The office is quiet. Only the sound of the copier copying, some miscellaneous beeping can, and the odd yawn from the five people still in the office.
Inez was the first one to stand up, just about to leave. She was wearing a green pantsuit to compliment her figure, a pair of orange glasses on top of her face. She switched off her computer and grabbed her bag, making her way out of her cubical and towards to the door to exit.
She walked past a number of desks, mostly empty, minus others.
Mark, he was a tall and fairly handsome man. He had a knack for computers and all things technology, even if he was a little clueless when it came to women. He’d been hit on so many times he could hardly count… not that he ever even noticed.
Then there was Maya. She was sweet, even if she was a workaholic. She’d transferred over not-so-long-ago, and she’d made a good impression on everyone; especially being kind to Inez. Not everyone was.
Then Olivia. She was probably the oldest of the remaining in the office, not that that made much of a difference. Most of them were only pushing thirty. She was married, and very openly talked about her husband. Especially what they got up to in their free time. She was quite attractive, if not quite short. She had a cool hairstyle, a dark red with curls at the front.
And finally there was Nathan. Or Nathanial. It really depended on how he felt that day. He was very aware of EVERYTHING, and he made sure everyone knew it. He was a fairly flamboyant, absolutely gay man with no filter. And he was clearly the happiest man in the office. Inez had spoken with him numerous times; after all, he was friends with literally every woman in the office.
Inez made her way to the door. But she stopped, her glance caught by some kind of box positioned on one of the shelves in someone’s cubical.
She took a closer look… it moved? The writing on the side. Some strange glyphs, and they were shifting.
‘Inez’
She shuddered. What the hell? The box wasn’t digital. It was wooden… how did it move?
Her curious nature took a hold of her. She took a quick glance around the office; everyone too engrossed in their overtime. She slipped into the cubical and grabbed the box. She subtly popped open the top of the box.
“Huh?” She said to herself, the cards simply blank.
She felt confused, and a little disappointed. Maybe it was some kind of elaborate business-card machine… but that still didn’t explain how the wood was moving.
Bu as Inez put the lid back on the box, the weight started changing. It started to get heavier. Rapidly!
She could hardly hold onto it before it got too heavy to carry casually with just one hand. She quickly placed two hands on it, getting heavier and heavier.
THUNK!
She slammed the box onto the wall of the desk. She sighed in relief.
—
“Everything okay?” Maya asked, causally walking past Inez.
Inez looked up, seeing Maya carrying her own bag. She was most likely about to leave as well, “ehm… yeah sorry.” She giggled awkwardly,
“What’s this?” She asked, clearly trying to make conversation with Inez. Inez obviously appreciated it, but didn’t really have an answer,
“J-just a box I guess. It has cards inside.”
“Cool!” She said. She reached over and popped the lid back open. She put her hand in and pulled out one of the cards, “are they all blank?”
“I think so?”
“Oh no, this one has writing on it!” She said excitedly with a chuckle, then her face seemed to drop to confusion, “‘Foothair Jungle’?” What does that mean?” She asked.
—
“AHHH!” Maya screamed.
Quickly, Mark came racing over, “what’s wrong!? Did you hurt yourself?” He asked, concerned. He looked her up and down, then caught her feet.
The tops of her feet were covered in a thick layer of hair! And it seemed to still be growing, getting thicker until her pale skin was covered in black hair,
“W-what happened?” Mark asked,
“I dunno… the-the card said ‘Foothair Jungle’, and then they just got hairier!” Maya replied. Mark looked up at Inez, who appeared to be in a stunned shock,
“What’s going on?” A Olivia’s voice asked as she approached the commotion.
“I’ll just put it away. I’m sorry!” Inez said quickly, trying to ease the panic. But as she reached over to grab the box, she knocked it all over, “Shit!” It spilt cards everywhere… or at least it spilt exactly nine cards, all over the floor.
“I’ll help you.” Olivia said, bending down. She then saw Maya’s feet, “oh my god…” she said. She had picked up one of the cards, and suddenly writing had appeared on it, “what the hell is ‘Bleached Beach Blonde’?”
And just like that, the roots of her hair began to change colour. Her red dye vanishing, replaced by an almost blinding blonde, closer to white than it was to blonde.
“Shit girl…” Nathanial said, approaching the small girl, “what did you do to your hair… and how?” He asked. He leaned down and grabbed one of the cards offhandedly, “‘Reduced Cut’? That’s rude, I just got this cut.” He half-joked, swiping his hand through his hair. But as he did, it started to regress! His hair, once a cool spiky look, getting shorter and shorter until it was practically a buzz-cut, “WHAT THE FUCK!” He yelled obnoxiously loud,
“Guys calm down! We need to figure this out, whatever is happening is because of these cards.” Mark said reassuringly,
“Screw that!” Nathaniel yelled, grabbing three cards at once, “give me my goddamn hair back!” He held the cards up, but only one seemed to have writing on it, “‘Bloated Face’!?”
He looked at everyone else, as suddenly his cheeks started inflating like he’d been stung by a bee. They grew and grew until he looked like he’d stuffed a pair of tomatoes in his cheeks,
“HELP!” He yelled, “GET ME A BETTER CARD!” He shoved the two blank cards into the chests of both Olivia and Mark,
“You gotta calm down, Nathan!” Mark said,
“IT’S NATHANIAL!” He screamed back, “AND I AM CALM!”
Mark grabbed the card on his chest to find it no longer blank, now with the words ‘Big Ears’ written on it. And as if on cue, he felt a strange tingling all over his ears. It was a little pleasurable, but mostly weird. He raised hand to his ear to feel it slowly growing larger and spreading out more and more, “oh my…” he said,
“You think you got it bad?” Olivia asked, as suddenly her skirt tore open at the back, and out grew a long and dark feline tail, “what the fuck is going on…”
“I’m sorry!” Inez yelled out, “I need to put this thing away, it was my fault!”
“It’s okay, Inez. You didn’t do it on purpose.” Maya said, handing two cards to Inez to put away, but noticing there was text on one of them, “oh shit…” she said, it read ‘False Boobies’. What the hell did that mean. She patted her chest…they didn’t feel any different, like they were growing or shrinking or anything. She looked over a Inez, who had grabbed of the cards that she’d given her.
Inez’s hair rapidly changed from her natural brown to a vibrant and bright orange. In the span of just a few seconds, she’d turned completely ginger. She looked a little pre-occupied to really care about the change.
—
There were only two more cards left of the floor. Everyone quickly backed away from them.
“What the hell is going on…” Nathanial said loudly,
“It’s a game.” Olivia said, “it has to be. Some kind of magic game.”
“I didn’t mean to do this. I didn’t mean to start all of this.” Inez said, she felt incredibly guilty,
“It’s okay…” Maya said, placing her hand on Inez’s shoulder, “you didn’t do it on purpose.”
“Whatever. She still got the game out.” Nathanial said unapologetically, crossing his arms,
“Hey!” Mark yelled, “she didn’t do it on purpose. We just gotta figure out how to end this ‘game’, then we can all go home.”
“We have to reverse these changes though.” Olivia said, “I can’t go home with a cat’s tail. My husband is allergic to cats.”
“We will.” Mark said,
“The box…” Inez started, pointing at it, “it’s changing again.”
“Huh?” Nathanial said, rolling his eyes at her,
“The writing on the side.”
“Holy shit, you’re right.” Olivia said, “it says ‘Starting Round; All Players Must Pick Up Two Change Cards’.”
“Who hasn’t already done it?”
Everyone went silent. Nathanial got impatient, “it’s definitely her!” He pointed at Inez, “and…” he scanned the room, seeing everyone who only had one change, “either Mark or Maya.”
“It’s me. I didn’t pick up a second.” Mark said. Confidently, he leaned down and picked up the two cards. He held one in his hand, and passed the other to Inez, “don’t worry.” He smiled softly at her.
“Mine says ‘Eyes of Ruby’.” Mark remarked, he started to feel a strange sensation as an odd pressure was felt on his eyes. He couldn’t help but blink for a few seconds as they readjusted. Maya looked deep into his eyes, and with every blink his cute brown eyes grew brighter and redder, until they almost looked like gemstones with how iridescent they were.
“A-and mine… it says ‘Slutty Dress’.” Inez said with a shaky voice.
Her green jumpsuit started to change. The pants slowly stitched together and formed a dress. Her high neckline started to lower more and more until just the top of her cleavage started to be visible. The dress got shorter and shorter, until it reached just underneath her butt. It was still green, yet a slightly brighter green. It was a lot more revealing than she traditionally wore. She felt quite uncomfortable, the feeling of the air-conditioned air breezing past her legs and her back were not much to her liking.
—
“Well now what.” Nathanial said.
The box responded, the carvings changing once again,
‘The Game Has Begun’