The Magic Shop - Chapter VIII

Chapter VIII - Brooke Marie Anastasia Evans


You and Brooke watch the clock like it's going to explode in your faces at any moment. Every second that passes by causes your hearts to beat just a little faster. Brooke has her chin rested on your shoulder as she holds you from behind, her chest pressed against your back. You could feel the beats from her chest against your skin, which only worries you that much more. Tick, tock.

10:28 P.M.

You squeeze Brooke's hands which are still rested on your tummy. You're breathing heavier now, trying to keep it under control so as not to trigger another asthma attack. The entire world seems to fade away. You, Brooke, clock. You want to close your eyes, but you can barely blink as you watch the second hand make its way around the face of the clock. Tick, tock, tick, tock.

10:29 P.M.

Your grip on her hands tightens further. She kisses you softly on the cheek, and you can feel your heart practically beating through your chest. You focus on your breathing. In, pause. Out, pause. Don't have another attack, not now. She's squeezing you even tighter now. You feel a wet drop land on your shoulder. You're not sure if Brooke's sweating, crying, or if its just water from your still damp hair. You let out a sniffle as the tears well up in your eyes. The second hand reaches 45 seconds. Don't cry. Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock.

10:30 P.M.

You close your eyes and pray to any higher power that will listen. Please God, Allah, whoever is up there, don't let this be my life now. Brooke takes her chin off your shoulder and rests her forehead there instead. You can hear her breathing begin to tremble as she inhales. She's definitely crying now. If she's crying, you can't. Stay strong. One of you has to be strong right now. In, pause. Out, pause. Don't you dare cry. Open your eyes. Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock.

10:31 P.M.

It's over. You know it's over now. You would have swapped back by now. You probably would have swapped back several minutes ago. Don't cry. It was all just wishful thinking. You are now Brooke Marie Anastasia Evans. Forever and always. You are no longer a 6'5" 25-year-old guy. You are a 5'3" 23-year-old girl. You don't have the same birthday. You don't have the same parents, or siblings. No one can ever know you haven't been Brooke your entire life. No one but you, Brooke, and the shopkeeper. Her life is your life. Your life is hers now. Forever and always. Tick, tock.

10:32 P.M.

"Babe..." Brooke says from behind you, her face still buried in your shoulder.

"I know baby," you say, reaching up and putting your hand on the back of her head. "I know."

The next several minutes pass by in dead silence. Every time the second hand passes the 12, you had to force yourself not to cry. One of you has to be strong right now.

As the clock strikes 10:45 P.M. Brooke's phone rings. You reach over and pick her phone up off the nightstand. You don't recognize the number, but you remember the lady from the shop was supposed to call. You never did catch her name any way. You decide to answer the phone instead of giving it to Brooke. Technically it's your phone now.

"Hello?" You answer the phone, wiping your eyes so you don't cry.

"This is Mei, from the shop," she says. "Miss?"

"Umm... No... It's uh, sir..." You say, your voice trembling.

"Oh... Oh my," she says slowly. "I was afraid of this. I'm so sorry."

"Um, did you find anything that could help?" You asked nervously.

"I have a couple of things we could try, but I cannot guarantee anything," Mei says. "Can you come back to the shop tonight?"

You look over at Brooke who now has her head buried in a pillow. "I'm not sure that's possible right now," you say.

"I understand. Would it be okay for me to come over to your home? We must make every effort we can as soon as possible, before the solidification begins," Mei says.

"I suppose you can, sure. I'll text you the address and-" Suddenly the doorbell rings, and the phone beeps in your ear as it disconnects. Brooke looks up from the pillow at you inquisitively. You just shrug, toss the phone on the bed, and walk out into the living room. When you open the door, Mei is standing there with a heavy duffel bag filled with what you can only assume are more magical items. "Wow, that was fast," you say surprised.

"I would have been here sooner but you live much farther than I expected," Mei says. "May I come in?"

"Yes, please," you say, moving out of the way to allow her inside. "Um, not to be rude, but how did you know where we lived? And how did you get here so fast?"

"Dear, I've been around over 300 years. I have my ways," she says as she walks into the living room. Just then Brooke comes out of the bedroom, her face red as a beet. You walk up to her and give her a tight hug, then look up at her. "Go wash your face baby, Mei is here, the lady from the magic shop. It's gonna be okay," you say, forcing a smile. She gives you a soft kiss and goes into the bathroom.

You walk back out to the living room to find that Mei has already moved herself into the kitchen. She has the necklaces and bracelets next to the duffel bag and pulls out a seemingly endless amount of items one at a time, spreading them out all over the counter. You decide to watch from a distance, intrigued at every thing that emerges from the bag.

"A couple of things, huh?" You say with a dry chuckle.

"Well, the more options we have, the better," she says, pulling one final item out of the bag. She sets it down on the stove, the rest of your counter space completely covered in trinkets you recognize from the shop. "Where is the girl?" The question throws you off a little, since as far as anyone else would know, you're the girl.

"She's in the restroom," you say. "Its been kind of a rough night for us."

Mei nods understandingly. She walks over to you and takes your hands gently in hers. "How are you holding up, dear?"

Her question brings tears to your eyes again. "I... I'm fi..." You try to speak, but your voice breaks and the tears start to fall. Mei brings you in for a hug, rubbing your back gently. You latch onto her like a child latches on to their mother, sobbing uncontrollably and never wanting to let go. "I can't do this!" You say between sobs, your face buried in her shoulder. "I can't be Brooke, and be pregnant, and be strong, and pretend like everything is okay, and be stuck like this forever!" Even you didn't understand half of what you said, but Mei continues to hold you anyway as you break down in her arms.

"I will do everything I can to fix this, dear, I promise," she says calmly.

"I'm sorry," you say between sniffles, trying to get yourself under control. "I just..."

"Sshhhh..." Mei hushes you. "I understand how hard this is. For both of you," she says, looking up at Brooke who's leaning up against the fridge, still slightly red faced from earlier. She had to have walked right past you to get there and you didn't even notice. You step back and wipe your tears away, trying to calm down. Brooke hands you a tissue and you blow your nose. Throwing it away, you turn around and lean up against Brooke, who puts her arm around you. "Before we begin, I have something of a personal question," Mei says.

"Okay," Brooke says. Somehow you know what Mei is going to ask, even before she asks it. You look up at Brooke, curious what her answer will be.

"Do you intend to keep the baby?"

"I do," Brooke says without hesitation. You try to raise your eyebrow, but Brooke never learned how to do that in her body, so you inadvertently raise both.

"Well, I mean, I wouldn't be opposed to, I don't know, an abortion or something," you say.

"Absolutely NOT," Brooke says, removing her arm from you. "No way. That is murder!" Brooke starts you raise her voice. You turn around and put your hands on her waist, looking up at her.

"We just talked about this a couple months ago when we moved in together, I thought you said you were pro-choice?" you asked.

"For other women, sure. Look, if some other woman wants to kill her baby, that's on her. That's her choice. But MY choice is no. As long as there's still a chance we can swap back, it's still my body, and it's still my choice. God, or whatever higher power is out there, gave us this baby for a reason, even if they did it with a twisted sense of humor. This baby is a miracle, and I want to make every effort to keep it." Brooke's conviction on this is surprising to you, but you can see where she's coming from.

"Okay baby," you say, hugging her. You have your objections to her decision, but you don't want to make a scene in front of Mei. "We'll keep it. But if I have to be the one to push this thing out of me, I'm going to make you marry me."

Brooke smiles down at you. "Is that a proposal?"

"Yeah, I guess maybe it is," you say with a little laugh.

"In that case yes, I'll marry you," she says. She leans down and kisses you, holding you tightly. After a moment, you turn back to Mei.

"Well then, I suppose we're going to keep it," you say.

"You two are a beautiful couple," Mei says with a smile. "But keeping the baby is going to limit our options quite a bit. Let me see what we can still use..." She pulls out a pen and a piece of paper from her pocket and starts picking objects up off the counter, placing them back in the duffle bag, mumbling to herself as she makes her way through the kitchen. Every time an item goes back into the bag, she crosses it off her list.

"You know, if we ARE stuck like this, you still have to be the one to buy the ring," you say to Brooke, poking her playfully.

"Oh, I know. I don't think your dad would be too happy with his oldest son wearing an engagement ring," she says. You both bust out laughing imagining your dad's reaction, and for just a moment you feel the stress of the night start to fade. At least, until Mei speaks up.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think realize that there would be so few options left," Mei says, looking at the counter.

"Wait, that's it?" Brooke asks. You turn around to see what's left, and what you see is a little disappointing.

"Unfortunately yes," Mei says. Nearly the whole piece of paper is covered in ink from things being crossed off, and only the items on the table remain on the list. "I made sure to make a list of all the properties each item has, what they will and won't do, possible side effects, and so on." Mei hands you the list, and you hold it up so both you and Brooke can read it. "What we try first is ultimately up to you. As I said, I cannot guarantee all or even any of these things will work, given your recently acquired condition."

The list only has 4 items remaining on it.

1) Control Rings
One wears gold and one wears silver. Gold wearer can transform silver wearer's body and mind at will by speaking what changes will happen. Side effects: anything the gold wearer desires. Past silver wearers have noted unhappiness with new forms, even unhappiness when returned to original forms. Mental changes given by gold wearer have not been able to change this. One past silver wearer hanged himself, unclear if rings were the cause.

2) Mystique Body Suit
Gives the wearer the same transformation powers as Mystique from X-Men comic books. Also allows wearer to use this power on others via physical contact. Side effects: suit cannot be removed after it has been worn for 24 continuous hours. All changes done to self and others reverse if suit is removed. May result in both of you being pregnant if worn by pregnant body (PB) - may result in neither of you pregnant if worn by male body. Past endeavors prevent me from wearing the suit, one of you must wear it. Wearer ages at half the normal rate once suit is permanently bonded. Wearers body becomes their so called "base form" instead of Mystique's blue form from the comic books.

3) Universal Remote Control
Person holding remote can change target's body and mind at will, same as the rings. Will require both of you to use on each other. Side effects: the magic used in the remote contains addictive properties that are apparent after a single use. May be extremely difficult for first user to give up the remote. I do not trust myself with this item and will not use it.

4) Astral Projector
Can be used on up to 4 people at a time. Allows for all target's souls to leave their current forms and float around similar to ghosts. Souls can then enter any uninhabited body. Side effects: unclear if unborn child (UC) has soul yet. Unclear if UC soul will leave its body when PB is targeted. Unclear how to prevent a soul from entering UC body when attempting to enter PB. Unclear how to get UC into its own body instead of PB. Soul solidification time halves if soul enters wrong body a second time without returning to its original body first.

"Well babe," Brooke looks at you. "What do you think?"