(From Part 3)

“You are not facing this alone. Just accept that I am coming with you.”

“Th…thank you.”

“Now, do you have any idea where to start?”

“If this is connected with Alex, we need to go to the house he lived in.”

“What a way to spend Halloween. Looking for a ghost.”

“Up to you, you can sit this out, I wont think the less of you.”

“Not on your life. Tonight, we go ghost-busting.”

(Part 4)

We agreed to meet at my house after supper, and parted ways. My mom picked me up, we went home, and had a quick bite while I explained to mom our plan.

Then the most unusual thing happened. It wasn’t like the time in school when I had been reduced to a puppet. It was more like a thought, no, an obsession came into my mind and I simply had to follow it.

I had to make myself pretty for Halloween.

I found myself going to a costume shop, and trying to find the prettiest costume I could. I found a costume that was called “butterfly girl”, and took it. It had a short dress, leggings, a small mask, and cute wings. I also bought the most realistic looking breast forms I had ever seen outside of Alex’s magazines.

Then I bought something that shouldn’t have been at any costume shop. I bought a gaff. And it didn’t just hide my male equipment, it actually had a part that looked like the female equivalent. The result was even in the thin costume, I looked like a real girl.

All the time I had been drifting along, disconnected to my actions. I remained in this state until the doorbell rang, and I went to answer it and saw Linda. I think it was the shock of how she was dressed that snapped me out of my dream state.

She was dressed like a cowboy, with an emphasis on the “boy” part. Somehow, she had reduced her breasts to make her chest look more male. And that wasn’t the oddest thing. She had a bulge in her jeans, and I swore it actually got a bit larger when she looked me over….

“Linda?”

She blinked, and shook her head like she had been asleep.

“I .. I think so. You look gorgeous. “

“Thanks. You make a handsome boy.”

“Thanks, I guess. What the heck happened?”

I described the dream state I found myself in until she had arrived.

“Sounds like the same for me. It seemed so natural, so reasonable for me to try and look like as much of a boy as I could, and whatever I needed to do it just showed up.”

“This just keeps getting scarier and scarier.”

“I know. I mean, it was bad enough to have my body under this thing’s control, but to have my thoughts interfered with is worse.”

“Yeh. But if it could do this to us, why not just stop us from wanting to come after it?”

“I am not sure. You still want to face this thing?”

“I… I have to. I have to stop it, or at least try.”

“Then I am still going with you.”

“Then let’s go. “

We carefully made our way to the house that Alex had lived in. All of a sudden, I realized how odd it was, that no one had lived in it since he had passed away.

Maybe it was how she was dressed, but Linda seemed to fall into the male role. For example, as we walked, I started shivering, and silently cursed wearing such a thin costume. Linda noticed, took off the “duster” she was wearing, and wrapped it around my shoulders, and I could have sworn she took a peak down the front of my dress….

I cursed the being that was causing this again. I wasn’t sure if Linda realized what was happening to her, but I mourned for the loss of her feminine nature on her behalf.

We made it to the house, and a great sense of fear took hold of me. I wasn’t an exorcist, I knew nothing about how to deal with a ghost, or demon, or whatever was inside. How could we possibly defeat such a foe?

Again, Linda came to my rescue, putting her arm around me, and then looking me in the eye to say, “Don’t worry hon. We will find a way.”

We went up to the door, and found that it was unlocked. I believed we were expected…

The place was dark, and silent. Linda took the lead, and said, “Let’s look in the bedroom first.”

I nodded.

It was like he had left only days before, instead of months. An unmade bed, a dresser, a closet, nothing that stood out to us. She looked in the closet, and saw Alex’s “Barbie” outfit, swore, and clenched her fists.

“Look” I said, and pointed to the magazines on the floor of the closet. Underneath them was a book, and it seemed to radiate an unpleasant feeling that made me cling to Linda as she picked it up.

She switched on a light, and to my great surprise, it worked. In the dim glow of the lamp, she examined the book. As she held it, I was holding on to her arm, and I could feel muscles developing…

Suddenly we heard a voice coming from the corner of the room, and looking over in that direction saw a mirror. Only it wasn’t reflecting us…

He looked horrible, like he hadn’t been able to stop the rot of his body since he had died. Worse, as I looked into his eyes I saw little of the friend and mentor I had known. It had been replaced by something cold, alien, and evil.

Linda shielded me from him and looked ready to throw a punch at the mirror.

“Can you feel the strength in your body now Linda? Or maybe its Larry by now” it chuckled.

“I offer you the gift this one” and here he pointed at me, “rejects. The power, the mastery that being male offers.”

“What are you talking about?” she barked.

“Remember what you were, and then see yourself now.”

She looked in the mirror, and it showed her reflection. She put a hand to her face, and gasped, “I … I am a man”

“You are. And I can give you more. Not just to be a man, but to be much more. To be a god.”

“What are you talking about”

“I can teach you to be able to do what I have done. To transcend the limits of mortality, and morality. To be able to mold the world in your own image.”

“What about Alice?”

“The semi-female no longer amuses me. You can have her, if you want her. I can feel the lust you feel when you look at her now.”

For a moment, I looked at Linda, and saw the lust there as well. I had a brief moment of vulnerability. He could take me, if he wanted, and I would not have the ability to stop him.

Then Linda laughed, and the spell seemed to be broken.

“You don’t know me that well, nor how I feel about Alice. My feelings for her are much more than lust. If I am male or female, I will protect her, care for her, and if she allows, love her.”

“Fine. You want to play house together? Be my guest”

Then, I felt swept away by emotion. What I experienced was deeper than lust. Although, more than everything, I wanted to share the gift of my body with her, and have her share the gift of hers with me, there was much more.

I looked at Linda, and remembered how I had crushed on her since that first meeting, when she included me in her world, showing me the first acceptance I had ever received. She had been my friend, my companion, my confidant, my guardian, and I loved her.

I indeed wanted to make the bed squeak with her, but I wanted to share breakfast with her the next morning, and share supper in the evening, every day, as long as I lived. Yes, I wanted to touch her and have her touch me, to feed the fire of desire, to be turned on and know I turned her on as well, but I wanted to know her completely and have her know me the same.

“I will make it a package deal. I will give you both one more chance to join me, and I will give my power to both of you. In fact, I give you a sample of what I offer.”

Then we were transported to the sky. We looked down on all the people. We could see into their hearts. We could mold their bodies, their minds in any way we chose.

“Think of all the good you could both do. You could shape the world, and make it better. Alice, you could make people like you around the world be accepted and even loved. Linda, you could remove the pain and injustice you have seen. The world could be yours.”

I have to admit, it was tempting. Sure, he had used his power cruelly, but we could do better. We would be a force for good, bringing help and hope to those who had none…

“Why don’t you tell them the cost?” said a new voice.

We were back in the room, and beside Alex was another figure. I had seen her before. In fact it was Alex who had shown me her picture…

“Barbie?”

“You… you are not real! You were a game, a way to mess with people!”

“Oh, I was real all right. But you rejected me, and everything you could have been if you had let me out. You chose not even masculinity, but a parody of maleness.”

Her appearance snapped Linda and I back to ourselves. Linda put her arm around me, and said to Alex, “We don’t need you power to be happy together, and we don’t want to pay the price you had to pay.”

“You lose, Alex. It’s time to end this.” Barbie said

Alex screamed, and faded.

“Thank you, Barbie.’

“You are welcome sweetie” she said, and started to fade.

“What about the people Alex hurt? Cant we do something for them?”

“I am sorry. You could start by doing good for them, but it wouldn’t end with good. Eventually the power would corrupt you, like it did Alex. I can only offer one gift to the two of you.” she said, and she was gone.

“What gift?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Linda said, and I noticed she looked and sounded more like her old self, “But come on. Let’s get out of here.”

We left the house, and walked back to my house. I invited Linda in, and after she met my mom, I hugged my mom and told her “It’s over”

Later, we sat around my kitchen table, and Linda pulled out the book she had found at Alex’s, and we read through it.

“Why was Alex so hot to have us join him?” I asked.

“From what I can figure out from this book is that it sounds like he was ‘recruited’ last year, and soon realized only a spirit could use the power he had been offered. And part of that bargain was he had to recruit someone else, or else face the full consequences of his choice.”

I shuddered, thinking how close I came to accepting his offer. “If Barbie hadn’t shown up, I .. I don’t know if I could had resisted.” I said.

She held me, and said, “I know you would have hon. You are too smart to think that there wouldn’t be a cost.”

I looked in her eyes, and soon our lips met. My mother coughed, and we broke the kiss, and both of us blushed.

“I think I am going to bed.” she said, “Linda, it was nice to meet you.”

“One more thing.” Linda said “do you have a lighter? I want to burn this book.”

“We have a fireplace.”

We watched it burn, and then I escorted Linda to the door, and said “I will see you at school Monday”

She gave me another kiss, and I melted. “You …. you better go before we do something we are not really ready for.” I managed to say.

“We have time for that when the time comes. Until then, I am going to dream of you.”

I blushed, and said, “I .. I will dream of you too.”

She took a piece of paper, and wrote on it, and said, “Call me this weekend?”

“It’s a promise.”

The next day, we spent most of the day on the phone. My mom laughed at the site of me with the phone cord hanging around my finger while we chatted…

Back at school that week, things seemed to go back to normal remarkably fast. People didn’t exactly forget, but they seemed to be able to move on.

The only exceptions were Carol and the two boys who had been the object of Alex’s special attention, who continued to look haunted by what they had forced to do. My heart broke for them, and I made an effort to reach out to them, and Linda helped too, but some wounds do not heal…

Linda comforted me when my guilt over what had happened to them, and our relationship grew and deepened daily. We managed to keep our necking from progressing to jumping in the sack together, but both of us had no doubt we were heading in that direction.

The school year went on, and winter turned to spring and headed for summer. I split the Christmas holidays, spending half my time at Linda’s house, and half at my own with her a constant guest.

Then, just before we ended the school year, Carol committed suicide, and I spiraled into a deep depression over her death. Linda again saved me, this time from myself, and one night, my mom was out, and we were cuddling together, and she kissed me, and finally, I was ready for the next step.

It was then we discovered the “gift” Barbie had left us. Our sexual organs suddenly switched….

After we finished, Our sex organs switch back, and I curled up beside her, and I began to cry.

She looked worried, and said “Did I hurt you?”

“No. It was wonderful. But is it right that we are alive, and happy, and Carol is gone, and those boys may never be right again?”

“Yes, it is right. We have been given a gift, and we have the responsibility to use it, and to be grateful. Life is all about choices sweetie. We can’t help anybody by being miserable ourselves.”

I kissed her, and said, “How did you get so smart?”

“As I told you once before, I learned from making mistakes”

“And as I think I said then, at least you learned”

“I love you Alice. As soon as we graduate, will you marry me?”

“Yes… yes I will. You have saved me, over and over again. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. ”

“I am glad. Because even though I know you have trouble believing it, you have saved me too, and that’s how it should be.”

And all these years later, as I look across at my beautiful wife, I know I am blessed. If sometimes I still struggle with guilt, she is always there to pick me back up, and tells me every day how beautiful I am, and how lucky she is to have me.

And at the end, I guess that’s the best one can hope for, isn’t it?