Colby speeds the large van through the narrow, winding mountain roads. A couple times, you were positive you were going to hurtle off into a ravine, but somehow you're still alive. Colby had explained to you and George as you sped out of town that someone was at the cabin, trying to break in. Rani had said he had a knife.
You try to reassure Colby on the way up, mostly so he doesn't accidentally kill the three of you in his haste to get back to the cabin. "Rani will be fine. She's pretty feisty. She almost took all three of us on with a fireplace poker, remember?" Colby sits in silence, staring with stony determination at the road ahead.
You make it to the cabin in record time. You see the darkened figure of the wilderness mansion come into view. There's a single car idling in front of the cabin, its headlights shining a path of light down the drive. Colby pulls the van up next to car, stomping on the brake and making you and George strain against your seat belts. The three of you jump out of the van and begin to cautiously approach the cabin. George stops behind the strange car and snaps a picture of its license plate with his phone. "It might come in handy."
"Guys. Over here." You follow Colby's coarse whisper to one of the cabin windows. The glass is massing, leaving just jagged remnants in the pane. There's what looks like a jacket covering the bottom of the pane, allowing easy passage without getting cut.
George shrugs. "Maybe Rani got out?"
Colby shakes his head grimly. "No. The glass is shattered from the outside, and I'm pretty sure that's not her jacket. There's no reason she'd try and escape through the-" Colby is cut short beam a beam of light flashing through another window on the ground floor. The three of you instinctively duck. You can barely make out footsteps.
"Rani?" You've never heard the voice before. It's a little high pitched, but it sounds like a man's. "Where are you, Rani? I know you're here! You're making it harder on yourself by hiding from me!"
Colby, as quiet as he can, stands up and creeps to the front door. He inserts his key and slowly opens the door. He jerks his head, indicating for the two of you to follow. You decide to take one of Rani's ideas and grab the poker from the fireplace. George curls his hands into fists, ready for a fight.
You turn to Colby. "What's the plan?"
While you can't see him well in the darkened room, you can just make out the ambient light reflecting off his eyes, giving him a sinister look. "I think he's in the kitchen. Go around the west hall and catch him from behind. George and I will go around the front. Together, we should catch him off-"
The light to the den flicks on and you see a man standing in the doorway. He's pretty good sized, about as tall as you and almost as muscular, with little to no fat on his body. He's wearing a white tank top and beige cargo pants. His dark hair is messy and ruffled, and he doesn't look to have shaved or showered in several days. He has a dangerously manic look in his eye. Though, you're more distracted by the hand gun pointed in your direction, his other arm at his side, holding a large knife. He glowers at the three of you. "Where is she? Where are you hiding her?"
Colby puts both his hands up, palms out, placating. "Put the gun down."
George raises his fists. "I can take 'im."
The man points the gun at George, a dark expression on his face. "The first one who moves gets it. Just give her to me, and I'll be on my way. All I want is Rani. I've been looking for her for too long to have three old men keep me from. Is this what she's into, now?"
Colby shrugs, feigning ignorance. "Listen, we don't want any trouble. There aren't any girls here, and you'll leave if you know what's good for you."
The man points his gun at Colby and aims down the barrel. "Are you threatening me? I don't think you're in any position to threaten me, old man. Every minute you keep me from her, I shoot one of you."
You tighten your grip on the fireplace poker. "If you shoot him, I'll kill you."
He shifts his aim at you. "Tough talk. I guess I'll take you out, first."
There's a loud "KA-CHUNK" from the doorway behind him. A deep voice growls at him. "Put. The gun. Down!"
He slowly lowers his gun and turns to look behind him. Filling the doorway is a mountain of a man, all fat and muscle, but mostly fat. Still, he cuts an impressive figure with his enormous, bushy, red beard and matching hair, thinning on top. He's wearing sweat clothes that are a size to small, but makes up for it by holding a freshly cocked shotgun to the intruder's face. "I'm only gonna ask ya once. Leave, or I'll plug ya." You recognize the figure as George's dad.
The intruder slowly raises his hands, a look of terror in his eyes as he looks upon the massive man holding a shotgun to his head. "A-alright. W-w-we were just kidding around, is all."
George's dad glares at the intruder, not buying a word of it. "Leave those." He points at the weapons with the barrel of his gun. "Put 'em on the ground. You won't be needin' 'em. An' do it slowly!"
The intruder slowly kneels toward the ground, gently putting the hand gun and the knife on the floor. He then backs out the doorway, his empty hands held high. George picks up the hand gun, and you exchange your poker for the knife. The four of you follow the intruder out the door. As George's dad steps outside he points the shotgun to the sky and fires it, the explosive noise making all of you jump, the intruder included. He sprints and stumbles as fast as he can to his car, practically diving into the driver seat. The car lurches into gear, speeding off down the dark, winding, mountain roads, its taillights leaving an angry, red trail in the night.
The four of you stand there in silence. George's dad leans against the wall and lets out a big sigh. Colby turns nervously toward him. "Uhm, hey, little brother. What are you doing here?"
George's dad silently walks back into the cabin. He empties it of ammunition and carefully props it against the wall before collapsing into one of the overstuffed sofas in the den. You take the opportunity to look him over. His red body hair is sticking out from all the openings in his too small sweat suit. You look down at his feet at his large, white tennis shoes. What really catch your eye are the socks bearing green pinstripes on his ankles.
"Rani?" you ask incredulously.
This breaks George's dad from his thoughts. He looks up at you and manages a half grin. "Surprised?"
You sit down next to him, er, her. Or was it "him"? You sit down next to them. "A little, yeah. Are you alright?"
Rani shrugs her... his massive shoulders and tugs at his... her sweat suit. "Looks like I get to join the fat, old man club, too."
Despite what had just happened, George chuckles. "It ain't so bad once you get used to it."
Rani nods. "Yeah. I feel oddly at home in this body, as weird as that sounds."
"It doesn't," the three of you say in unison.
Rani smirks. "But I wouldn't mind being myself, again. George, would you be so kind as to grab my shoes? They should be by the door."
George does so and Rani tries stuffing her massive feet in her tiny shoes. You see a look of panic appear on her round, hairy face.
You reassuringly pat her on the shoulder. "Don't worry. They still work as long as you make an attempt to wear the shoes. You'll see."
Sure enough, the massive man's massive feet start to dwindle in size, as does his height. As Rani changes, Colby sits in the chair across from her, a stern expression on his face. "Care to explain exactly what that was all about?"
Rani winces, the crow’s feet around her eyes crinkling. "I haven't exactly told you guys the whole truth, either. I'm not just here because I wanted to relax from my exams." Her wide figure begins narrowing, the fat on her manly body shrinking away. "When I was in college, I thought I met the perfect guy. My friends loved him and even my picky parents adored him." Her beard begins retracting as the thinning spot on her scalp fills back in. "He always bought me gifts and took me out, it was great. But then I started noticing things about him. Weird things. He would get so mad at the tiniest things. Like, they'd under cook his stake and he'd start just yelling at the waiter like he'd killed his dog, or something." Her substantial body hair begins to vanish, retracting into her darkening skin. The sweat suit's beginning to look a little big on her, now. "Then he started getting mad at me. I'd order a coffee and he'd accuse me of flirting with the barista. He once took away my cell phone so I couldn't talk to anybody else without him knowing about it." Her voice raises several octaves as her vocal cords shift back into her own. Her hair darkens dramatically and lengthens as her rough facial features become refined and feminine. "The final straw was when he'd lock me in the basement between classes so I couldn't do anything without him knowing about it. When I argued, he would... he would beat me. He wanted to control every aspect of my life. So, when I managed to get a few minutes away from him, I called the cops. But that wouldn't stop him. I moved away and changed colleges, but he still somehow managed to find me. So, I came out here, hoping I could get away from him." The wrinkles on her now feminine face fade away. You can see tears forming in her eyes. She looks down at her hands as they go from thick, calloused things, to small and delicate. "I was hoping he'd forget about me. But, as you can see, that didn't work out. And now I almost got you guys killed."
Colby gently takes Rani by her chin, and turns her head to face him. "Hey. None of this is your fault. You are not responsible for his actions."
Rani pulls her head away, not looking at any of you. "But I couldn't even defend myself. I had to turn into a man to solve my problems. What does that say about me?"
George shrugs. "That you were terrified for your life? Rani, none of us blames you for this."
You kneel at her feet and smile reassuringly up at her. "Yeah, what George said. Listen, as long as you're here with the three of us, I can guarantee that he can never hurt you."
She smiles in spite of herself. "Thanks guys. I don't deserve it, but thanks." She stands up, swimming in the sweat clothes. "I think I'm going to go to my room, now." She slips off her shoes and magic socks and makes her way upstairs to her room.
You turn to Colby. His face is a mask of anger, out of place on him. He turns to you, still glowering. "Give me a hand with that broken window, will ya?"
You stand and nod. "Sure. You alright, Colby?"
He marches into the kitchen and grabs a garbage bag and some duct tape. "No I'm not alright. The fact that people like that exist make me sick. Rani's a sweet girl, she doesn't deserve this."
George pokes his bald head in. "She needs some self-confidence. She's constantly putting herself down."
You help Colby tape the bag over the gaping hole where the window was supposed to be, but not before George grabs the jacket. "Should we call the police?"
Colby sighs heavily. "I dunno. I mean, we could, but none of us are exactly ourselves. Even if we were to use George's shoes to change into other people, those actual people still exist somewhere out there. If we lie to the cops about our identities, it would just make things worse for Rani."
George nods. "And I don't think they'd listen to 15 year old kids, either."
Colby grimaces. "Right. I think the best thing we can do is stay on the lookout. From now on, one of us needs to be with Rani at all times, in case her ex-boyfriend tries anything funny."
You stifle a yawn. Too much adventure for you for one day. You're eager to put this whole thing behind you and move on with your summer vacation.