Sitting in the now vacant shop, listening as something nearby stirred, scared that it might be something connected with the one calling her herself Erin, I peered into the gloom, the only light being offered by the partially soaped-over windows in the front. And then I heard a boy's voice asking, "What happened?" a pause and then a near scream of, "What happened!" as a figure suddenly rose up not three feet from where I was sitting and began spinning about in place.
As I watched this take place, my mind suddenly flashed to the other ferret and before I could really stop myself, I blurted out, "Bucky?" and watched as the figure before me stopped and stared at me, suddenly understanding that he wasn't alone.
"What happened to me?" a boy's voice whimpered out of the semi-dark and the pleaded, "Why am I like this?"
Shrugging, failing to understand that the boy before me probably could not see this gesture, I struggled to a standing position, peering at the dress that I was wearing, noting that it was clearly a one-piece underwear with a long sleeves and a skirt sewn around the waist line, barely hearing Bucky as he whimpered, "Why are we like the owners? How is this possible?" pause and then cry out, "I want to go back to my cage!"
"Somehow," I muttered. "I do not think you would be able to fit into your cage," and standing, I ran a hand over the outfit I was wearing, knocking bits of whatever off as I did so, but also attempting to come to an understanding of what happened to me.
Then something came to me and turning away from Bucky, who had dropped back to the floor and was spinning about in circles, attempting to look at his own butt for some reason, I hastily looked about the shop and spying what appeared to be a restroom, I mumbled, "Be right back," and took off across the shop, my bare feet sliding over chunks of what looked to be plaster from the ceiling as something in my mind screamed in hope that I would not find what I was sure to find.
Inside the bathroom, I fumble a bit for the light switch and nearly curse in irritation when I find it and nothing happens when I flip it up. Exiting out of the bathroom, seeing that Bucky has disappeared somewhere, I mentally make a note to look for him in a bit and instead head toward the back of the shop and into the attached house. There, I begin to search the rooms, trying to find the best lit. And when I come to a large room that does not have coverings over the windows, I head in and close the door behind me. Taking a deep breath, I reach up and gently pull on the fabric covering my shoulders.
Stripping off the garment, noting that there are snaps that connect the two pieces that join between my legs, I push all this out of my mind for the moment as I drop the garment to the side and take in what has clearly happened to me since falling off the shelf and becoming entangled inside one of the costumes.
That I am female was clearly obvious, yet I was still unable to understand why it was that a girl had her genitals between her legs and not out front like a boy. My body was a pale white and showed just the hint of baby fat and giving my best guess, I figured that I was now about seven or eight years old, but was not entirely sure. Reaching for my hair, I gently pull it so that it falls in front of my eyes, seeing that it was a brownish-blond in pigmentation, had a kinked sort of appearance toward the end and hung down past my shoulders. Letting go of the hair, I ran my hands over my body, skipping over my genitals, quietly telling myself, "This isn't real. This isn't happening," as I did so.
Suddenly feeling like I wanted to cry, I blurt out, "I don't want to be a girl. I just want to dress in girl's clothes," I sit down on top of the garment that had obvious done this to me and whimpered, "What is so wrong with that?"
Gazing down at what was clearly now my genitals, taking in the pinkish-white shading, I close my eyes and wonder what it was that I did to deserve this, sure that it had something to do with my habit of dressing in Tanya's clothes. Snapping open my eyes, I touch the area around my neck as I look at the my torso, understanding that the collar and harness I wore as a ferret was no longer on me and standing, I nearly tore out of the room to go back to the shop to search for them, but stopped as I asked myself, "Why? Why is it so important that I know the location of two items that nearly turned me into an animal?"
As I sat back down, unable to come up with a reason as to why it was important to locate the two items, I shifted in place and pulling the garment out from underneath where I am sitting, I gaze at it, understanding that I am going to need to put it back on when I leave this room. Standing back up again, I look down at my body, upset that my genitals are clearly between my legs and that to everyone who looks at me they'll see a girl. Pulling on the garment, unable to still figure out my age, thinking that if I had to guess at my height, it would be around forty two, forty three inches, I reach between my legs and fasten the snaps, deciding that the first thing I should do was locate Bucky, "Who must be in a situation similar to mine," I reason, understanding that he was a ferret stuck in the body of a human, while I was a sixteen year old boy stuck in the body of a young girl.
Exiting the room I listen for a moment and when I do not hear anything, I decided that I would start in the shop, looking both for clues that could hint of how to undo my feminine situation and maybe something that would also tell me were Bucky went and how best to return him to a form he was used to. Starting for the front of the building, passing rooms that are unfamiliar to me, I wonder what has happened here that could lead up to this place looking like it has not been used in years.
When I reach the front area, and unable to come up with a solution to what was clearly a skip forward in time, I start to gaze about the shop, stopping every so often to whisper out, “Bucky?” wondering where the ferret-turned-boy had disappeared to.
Stumbling, my feet accidentally shift some of the plaster aside and what I saw there caused me to stop in my search and reaching down, I pulled out from underneath the bits of the ceiling what was clearly a button up shirt. Pondering what would happen if I were to put on such a garment, understanding that I am standing in the remains of what was once a costume shop, I turn the garment about in my hands and attempt to discern whether it was originally for a male or female.
In the end, the only thing I can figure out was that something about the placement of the buttons was off, but unable to tell what, I decided to wait before I started trying on different articles of clothing.
“After all,” I thought. “I do not what to make my situation any worse than it already is,” though how it could possibly get worse, this I did not know as I continued to make my way towards the front of the shop, stopping when I felt my balance going or when I thought I saw something that might prove useful in answering some of my questions.
When I reach the front of the store, I climb into the bay-window and attempt to peer through the soaped-up glass, noting that what I can see was the abandoned resort town that I had come to when I had gone through the door after being drawn into the world of Choose Your Own Change. Shifting so that I can sit, making sure that I am not sitting on anything as I do so, I unconsciously move my legs so that it was not possible to see up my dress, my thoughts on the fact that I have become a girl and that I clearly am still in the same resort town and that I have not shifted to another world with the Choose Your Own Change story.
“So where is Rei?” I wondered silently to myself as I looked back out the window, sure that if this was still the same town, that the other girl should be somewhere nearby.
“Or has time really passed, as evident by this shop, and Rei has disappeared,” I thought to myself as I turn about and peer back through the soaped-up window, wondering why there was no people in the town except for me, possibly Rei and a ferret-turned-human name Bucky.
As I figured that maybe I should go look for Bucky and make sure that he has not got himself into some form of trouble, I slowly climbed out of the bay-window and began making my way back across the store, but stopped part-way when something caught my attention. Making my way toward the object in question, I pulled out from underneath the bits of plaster what was clearly a pair of jeans.
Peering at them, attempting to discern as much as I can, I guess that they must be for an adult, but when I looked for a tag, I was slightly disappointed to find that they had none. Deciding that it really was not important, I turn my attention back to finer details of the pants, specifically attempting to determine if they were made for a woman or a man and any telling signs that would point out that these were obviously a pair of woman’s jeans or a pair of men’s pants.
As I compare the jeans with the button up shirt, something inside my mind telling me the two would look cute together, I think that something about the shirt still appeared off, but that when held next to each other, it was still not possible for me to tell what sex and gender wore these clothes. And setting down one so that I can fold the other I thought to myself “I’ll just have to try them on and see,” but found myself dreading doing such a thing at the moment as I placed on the floor the article I was folding and started to fold the other piece of clothing.
When I had finished folding both, I picked them up and deciding that maybe I should really find Bucky now, I began once again making my way back through the store, ignoring everything around me as I figured the best place I should start my search was in the room that Erin’s best friend housed the cage that Bucky and I called home.
Heading back into the section behind the shop, I call out, "Bucky?" as I make my way down the hall, sure that I was going the right direction as I peered into what was once a living room and now had only a couch that appeared to be falling to pieces and a room that was a bathroom.
In the third room I find what was once Beatrice's room at one time and stepping in, I see Bucky sitting on the floor, staring at the wall where the cage used to sit. Upon hearing me enter, Bucky turned his head in my direction and whimpered out, "Where has our home gone? I just want go home," and looking away from me, he scoots forward a bit and laying down in the spot where the cage used to be, he curled up into a fetal position as he continued to make noises that sound a little like the noises a ferret would make if it was both happy and distressed at the same time.
Unsure what I should do, I approached the boy and squatting down next to him, I whisper, "I do not really understand myself what is going on. What I do know is that we cannot remain here."
"Then where shall we go?" Bucky asked in a sullen tone. "To the home of the other owner? I do not even know where my leash and harness is. Nor do I understand how I know what such things are called," and lapsing into silence, he stared at the wall, making a strange whimpering noise every so often.
Setting down the clothes I was holding, I sat down and wondered what I should say. After a moment, I whispered, "Bucky, what would you think if I told that I am not really a ferret-turned-human? Nor am I really a girl," and taking a deep breath, I slowly began to explain and confide in the first I had ever told my secret about how I enjoyed wearing girl's clothes and when finished, I paused and then began to explain how I was from another world and all the things that had happened to me since coming to the world of Choose Your Own Change.
When I had finished, I waited for Bucky to say something, anything. When the ferret-turned-boy did not reply, I hesitantly reached out and touching his shoulder, I was about to say something to him when he pulled his shoulder away from me. As he did so, he spat out, "Leave me alone. If you don't want to be with somebody like me, you should just say so instead of making up such wild stories," and shifting so he was closer to the wall, he lapsed back into silence.
Of all the things I had expected, this was not the response I had hoped for. Feeling stunned, I glared at Bucky for a moment and when the sensation I was feeling slowly shifted to anger, I grabbed the clothes and leaping up, I hissed out, "Fine. Whatever," and turning about, I marched out of the room, into the hallway and toward the room I had been in when I had removed the outfit I was currently wearing to confirm that I was indeed female.
Slamming the door, feeling the sting of tears, I thought, "Stupid Bucky," as I walked toward the middle of the room and dropping the button up shirt and pants to the floor, I silently cursed at the ferret-turned-boy.
"To hell with him," I thought. "He can stay here and rot for I care," and hastily grabbing at the shoulder piece of the dress I was wearing, no longer caring about the consequences and only wanting to be an male and somebody older instead of a little girl, I started to pull the dress off.
Tossing the garment away, I reached down for the button up shirt and pulling it on, I grabbed the pants next and pulled them on, hoping that they would transform me in an adult or teenage male and that I looked rather ridiculous standing in an empty room wearing clothes that were clearly several sizes too big. And then I felt a flash of heat roll over me and as a cramping sensation washed over my legs, arms, torso and head, I doubled up and curling up on to the floor, I welcomed the change, hoping that what I transformed into was better than what I currently was. And as the cramping and hot feeling grew, I thought I heard a door open somewhere nearby and as a male voice called out, "Alex?"