He's Gone

            How did this happen? How did a well-planned prank still go horribly wrong? How was I supposed to know that lady who owned the curiosity shop was on the level? So many questions that I can't answer. Amongst them is this: How do I tell our parents that a friend and I turned my horrible, older stepbrother into an irresistible bimbo? I should start at the beginning.

         I had become fed up with my big stepbrother's pranks, from leaving wet paint on my desk chair to getting hit with baby powder when I walk out of my bedroom in the morning. It was like I wasn't safe anywhere. Telling my mom and stepdad about it got me nowhere. I felt helpless until my friend told me about this curiosity shop that sold weird stuff. The place was run by this seemingly elderly woman. She got a good look at me and said, "I can sense that you are suffering."

        This lady had to be a seer, or whatever they're called in those old movies.

        "Take a look around, child." She continued. "See what you like."

        The place had trinkets and oddities as far as my eyes could go. There were bottles of varying potions from top to bottom. One thing in particular caught my attention. It was something I'd never thought I see in a place like this. It was a pair of pink, open-toed stilettos. What were these doing in a place like this? Suddenly, an idea shot up to my brain: I could humiliate him in the exact same way he humiliated me in the past, and these stilettos would be a great way to do it.

        "Ah, you've made your choice already, I see." The matron caught me off guard, shaking me up. "You have plans for those boots?"

        Embarrassed, I just nodded ashamedly.

        "Interesting." She responded. "But remember this, dear boy: Revenge can be a double-edged sword, and the items sold here have a strange way of affecting people... in ways you never expect."

        I paid for the pink stilettos and got out of there, fast. The woman just cackled as she waved goodbye at me. That sadistic smile on her face would haunt me in my nightmares. I knew that the moment I got home, I would have to think fast. My stepbrother got home from school a little later than I did, leaving me with very little time to myself. I left a note by the box that held the pink stilettos saying, "We triple dog dare you to try us on, if you're not a coward." I had to write it in cursive to make him think it wasn't from me. Then, I rushed back to my room, just as he got inside.

        Salvation! He never turned to see me. All I had to do now was wait for the fireworks to start.

        "What kind of joke is this?" I heard him say. He sounded pretty cheesed. I stifled some giggles as he cursed out loud at the sight of the pink stilettos. Once he saw that card, that was it. He cares too much about his pride to ignore challenges like this. There was silence for a few minutes. What happened? I didn't dare look, out of fear of being senselessly whaled on. This is where I had to have patience, no matter how painful it was.

        After a while, I finally caved in to curiosity and turned to see what my stepbrother had done with the stilettos. To my shock, he wasn't there. Our rooms were across the hall from each other so we could easily see what the other was doing. I did notice that the box was empty. What could he have done? I finally got my answer when he walked into my sight... wearing the stilettos. He looked down on them, visibly in disgust.

        The moment he looked me dead in the eyes, I spouted quickly, "I won't say a word. I swear!"

        After some seconds, which, to me, felt like a whole eon, he walked away in dead silence. I could hear him grumble to himself, "How long do I have to wear these stupid things anyways?"

        If everything went my way, not much longer. Suddenly, as if some unearthly force was reading my mind, I heard my stepbrother moaning. He sounded like he was in pain. Could that old lady have been on the level? She said something about revenge being "a double-edged sword" and I fear what's happening to my stepbro could affect me, too. I cautiously walk to his room, fearing the worst. But I didn't expect what I was about to witness.

        As I peeked past his door, I saw him in a fetal position, clutching his stomach. I could hear it from all the way from where I was standing. The gurgling was that loud. Then, while squinting, I saw his fingernails grow unnaturally fast. In like ten seconds, they went from the nub of his fingers to looking like unmanicured talons. Next, his brown hair slowly started growing and growing, getting longer and more voluminous while strangely turning lighter in color. His eyes were shut so he didn't see me watching his transformation.

        Then, out of the blue, I heard a *𝐶𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑐ℎ*. He groaned loudly as he came out of his fetal position and laid on his back. The crunch must have came from his stomach because, before our eyes, his waist was caving inward, giving him an hourglass body. He kept screaming in agony as his hip bones started moving outward. I could hear them cracking as they relocated. His thighs then became thicker and, I'm ashamed to admit, sexier. Next, two mountains started to form on his chest. He looked down as they grew bigger and bigger...and bigger, lifting his black T-shirt. I peeked below and saw what was undoubtedly an attractive woman's waist. His hands then went to his private parts. I could tell what was happening then: They were shrinking inside of him. I could officially no longer call him my stepbrother.

        All that was left of him...or her, I guess, was her face. That was quickly rectified when it began reshaping itself into a more feminine face. She gave out one last scream, one that was absolutely feminine, as her nose shrank, her lips swelled, her jaw receded, and her eyelashes became longer. I thought it was over...until her body suddenly became tanned all over. The woman in my stepbrother's clothes and those pink stilettos lay motionless on the floor as I finally walked closer to her.

        "Hey, man." I said to her, thinking it was still him in mind. "Are you okay?

        She opened her eyes and said, "Wh-what...happened?"

        "You were my stepbrother until a few minutes ago when you put on those weird, pink stilettos."

        "What? Stepbrother? Me? Silly boy. I can't be your stepbrother. I'm a girl. Are you, like, sick or something?"

        "Well, I...I just thought you were still...you mentally. I mean those pink stilettos--?"

        She looked at her feet and saw the shoes I was talking about.

        "You mean these? Do you like them? They make me look sooooo hot, don't they?"

        He's gone. This couldn't be my stepbrother talking. He would never say these things. Those strange stilettos had warped his head while turning him into this...this...hottie. Her breasts may have been fake but everything else about her made up for it. It would have been better if it weren't for the fact that she was once somebody who upset me with every opportunity he had. I was at a loss for thoughts. Our parents would never believe me if I told them that a magical pair of stilettos that I bought from a curiosity shop turned my wicked stepbrother into a big-breasted ditz. I didn't believe it and I saw the whole transformation. Would you?