Jenny made her way down the block. She had to be careful, at this time of day, a girl her
age was supposed to be at school...and there was always the off chance someone might
recognize her; she'd lived on this block most of her life.
Not that she expected it, Jennifer Smith was 17, not 9. It wasn't long before she reached
Kyle's home. His family wasn't as wealthy as her dad, but they made do. They had a nice
place.
No one was home, so Jennifer hid near the front steps, behind some bushes. And waited.
---------
Kyle had been excited all day, especially when Jennifer didn't come to school. Was she
really transformed? He couldn't wait to find out. He figured he'd call her first, let her beg
him to change her back. He had to play it cool though, she had the power at the moment.
He hadn't believed it either, until he chose Dare. Bastards, forcing him to run naked
through the girl's locker room. He hadn't gotten caught, but the way everyone looked at
him after...like they all -knew-. And especially Jennifer.
But he was going to get revenge on all of them.
As he walked up the stairs, he was suprised to feel a hard, cold object in the small of his
back. And heard a young girl's voice from behind him.
"Hello, Kyle. Don't move...this is a .45 caliber pistol. It's more than capable of putting a
hole right through your abdomen. Tell me you understand."
Kyle felt all the bravado drain out of him. He gulped. "Uh...Jenny? Hi, um...look, I'm
sorry..."
"Shut the fuck up, Kyle. Nobody's home, so open the door. We're going to talk in your
room. One wrong move, and you'll be on the ground, choking on your own blood. DO
YOU UNDERSTAND?!"
In his mind, he tried to tell himself she was just a kid. He could overpower her easily. But
there was something in her voice...something dangerous. He realized, with cold certainty,
that this wasn't the Jennifer Smith he knew.
He opened the door and slowly led her in. "My room is in the basement."
"Then let's go. The basement door can be locked from inside?"
He nodded. "Uh..yes."
"Move it."
He unlocked the basement door and slowly walked down the stairs. He heard the door
close behind him, and the deadbolt turn.
The gun wasn't trained on him, this was the time to act. He half turned..
Only to see Jenny smiling cutely at him. She already had both hands on the gun, and she
pressed it into his side. She was wearing faded jeans and a light blue blouse. Her hair
had paled several shades. She looked just how she did when she was younger....but her
eyes...
Jennifer Smith had green eyes. The girl who was pointing a gun at him had icy blue eyes.
He shivered and walked down the stairs, turning on the light.
"Over there, the couch. We're going to sit down and talk." He didn't dare disobey, he sat
down, watching her warily.
Jenny hopped onto the couch, drawing her legs up beside her, and braced herself against
the cushions. She set the gun down, but it was still far too close to her hand...
"It was getting heavy. You didn't leave me with much strength."
He bit his lip. "uh...yeah..sorry.."
She glared at him. There was a wildness in her eyes. It promised....violence.
"Transform or Dare. Well who would have thought it was real. That's how you did this,
right?"
He nodded.
"So someone did something to you....what?"
He told her everything.
"Moron. Jennifer didn't have a clue about that. I realize she treated you like dirt, Kyle, but
you picked the wrong target."
"Wait...who are you?"
"I'm Jenny. Jenny Smith."
He blinked. "I don't understand."
She sighed, and ran her fingers through her short hair. "You do remember that my mother
was killed, don't you?"
"Uh...oh yeah...I didn't find out until later, my folks said it was an accident."
With reflexes that would put a mongoose to shame, the gun was in her hands, and aimed
at his head. "IT WAS NOT A FUCKING ACCIDENT!!!"
Kyle had never been so frightened in his life. "Please don't kill me...I'm sorry!"
"Hmph...waste of ammo." She put the gun down again. "It wasn't an accident. She was
murdered. Some loser wanted to rape her. She fought, he shot her. Then he came for
me."
Kyle's eyes widened. "You were there?"
"Oh yes, yes I was. He took my clothes off, and he was going to rape me too, but I got
lucky and someone stopped him. I was gone for awhile, remember?"
"Yeah...and when you came back...I tried to talk to you, but you..."
She shook her head. "That wasn't me, Kyle. That was Jennifer. The real Jenny, she
couldn't handle it, so she made us both up, you see. Jennifer to deal with the real world,
and me....to handle things."
"Wait, you mean....like multiple personalities?"
She smiled at him. For just a moment, she looked very cute. But then it was gone, and
Jenny was back. "You always were a smart boy. Yes. Nobody even noticed, Jennifer had
the whole world fooled. Not bad for a stupid bitch, huh?"
"You hate her."
"Of course I do. She got to be in charge, growing up, wearing nice clothes, going out with
boys, and treating people like shit....and look at me! This is what I am! Jennifer couldn't
even handle the truth, she didn't even fucking remember what happened to us!" Jenny
looked violent, and her hand was on the gun once more.
"Are you going to kill me?"
"I should. I really should. But I'm not." She took her hand off the gun.
"In a way, I'm grateful." She sighed.
"Huh? I don't..."
"You let me out, by doing this. I'm only able to come out when Jennifer runs into
something she can't handle. Being turned into a kid, that's high on the list. I was going to
make you turn us back...but then she'd be in control, and I don't want that."
"...look. I've been an asshole. All I could think about was my own petty shit. I didn't think
about your feelings, ever. I know saying 'sorry' doesn't fix a damn thing...so....how can I
help you?" Kyle wasn't afraid anymore. He'd done something terrible. He'd been this
girl's friend once, and he stopped, because of his own pride. She'd been hurting inside,
but he'd never once cared about it. She might still kill him, but that didn't matter now.
Jenny tilted her head to the side, appraising Kyle. "Jennifer misjudged you. You are a
decent guy, when you put some effort into it. Better than that jerk she's been dating
lately." She made a face.
"Oh, you mean Brad?"
"Bleah. Don't say his name, please. Just making out with that jerk was enough, but she
had to have sex with him? I feel so dirty." Jenny shifted uneasily.
"I should have gone after him."
Jenny shrugged. "Eh. Don't worry, I'll attend to him. You did the right thing, Kyle, for the
wrong reasons. I'm out now, and I'm here to stay. You want to help me?"
He nodded. "Yes...I owe it to you."
She smiled at him again. "Good. Now, this stupid Transform or Dare thing...I can use it
on someone, and then they get the power to use it, right?"
"Yeah, but you can't just trade back. You have to use it on someone other than the person
who used it on you. I guess that's to prevent people from abusing the power."
"I'd like to know who thought this up....it could still be abused, in theory..." She seemed
thoughtful.
"I thought so, but who could you trust? Power corrupts."
"Yeah...it does. You'd have a hard time resisting the urge to do whatever you
wanted...heck, it's magic, it can probably even make it harder to resist. Tell me, what
happens if you use it, and the victim never has a chance to curse someone else?"
"I'm not sure...it must have happened before though, I mean, as urban legends go, it's
been in this town for a long time."
She nodded, as if to herself. "I was thinking to use it on Victor...but maybe it would be
better to just kill him."
"Victor?"
"Victor Hughes, he's the punk that killed my mother. Now that I'm out, I'm going to...we're
going to kill him."
"We?" Kyle paled.
"You did say you wanted to help me, right?" She smiled sweetly at him.
Kyle realized he was doomed. "So...what do we do first?"
"Oh, I'll let you decide...I should get offload this curse soon, it's a distraction I don't need.
Who should we use it on?"