Chapter 2: Chapter 2

I was expecting the address to lead to a costume shop or maybe a seamstress or dry cleaners, but I was surprised when it brought me into a residential part of town, not too far from the college. As I walked up towards a gothic-style house, I’d remembered hearing some rumor about the place, but I couldn’t recall exactly what the rumors said. The place was spooky, and I felt like I was being watched as I walked up the drive, likely because of all the gargoyle statues in the garden. I took a deep breath as I rang the doorbell. As the door opened, I heard a voice calling out.

 

“If you’re here for candy, you’re a day early, but I give you an A for effort!”

 

The voice belonged to a woman, likely in her mid-forties or early-fifties, not that she looked old, but she seemed to have an air of sophistication, even though she was currently wearing a pair of tight black jeans, a t-shirt with the logo of what looked like a punk band, and a leather jacket. Was this woman Tabitha?

 

“Uh, hi… I’m Josh and I need a Halloween costume.” I stammered.

 

“A costume?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

 

Shoot, did I go to the wrong place? This was the address on the paper, right?

 

“Yeah, this girl named Max told me to…” I started, but Tabitha cut me off after a grin appeared on her lips.

 

“Ah, I see! Max sent you, did she? Then you must be in dire need, indeed! Come in, come in!” Tabitha beckoned me inside.

 

As I followed her through to her living room, I couldn’t help but notice that her hair was a vibrant red color that didn’t look to be dyed or anything. Suddenly, she wheeled around as we entered the living room.

 

“Take a seat, my dear, and tell me what you’re looking for.” Tabitha said, motioning to her couch, as she sat down in a leather chair.

 

“I don’t know, I mean, I don’t really want to stand out or anything. And I’m single… newly single, so I’ll be going alone so I guess I want something that won’t look incomplete if I’m on my own.”

 

“Uh huh…” Tabitha murmured and motioned for me to continue.

 

“This is super weird, but okay, uh… I really don’t want to be myself, if that makes sense.”

 

“It makes perfect sense, that’s what Halloween is for, becoming someone else for a day.” Tabitha smiled. “Okay, I think I can work with this. Come back tomorrow to pick up your costume.”

 

“That’s it? You didn’t even take any measurements!” I said, but she was already standing and ready to hurry me out the door.

 

“Oh, trust me, I have an eye for this sort of thing.” Tabitha assured me. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Josh.”

 

As the door closed, I shook my head and headed back down the driveway towards the street. The day had already been very eventful, but now it was just… puzzling.

 

The strangeness was a good distraction from the current crisis I was facing, and based on the fact that, as I got into bed that night, I hadn’t received any angry or confused phone calls regarding my proclivities, it would seem that Kelsey hadn’t told anyone about what she had seen. I tried to call her once more before bed, but again the call was immediately rejected.

 

The next morning, there still weren’t any consequences apart from Kesley still ignoring my calls and texts. I wasn’t naive enough to think that I was in the clear, but at least I felt a little more comfortable going about my day, even if I couldn’t look in the mirror without feeling intense feelings of shame. It being a Sunday, that meant that I only had to leave my room to get food and to pick up my costume.

 

Returning to Tabitha’s, I was curious to see what would be waiting for me, and I didn’t have to wait long, because before I could even knock, the door opened, as if Tabitha had been waiting for me.

 

“Ah, there you are! Come in, come in!” Tabitha beckoned me in once again and we walked into the living room.  “Take a seat and I’ll go grab the costume.”

 

I did as she instructed and wondered about what the costume might be, maybe I’d be going as Frankenstein’s monster, or a mummy, with bandages covering my face that might not be so bad, since I wouldn’t have to risk showing my face around campus. Then again, I should also be wondering about the quality of the costume, considering it was completed in less than twenty-four hours. But before I could think too much about it, Tabitha returned, carrying a black garment bag.

 

“And here it is, one Halloween costume.” Tabitha handed me the bag.

 

“Thank you so much, so how much do I owe you?” I said, accepting the mysterious bag.

 

“For a friend of Max? Free of charge.” Tabitha said.

 

I considered mentioning that I really only knew Max through one conversation, but decided against it, I’d had so few victories lately that I felt I deserved at least a free Halloween costume.

 

“So, what is it?” I reached for the snap to open the top of the bag, but Tabitha slapped my hand away from it. “Hey!”

 

“Sorry, it’s just that I don’t like to see my handiwork until it’s being worn, so if you could wait to open it until you get home, I’d appreciate it.” Tabitha said.

 

“Oh, okay.” I said, it was a strange request, but considering all she’d done for me, I could at least give her that much.

 

“And take this, too.” Tabitha handed me a piece of candy in a purple wrapper. “It’s homemade, and since I figure you’re too old for trick or treating I thought you might enjoy something sweet.”

 

“Thanks,” I quickly opened the piece of candy and popped it into my mouth.

 

It was something like a marshmallow peep in consistency and super sweet. As I swallowed it, I tried to tell Tabitha how much I liked it, but my eyelids suddenly felt super heavy, and before I knew it, the world went black.

 

Since I didn’t feel myself hit anything as I fell, I expected to wake up sore, on the floor of Tabitha’s living room, so imagine my surprise when I found myself under the covers in my own bed! Still half asleep, I could only vaguely notice that something was wrong, and that I didn’t remember going back to sleep. Nor could I remember leaving Tabitha’s living room.

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My eyes opened slowly and the room was blurry as I got out of bed, my mind still foggy. I stumbled towards the bathroom, hearing but not really processing a voice from the other side of the room saying something to me.

 

Ignoring the fact that I knew my roommate wasn’t due back until the next morning for the moment, I headed into the bathroom, but I found the greatest surprise when I stared into the mirror, because it wasn’t my own face staring back at me. Or rather, it was my face, just my face on a girl’s body!

 

“AHHHHHH!” I screamed, quickly bringing my hands to my mouth as I realized what my voice sounded like and I watched the girl in the mirror do the same thing, bringing her dainty fingers, tipped with manicured orange oval-shaped nails to her face.

 

“Joss? What happened?” This time I distinctly heard a girl’s voice and some shuffling until a girl rushed into the bathroom, her oversized college sweatshirt hanging off her shoulder. “Are you okay?”

 

“I…” I started, but I couldn’t speak, it was like a nightmare.

 

“Wait a minute, it didn’t work? Dang it!” the girl sighed and ripped open the shower curtain, causing a spider on a string to fall down in front of her.

 

“Wh-who are you?” I asked.

 

“Who am I? Wow, those midday naps really mess you up, huh? Well then, good afternoon, sleepyhead, I’m your roommate, Lily!” she replied, jokingly extending her hand to me.

 

“Roommate…” I repeated slowly.

 

So I not only woke up as a girl, but the entire universe shifted around me… How was I a girl?! And why?! But I needed more information about this reality in order to figure out what to do. I gazed into the mirror again and scrutinized my body, my dirty blonde hair was a lot longer, going past my shoulders, and while I’d been in a fairly low key flannel and jeans, now I had on a pair of dark blue yoga pants and a black tank top that resembled the t-shirt I’d been wearing underneath the flannel.

 

“Are you okay? Do you need a minute?” The girl stepped out of the bathroom and I followed.

 

I headed over to the desk on my side of the room and found a purse sitting on the table. I started rifling through it until I found a wallet with a Student ID card inside of it, proclaiming that instead of being “Josh Majors”, I was “Jocelyn Majors” and outside of my name and gender, I was exactly the same person, same height and everything, which was strange. Then I walked over to the closet and opened it, discovering that, along with several outfits I’d never seen before, everything that I’d thrown in the dumpster the day before now hung proudly in it, instead of being hidden away in a box.

 

Shutting the closet door, I turned back to Lily, who had a look of concern on her face, and while I didn’t know her from Adam, I appreciated the gesture nonetheless.

 

“Joss, are you okay?” Lily asked. “Do you need to go to the Health Center?”

 

“I’m fine, just a little dazed from the nap. What time is it?” I asked.

 

“A little before five, why?” Lily replied.

 

“Because…” I started, trying to find an excuse, then smiled as I saw the black costume bag sitting on my desk. “I’ve got a costume party to get ready for.”

 

Grabbing the bag from the desk, I opened it and pulled out an orange bundle of clothes. At first I thought it was a dress, but it turned out to be an orange sweater with the face of a Jack-o’-lantern emblazoned on the front of it. The only other item in there was a green headband designed to look like the stem of a pumpkin. It wasn’t quite what I had expected, but I suppose it made sense.

 

“Going as a pumpkin? Does that mean that you’ll turn back into a girl at midnight?” Lily laughed.

 

“Huh?” I asked, possibly too seriously, since Lily got that look of concern again.

 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Lily said. “You’d tell me if anything was wrong, right?”

 

“Yeah, of course.” I said, and I think I meant it.

 

But a thought occurred to me, despite the shocking nature of seeing the face of Jocelyn in the mirror when I expected to see Josh… I didn’t feel that intense shame that I’d been feeling for two days straight. Maybe it was the fact that it wasn’t really my face, but maybe it was something more. I didn’t have much time to ruminate, since I had to complete the costume.

 

Thanks to my existing knowledge of women’s clothes, I was able to form a perfect costume by pairing the sweater and headband with a pair of black leggings, since it was pretty chilly out, a plaid skirt and a pair of chunky black heels. It wasn’t until I was wearing it and looked in the mirror that I realized I’d unintentionally recreated the outfit I’d been wearing when Kelsey walked in. I might have felt that shame bubble up again, but before I had a chance to:

 

“Looking good, Joss!” Lily gave me a thumbs up from her bed.

 

I felt a surge of pride at that, not only because Lily felt like a true friend even though I’d only just met her, but because when I looked at myself in the mirror, I genuinely liked how I look. I’m not Josh Majors, which is fine with me because I didn’t want to be him, at least not at the moment, so it was nice to have a break.

 

“What are your plans for tonight? You can join me at the party if you’d like,” I offered. It was the least I could do.

 

“Nah, I’ve got plans to meet that guy from my Linguistics class for drinks at Swift’s, so I might be home late.” Lily smirked.

 

“Noted,” I giggled.

 

But it also made me wonder, obviously I wouldn’t be dating Kesley if I was a girl… or would I? I quickly checked my phone but didn’t find her name or number in it… which was disappointing, but I put that matter aside for the moment and checked myself in the mirror. My makeup job, which was fairly basic, was just some blush, mascara and red lipstick. I'd extrapolated that the items that were out on my side table were my favorite items and used them to the best of my ability. Makeup was something I’d only done fully once or twice, but I’d watched some tutorials over the years so I was serviceable at best.

 

Once I was finished, I grabbed the purse, threw my phone into it, and off I went into the chilly October night. I considered heading over to Tabitha’s, since she was sure to know what was going on, but this whole thing started because of that girl Max, so I decided I’d find my answers at that party she invited me to, as I dug the flyer out of my purse and checked the directions.

 

“The Beta Omicron Upsilon place, huh?” I remarked to no one as I headed off in that direction.

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