I'm pulled from my train of thought as I turn into the main hallway of my apartment, finding myself sharing the space with Kelly, Margret, Haley, and Rachel.
Kelly was ever so slightly taller than average, her petite frame being well proportioned with regard to her height. Her long wavy brown hair reaches down to her middle back, the long locks shimmering in the fluorescent lighting of the hallway. Her assets aren't much to speak of, a modest bust and small tight behind being displayed beneath a red halter top and a pair of tight jean shorts.
Margret walks alongside Kelly, standing a little taller than the bright young brunette. She is somewhat pudgy, having let the years of standing behind the counter at her flower shop get to her. Her blonde hair frays outwards in a complete mess, a small hairband doing little to keep it in check. Her chest and behind, while sizable, sag rather heavily thanks to her added weight. She is dressed in a pair of form-fitting dark blue jeans and a light floral patterned t-shirt, a green apron hanging from her large light brown handbag.
Haley standing in the doorway to her apartment, hiding her sizable childbearing hips and thick behind from view. Her long dark hair is done up in a ponytail, hanging up high before falling down to brush against her shoulders. The young Thai woman is dressed in a simple white tank top, a few cleaning stains showing on the otherwise crisp material, and a pair of extremely comfortable-looking tracksuit pants. She is in mid-conversation with the landlord for the whole build, a warm smile spread across her plump lips.
Rachel, the landlord, stands directly across from Haley. Her face is plastered in a huge grin, her eyes darting between the stay-at-home mom and someone or something deeper in the apartment. Just by looking at Rachel you can tell she had been a bombshell in her youth, her killer figure nowadays carried her now heavily wrinkled and sagging assets. Her shiny gray hair hangs about her head in a simple bob, adding to the professional aesthetic she bore thanks in part to her pantyhose, sharp skirt which went well below the knees, and a crisp starched blouse.
As I shuffle up to my apartment I fumble lazily with the keys, still finding it irritating to do much with my injured hand. Eventually I manage to open the door, gazing inside to my sweet little cozy apartment. The small entryway leads into a tightly packed living room, a large TV and a soft green sofa flanking either side of the room. A collection of game consoles sit beneath the TV, the accompanying games resting amongst the books at liter my bookshelves which line the remainder of the walls. The old dark wooden floorboards give way to a small plush-looking rug, the green fuzzy material almost matching that of the couch.
The living room leads to a small doorway that opens into a small kitchen. Not much can be seen of that space beyond the small kitchen table, where the remnants of my breakfast still sit, and the large window looking out onto the neighboring building.
With a slight sigh I turn to look back at Kelly and her stepmother, my eyes darting over the large paper bags in the young woman's grasp. The paper is pulled tight from the weight of what was inside, the logo of the college bookstore sitting in the center of each bag and in plain view.
"Probably her new textbooks" I mutter under my breath. I can't help but shake my head a little as I remember how much those things cost. "I don't envy having to buy those" I continue with a chuckle.
"Still, less responsibility and more free time" I say to myself, a slightly nostalgic smile spreading over my lips. "I wish I was that age again"
As the words leave my mouth I let out a yelp of pain, my hand burning with the same searing pain from the market. This time however it's far more precise, like being stabbed with a hot needle as it drags slowly across my skin.
In a panic I drop my keys, reaching down to rip the glove off my hand. However, as I grab the soft fuzzy material it appears to fall away from my hand as to turns into faint wisps of smoke. My eyes go wide as I see the image which had been seared into my palm begin to move, the delicately patterned hand shifting painfully from the top over to the one extremely slowly.
As I stare down in shock I see my heavy jacket go the same way as my gloves, dissolving into a dense mist before floating away and leaving me in just a white button-up shirt and my neatly creased dress pants.
Suddenly I'm broken from my train of confused thought as I hear a scream from further down the hall. I whip my head around, a small amount of brown hair drifting over my eyes as I look to see where the noise had come from.
"Long...hair?" I muse, reaching up as I feel my own scalp. I had kept my hair nice and short for years, having given up on having long hair since I graduated.
Looking down the hallway my heart stops, my breath catching in my throat at the scene laid out before me. Haley and Rachel were frozen mid-conversation, the old matronly woman's mouth open in mid-sentence and Haley stuck rolling her eyes. Margret was hunched over, fishing around in her purse for what I can only assume were her keys.
The only one moving was Kelly, partly under her own will and partly as some unseen force pushed and pulled at her aggressively. Her eyes begin to water as her long brunette hair begins to twist behind her, yanking her head back as her hair is formed into a tight bundled bun at the back of her head. Faint wisps of black smog begin to slide amongst the bun, solidifying into metal hairpins to hold it all in place.
Her red halter top begins to warp and stretch, the chest and the straps around the neck pulling out and over her shoulders before running down to encase her arms. I line of buttons begins to form down the front of her top, a split forming immediately after as the halter top turns into a tight button-up business shirt.
Looking around she notices me, her eyes going wide as she notices my movements.
"Mr. Hughes?" she shouts, her gaze darting over me and to her new professional-looking top.
Suddenly she stumbles forwards, taking a few uneasy steps towards me as her cheap-looking sneakers begin to push her heels upwards. The soft fabric begins to shift into a shiny black plastic, the heel separating from the majority of the sole as the shoes become a pair of relatively small heels.
Her jean shorts begin to grow darker and darker, becoming black after only a few moments. The coarse denim rapidly begins to smooth out before pulling tightly around her thighs, the legs of the shorts blending together as they form a tight black pencil skirt.
My heart hammers in my chest as I look at the young woman, struggling to take in what was happening as her clothes transformed into business attire. In a panic I look down, finding much of my own outfit having been changed in kind.
Where I had once been wearing a formal white button-up shirt I now wore a promotional World of Warcraft: Shadowlands shirt, the logo and image having been worn away slightly after multiple washes. It hangs from me rather loosely, what little fat or muscle I had on my already slender frame melting away beneath the dark fabric of the shirt.
Glancing further down I find more locks of brown hair hanging over my face, the strands of distracting hair now easily reaching down to my shoulders.
I manage to catch the last few moments of myself wearing my formal pants, the smooth material becoming rougher by the second as they shift into a baggy set of heavily worn denim.
My uncomfortable leather dress shoes begin to creep up past my ankle, the shoe as a whole growing a little thicker. The black leather begins to grow to a dark brown as it climbs higher up my calve, turning both of them into a pair of dark brown boots which didn't fit quite right.
"What is happening!?" Kelly screams, shaking uneasily on her new heels as she stumbles towards me.
With each step, the bags in her grasp begin to change. One slowly begins to shrink, the paper turning black and shiny as the thin handle extends and thickens into a lengthy strap. Whatever books had once been inside the bag appear to vanish as the bag compresses down to become a small handbag. The other bag suddenly turns transparent, revealing the art books within. My jaw drops as I watch the thick heavy books begin to distort, the color on the covers shifting out as they become random groceries in the plastic bag.
As she draws ever closer I begin to see subtle changes creep across her face. Her make-up begins to grow slightly less heavy-handed, taking on a more experienced and restrained look. Slight bags appear under her hazel eyes before being washed over with a layer of foundation. Her teeth, now gritted in a mixture of anger and frustration, show the start of some staining from what appears to be coffee.
I take a few steps into my apartment as she begins to get closer, stumbling a little as my feet get caught on something. Looking down I see an assorted collection of women's shoes, from comfortable flats to some outrageously high heels.
Whipping my head around I stare in shock at my apartment, the entire place looking unfamiliar to me.
Gone are the games and the bookshelves, having been replaced with indoor plants and some art supplies. An easel sits in the corner of the room, a range of half-finished paintings and canvases resting beside it.
Gone is the green sofa and rug. Sitting in their place is a smaller two-seater couch, a reading chair, and a small coffee table all of which are littered with folders and paperwork.
Gone are the remains of my breakfast, as a single mug and two snack bar wrapper sit where they had once been.
"You...you did this...somehow..." howls Kelly, her voice right behind me as she stands in the doorway. "Change us back you son of a..." she shouts, her voice vanishing as I turn back to look at her.
Blinking rapidly I find myself staring out into a brightly lit hallway, the walls lined with cheap-looking doors with painted white bricks resting in between them. On each door sits a sheet of tacked on paper, a large wordart smiley face sitting at the top. Leaning out the door I read the sheet on the room directly opposite me, finding the sheet unfilled by whoever was mean to write on it.
Welcome to Orientation.
Please let your new neighbors know a little bit about yourself.
Name:
Birthday:
Major:
Hobbies:
My stomach turns as I'm hit with the realization of where I was.
"This is...my old dorm" I mumble under my breath, my voice not sounding as worn out and scratchy as I was used to. My eyes roam over the walls, causing me to twist up my face a little. "Though...that looks like a fresh coat of paint compared to..." I mutter, trailing off turning back to look into what should be my altered apartment.
Rather than the strange artsy space I had been standing in front of mere moments ago I find myself in a rather cramped space. The foot of a small single bed rests just to my right while its head lays flat against the painted brick wall. To the right of the bed there is a small desk and a wheelie chair, the space between the two being just enough to fit a single person.
To my left is a wide wardrobe, spanning the whole of the rather small wall of the rectangular room. Against the wall behind me, spanning between the desk and the wardrobe, are several moving boxes. Some of the top ones have been opened, making up the scant few possessions I can see around the room. Sitting on the desk is a desktop screen, a PC tower sitting next to it and partway through setup. Laying on the cheap-looking blue bed sheets is a small toiletries bag, a wet toothbrush and scrunched-up toothpaste hanging out through the opened top.
My eyes drift over to the door, searching for the sheet that was stuck to the other doors. It doesn't take much effort to find, the paper covered in black sharpie in scrawled and messy handwriting.
Welcome to Orientation
Please let your new neighbors know a little about yourself.
Name: Jordan Hughes
Birthday: November 12th
Major: Cinema Studies
Hobbies: Video Games, TV & Movies
I swallow hard as I read it, my mind becoming stuck on the birthday. The rest summed me up, at least when I was at college in my first year, a simple basic nerd.
"That's not...I was born in May..." I whisper in shock, backing up further into the room proper, and slowly pulling the door closed.
My jaw drops as I see the shimmering shape of a mirror slowly come into view, hanging from the back of the door. I quickly slam the thing shut, rushing forwards to inspect the young man staring back at me in amazement.
It was me, or at least the me I had been nearly a decade ago. I was still tall and slender, but I had a more youthful air about me which largely meant I was taking terrible care of myself. My long light brown hair is a wild mess, uncombed but fairly recently washed. My face is youthful and bright, lacking much of the bags and blemishes that years of late nights had worn in. Lifting my shirt a little I see my slender frame and noting that I had grown even skinnier.
"Yeah, I really should have eaten more when I was..." I mutter, freezing up as things start to click.
"I...I stole her...Kelly's age..." I whisper, my voice growing high pitched out of shock. "I'm her age...eighteen...I'm...I'm back at college...in my dorm" I squeal, staggering backward from the mirror and falling onto the boxes behind me.
With a pained hiss I slowly and carefully begin to pull myself up from the boxes, not wanting to damage anything inside. Finding my vision obscured by the mane of hair I now had I reach up to brush it to the side, my eyes locking onto my palm as I do so.
The burn mark, the strange clock face, now rests at one o'clock. I can feel the gears turning in my head as I try to work out what the hell had happened, and how a burn mark could change like this.
"I wished...I was her age...and...and..." I mumble, pacing the room a little as I feel filled with far more energy than I should during a weeknight. "I got it...and she became...Oh fuck I made her...older" I whimper, my mind going back to the look of anger on the older Kelly's face and what I could only assume was her new apartment.
Before I can linger on this troubling thought for very long there is a loud knock at my door, causing me to jump with a start.
"Jor-Dan" calls out a woman's voice, a heavy Italian accent dripping from each syllable. "Are you there?"
Swallowing hard I attempt to steel my nerves "Yeah, I'm here".
"Bene...uh...may I..." chirps the voice, the door handle jiggling a little.
"Uh...sure...sure...come in" I respond, wincing as I realize how the room would look.
The door slowly swings open, revealing a tall woman standing in the doorway. She is in her early twenties, a short fringe of raven black hair extending to rest neatly around her ears, and stands at around 6'1". Her skin covered in a stunning tan, with much of it showing thanks to her comfortable-looking blue tank top and loose-fitting white shorts. The baggy nature of her clothes makes it a little difficult to judge her figure, but she is certainly not overweight. She looks up at me with large green eyes before looking around my room with a subtle smirk.
"Just the...uh...essentials first, yes?" she chides playfully, her smile turning into a full grin.
"I...yeah I suppose..." I reply nervously, not quick sure how to respond to this total stranger.
"So..." she starts, looking me up at down with a critical eye.
"So..." I respond in a confused fashion, not sure where she was going with the statement.
"Are you going like...that?" she asks, gesturing a little in my direction.
"Going? Going to..." I respond, now completely lost in the conversation.
"You don't remember?" the mystery woman says quizzically, cocking an eyebrow. She shuffles back into the hallway a little, looking to the left as she looks into another room. "Tonight. Tonight is..."
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