Enchanted by freckles - short stories

Story 28 - Side effects

Garreth's point of view (autumn 1904):

I was swinging a small bottle of a concoction I had just finished.

It shimmered like a pearl. I drank a sip. It was supposed to make hair grow quickly, but despite my research, I didn't know what would happen.

I drank it and went upstairs to the bathroom. In the mirror I could watch my hair start to grow.

Red curls were falling over my shoulders and I felt like my beard was going to disappear. Oh fuck.

I stayed in the bathroom for a while, watching the process of change. My proportions changed and when I made a safety grab, I realized that I was missing a particular part of my body.

I burst out laughing. I had cooked something very strange.

"Caelie, can you come in here, please?", I called out loudly but was startled by my suddenly very feminine voice. I cleared my throat, tried to sound as normal as possible and called out again.

Caelie came into the bathroom. She looked at me and also burst out laughing. "Has everything changed?" she asked me when she had calmed down.

I pulled my pants down a little and she burst out laughing again. "Do you know how long it lasts?" she asked with tears of laughter. "No. I don't know," I said, and again my voice was very feminine.

Caelie had sat down on the edge of the bathtub, and fell backwards during her new bout of laughter, but even that didn't stop her laughter. I felt embarrassed, but had to start laughing too.

"Can you please bring the kids to my parents? I need to find a remedy for this and if they see me like THIS, I'll kill myself," I said, half pleading, half laughing. Caelie nodded and went outside.

I heard her gathering the kids together, leading them all outside. I looked in the mirror again and felt a little like crying and laughing at the same time. I had grown two wonderful breasts by now, and I hardly recognised myself. I reached for a beard knife lying around and cut my hair, which was now almost waist-length, back to shoulder length, but I had the feeling that it had already started to grow again.

Suddenly someone tried to open the door. I rushed to the door and held it shut. "Goodness, Garreth, I have to pee, let me in," Sebastian said, annoyed. I concentrated on speaking as low as possible and said, "Yes, but you can't come in right now."

There was silence for a moment. "Tell me, why is Caelie bringing the children away?" he asked and I could hear him grinning. Again I concentrated on sounding deep, "Caelie just wanted to. You'll have to ask her when she comes back." "Garreth, either you willingly open the door now, or I'll blow it away." "NO!" it burst out of me. In my shock, I hadn't disguised my voice.

"What's wrong, handsome?" asked Sebastian, trying to unlatch the door again. "I had a... Potion accident, and I'm embarrassed," I said quietly, "Caelie's been laughing her head off too." "Oh come on, we've probably already licked EVERY part of each other's bodies, what's there to be embarrassed about now?" "Seb, it is embarrassing. Really embarrassing. Please, at least try not to laugh, okay?", I said even more quietly and let go of the door handle.

I wiped the tears from my face and saw Sebastian very carefully open the door.

He raised an eyebrow, and started to grin. "And... what's all... affected?" he asked, leaning against the doorframe. "Everything.", I said quietly, leaning my head against his shoulder.

Sebastian took me in his arms. "Really EVERYTHING?" he asked again. I lifted my head and looked at him, "Really? Is that the only thing about this you care about? I don't know if or how this is going to go away, and I can't go to work on Monday like this." "Then we should make the best of the time.", Sebastian said relaxed, taking my hand and pulling me into the bedroom.