Richelle:
I woke up around noon. I was hoping that last night was a dream. When I sat up however I found that it wasn't a dream. I groaned and flopped back down on my bed. As I laid there I looked around my room. It was your typical teenage boy's room. It was cluttered with my DVDs, CDs, models, and clothes. There were posters of half naked women on the walls. Mom had been telling me to clean up my room and I
guessed that I should.
There was a knock on my door and Mom asked "Are you up Richelle!?!"
I didn't know who Mom was talking to then I remembered that that was my new name. "Ya I'm up Mom!" I said.
"Well hurry up and get dressed!" Mom said. "Michelle told me that her clothes will fit you! I have some here if you'll let me in!"
"Come on in!" I said. It wasn't like I had anything that I'd be embarrassed about anymore.
Mom entered and asked "Are you ok?"
"What do you think?" I asked rhetorically. "I'm a girl! Of course I'm not ok! How am I suppose to live like this!?!"
"You will find a way" Mom said. "Michelle and I will help you."
"For all the good it will do" I grumbled.
"You have always been one to take on a challenge" Mom said. "You have never quit when faced with a challenge. The challenge this time is adjusting to your new life. Are you going to quit now?"
Mom's little speech made me feel a little ashamed. I had always met challenges head on and never quit. Mom was right about this just being another challenge. "I'm not going to back down from this challenge" I said.
"That's my little pumpkin that I know" Mom said.
"I'm not that little anymore Mom" I said smiling.
"You'll always be my little pumpkin no matter how old or big you are" Mom said. "Now, do you need any help with getting your clothes on?"
"I think I'll need help with my bra" I said.
"I figured you would" Mom said.
After I took off my nightgown Mom explained how to put on a bra. After a couple of tries I was able to hook it. I picked up the clothes that Michelle had lent me. She had picked out a light blue tee shirt and a pair of tight, short shorts. She had also included a pair of white ankle socks. Well I didn't have much choice about what to wear. I was sure that my old clothes wouldn't fit me now. So I put on what Michelle had lent me.
After I finished getting dressed Mom said "We'll have to get you a purse."
"Why do I need a purse?" I asked. I didn't see why I would need one. I could keep everything in my wallet and put it in a pocket.
"Well if nothing else, you'll need one to carry pads or tampons" Mom said.
"Why would I need those?" I asked.
"For your period silly" Mom said.
I took a step back and said "I can't have a period!"
"Take it easy" Mom said. "It's perfectly natural. Every girl has a period."
"But periods are suppose to hurt" I said.
"The only pain that you'll feel is some cramps" Mom said. "You should be able to handle them easily."
"But... but..." I stammered.
"It's part of being a girl" Mom said. "I know that you didn't want this but it happened. Now we have to deal with it."
"I guess you're right Mom" I said. "I'm just a little freaked out by this."
"I know you are" Mom said. "I can't say that I blame you. I'd be freaked out if the same thing happened to me."
"You're already a girl Mom" I said smiling.
"Ha ha, very funny" Mom said. "You know what I meant."
"Ya I know what you meant" I said. "I'm sorry."
"That's ok" Mom said giggling. "There was no need to apologize. Now, get your shoes on and we'll go get you some clothes. I hope you don't mind if your sister comes along. I think that she'll be a big help with picking out clothes. Also I need to stop by Alice's to drop off some Amish Bread."
"Oh no!" I said. "I completely forgot that my friends probably won't recognize me. How will I convince Steven of who I am?"
"I'm sure you'll be able to" Mom said. "I have faith in you."
"Thanks Mom" I said and hugged her.
"You're welcome dear" Mom said. "Now let's go."
It took fifteen minutes to drive from our house to Steven's. During that time I tried going over what I'd say to him. I was glad that this was Sunday and more than likely I would only have to convince Steven of who I was today. Tomorrow would be a different story as I went to school. That was going to be awkward. I couldn't go into the boy's locker room to get my gym stuff like this. I'd be changing in the girl's locker room from now on. I was just glad that Michelle had the same P.E. classes as I did.
We arrived at Steven's and got out of the car. Mom had a zip-lock bag with the batter for the Amish Bread in it and the instructions for it in her hand. Mom rang the doorbell and Steven's mom answered.
"Hello Alice" Mom said.
"Hello Janice" Steven's mom said. "What brings you here?"
"I came to give you the starter for the Amish Bread" Mom said.
"Oh, I completely forgot that you were going to bring that over today" Steven's mom said.
"I almost forgot about it myself" Mom said.
Steven's mom giggled and then seeing me said "Pardon me but I don't believe that we've met. I'm Alice Thornwall. And you are?"
I took a deep breath and said "Actually we have met Mrs. Thornwall. I'm friends with Steven."
"I'm sure that I would remember if I had met a girl as pretty as you" Mrs. Thornwall said.
"Believe me Alice, you have" Mom said. "This is going to sound strange but aliens abducted Rick and transformed him into a girl."
"Not as strange as what happened to Steven last night" Mrs. Thornwall said.
"What happened to Steven!?!" I asked very concerned for my friend.
"It would be best if you saw for yourself" Mrs. Thornwall said. She turned around and called "Steven! Come on and come out here! There's no need to be afraid!"
I wondered what Steven had to be afraid of until I saw him. My mouth just hung open. If the girl that had come to the door indeed was Steven then my trouble paled in comparison. At least I was still human. Steven on the other hand clearly wasn't human any longer. He was clearly a girl but his hair was long and dark green. There were two small horns poking up through his hair. After a little bit I said "They got you too."
"Who are you?" Steven asked me.
"Well I was Rick" I said. "That is until the aliens got me last night. Now I'm Richelle."
"You're kidding!" Steven said with an incredulous look on his, or I should say her, face.
"I'm afraid not" I said shaking my head. "What are you
anyway?"
"I'm an Oni" Steven said. "A comic book alien" she added seeing the confused look on my face.
"Steven and I were discussing options" Mrs. Thornwall said.
"I don't want to stay like this" Steven said crossing her arms over her chest. "I want to get have surgery to correct this."
"That's a bit drastic isn't it?" Mom asked.
"I don't care!" Steven said. "I want to be male again!"
"The aliens may change us back" I said.
"Why would they change us in the first place?" Steven asked.
"Maybe it's a joke" I said. "Those bugs are probably laughing their heads off right now."
"Wait, you saw them?" Steven asked.
"Ya I did" I said. "They looked like ants standing on their hind legs."
"Oh I hope they didn't impregnate us" Steven said.
My heart moved into my throat. I hadn't considered that possibility. "I can't be pregnant!" I said.
Everyone was silent for awhile. Then we heard a car pull up. Two men in black suits and wearing dark sunglasses got out and approached us. I had heard of men in black showing up where UFOs had been reported. This could get interesting.
"Excuse us folks" one of them said. "I'm Special Agent Friday and this is my partner, Special Agent Nash. We're with Homeland Security. We've had reports of someone shining some powerful lights up into the sky. Have any of you seen anything out of the ordinary? Maybe someone sneaking around."
Just then Steven shifted so the Men in Black could see her. "We have one" Nash said pulling out a strange looking gun.
"Put that away!" Friday commanded.
"But that's an alien" Nash protested.
"Does it look like any alien we've seen?" Friday asked.
"No, but I'm tagging it anyway" Nash said.
"Please don't shoot my son" Mrs. Thornwall pleaded.
"That's not your son" Nash said.
Friday pulled out his own gun and pointed it at Nash. "I told you to put your weapon away" he said.
"You won't tag me" Nash said. "Move away from the alien folks!"
I felt like I needed to say something before this spiraled out of control so I said "She's not a true alien. Some aliens that looked like ants changed her into this based on a comic book alien."
"That makes it an alien then" Nash said.
"She's human!" I said.
"No it isn't" Nash said.
"Put your weapon away!" Friday said.
"You know that the Tagger will more than likely kill a human" Nash said. "You won't take the chance."
I was getting furious. I thought to my book. Daphne had the power to shoot nearly invisible balls of energy from her hands. She could also control the strength of the energy. If I had her powers then I should be able to incapacitate Nash without killing him. "Friday may not take the chance but I will" I said raising my right hand. I concentrated on a ball of energy leaving my hand and knocking Nash out.
Suddenly a nearly invisible ball of energy left my hand. It looked like a ball of water. It hit Nash and spread out in a wave like a ripple in a pond. Nash was thrown back a couple of feet and crumpled to the ground.
Friday swung his gun to me and said "Try that on me and I will tag you!"
"I won't do that to you" I said raising my hands. "If I'm right he's only unconscious. I didn't want you to be forced to tag him."
"Well I appreciate the thought" Friday said. "I'll put away my Tagger now." True to his word he slowly holstered his weapon and I lowered my hands. He then knelt by Nash and took his pulse. "Well he is alive" he said. "His pulse is strong." He stood up and said "Now tell me how you did that."
"I was abducted and changed into a girl based on the heroine of a book I was reading last night" I said. "One of her powers it the ability to shoot nearly invisible balls of energy from her hands."
"You said the aliens looked like ants" Friday said. "Are you sure about that?"
"Yes I am" I said.
"Must be some juveniles" Friday said. "From what we've been told some kids on spring vacation like to take interstellar craft and cause inexplicable things to happen to the inhabitants of 'backwater' worlds. They think it's fun."
"So this is a joke!" Steven exclaimed. "When will they undo it!?!"
"Unfortunately they tend not to reverse the things they do" Friday said. "But there's more. It seems that Earth is more out of the way for these juveniles. So there's another reason why they came here other than just doing inexplicable things."
"What could that be?" I asked. I had a feeling that I knew what they were doing.
"I don't know" Friday said.
"Well what do we do now?" Steven asked.