Erika lay on her wet bed, staring at the mysterious bottle. The setting sun cast long shadows across her pink bedroom walls, making the cheerful unicorn posters seem almost sinister in the fading light. Her fingers trembled as she held the bottle, the milky-white liquid sloshing inside like a tiny ocean of possibilities.
"What else can this stuff even do to me?" she whispered to herself, her voice cracking. She glanced down at the smooth, featureless area between her legs where her vagina had once been. The sealed skin felt alien under her fingertips – no openings, no sensation, just... nothing. Tears welled in her eyes again. What if she was stuck like this forever? What if she could never pee normally again? A cold knot of fear twisted in her stomach.
"Maybe..." she murmured, eyeing the bottle with equal parts terror and curiosity, "maybe drinking it will undo everything?"
The logic was childish, but Erika was desperate. Without allowing herself to reconsider, she unscrewed the nozzle and lifted the bottle to her lips. The liquid smelled faintly of vanilla and something else – something electric and alive. Her hand shook violently.
"Please work," she prayed, and tipped the bottle back. The cool liquid hit her tongue, sweet and tingling like carbonated honey. She swallowed once, twice, three times before yanking the bottle away. Immediately, her mouth began to tingle intensely, like a thousand tiny pins pricking her lips and tongue.
"Wha—" she tried to say, but her voice cut off as her lips began to seal together at the corners. Her eyes widened in horror as she felt the sensation spread across her mouth. She dropped the bottle, hands flying to her face as her lips fused completely, leaving smooth skin where her mouth had been.
No no no no no! she thought frantically, clawing at her sealed lips.
The tingling shot up her nose next, and Erika felt her nostrils shrinking, flattening, until they too disappeared into the smooth expanse of her face. Her panicked mind screamed that she would suffocate, that she needed to breathe, that this was how she would die – alone in her bedroom with no way to call for help.
But it didn’t come. Erika realized with a shock that she didn't actually need the air. Somehow, she was still conscious, still thinking, still alive without breathing. But that didn't comfort her much, as the tingling spread to her rear.
Oh god, what now? she thought, reaching behind herself just in time to feel her anus closing, the muscle knitting itself together until it too was nothing but smooth skin. How am I supposed to go to the bathroom now?
The transformation moved faster, spreading throughout her body like wildfire. Her scalp began to itch intensely, and she reached up to feel her chestnut hair beginning to recede. Clumps came away in her hands, falling onto the bedspread in lifeless piles.
"Mmph!" The muffled sound was all she could manage through her sealed lips as her hair vanished completely, leaving her skull as smooth and hairless as an egg.
The tingles came to her hands. Her fingers began to melt together, the spaces between them filling in like clay being smoothed by an invisible hand. Her thumbs disappeared first, followed by each finger until her hands were nothing but rounded stumps at the ends of her arms.
This can't be happening! Erika thought desperately, watching her feet undergo the same transformation, toes vanishing into featureless lumps. The changes continued relentlessly. Her arms and legs began to shorten, inch by inch, receding into her torso like a turtle pulling into its shell. The sensation didn’t hurt, but it was intensely bizarre, like her bones were melting and reshaping themselves like mere clay.
Her ears were next, flattening against her head before disappearing entirely into her skull. Yet strangely, she could still hear – the birds chirping outside, the stray passing car, the frantic beating of her own heart – all as clear as before, maybe even clearer.
As her limbs continued to shorten, Erika flopped helplessly onto her bed, her body no longer able to support itself. She was becoming nothing more than a torso with rapidly disappearing appendages. Her neck began to contract, pulling her head down into her shoulders.
Help me! she tried to scream, but no sound emerged from her sealed mouth. Her head sank further into her body until it seemed to merge with her torso entirely. Her chest flattened, her waist disappeared, and her entire form rounded out until Erika was nothing but a smooth, skin-covered ball with her terrified eyes on one side.
The bedroom around her looked enormous now. From her position on the bed, she could see her discarded school uniform on the floor, her backpack leaning against the desk, the bottle that had caused all this lying on its side, a few drops of white liquid still inside.
I'm just a ball, she thought in disbelief. A human ball.
She tried to move and found she could only wriggle pathetically, rolling slightly from side to side on the bed. Her tears flowed freely now, running down the curved surface of what had once been her face.
Somebody help me! she thought desperately. Mom! Dad! Anyone!
But her parents wouldn't be home for hours. No one would come. No one could help her. And even if they did, what would they find? A strange ball in their daughter's bedroom? Would they even recognize her?
Just when Erika thought the transformation had finally stopped, she felt a new tingling around her eyes – the only feature she had left. Her vision began to blur, darkness creeping in from the edges as her eyelids grew heavy, then sealed themselves shut. Her eyes melted into the smooth surface of her body, leaving her in total darkness.
No! The internal scream of terror echoed in her mind. I can't see! I can't see anything!
But that wasn't entirely true. As her panic subsided slightly, Erika realized she wasn't completely blind. There was a new kind of awareness spreading through her consciousness – not sight exactly, but something else. A strange, magical perception that allowed her to sense the room around her. She could "feel" the walls, the furniture, even the subtle movements of air currents across her new sensitive skin. The soft bedsheets beneath her felt like a thousand gentle fingers massaging her surface. The slight breeze from the window washed over her like warm water.
It wasn’t unpleasant. In fact, as her terror began to recede, Erika realized the sensations across her smooth, rounded form were actually quite ticklish. It was similar to how her vagina had felt before, but now that feeling came from her entire being.
This is... weird, she thought, her fear slowly giving way to curiosity as she focused on the new sensations. Each tiny movement against the sheets sent shivering waves of pleasure through her transformed body. She rolled and wriggled slightly, feeling the sheets caress her surface. A warm glow seemed to come from within her, pleasure building with each movement.
For a moment, she almost forgot the horror of her situation. The fear remained, of course – how could she live like this? Would she ever change back? What would happen to her? – but those thoughts were pushed aside by the pleasant experience of her new body.
But then, Erika sensed something new. She thought she heard footsteps in the hallway outside her room, and what seems like the sound of a hand on the doorknob.
The door to her bedroom swung open...