Gumball Machine Curse

By: Set3

Hey there reader. Since you are reading this, I can get away with calling you "reader" regardless of what your name is, so there!

... Sorry. I'm still a little frazzled from what happened to me, with being cursed and all. However I guess I got off light compared to what I heard some others got cursed. Anyway, my therapist says that getting my ordeal written down would help some and while I'm hesitant, my girlfriend, as in a girl who is just a friend, agrees and so I here I am going along with it for now at least. Who knows, maybe by the time I finish getting this all down I'll feel better having this all off my chest. Anyway, I'll start back at the beginning, duh.

My name is (still) Able Trot. I was thirty-three years old and a veteran of the retail industry. To be honest I've worked at so many retail stores that I have long since given up remembering which company I work for. It's all the same to me. I go to the current place I work for, don the required uniform and go to work till my shift's over then go home. Even now I can't tell you the name of the store I last worked at. As I said, after all these years the names all just blur together. At any rate at the end of one day while I was working the tag on the zipper of my vest broke so for the immediate time I replaced the tag with a paper clip. I know this sounds trivial but this is important as I found out later. Anyhow, as I was leaving for the day I noticed a piece of paper at the end of one of the tills. Since it was on my way out I did the scouts honor thing and picked it up to put it in the garbage before leaving for home. On opening it up I could see it was one of those little catalogue ads that come with some toys from a gumball machine. What caught my eye was that it was a list of key chains for Sonic the Hedgehog characters. I then looked to the gumball machines we had in the corner by the tills. Sure enough one of the machines was full of Sonic key chains. I smiled at that feeling a nostalgic wave sweep over me. Believe it or not, I was there for the original console wars between Sega and Nintendo. If you need any further hints, I was a Sega fan. And even now after all these years if Sega ever got back into the console race (I know, it'll never happen, no need to tell me ok?) I would be first in line to get their console, that's how big a fan I am. But at the moment, I didn't have enough coins to buy a keychain from the machine so made a mental note to get the needed amount when I got home so I'd have it for when I got back in tomorrow. With that in mind I went home and that was it for the rest of the day.

I'm going to stop for a moment as my girlfriend (Kriss if you want to know, not like you're not going to know later anyway but whatever) is telling me that I have to give you a description of myself so sorry for breaking up the flow. Like I said, I'm thirty three years old. About five foot eleven inches. I'm kind of a nerd but have an unhealthy dose of cynicism for work. So that means I'm an ok guy outside of work but at work I like to point out the hypocrisy of the retail structure. Some call it complaining but I don't really care. I get my work done right and on time and the only people who care about that part of me are the managers. But, come on, everybody likes to bitch about work so nothing different than anyone else on that front. I've got short dark brown hair. A bit of a large nose, and hazel eyes with a stare that gives a lot of people the willies stemming from a lot of time getting bullied as a kid. Still, I was lucky enough to somehow get a girlfriend (as in the guys version). We met at the library. I was just leaving when she ran up behind me to stop me so she could confess that she had a crush on me. She gave me her number and let me decide whether to pursue it. I mulled it over and took a chance and called her back. We went out on a few dates hit it off and decided to go steady and became boyfriend and girlfriend. Where was I? Oh yes, talking about myself... I think that's all I can think of right now. I guess I'll add more later as I think about it. So back into the flow.

The next day I got into work a few minutes before my shift started, bent on getting a Sonic keychain. I put the required coins in the slot and turned the knob and heard a faint click as the plastic ball hit the door. I pulled it out and opened the ball to pull out the keychain and smiled to see that it was Tails. For those of you who don't know (why don't you?) Tails is a kid who's a fox anthro with two tails, hence the name, and for the most part plays friend and sidekick to Sonic. Still, I thought the keychain looked cool and was far better then the paper clip I was using now. With a smile on my lips I walked to the back room to where the tool chest/closet was and pulled out a pair of needle nose pliers. I fashioned the blue paper clip into a circle still in the zipper catch since the chain to the keychain wouldn't fit. Once I had the paperclip coiled enough I snipped the excess off with the needle nose pliers and fished the opened chain through the coil and closed it. I then zipped up my vest so my Tails keychain was proudly displayed hanging on my chest now acting as my new zipper tag. I fingered the keychain for a moment admiring the little decoration when I swayed having suddenly felt nauseous like I was sea sick and taking a sudden dip down an elevator. As I stumbled taking a step and grabbed onto the door to the tool closet for support. Just when I thought I was going to black out the ill feelings left me and I was again sure of my footing. And before I was about to keel over the feeling passed as if it never happened. I shook my head to clear any more unseen fog from my head. The nauseous feeling didn't come back so I just shrugged it off as a one off and went on with my day.

Shortly after noon and my lunch break was over I was just leaving the staff lounge when Sean rounded the corner and stopped on seeing me. Sean was a new hire and held the technical position of 'manager'. I say that because some over paid executive somewhere at head office in order to justify his job, it seemed like, came up with buzz words. His boss ate it up and now the employee pool was restructured where we now have a new type of employee. I'm not going to humour the new job name because it was unnecessary. And Sean was the "manager" for the new class of employee. I don't think he actually has the qualifications to be a manager and I never seen him do anything that would justify him being a manager as he's never been in the office and I've only seen him doing the same work the rest of us grunts do. Suffice to say I'm pretty sure his position was a joke. He had an inch on me, wore glasses and had long dark hair that he wore in a pony tail and goatee as if he were trying to emulate a long forgotten stereotype of university scholar. He's a douche who bitches about everything and especially so when he's asked to do something by a co-worker. He's made it quite clear that since he's a manager he shouldn't have to do these things.

Sorry, I'm rambling. Sean and I aren't friends in any capacity. It all stemmed from his first few days working here and he got a really bad day, not because of me although I didn't help any as I kept showing him up in doing my job which was supported by the real managers when he went to complain about me. I never rubbed it in but he took it personally. And since then has had it in for me. I gave a sigh in annoyance wondering what he was going to do this time. Sean gave my an uncomfortable once over with a sour look before speaking.

"Able, you're going to have to change, you're out of uniform," he stated as if expecting I was going to fix whatever he thought was wrong.

With an annoyed groan I looked down at myself. I was wearing my uniform like I always had. Black pants black shoes black shirt and the required company vest. Even my personal vest that I wore under the company vest was the accepted color. The only thing that was different was my new Tails zipper tag. I gave him an annoyed look as I raised an eyebrow.

"Really? I asked, "What's wrong with this?"

"It's a safety hazard," he answered gruffly, expecting that to be all I needed to know.

"No, it's not," I answered feeling my blood begin to boil.

"The dress code clearly states that no necklaces are to be worn while at work," he 'explained', "It could get caught and strangle you."

"First off," I started holding a finger up, "This isn't a necklace. At best, it's a keychain that I'm using as a zipper tag for my vest. And second. The dress code doesn't say anything about key chains or zipper tags," I called back knowing I was right.

"It's still a safety hazard," he said quickly.

I sighed knowing he wasn't going to let this go. Fine, I thought, If he wants to be difficult then I'll be difficult. And with that I felt a cruel smile on my lips as I looked him in the eye, noticing that a few coworkers had gathered to watch our exchange.

"Okay," I said in false acceptance of his demands, I gave a shrug as well, "I don't see why I have to change this when you didn't have a problem yesterday when I was using a paperclip. But, you're the 'manager' and I guess I'll have to change. I wouldn't want to break the dress code," I said in mock concern.

Sean smiled at my statement, choosing to ignore my obvious sarcasm, "Good," he said basking in his apparent victory and began to turn to walk away.

"Excuse me!" I called after him. "There is one thing though," I said letting it hang until he turned back around to face me clearly losing patience.

"What?" he asked, putting his hands on his hips trying, and failing, to project authority.

"Since we're on the subject," I started up again, "In the interest of safety, you should probably take that pen out of your hair, safety hazard you know. I mean, what if you fell and accidentally impaled yourself with your own pen. Or accidently stab someone else the same way," I explained. Several people snickered at that. Sean quickly snatched the pen from his hair and shoved it in his pocket. I gave an unfriendly smirk as I wasn't done yet. "And the dress code clearly states that long hair is to be worn in a bun. Not in a pony tail like you've been doing since you started working here." There were some outright laughs at that that didn't ease Sean's growing anger. I decided to poke the wound I made, "Before you say it, the dress code doesn't say women are to wear long hair in a bun, it says employees have to. So... are you going to get your hair cut or are you going to wear it in a bun? Personally, I don't think you can pull the look off but I'm sure it'd lighten everyone's mood to see you with your hair in a bun." That got everyone who was standing around us clapping and cheering me on. A few made some cat calls to Sean about how hot he'd look with a bun.

Sean, for his part, looked absolutely furious. His upper lip was quivering and he had his hands curled up in tight fists. I briefly wondered if he was going to throw a punch. I wasn't worried about it and stood loosely but alert seeing what he was going to do next. Sean closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, not long after his fist slowly stopped shaking. Once he had himself under control again he opened his eyes again staring me back in the eyes with all the hatred he could bring to bear. I greeted his stare with an aloof smile as I knew I had him.

"Okay Able, you want to keep your stupid toy? Fine! But mark my words, you will regret this," he stated pointing his finger at my face like a dagger.

"Is that a threat?" I asked innocently.

"No!' he said gruffly before turning and walking off in a huff.

Everyone else around me gave me a quick cheer and a few pats on the back for putting Sean in his place. He'd been flaunting his position over everyone at work and had actually gotten in trouble a few times because of it. Needless to say, I felt pretty good for the rest of the day. Even more so when I saw Sean scurry away as soon as he saw me coming by.

After work, I returned home. After changing out of my uniform, having a shower and getting a bite to eat, I was just about to settle down with some video games when my girlfriend Kriss (told you you were going to know later) stormed in before slamming the door close swearing as she went to the cupboard and fished out a glass and grabbing a bottle of juice from the fridge and poured herself a glass, still swearing under her breath.

I knew better than to ask her what's wrong when she was fuming and just sat in my chair fiddling with the game menu till she cooled off and wanted to talk. After some swearing and other yelling of frustration I heard her put her glass in the sink followed by moderate stomps heading to the living room where I was currently sitting. She then, in a huff, sat down on the couch beside me looking cross with her arms crossed themselves with a pout on her lips.

Not going to lie, she does look sexy when she pouts like that.

"So," I started as I put my controller down as I turned to her, "Anything you want to talk about?"

She was silent for a moment before turning her head away and leaning back in the couch, "I don't want to talk about it," she said.

I gave a shrug, "Ok," I said as I picked up my controller but made no further effort to resume my game. I was glad that she had her head turned as I couldn't help keeping the grin that crept up on my face. This was just her way of venting and she'd only resume talking if I started doing something. Which was why I didn't bother getting a game started. So, with that in mind I thumbed the joystick on the controller which in turn made a tick sound on the TV as an icon was selected. Like clockwork, she turned back to me to continue. Just after I was quick enough to wipe the grin off of my face.

"It's just my friend Trish was being an absolute bitch tonight," she told me.

I nodded. Kriss and Trish were best friends, as Kriss told me, since the first grade. They were close up until they split ways after high school, Kriss went to university to learn to be a nurse while Trish went to college to learn to be a beautician. They got back in touch after their respective schooling but, it was clear not long after that they had drifted apart from each other and since then have fought and broke up on and off the past couple years. Lately, it was more breaking up than getting back together. I guess that neither one wanted to admit that the friendship they once had was over.

"So," I started again, "what did you two fight over this time?" I asked as I once again put my controller down to prove that I was paying attention.

She just shrugged and gave a listless wave of her hand, "I don't know, the usual stuff I guess. She says something stupid and I call her on it and she says something mean back and... Ugh! I don't think I can go through this any more," she said looking at me in the eyes. With her brow furrowed. She still valued her friendship with Trish, or at least what was left of it. "I guess ever since we went to different schools after high school we've changed. She's still wanting to marry a hot and rich guy so she could use his money to open her own salon. I know we used to talk about that kind of thing in elementary up through high school but I'm not like that any more. I want to be a nurse. I know what it's like living in the real world and setting up a business is hard work and Trish has had her parents pay for everything she's ever had. I'm not saying it's wrong to work for that but all Trish just says is that she'll get her parents or rich husband to pay for everything and just thinks that's it. It's hard work! And I don't want to be the one doing all the real work while she's buffing someone's nails. I tell her that and she gets angry with me saying that I'm calling her stupid. I'm not calling her stupid, I'm just saying that she hasn't thought everything out yet."

At this point her pouting lips were starting to quiver, the sure sign she was going to cry soon. So with that, I stood up and held my arms open for a hug. She quickly got up as well and moved into my hug with one of her own. Just as we were closing in she tilted her head up and kissed me on the forehead before she leaned her head on my shoulder. A few minutes later she finally broke our embrace giving me a small thank you. I smiled back at her happy that she was feeling better, "Not that I'm ever going to complain getting a kiss from you but why'd you kiss me on the forehead?" I asked her.

"Because I always have to look up when I want to kiss you on the lips," she replied. She then got confused look on her face, "How was I able to kiss you so high?" she asked me.

It was then that I noticed that we were almost looking at each other in the eyes. I looked down at her feet. "It must be because you're still wearing heels while I'm just in my socks," I answered.

"Oh. That must be it," she agreed but still not sounding completely convinced.

We talked a little more about her aging relationship until she decided that, for better or worse, their friendship had run its course. She soon left after getting a text from one of her friends she works with at the hospital and left to get a few drinks with her to salvage the rest of her night. After she left I went back to my game and played it till it was time for bed.

The next day I got up, brushed my teeth and did my shower, and got dressed. After putting on a clean pair of underwear pants and shirt I then put on my vest and quickly zipped it up. I know it's childish but I couldn't help but poke at the Tails keychain with a goofy grin. I then felt a momentary bout of motion sickness for half a second and was gone again before I knew it. At this point I still shook it off as nothing and went to the kitchen for breakfast. Not long after I cleaned up my dirty dishes and was off to work for another day of retail. When I got in my car that morning I found that the seat was too far back and the all the mirrors were out of alignment. After fixing the slight problem I was on my way to work as I grumbled thinking that Kriss was the one who messed with my seat and mirrors. I made a mental note to ask her later when I got back home.

Soon enough I made it into work with time to spare and donned the work vest and clocked in for the day. The day went like usual, Sean had the day off so I didn't see him today, thankfully, so it was more pleasant all the way round for everyone. There were only two things that stood out to me that day. Shortly after noon, a little old lady had asked me for help to get something off the shelf that was too high for her. Naturally, I obliged her. But when I went to grab it, I noticed that it was almost too high for me to reach. After standing on my tippy toes I got it down for her. I looked at the shelf briefly. I was sure that I was more than tall enough to reach that shelf but the evidence was plain as day that I couldn't so, with some reluctance, I put it out of my mind. The other thing was that my coworkers were giving me weird looks a few asking me if I was "doing it to piss Sean off". I just looked down at my keychain that adorned my vest zipper and shrugged saying that I was well within my rights. That seemed to answer any lingering questions they had but they still gave me odd looks. When I saw Eddie give me the same look I asked him what was up.

"Look, I get that you're using that keychain thing to stick it to Sean but the real managers might have something to say about your hair," he told me, gesturing at me.

I gave him a quizzical look and made way to the washrooms and looked in the mirror to see what he was talking about. What I saw made me do a double-take. My hair had some how, in the time since I woke up this morning to now, changed color. It was now lighter looking like a weird shade of red or maybe even a dark shade of orange. I don't know, I've never been good with specific color names. I must have spent a good eight minutes staring at myself wondering how my hair could change color on its own in just a few hours. It didn't make sense. Eventually I shrugged it off for now. Despite what I knew to have happened, even though I didn't know HOW it happened, no one was going to let me off early because my hair changed color. With deep reservations I walked out of the washroom and continued on with my job. Although I'll admit that I kept looking at myself whenever I passed a reflective surface. I was all too eager to get home and figure this out.

When I got home, I was exhausted and grimy from a full days work I bee-lined for the shower. When I got out, I was just getting dressed when I heard Kriss just got in. With a longing sigh I went to meet her.

She was just putting her jacket on the hook when she turned to me and smiled, "Hey babe, how was your day? Love the hair," she held up a bag, "I got our crappy movie for the night. I've been told that it's a really bad one." Her toothy grin told me that she believed what she'd been told and was eager to watch it.

Now, I'll admit it. I completely forgot about what happened to my hair. Maybe it was just me wanting something normal after the weirdness that happened today that I barely registered her comment about my hair. We got dinner ready soon after and ate it with some romantic mood lighting. Not that long after we settled down in the living room to watch the horribly bad movie Kriss brought.

To give you some context, we kind of have this tradition where the night before we both have a day off we watch a bad movie. Believe it or not, there was nothing that got us in a more romantic mood than watching a bad movie the night before. You might think it's weird but it works for us. Tonight's selection was a gloriously bad one entitled "Black Superman". And I can tell you that it was enjoyably bad in ways that Tommy Wiseau's "The Room" could only dream of. When the movie ended, it was late in the evening so we made ready for bed. As I drifted off to sleep, at the back of my mind, I remembered the weird thing about my hair but I was already asleep before I could put any more thought into it.

The next day I woke up alone in bed and breathed in the smell of freshly cooked breakfast. I smiled at this as I got up and made my way to the bathroom to relieve myself and get a quick shower in. I got back to the bedroom and into a fresh change of clothes. When I got fully dressed I felt another wave of dizziness wash over me.

"Ok, something's seriously going on here," I muttered when I recovered. I walked into the kitchen intent on asking Kriss about it. When I got there Kriss had laid out a delicious looking feast of waffles sided with cut fruit, whipped cream, and of course syrup.

Kriss was just pouring the juice when she looked up at me and smiled, "Good morning babe, sleep ok?" I gave a half hearted smile to which she immediately picked up on, "What's wrong?" she asked as she walked over to me.

I scratched my head, "I've been getting these dizzy spells the last few days. I get dizzy for a few seconds and I feel fine after. I'd normally write it off but it's been happening again and again, maybe I'm coming down with something," I said trying not to make it sound like a big deal.

Kriss came up to me and looked me over, having me watch her finger move and checking my temperature. "Well, you don't have a fever or a concussion that I can see. And your pupils aren't dilated, so you're not having a bad reaction to any drugs..." she gave me a look, "You're not on any drugs are you? Legal or otherwise?" she asked worriedly.

I gave her a smirk, "Only you," I answered to which she gave me a playful slap on the arm.

"You're an ass! But at least you know how to flatter me." she said as she turned around and walked back to the table while she put an extra wiggle in her hips shaking her pert rear end.

"And what an ass you have," I replied as I followed. She gave me a warning look but the smile in her eyes betrayed her.

"If you do get dizzy again, I don't care, I'll drag you to the hospital to get checked out," she told me with her actual serious face this time.

"Yes ma'am." I assured her as I moved a few waffles onto my plate and started eating. Not much happened during breakfast, we just talked to each other about our days at work. Kriss laughed when I told her about the incident with Sean and my new Tails keychain. Soon enough, we were finished and I help her by washing the dishes while she dried and put them away. We kept murmuring sweet gushy sentiments to each other, doing our best to get the other riled up. Needless to say, we both succeeded and by the time the dishes were done we were onto one another other kissing each other full on the mouth with the sloppiness that only two people in love with could provide. She giggled while I chuckled as we slowly made our way to the bedroom and by the time we got there we were almost down to our underwear. Before we lay down on the bed Kriss turned around keeping her rear close to my crotch while she reached around with her hands and grabbed my underwear and crouched down while keeping her delightful ass touching me as she ground down my legs till her shapely rear rested on top of my feet. With my boxers now around my ankles she grasped her panties, keeping them at ground level while slowly lifting her rear back up my legs to where they eventually rested tantalizingly at my crotch, my penis standing at attention in the crevasse of her cheeks. She bent forward at the hips and...

Sorry, Kriss just gave me a swat. I guess I don't really need to go into detail but it is relevant I think.

Anyway, to sum it up, we had sex for about two hours (not constantly but we shifted between heavy sex and foreplay throughout). I was surprised about how good my stamina was, but all through out the sex I didn't cum once! I know it's weird, I was rock hard all the time but never came. Kriss came several glorious times and we only stopped because she was worn out leaving me sexually frustrated. In the end, we had to stop for lunch and despite me not being able to get off I did work up an appetite so, with a growl of frustration, I joined my girlfriend to start lunch.

We ate, cleaned up and had a shower. Yes, we had sex in the shower too, I was still worked up from earlier and Kriss was more than happy to revisit. Just to remind you all in case it seems that we just have sex all the time. We don't. We save our sexual encounters for when we both have the same day off, that way neither of us is too exhausted from work for the other and it just seems more special that way. But anyway Kriss came again and I still didn't, leaving me in a bad mood somewhat. I tried to cover it up though, as I didn't want to ruin Kriss' good mood. When we got out, we got dressed.

It was at this point that I did the really stupid thing. When I got dizzy again, I shook it off and denied it happened. I guess from between not wanting to scare Kriss and my being sexually frustrated, I just wanted everything else to be normal and ignored the red flag the dizzy spells presented. I don't know why I ignored it but this was the PNR, Point of No Return, for what happened later. Anyway, after we got dressed in clean clothes, me once again wearing my vest. We went into the living room and watched some Netflix for the rest of the afternoon.

At some point while we were watching Kris commentated on how she was surprised that I shaved my arms and legs, saying that while she liked the new sensations as she rubbed her hands over them she told me I didn't need to do that for her. I was surprised at this as I never did, but as soon as she mentioned it, I could see my hairless arm that Kris was currently petting. I was shocked by the sight but played it off by telling her that I wanted to surprise her.

She leaned into me resting her back against my front, one hand still softly rubbing my hairless arm while she reached up with the other to play with the hair on my head. I felt her pause for a moment before she continued although seemingly in a less playful manner and more exploratory.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I kissed the side of her neck.

She breathed a sigh as she stopped again, "Nothing, it's just your hair doesn't feel the same. It almost feels like...," she paused again trying to think of the right word, "Never mind, it's nothing," she said as she went back to playfully mussing with my hair.

I strangely didn't give it another thought for the rest of the day and went back to watching the rom com that was still playing. Hours later, we had dinner, and after we had another round of sex, to which I again wasn't able to cum. Cleaned up with another shower we quickly changed the bed sheets and got ready for bed. When we lay down Kriss snuggled against me in my arms and despite my frustrations from the day I buried my face into the back of her head breathing in the smell of her hair which seemed to soothe me, letting me close my eyes and send me off into a deep sleep.

I was jarred awake by some one shaking me and as I opened my still sleep-filled eyes I could see Kriss was the one shaking me. I could see her mouth moving as if she was talking to me but no sound came out. Thinking that she was just playing a joke on me I lazily brushed her off telling her to not play around with me like that this early in the morning then turned over to go back to sleep. Kriss had an early shift today but I had a later one so I got to sleep in. Or at least usually. Kriss grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back over shaking me again. This time I was wide awake and angry.

I swatted her hands away as I told her, "Stop it Kriss, let me sleep! Is the place on fire or something?" It was then that I realised that I couldn't hear my own self speak, which was confusing. I cleared my throat to test my hearing even saying random words until I noticed that it wasn't just Kriss' and my voice I wasn't hearing...

I couldn't hear ANYTHING! Not Kriss who seemed to be saying something, which I still couldn't hear, not myself or even the normal background noise you never notice unless there was a power outage. I couldn't even hear the blood that was thrumming through my ears as my heartbeat increased and I started to panic. There was only complete, unadulterated... SILENCE! If you ever heard the saying "the silence was deafening", you have no idea. It was only in a fit of panic that I brought my hands up to my ears in a futile attempt to get them to work again when what I felt made me stop as I suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. My ears. They were gone! I frantically run my hands all around the sides of my head trying to find my ears. I was hyperventilating I was panicking so much. Where my ears SHOULD BE was empty save for, and I use this term with sickening distaste, was just hair as if my ears never existed in the first place.

I had learned this much later but the ears, even with actual deaf people, provide an essential service to the human body. Something in the inner ear provides the brain with a sense of orientation. Without it, we would most likely not be able to walk on our own two feet let alone be crawling on all fours. So, needless to say, I didn't know this at the time and when I jumped out of bed the world spun around me and I fell landing hard on my back. The world was still spinning around me as I tried to sit up, only for the sensation to get ten times worse to the point where I threw up all over myself. After that horrifying mess I curled up into a ball clenching my eyes shut tight with my hands on the sides of my head still trying to find what was no longer there.

Kriss, my darling angel of a girlfriend slowly pulled me up into a sitting position, evidently not caring about the puke as she held me close with my head on her chest as she rubbed my back gently. I could feel her talking possibly saying something to try and sooth my frayed nerves. But what can you really say to a person who suddenly became deaf? Let alone some one who just became deaf because their ears suddenly disappeared. But some how, through it all, just the fact that she was there was enough to calm me down. She didn't shun me in my new inexplicable disfigurement or make a scene from my throwing up. She was there for me. And that's what mattered.

Eventually, she pulled herself away and reached for her cell and began typing into it before turning it to me so I can read it.

"I'm going to get you cleaned up and take you to the hospital. You've changed more than just your ears missing. You think you can make it to the shower if I help you?" it read.

I nodded slowly and reached up with both hands slightly embarrassed that I still had puke all over me as well as needing help to walk several feet to the bathroom. Slowly, we stumbled like the DD helping his drunken friend walk, and made it to the bathroom. I found that as long as I kept my eyes shut the world didn't seem to spin around as much. She helped my remove the small few pieces of clothing that I had been sleeping in before helping me into the shower where I propped myself up in the corner to maintain some level of dignity, however gone it might have been at this point. Kriss undressed herself and joined me as she turned the water on. There was no sexual playfulness this time obviously, and Kriss helped wash all the puke off me including the stuff that got in my hair. I didn't want to touch my head at this point, the irrational part of me reasoning that if I didn't address it then the problem didn't exist, so Kriss washed my hair instead. I noticeably jerked when she washed the parts where my ears should have been but mostly stayed still and kept my eyes shut to keep the world from spinning around me. The shower was a short, for two people, eighteen minutes long and when we got out of the shower I finally got a look at myself in the bathroom mirror. The first thing I noticed was the lack of ears. Sorry to keep going on about this but when you go your whole life with something and suddenly it's missing that's really jarring. My hair was still short so I couldn't even use that as an excuse for why I couldn't see them. The hairline just continued down naturally, if you could say that, down and to the back of my head as if they never existed. The colour of my hair had changed as well, now being an orange/peach colour (the orange being more dominant) so you could see the orange without it being the glaring neon orange you typically see on safety vests and the like. I also seemed to have grown three locks of hair that flared out over my forehead giving it a weird look. But when I looked at the rest of myself I almost fell right there, and not from no longer having the ability to stand up straight. I had somehow gotten younger. I looked to be in my low twenties, or late teens. And there was something else. Something in the way I looked in the face that seemed off...

We dried off and stumbled, I stumbled, back to the bedroom. Kriss helped me dress, again much to my embarrassment. It was when she helped me get my vest on that I swayed again falling back on the bed. Kriss helped me up and to the car. I had to keep my eyes shut the entire time as every time I saw the world move around me my brain tried to make sense from organs that no longer existed and caused the world to spin around me more. I almost threw up two more times before we finally reached the hospital. I was surprised that when we got in Kriss was able to cut our waiting time down and got me in to see a doctor. I later learned she used a favour to get us in so quick.

When the doctor got in he gave me the once over, checking my pulse, temperature and blood pressure while he was asking me questions but since I couldn't hear a word he said Kriss provided the answers. I have to admit that for some reason, I felt a certain feeling of satisfaction when he tried to look in my ear with that thing you use to inspect the ear. It was after that that the doctor began what looked like a heated discussion with Kriss. I later learned that he thought Kriss was pranking him with me. He would continue to talk while examining me that I began to notice something. I almost didn't realise it at first but as the doctor and my girlfriend 'talked' to each other I began to hear again. It was like trying to hear someone speak under water but the fact that I could hear ANYTHING was an elation to me.

"Guys," I called out speaking up for the first time. They both turned to me. "I think my hearing's starting to come back," I told them. Kriss made the few steps towards me and reached out to feel for my ears saying something. I waved her off telling her that I couldn't hear anything distinctive yet and all I could hear was just noise. The fact that I could hear anything made me smile.

The doctor, being a pragmatist of some sort began feeling the sides of my head while speaking to me until Kriss typed out on her cell that he wanted me to tell him when I could feel him going over my ears making the most noise. I nodded. He started where my ears were supposed to be, to which I flinched but remained still and worked from there. On my not registering his hands over my ears he gradually moved around to the rest of my head. First, on the rest of the sides of my head, then the back of my head to finally the top which made me quirk an eyebrow but I didn't say anything. He started at the front of my head at the hair line gradually making his way back. He continued to talk to me and I'd have to admit that my hearing was slightly getting better, I still couldn't make anything out legibly but it was getting clearer, little by little. It was almost when he was at the back of my head when I finally said I could hear his hands over my ears. He had me tilt my head forward so he could inspect the area. When he parted my hair to get a look at my scalp he gave a surprised expression. My girlfriend looked over his shoulder to see and her expression matched the doctor's. She took a picture with her cell to show me and when I looked I could see two small nubs growing out of my head. I reached up to feel the nubs with my hands. They depressed easily under my touch and I could hear my fingers playing with them through my hair. I started freaking out again, hyperventilating.

Kriss was immediately by my side giving me a warm hug as she rubbed my back gently. The doctor had me tilt forward again so he could inspect the growths on my head. He stared at them for a minute before he jumped back suddenly. Lucky for me at that time my hearing had progressed to the point that I could actually hear as if some one was speaking in the next room. So when my girlfriend asked him what was wrong, he could only say that the growths were growing. I gulped at that and reached up again feeling the things on my head. It was about a minute that I noticed that the growths seemed to be depressing into my fingers even though they didn't move. Just as I pulled my hands away I felt the growths form a slight hole in each of them and my hearing came back even better. Everything I heard now was muted but I can now make out what some one was saying, evident by my hearing a page over the PA system. At that point, things became surreal as the doctor continued to check the progress of my 'ears' growing until fifteen minutes later they began to take on a noticeably familiar shape. We were all hesitant to say what they looked like until another twenty minutes later the doctor confirmed they had stopped growing. Kriss, with some trepidation, took another picture and showed me. What I saw made me dumbfounded. It just wasn't possible. On the top of my head, near the back, were animal ears. God damn fox ears. Pointed triangles had risen above my head resembling fox ears. The fur on the outside was the same orange/peach colour as the rest of my head while the inside had soft white fur. When Kriss took another picture, her cell made the typical camera click, I felt a muscle twitch on my head that I never had before and felt one of my ears turned towards the noise. I put my hands over my... I really didn't want to call these things on my head my ears but what else could I call them? to keep them from moving.

Kriss gave me a concerned look before she turned to the doctor. "What's happened to him?"

The doctor turned to her with a look, then to me, and back to her as if he were in a daze before he shook himself out of it. "I don't know what to say about it." He paused for a moment, "And I really don't want to deal with this. You can both leave," he said as he made for the door but was stopped by Kriss blocking his path.

"What the hell are you talking about?" she demanded. "You can't just leave him like that you have to help him!"

The doctor pointed at me with a shaking finger, "What's happening to your boyfriend is impossible. And with the other symptoms you told me about, if they are true is also impossible. People don't just get younger overnight or have a sudden change in hair pigmentation, And they most certainly don't spontaneously grown animal ears in the matter of minutes!" he was practically shouting at the end. "I don't even know how to approach my colleagues about this, If I told anyone about this I'd get laughed out of the practise and lose my license."

"You can't leave him like this without doing something!" Kriss shouted back while giving him a death-glare that seemed to put the fear of god in him which made him fluster.

"I-I'll make some calls, subtle calls. Recently, the last few days we've been hearing some things from other hospitals about... similar things. We laughed it off because the way they describe it made it sound like..." he paused not wanting to say it.

"Like what?" Kriss prodded.

"...Like magic," the doctor spat out. He then composed himself, "Will you let me go now? I have patients that I can actually help waiting for me." With that he pushed past Kriss and left, leaving me feeling more than a little mortified.

I had been through an incredibly traumatic day so far and the doctor more or less took one look at me and refused to help me in the slightest. I turned to my girlfriend and asked, "What's going to happen to me?" I had to turn my head to keep myself from crying but I still caught the worried look in my girlfriends' face.

She walked over to me and gave me another hug, "It'll be OK," she assured me, "I'm not sure what's going to happen but I'll be right there with you, right to the end." I grasped her arm before I hugged her back. We stayed like that for I don't know how long before she finally pulled away. "Let's go home. I'll call your job and let them know you won't be coming in and I'll put in for some vacation days so I can stay with you."

I sniffled, frowning as I did so, "Won't your boss get angry with you for suddenly taking off?" God, I hated how emotional I was getting today. But, then again, if what happened today wasn't an excuse to cry then what was?

Kriss gave me a smile and a reassuring squeeze on my shoulder, "I'm taking care of an emergency at home and besides, more than a few people owe me some favours. Don't worry, we'll be OK for awhile, I promise." she said with a smile that didn't quite override the worry in her eyes.

I nodded and hopped off the examining bed suddenly aware of how much taller she was than me now. I wondered how the hell I lost so much height over just a few hours when I remembered that she said something about me being shorter a few days ago. This was just getting too much for me again but I forced myself to breathe calmly. I might have been deaf at the time, but I was more than sure that Kriss was about to beat the crap out of that doctor a few times.

She reached up feeling one of my new ears. I flinched but didn't pull away. I might not know what was happening to my body but damn if I wasn't going to put up some fight, no matter how small.

"They really do feel like real fox ears," she mused as she mussed my hair a bit.

"Gee, thanks," I responded wryly, hating that the obvious was continually beaten into me so far.

She gave me an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I was wondering about your hair the other night when I was playing with it as it felt so different form normal but now that your ears changed like this, I was able to pin it down. I think your hair's changed to fur now," she said quietly. Before I could respond she started again, "I think you're going to draw a little too much attention with those ears. Let me go down to the gift shop, I'm sure I'll find something, wait here." she told me before hurrying out leaving me alone.

I looked around the room trying hard not to feel vulnerable. There was no mirror in the room so I couldn't see what I looked like now, but there was a removable chrome tray on a stand by the examining bed. I pulled the tray off and gave myself a look. It was surreal. Even though I knew where my ears were now I still looked to the sides of my head for them by natural reflex. I admit I panicked slightly when I didn't see them where they were supposed to be. I took a few deep breaths to get myself back under control before I once again looked back into the tray to where my ears are now. My mind seemed to short out a little, as I was unable to grasp these two little facts sitting on top of my head. I squeezed my eyes shut again and took another breath. "I am in control of myself," I assured myself and looked again. Experimentally, I tried twitching a new muscle I now had and saw my left ear shift. This was so weird! Both the fact that these were now on my head and some how... I can't believe I'm saying this, even to just myself but, they looked so natural up there. How can some thing so unnatural look perfectly... normal is too great of a stretch but those ears that should belong on a fox looked perfectly at home on my head.

I'm sorry that I keep going over this but I can only guess that it's similar to someone, who just lost a limb. They know that it's not there any more, but since it has been there till then, it leaves this weird disconnected feeling. That was like what it was for me. I know I no longer have human ears. I can see that I now possess appendages that belong on an animal. But I just couldn't fully grasp it. At this point I felt that I'd go insane (If I hadn't gone there already) and put the tray back down on the stand just as my girlfriend came back in with a black toque with the hospital name on it, which she handed to me and I hastily pulled it on. I deluded myself into thinking, that I was normal again. We walked back down to the entrance where Kriss had me wait while she sorted out her vacation days. I sat in a chair for what must have been eight or so minutes fiddling with the hat as it made my ears itch. I was almost to the point of saying to hell with it and yanking the damned hat off to get some relief, when Kriss walked up.

"Kay, I got the next two weeks off, ready to go?"

"Yes!" I answered a little too forcefully and not as grateful, as I scratched my ears again. I immediately got up and speed walked to the car. When we had gotten in and drove off back home, I did yank the hat off, tossing it in the back seat scratching the itches.

Kriss gave a light-hearted smile at my action, "Come on, I didn't think my sense of style was that bad considering the choices available."

"Sorry, the material in the hat was itchy on my..." I couldn't say the word. Thankfully though she understood and changed the subject to about how she called in some favours to cover her sudden absence and how she was overdue for vacation time anyway. Soon enough, we were back home where we spent the next couple hours cleaning up the dried vomit we'd forgotten about. Needless to say it was still disgusting. Not much eventful happened for the rest of the day. We had dinner then went to bed early. As I lay in bed after getting out of my clothes, which I realised were too loose on me now, I thought, that the only good thing that happened today was that I could once again walk without throwing up and falling over. And I have to begrudgingly admit one thing. Now that my ears were on the top of my head it was actually more comfortable laying my head on my pillow now that my ears weren't in the way. It's strange the things you find out when a fundamental constant suddenly changes on you. You begin to notice the things that never mattered before. Even then it were a few fretful hours of tossing and turning, before I finally fell asleep.

I woke up late the next morning feeling like hell. Not surprising considering the stress I went through yesterday as well as a lousy nights sleep. I let out a yawn as I stretched out the kinks ending with scratching an itch on my head, pausing when I felt one of my ears. I let out a groan, part of me hoping the whole thing was just some fever dream or hallucination. No such luck for me it seemed. I got up and slowly made my way over to the bathroom where I did my business in the toilet. When I went to wash my hands in the sink I glanced at myself in the mirror when, I kid you not, I did a double-take. While I slept, my body had changed again. I seemed to have gotten younger but that wasn't what had caught my eye. In the span of eight hours or so while I slept, I had some how turned into a girl! I looked like a sixteen year old girl with breast (small they may be but they were there and that's what mattered) and an unmistakably girly face. On seeing this I instantly looked down and made a grab for my penis to make sure it was still there. I breathed a thankful sigh that it was but my relief was short-lived when I looked back up at myself in the mirror and realised what I must look like now. So, I did what any reasonable person would have done when faced with a situation like this: I screamed.

Seconds later my girlfriend found me crying my eyes out on the floor in the fetal position. I don't remember how long I was there crying after she came in but she held me close and whispered soothing words into my ear until eventually my sobbing fits subsided and my schattered breathing finally passed to normal. God, I lucked out on having Kriss as my girlfriend. I eventually calmed down enough where I felt hunger pangs and asked Kriss if we could have breakfast now. She gave a short laugh and nodded saying she'll make what ever I wanted. All I told her was that I wanted something good. She smiled and nodded saying that she had just the thing. When I joined her in the kitchen I looked at the clock and saw that it was well into the afternoon and despite that Kriss didn't correct me or anything like that. She knew what I needed and did what she could to make it happen.

Have I mentioned how much I love my girlfriend?

Some thing good turned out to be apple sliced pancakes with a side of bacon and eggs with all the trimmings. It was delicious and I felt much better, now that I had had some good food. I felt ready to face the new changes to my body. With Kriss by my side I felt a lot braver, if that makes any sense, and went back to the bathroom. Looking in the mirror, with Kriss by my side I could see that I was a little bit shorter making me wonder how much more I was going to shrink. Now that I was relatively calm I reached up with my hands to touch the, I can't believe I'm saying this, breasts on my chest. They were pretty small and thankfully no where near Kriss' size, I think she's a C cup. When I mentioned this Kriss said that mine looked like I'm on the small side of an A cup. I frowned at that, as I didn't want to be any cup size no matter how small.

"Did that doctor call back yet?" I asked. My frown got deeper when I heard my voice. I sounded like the young girl I appeared to be in the mirror.

Kriss shook her head, "Not yet, I'll give him a call to see what's up right now." And with that, she left to get her phone to make said call.

I turn back to the mirror and pulled my t-shirt off and pulled down my underwear to get a better look at myself. I had an athletic build about me so with that, and my dick still intact, I guess I can qualify using the title 'tomboy". Although, I wished I was just a boy. Kriss came back saying that he didn't have anything for them. She guessed that he wasn't making me that high a priority on his list of things to do. I just sneered at that, a part of me hoping that something would happen to him like whatever was happening to me. That would get his priorities straight.

"You look like a trap," Kriss said to me after a moment of watching me.

"A what?"

"It's a Japanese term used in manga and anime." she explained "A trap is a person, who's a guy who can pass convincingly as a girl except for..." she trailed off as her eyes wandered down past my waist.

I blushed profusely, both at the term and at her looking me over. Normally I would have been turned on by her eyeing me up but I was just too ashamed of what I'd become. Her calling me a 'trap' didn't help and I quickly got my shirt and boxers back on.

"How are you feeling?" she asked me.

I stared at myself in the mirror for a moment, "Better than earlier," I admitted then gave a short bark of a laugh "I'm supposed to be the one comforting you." I gave her a weak smile "I'm not much a boyfriend now, am I?"

Kriss raised an eyebrow. "Not in the physical sense right now, but you've helped me through plenty of tough times yourself. So I'm only returning the favour," she replied while giving me a warm hug that made me feel a little better, not much but definitely better.

"How can I be so lucky to have you yet be so unlucky to have this happen to me?" I asked.

"Maybe next time you'll listen, when I ask you to put the toilet seat down." she said as she gave me a nuggie of all things. I squirmed away with a laugh, glad that at least in that moment, we had a moment of normality however short.

Kriss was happy that my mood picked up and asked what else I wanted to do today. I felt my ears perk up at this, much to my annoyance. (I would later learn that my ears would become tell tales as to my current mood)

"All I want to do is veg out on Netflix and forget about this for now." I told her.

She said okay and we both walked into the living room and did just that. Not much happened for the rest of the day but I still got distracted occasionally and looked at myself in a mirror to see if anything else had changed about me.

Wait, there was one thing, although it was embarrassing. We were watching a movie in the evening and I had curled up against my girlfriend and at some point she started gently rubbing my ears. It felt so good, like a mini massage, that I hadn't realised she was doing it until she stopped. I got embarrassed by this when I caught myself asking her to continue and blushed hard. Fortunately, it was night and I wasn't hungry so I decided to turn in for the night. Kriss had joined me not much longer afterwards.

The next day I woke up early in the morning. I turned to see that Kriss was still asleep and decided not to wake her as I got up to take a shower. Even though I didn't do much of anything yesterday I had to admit that I smelled pretty ripe. So I stripped off my few cloths and got in the shower. As I washed myself I was almost immediately confronted with my new-found breast from yesterday. I was very thankful that they hadn't gotten any bigger but was dismayed that they hadn't gotten any smaller either. I don't know what possessed me but I started teasing my nipples. They felt oddly pleasant and I kept teasing them until I let out a small moan. On hearing myself utter that sound I stopped and immediately felt ashamed with myself. I was a guy god damn it! I shouldn't have these in the first place. I shoved the memory and lingering feelings deep down and continued my shower.

Now for those of you who suddenly have animal ears growing out of the top of your head, here's an important tip if you're having a shower yourself. Do not face the shower when the water is coming out as the water WILL shoot right into your ears. So, with that unfortunate discovery, I had the rest of my shower facing away from the shower head. For the part where I had to wash my hair (fur?) bent over so the water was coming down at the back of my head first.

When I got out I dried myself off and walked back to the bedroom where I pulled out a fresh set of clothes. Once I was dressed, I had to cinch my belt pretty tight my pants were so loose now, I capped it off with putting on my vest.

I felt a wave of dizziness overtake me again followed by a sudden excruciating stabbing pain hitting me in the spine right above and below my hips. I could only utter a garbled short scream as I dropped to the floor. As I lay there on the floor, too over racked with pain to scream again, my body twisted painfully around trying to relieve even a small sliver of this agony. In desperation, I clawed at the belt on my pants practically ripping it off before tearing my pants and underwear off. In short ragged breaths I was able to turn over from my back and managed to get on my hands and knees, when I felt something snap just above my backside. This isn't a fair comparison, but imagine that you had to go to the bathroom really bad but you had to hold it in while you made your way. The pressure had already built up and holding it in makes it painful. Yeah, it's a disgusting analogy but imagine how much better you feel after you finally let go and it all comes out. That's what I felt just then. I let out a grateful sigh of relief as I felt something shoot out the bottom of my spine but immediately had to gasp, as I felt a sudden pull from my groin that coincided with what was pushing out my back. An instant later the ordeal was mercifully over and I lay there in a daze just trying to recover from what I'd gone through. Eventually, I managed to get up on still shaky and rubbery legs. I sat down at the foot of the bed too exhausted still. I lazily glanced down at my crotch to see that my dick was missing.

"Huh," was all I could manage for now at the sight as I numbly reached down, "I have a pussy now." I stated bluntly. I knew that I should have been freaking out right then, but I was still recovering from my sudden painful transformation. So all I could manage was to take stock of my new changes. By the way, it seems like my breasts got a little bigger too without my noticing. I heard a gasp behind me I turned to look over my shoulder to see my girlfriend staring at me wide-eyed. I gave her a wave with a tired smile, "Good moring Kriss," I said weakly, "I changed again!" I said in mock excitement, which was hampered by my still exhausted state.

"Oh my god, Able, are you okay? Look what happened to you," she said as she got up over to me and grabbing two appendages and bringing them around for me to see. In both hands were two large fox tails, the same colour as the hair/fur on my head with a cone of white fur on the ends.

For some reason I found this funny and giggled, "Oh look, I'm a fox," I giggled again, "I'm a girl and a fox, I'm a foxy girl," I started laughing which quickly turned into sobbing. Kriss was right at my side again holding me close. "Why am I changing?" I asked between sniffles.

Kriss shook her head in admission that she didn't know either when she paused, looking at something on my chest, then looked over the rest of me before taking the keychain that was still hanging from my vest zipper. "How long ago did you get this again?" she asked while staring at it.

I looked down at it in thought, "Almost a week ago now," I answered wondering what she was getting at, "Sean wasn't happy when he saw me wearing it," I smiled at the memory of seeing his pissed off self righteous face.

Kriss nodded, knowing of my 'working relationship' with Sean from all the times I've bitched about him. She made a face as if not believing what she was about to say next but continued, "I think he somehow used this to put a curse on you," she said even as she looked like she felt silly for saying it as soon as it was out of her mouth.

"Why would he do that?" I asked, although the answer was already coming to my mind.

"You said it yourself that he was always pissed at you for showing him up since he could exert any real authority over anyone because of you. Maybe he found a way to get back at you finally. Even though I've seen how you changed so much, even I'm having difficulty accepting it. I mean, magic just doesn't exist in real life but how else can we explain this?"

My mood darkened, "I'm going to get that son of a bitch for this," I declared.

Kriss began to undo the chain that connected the keychain to my vest, "Maybe if we break this it'll stop you from changing. If we're lucky, maybe it'll undo the whole thing," she said the last part hopefully.

I only grunted, "That's not exactly how curses work," I told her.

She nodded, "Yeah, in movies sure, but this is real life and maybe if the source is gone then maybe it'll snap back since I think you've only changed when you had that on you."

"Yeah, maybe, but how are you going to smash it? It's a rubber cut out, so it's not exactly breakable," I told her with a look.

"No, I can't smash it, but I still have a pair of scissors that can cut this into itty bitty pieces," she said as she went off to get said scissors. She came back quickly with them and sat back down beside me, "Okay," she swallowed, "Here we go." And with that she made the first cut, and as if I were a light bulb switched off I fell back on the bed unconscious.

I awoke to a splitting headache as I slowly sat up in bed wincing slightly as I shifted a little, the fur on my tails got pulled when I sat up. One thing after another, I grew fox ears became a girl and now I have two damn tails sticking out above my ass. "Can this day get any better?" I asked sarcastically and immediately regretted speaking as I clutched my head as a dull throb went through it. Slowly, I got up and made my way to the kitchen. Despite my aching head I was famished and needed something to eat. When I got in I saw Kriss just sitting down to eat herself when she looked up at me in relief.

"Oh thank god, you're awake. You've been out for almost two days. And before you ask, no, you haven't changed any more. It seems like I was right in that part at least," she said sadly as she was hoping for me to return to normal. "There are a few things," she said as she got up to get some leftovers from the fridge and set it down on a plate for me at the table to which I was thankful. I walked over stumbling somewhat not used to having two tails moving around on me throwing my balance off. Still, I had to admit that it was better than when I didn't have ears. I'd take this to that any day. I managed to make it to the table without falling and sat in the chair and dug into the food with reckless abandon. Kriss sat down across from me, "Doctor Snicket called back, apparently, you're not the only one who's going though... changes. There's also been stuff on the news about people, mostly children, turning into animals and other things. You're not the only one going through this," she said.

I stopped in mid chew in thought, "If that's true then we shouldn't have much of a problem convincing anyone what Sean did to me."

"We'll make sure he turns you back to normal," Kriss promised me.

I ate faster so we can get started. When we were finished I had a problem with the clothing aspect. Not only were my old clothes too big for me but none of my pants would sit comfortably without showing ass cleavage. And there was no way I was going to show anyone any more of my body before I had a look at it. Much to my embarrassment Kriss came up with a solution.

"I'm not wearing that," I said as I cross my arms and furrowed my eyebrows, "I'm not wearing a skirt!"

Kriss tossed the skirt at me, "You don't have anything else that'll fit and those button up on the side. You can turn it around to the back and button the top over your tails," she said giving me a look as if to ask me to think of something better.

I couldn't. And I hated that she was right about this. "Fine!" I said as I stepped into the skirt, "But, we are going to find some real clothes as soon as possible. I don't care how long it'll take. It's bad enough people are going to see me in this. I swear, if Sean does laugh at me, I will kick his douche ass even if that means I'll never get back to normal," I said.

With that we were off. despite the surprisingly light traffic we couldn't get there fast enough for my tastes. When we got there Kriss stayed in the car while I stormed straight for the managers office. I barely heard the gasps of random people and hushed talking as I passed them. I paused briefly to ask one of my coworkers if Kent the manager was in. They stuttered that he was and was in his office. With that information I continued on to the main office and practically broke the door off its hinges surprising Kent who jumped in his seat at the bang of the door.

His eyes widen as he took in my features, but I didn't care I marched up to his desk and slammed my hands down on his desk. "Sean did this to me," I told him flatly.

He blinked, "I'm sorry? Who are you?" he asked both confused and threatened by my aggressive actions but that was far from my mind at the moment. None the less my shoulders drooped as well as my new ears.

"I'm Able Trot," I sighed, "Sean some how put a curse on me and turned me into this, you've seen the news right?" I tossed my employee ID on his desk and told him a few things only I knew. I also told him about the incident I had with Sean that lead to my transformation. Thankfully I was able to convince him and he called Sean in.

Sean came in a few minutes later. He was taken aback at my appearance but I'd like to think it were the imaginary daggers I was shooting at him with my eyes. My tails swished back and forth angrily.

A nasty look crept up on my face seeing Sean's discomfort. He did his best to ignore me and turned to Kent. "You wanted to see me sir?"

"Yes," Kent started.

Just a moments pause in the story readers. Kent has a mild case of Tourette. While he doesn't randomly shout out obscenities, he does get facial twitches. And the more emotional he gets, the more frequent his twitches got. And he was very angry right now.

"What did you do to Able?" he asked in a deceptively calm voice, his facial twitches notwithstanding.

Sean gave him a confused look, "What are you talking about?"

I slammed my hand on the desk, "I'm Able, you shit! You did this to me because you're a shit manager who's shit at his job and can't do shit so you weasel your way to feel like a big man when you're just a pathetic excuse who got lucky in an interview. You should've been fired months ago. You wouldn't even make it as a janitor. You just suck! Now, take this curse off me and turn me back to normal," I shouted at him. A dark look came over my face, "You're out of uniform Sean," I said quietly as I took slow steps towards him as I pulled a pair of scissors from my vest pocket, "So, do I need to cut that long hair of yours? Or are you going to tie it up? Personally, I think we should cut it off, no telling if you might let it down when you think you'll get away with it. So..." I opened and closed the scissors for emphasis. Sean backed away concerned for his own safety. "But, I'd be willing to wave alll that if you'd be willing to do one thing," I added.

"W-w-what's that?" he asked, he was breaking out in a cold sweat now as he gulped.

"Turn. Me. Back!" I answered making a snip of the scissors for each word said.

"I-I I can't," he stuttered.

I frowned, "You can't? Or you won't?"

"I can't," he repeated.

I snarled, "You got pissy at me because you wanted 'to be the boss' and put a curse on me that turns me into the character on the keychain I was wearing because you couldn't be a fucking grown up?"

"I-I'm sorry, but.."

"SHUT UP! I have to live as a freak now because of you, and you say your sorry?!"

"I-I..," Sean sputtered.

"I've heard enough. Sean, you're fired! Get out!" Kent said

Sean stared at him blankly, "..But.."

"I said get out!" Kent shouted, his facial twitches were more severe making it almost impossible for him to keep his face straight.

Sean let out a short gasp. He tried to say something once, then twice but a stern look from Kent shut him up. He turned to leave but not before giving me a death glare that I returned in kind. I only wished that I had a video of him leaving. It was the best thing to happen all week.

With him gone Kent turned to me and we began to discuss what to do next. I was, for lack of a better word, assaulted by Sean under the companies watch. So, I'll be receiving a substantial compensation in exchange for not suing the company for gross negligence. I decided to accept it, it was a LOT of money.

That all happened about eight months ago. In that time I had taken a month off to collect myself. Apparently, what happened to me happened to hundreds if not thousands of people scattered across North America, most of them kids. They're calling it the 'Gumball Machine Curse'. Personally, I prefer to call it the 'Capsule Toy Curse', I think it rolls off the tongue more, oh well. The most common change were people turning into animal hybrids. There are officially three types of this. Type one, which is some one like me where you look mostly human with some animal traits like animal ears, tail, and other small things like animal eyes too. Next is type two where the person is still human shaped but has more animal traits like fur coat or scales for skin, muzzles and paws on top of what a type one has. Type two's were generally referred to as furries (though to be honest you could probably get away with calling me a furry but what ever). And finally Type three's who look exactly like animals now but they still have the ability to talk. There's mostly dogs thanks to the kids movie 'It's a dog's life'. I met two others that had the same curse as me, as in they both picked up a Tails keychain. One was originally an eighty four year old grandfather who bought it for his grandson but forgot about it so when he eventually learned to destroy the keychain to stop the curse from changing him, he became a Type two. Just like me, he had regressed in age but since he was so old to begin with he was now physically about twenty eight years old. The other was a six year old kid who was also a Type two and is now the splitting image of the Tails keychain.

There were also a few who's bodies had changed so they gained a similar consistency to rubber balls, they bounced like a ball when they hit the ground. And another similar kind got stretchy bodies like those stretchy sticky hands you flick around.

The last two had it the worst though. Those who picked up the fidget spinners had their health tied to it. The more they spun the spinner, the better they feel. Unfortunately, there have been a few deaths because of this. There was a story I heard where a kid attached his spinner to a drill reasoning that if he spun it really fast then he'd feel great. His mistake was that the fidget spinners that came out of the gumball machines were cheaply-made so when he overclocked the spinner it broke apart and he dropped dead. The other one was a tragic one. Thanks to the emoji movie a large group of people had picked up emoji tags and the curse on these were unsuspectingly subtle at first. If a person picked up an emoji tag they could only express the corresponding emotion on the tag. And with the government pre-emptively collecting and destroying all gumball machine toys, emoji tags became a hot seller. Lots of peoples lives were destroyed this way and a lot had taken their own lives over this. It didn't help that some people preyed on their desperation and sold these afflicted people outrageously expensive emoji tags that weren't cursed at all. My heart goes out to these people.

Aside from that, life goes on. Religious nuts condemning us as demons or turning our backs on god, death and taxes.

I did get to do some travelling. I went to a furry convention (the ones that have the furry fetish or affinity not Type twos although I do hear some rumours) and a lot of people were really nice to me although there were a few creeps. Although, there will always be creeps, curse or not. I also took a trip to Japan and toured around a bit. I was surprised of how well I was treated over there. When I was in Akihabara I was treated like a minor celebrity and when I was in the more rural areas visiting the temples I was treated very well. I don't want to say I was treated with reverence but it was a deep sort of caring respect, if that means anything.

The last thing is my relationship with Kriss. I still love her and she loves me too but she just isn't physically attracted to me any more. She's straight and me being a girl doesn't do it for her. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't hurt by this but I do understand. And like I said at the beginning, we're girlfriends now as in we are both girls who are friends. We still live together and help each other out. The big thing that's annoying is that the times Kriss tried dating again (with my blessing, I wasn't going to hold it against her) we found that a few were more interested in me, or more precisely more interested in what I am now. Like I said, there are creeps every where and I've been approached by a few, both men and women.

Oh, I also have some actual pants and shorts (and underwear) that fit my new body thanks to the pre-existing furry community. Also Kriss somehow convinced me to buy several skirts saying that a girl needs options. I don't know but we'll see. One last thing I forgot to mention about my changes. I have more pronounced canines.

One final thing, I promise. As you may have figured out, Sean wasn't the one responsible for my curse since two other people suffered the same curse as me. But at the time I was so angry that I could only see him as being the one who did this to me. Unfortunately, by the time the truth came out he had become socially blacklisted and no one would give him a job or socialise with him. After several times his property was vandalised, he was forced to move away. Looking back on it now, I am regretful for being the one that caused this to happen to him and hope that he has a better life now where ever he is.

That's all that I can think to write. I admit it does seem to help a little. It is weird going through life with fox ears and two fox tails but I'm managing. And I hope that anyone who went through the same thing reading this knows that they're not alone. If you want to trade emails and talk I'll put mine down below.

I just wish I knew why I turned into a girl though, the Tails character is a boy after all.

/ERROR/ EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED FOR PRIVACY REASONS, THANK YOU!

THE END.