The clouds hadn't fully parted yet, and the sunlight lanced down in individual shafts - making the wet pavement glimmer here and there, illuminating the wisps of mist and steam that curled up from the asphalt. It was like something out of a movie, Kim thought; in fact, the whole world seemed to have a strange, dreamlike quality to it that only began to fade as he walked away from the little building. He didn't exactly know where he was going, but he found himself retracing the path that he'd taken to get here, or what he could remember of it. He wasn't sure why; it just seemed like the right way to go.
But as he got further from that strange place, doubt began to creep in at the back of his mind. What was he supposed to do now? He'd felt sure that things couldn't be the same between them, but thinking about not being friends anymore made his stomach turn. He didn't want that; but then he'd gone and...and given away the token of their friendship. How could he honestly think they were still friends if he'd done a thing like that!? And what could he even say to him in the first place, after what he'd done earli-
"HEY!!!"
He jumped at the sudden yell. He knew that voice - and sure enough, there was Jesse, stomping up to meet him. He felt his heart skip a beat - was he mad? Did he hate him, now? - but to his relief, the other boy's expression had softened a lot from the height of their argument. He still looked annoyed - he had this way of putting out his lower lip that wasn't a pout, exactly, which always made Kim smile - but...well, maybe things were better, now...?
"You dropped this, ya dummy!" Jesse said, holding out his fist and opening it to reveal...
No way, Kim thought. It was impossible - he knew he'd left it in the offering tray, and Jesse couldn't possibly have been there - but there it was. Without a word, he took the agate from the other boy's hand. He hadn't given him the other half by mistake, had he? No, there was no way that'd make sense, and this was clearly his; it'd broken naturally rather than being cut, and he knew the shape well enough. But how...!?
Well, that wasn't the most important thing, right now, no matter how confusing it was. Kim stared up at the other boy, trying to figure out what to say. Jesse was tall for his age, and tanned from many afternoons of running around outside. He had an unruly mop of fiery red hair and a disposition to match; Kim was definitely the quieter of the two, even when he wasn't standing there tongue-tied, trying to work up the courage to apologize...
Jesse might not have been angry anymore, but Kim still felt intimidated, in a way that he wasn't really familiar with. His best friend was such a larger-than-life presence that the thought of admitting he was in the wrong made him worry for more than just his pride; what if his apology were rejected? What if they really couldn't be friends anymore? Who else could fill that void in his life...?
Kim glanced away, staring at the ground and scuffing his flip-flop on the pavement...but he knew what he had to do here. A real man owns up to it, his dad had taught him, years ago when he'd broken something and tried to hide it. He sighed heavily. "Um...'m sorry," he said, his voice quavering.
For a moment, Jesse said nothing; a range of emotions flitted across his face. Kim was on tenterhooks, but in a way, it was reassuring that his friend was as shaken by this as he was; it was good to know that he cared just as much about their friendship. Finally, Jesse stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder; Kim felt a little funny at that, but he didn't really know why.
"You gotta promise," he said, his voice cracking slightly. "P-promise you won't ever forget it again."
Kim was momentarily confused, and about to protest that he wasn't talking about the agate, but when he looked his friend in the eye, he realized they each understood what the other meant. He nodded solemnly.
Then Jesse grinned, and he could swear the sun emerged from behind the clouds on cue. His heart lifted, and he felt a warmth inside him that wasn't quite like any feeling he could remember...
"Wanna go to the park?" his best friend asked. Kim nodded eagerly.
- - - - -
It was early evening when he finally made his way back home, in much better spirits. They'd spent hours just running around, exploring, having fun. It'd been so good to spend time together, in a way that it felt like they really hadn't since the start of the school year. There were moments here and there where he felt a little weird - when Jesse looked at him just so, or laughed that confident laugh, and there was a funny feeling in his chest or a strange little flutter in his stomach - but all his fear of being forgotten and doubts about their friendship had been dispelled.
Of course, he was worn-out, somewhat dirty, and had his hair thoroughly mussed as a result. Kim didn't really mind, but his mom gave him a Look when he got in. "Heavens you're a mess, young man," she said, chuckling dryly. "I'd say 'straight into the bath with you!' but you got here just in time for supper, so I guess I'll say that later. You're a growing boy, after all."
He nodded sheepishly and went to join them at the dinner table. His dad eyed him curiously as well. "You were gone for ages, son. Where'd you get off to?"
"I, um...got into a fight. With Jesse," Kim said, as his mom dished up food for him. "B-but we made up!" he clarified hastily, "and, um, we just kinda hung out 'n played after that." He didn't mention running off and finding the strange little building; it was partly because he didn't want them to worry about him taking off into unknown corners of the city, but mostly because it seemed like a private kind of thing, somehow. He couldn't really explain it, but thinking back on the place...he found himself almost wondering if it'd been real. Maybe it was all in his imagination; how else could Jesse have given him back the agate he was sure he'd left there...?
"Well, I'm glad to hear you made up, at least," his mom said. "I hope it wasn't anything serious...?"
He was about to answer when he realized his mouth was full. After he swallowed, Kim gave an annoyed little huff. "W-well, it's just...all he thinks about is girls now! A-and, um...I kinda..." He trailed off, a little embarrassed to admit it. It still made him a little jealous to think about, but hadn't they made up? It was funny, too; what he was feeling now wasn't quite what he'd felt earlier. It was like...a different flavor of the same feeling, if that made any sense.
"Say no more," his dad said, with a wry smile. "It's not unusual, at your age, but it can still be frustrating to deal with."
"Did you ever have friends like that?" Kim asked, taking another bite. He knew it was normal for boys to start getting interested in girls as they got older, but he hadn't considered before that he might not be the only one to feel left out when a friend beat him to it.
His dad laughed. "No, but I saw it happen with a few of my classmates; some of them turned downright nasty on each other. I'm proud of you for being ready to make up; there's no good reason to sour a friendship over something like that."
"We're both glad for you," his mom put in. "You get along so well; he's a good kid."
In spite of his lingering confusion, Kim smiled. "Yeah, he is."
- - - - -
After dinner was over, his mom sent him upstairs for a bath. He didn't protest, partly because it got him out of clearing the dishes, but also because he really did feel like he needed it. It was funny, he thought; being all grungy didn't usually bother him that much.
He grabbed his pajamas and a change of underwear (it was close enough to bedtime that he might as well not get another set of clothes dirty,) went into the bathroom, set the tub filling, and straightened out his tangled hair a bit while he waited. Mom would probably make him re-do it after his bath, but at least this way he wouldn't be getting it even more snarled. When the tub was full, he turned off the tap and undressed...
He'd gotten a glimpse, but Kim made it over to the laundry hamper and tossed his dirty clothes in before it properly registered with him that part of him was missing.
Strangely enough, he didn't panic; he merely leaned over as far as he could, craning his neck for a better look. It wasn't missing in a horrible, painful kind of way; he'd taken a good nick out of his pinky once, when one of the other boys was showing them all a knife that he'd been given by an uncle of incredibly poor judgement, and he knew how much that hurt. It just...wasn't there. And in its place...
Kim had yet to get seriously interested in girls, but at his age he'd heard enough playground gossip, asked a few relevant questions of his parents, and gotten at least a vague rundown. He'd never seen them before, but it didn't take a lot of thinking to conclude that what he was looking at were a girl's parts. But why were they on him - and how!? It hadn't been that way this morning...!
While he was boggling over that, there was a knock on the bathroom door. "C'mon, you!" his mom called from outside. "Quit dawdling and get in there!"
In a daze, he stepped into the tub and sank into the water, feeling it surround and envelop this new part of himself. Curious, he prodded gently around, feeling out the general shape of things; yes, this was real. Was there a womb inside him now, he wondered? He'd known about that even before the rest, when his aunt had gotten pregnant with his little cousin.
It was strange to think about. Kim was used to thinking of girls as sort of a different species, an alien creature that happened to look and act mostly like the rest of humanity, but he supposed that was silly. You didn't call a girl dog anything different from a boy dog, after all, unless you were trying to get away with saying "bitch" where the teachers could hear. But still, the thought of being one...
Was he even one, really? He struggled to wrap his head around it, as he washed up. Girls were different from boys in way more than just this one spot, after all; they had long hair, high voices, grownup ladies had boobs...they wore different clothes, too, and makeup.
But when he thought about it, his own hair got pretty shaggy in between haircuts, and some of the girls at school kept theirs short-er. Their voices weren't like grownup ladies', either; that must change as they got older, like he knew it did for boys. And some of them were already starting to grow boobs; not enough to be noticeable, but they wouldn't shut up about it with each other, 'til they realized the boys were all listening...
Had...had he actually turned into a girl? Would he grow up into a lady, if he stayed like this? Would he start having babies? Or...was there any way for him not to stay this way? Was he stuck? He felt like he probably had to turn back into a boy; he was supposed to be one, wasn't he? But he didn't even know how it'd happened in the first place...!
He stared down at this new part of himself, through the water. Maybe the answer was in that building, he thought, as he shampooed his hair. He was sure, now; he really had left the agate there, but somehow it'd ended up where Jesse could find it. If something - or someone - in that place could do a thing like that, maybe they could do this, too. Maybe tomorrow he could go back there, find whoever was in charge, and ask them to turn him back.
Kim dunked his head under the water, rinsing the lather out of his hair, then got out of the tub, set it draining, and started to dry off. He went gingerly with the new parts, not sure how to handle them or if he might hurt something if he were too rough. It was so weird, trying to figure out how to deal with things he hadn't even had this morning...
He stared into the mirror as he combed out his still-damp hair. His face didn't look all that different; but that was another thing that changed as you grew up. If he were stuck like this...would he end up looking like his mom, he wondered?
Then he felt it: between the warmth relaxing his muscles and the sound of the water draining from the tub, he had to pee. He knew girls had to sit down for that, but he'd never been clear on the details; was there something they had to do? With a soft groan, he sat down on the toilet.
As it turned out, it wasn't as different as all that; he just had to let it go, and it did. The weirder part was having to clean up afterward; he didn't have anything to shake out, after all. With that taken care of, he got dressed.
It was only then that the thought crossed his mind: what was he going to tell people!? Should he try to keep it a secret, in hopes of turning back to normal before anyone noticed? What would his mom and dad say, if he told them? And what would-
Kim felt a flutter in his stomach.