures on the walls, and the occasional door they passed. Their trek passing in near silence, they followed the hallway until branched, took a left, and meandered through the corridors, searching for any hint of the others, something that would help them go back to who they’d had once been, which both fearing that they might not, that they’d have to look in the rooms they passed, or the front doors, which they knew they rush though without a second thought, despite whether they had undone what had befallen them or found the others.
After a walking for some time, and turning down their fifth hall, Sei quietly asked, “You don’t have any idea what we should do if we run into someone?” and when Jonathan gave a shrug, the older girl said, “I guess it might be hard to explain why two girls, one five and wearing an outfit that hasn’t been worn for about a hundred years, the other nine and in nothing but her sleepwear, are wandering about a building that is supposed to be abandoned in the middle of the night.”
Close to stopping when she was once more confronted by the truth of what happened to her, Jonathan worried her lip. Trying to not think of what her life might now be like if she couldn’t go back to being a teenage boy, she instead struggled to come up with a solution to what they’d do if they did encounter anyone. Shrugging after some time, she uttered, “I dunno,” in a voice so soft, Sei almost didn’t hear her.
Both overcome with a sense of fright at the prospect that they might run into someone, a silent mutual agreement passed between them as they both decided that, if they couldn’t find the others, they should instead focus on locating the way out. Wandering down hallway after hallway, never entering any of the rooms, they each understood that, if they could get out of Spelstorm it would mean they'd be stuck as a girl. Troubled by this, the two girl scanned the hall, and seeing neither a hint a set of stairs going up, nor the foyer, the two soon found themselves thinking how it seemed the inside of the manor was larger than the outside.
Jonathan, who was also starting to feel like a little girl who’d stayed up well past her bedroom, found this impossible to believe. Not wanting to accept it might be, she tried to think about something else, and settled on how girly thoughts seemed, which in turn led her to dwell on how all she wanted was to be a big boy again, and that she didn't want girl parts, but rather icky boy parts, to do things a boy could do, “Like pee standing up,” she mused to herself as she considered how she didn’t want to like and do things a girl would.
“Such as liking and wearing dresses, no matter how pretty, soft, and comfortable they may be,” she thought before she stumbled, corrected himself and tried to take another step.
Next to her, Sei sighed and stopped. Aware of how tired she was, as well as how tired Jonathan was, she glanced back the way they’d come, then the direction they were going. Everything looking the same, she sighed again, and said, “We need to stop, take a break, and think about what to do, as it doesn’t seem like we’re getting anywhere.”
Welcome to the break, Jonathan suppressed a yawn as she nodded. Allowing herself to be lead, she didn’t say anything as Sei sat down and guided her down next to her. Huddled close to her friend as they leaned back against the wall, so close they were almost hugging, something neither would never have done when they’d been guys, the two sat in silence. Each lost in their own private thoughts, Jonathan started to drift off to sleep, and thinking he was acting like Sarah when she’d been the same age he was now, he didn’t give it a second thought as he snuggled closer to the older girl.
Lost in his own thoughts, most of which dwelled on what she might do if she had to live the rest of her life as a girl, and what her family would say, Sei wrapped an arm around the younger girl when she felt her cuddle up close. Understanding she’d never would have done such a thing when she’d been a guy, but finding it comforting to do so, she listened as the other girl’s breathing grew even as she drifted off to sleep. Understanding that they were lost in Spelstorm, that they had no idea where the others were, nor how to undo what had happened to them, Sei thought she’d spare Jonathan this one worry for the moment. Certain her now younger friend had fallen asleep, and figuring she’d sit watch as long as she could, she was startled when Jonathan mumbled, “Thank you, Sei. For everything. For being here with me, believing me, for all of it.”
Not sure what she should say, Sei instead simply hugged the other girl closer, allowing her actions to speak volumes for her. Aware that her friend was now fully asleep, she whispered, “You’re welcome. I just wish we hadn’t come here,” and with a gentle hand, she removed the other girl’s hat, set it aside, turned his attention to the corridor that seemed to go on forever in either direction and watching for anything out of the ordinay, she to soon fell asleep.