In part 2, Alan goes to see Liz, but does she really help him or do things just have to get worse before they get better? Witchcraft works in mysterious ways.

NOTE: I finished editing part 3. I'll post it tomorrow. I hope you enjoy my story.

Comments are gratefully received as always. :)

Phantom Boobs
by Terry Volkirch

Part 2 of 3

Morning came very early. I tossed and turned all night, dreaming about witches, magic and clothes shopping. My latest dream finally killed any chance I had at sleeping in. In that dream, I found myself in a shop filled with girl clothes. Bernice picked out a plain looking white bra for me and when I went into a dressing room to try it on, I was pleasantly surprised to find out it fit perfectly. I looked down to see breasts filling out the bra.

I woke up sweating, and vaguely disturbed by how happy I'd been in my dream. I wanted to believe that I'd just felt relieved that my phantom boobs would stop jiggling but I could tell there was more to it.

I shrugged off my mood and chalked it up to being excited about getting help. I had a strange feeling I'd be getting a call about Liz, and I was right.

Bernice called soon after I finished a bowl of cereal. I barely had time to rinse my bowl when the phone rang. It startled me but I recovered quickly enough to lunge and answer it before the second ring. I didn't want anyone else waking up.

As Bernice suspected, everything went well. Liz had said she'd be available all day so I set up an afternoon meeting at 2. Bernice would pick me up about 10 minutes early and take me to see the person who had the best chance of helping me.

After the call, I thought about meeting earlier, and I should've done so. Instead, I stubbornly clung to my regular Saturday morning routine of cartoons and web comics, and I paid the price. The rest of the morning crawled at a snail's pace. My family woke up and teased me for being the first one up. Then I spent the rest of the time being distracted by my upcoming meeting. I couldn't concentrate well enough to enjoy the cartoons and I had to reread each comic several times before I could move on to the next. Every little thing either reminded me of my problem or my chance to solve it.

Bernice arrived to find me sitting on the curb in front of my house, nervously tossing pebbles and plucking blades of grass. I couldn't think straight.

I jumped in the car and this time Bernice was the quiet one. Maybe she sensed how tightly wound I was and thought I might need to talk. If so, she was right. I chatted the whole way, and I even told her about my disturbing dream.

"My my," she said. "I had no idea it could be so traumatic to be a girl."

Her response shamed me, even with its sarcastic tone. I did make my dream sound much worse than it should be so I ignored the sarcasm. So far, she'd helped me quite a lot and I meant to show my gratitude by being as nice and polite as I could. I blushed and turned away, feigning interest in the passing line of trees that stood between the road and the sidewalk. We spent the rest of the ride in silence.

We drove through a section of small, old houses and pulled up in front of a drab looking gray house. What I thought were weeds filled the yard, but I later found out they were herbs. The whole yard was really an herb garden, filled with edible and medicinal herbs. The place was in stark contrast to the house where the coven met.

Liz came out and met us with a smile before we got half way to the door. I liked her immediately. She had long straight hair, a slightly lighter shade of brown than my own. It made me wonder what color Bernice's hair was before it turned gray. I thought it would be nice if we were all brunettes. We were all very close to the same height and I imagined us being a family. I felt so comfortable with them, I thought of them as relatives.

Our hostess led us inside to a couch in the living room and, as we sat down, reached for a steaming pot of tea that sat nearby on an old wooden coffee table.

I noticed three cups sitting on a tray and tried to tell her I didn't want any tea. Unfortunately, she filled the first cup too quickly and handed it to me before I could say anything. So I took it and held it in my lap, not intending to drink any.

"Please drink some of the tea," she said. "It'll help you relax."

That surprised me, making me wonder if she was psychic until I realized how rigidly I moved and sat. I did need to relax so I tried a sip. It tasted good.

"Now then," Liz said. "Bernice told me all about you, Alan. I only have a few more things to ask you." She began asking me to name some of my favorite things like color and hobbies, running down a list that she'd written down. She held the paper in one hand to read from it and sipped her tea when listening to my answers.

Her questions sounded like an interview for a matchmaking service, like she intended to find a date for me. It was silly to think she could be interested in me. I was too young for her, but maybe she had a lonely niece. I wouldn't mind dating one of her relatives if they looked anything like her. I guess I couldn't help fantasizing since I'd never had a girlfriend. Fantasies were all I ever had.

Once she finished with her list, she also asked about my dreams. I told her about the one I had last night, and once again, I blushed, this time from embarrassment when she giggled at me.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to embarrass you. I think it's cute."

"I guess," I said, looking down at my feet.

"Shall we begin then?" Liz said, suddenly getting up.

"Begin what?"

"Liz is going to examine you this time," Bernice said. "She has a different style than my coven and might find out more about your feminine energy."

"Okay. Sure. What do I do?"

I looked around for a pentacle on the floor but all I saw was a ratty looking beige carpet. I expected to stand in the middle of a pentacle and listen to more chanting but Liz didn't work like that.

"Put the tea down and stand over here, please." Liz pointed to a spot by a large window on the south side of the house. "I want to get a lot of natural light behind you."

I stood where she wanted me to and closed my eyes, concentrating on my phantom body parts as she directed. Every so often, she had me turn a quarter of the way around and continued to scan me, or whatever it was she did. The whole process lasted nearly an hour, just as it did with the coven, before Liz said I could sit down again.

"So?" I said anxiously. "What did you find? Can you help me?"

"Interesting," was all she said at first. She looked deep in thought and I suffered for several minutes waiting for her results.

When she finally started talking, I couldn't believe my ears. According to her, my body appeared to hold two souls, one male and the other female. The female soul was trapped in the wrong body, and since it didn't have a female physical body, it tried to manifest itself as a very highly energized astral body. She told me she'd never seen anything like it before.

"Amazing," Bernice said. "We didn't get that at all when we examined him."

"Didn't you say you examined him at night in a pentacle ritual?" Liz said. "You didn't have optimal lightning conditions. That's why I had him stand in front of the window. I got better contrast from his silhouette that way."

The two women continued talking as if I wasn't there, and I was pleased to note that the young witch spoke with no sarcasm or patronizing tone. She radiated nothing but kindness and compassion, and her methods varied quite a bit from the coven. I began to understand why Vivian didn't get along with her, and realized Vivian's coven could learn quite a bit from Liz. I could also see that this wise young woman offered me more than just hope. My intuition told me she truly could help me, and the sooner the better.

"Can you remove the female soul?" I blurted, fearing the two witches would keep discussing magic techniques if I didn't speak up.

"Oh," Liz said, and then turned to me. "Actually, I'm not sure I should try to do anything that specific, but I can try a general spell that should move you in the right direction. Would you like to try it now?"

"Yes! Please."

Bernice suggested a banishing ritual as we left the living room but Liz disagreed. Apparently, my female soul remained firmly embedded in my psyche. Ripping it out might damage me in some way so Liz thought it prudent to let my inner girl find its own way out. She planned to help me accept its presence and empower it to release itself. That sounded reasonable to me.

Liz led Bernice and me to a small bedroom with a hardwood floor. The bedroom contained only a modest rectangular wooden table below the window and a thick, round rug in the middle of the floor. She had us sit cross-legged on the purple rug and hold hands to make a circle.

As we sat, we shut our eyes and imagined energy circulating in a clockwise direction, moving through our bodies and flowing from one to the other through our joined hands. While we sat, Liz used guided imagery to help add to the ritual, and she appealed to the universe to find a way to help me accept my "gift" and help my inner girl find contentment. Liz's methods certainly differed from the coven but I never felt more excited and alive. The energy was unbelievable!

I'm not sure how long the ritual lasted. Once again, time flowed at its own pace. The only thing I know was that the energy level slowly built until it felt like my body glowed and my hands burned. The circulating energy gathered enough power that we could no longer contain it. Both Liz and Bernice squeezed my hands just before Liz suddenly shouted.

"So mote it be!"

That was it. We all let go of each others' hands and fell back on the floor, releasing the energy out into the universe to work its magic.

Between the relaxing tea and my restless sleep last night, exhaustion quickly overcame me. I could barely keep my eyes open. Liz and Bernice helped me out to Bernice's car to take me home. I remember mumbling my thanks but not much else before Bernice dropped me off at my doorstep. I stumbled inside and up to my bedroom to flop on my bed. I fell asleep in seconds.

The next thing I knew, I woke up with a blanket over me and I could hear my mother calling to me to dinner from downstairs.

"Alan? Are you awake? Dinner time!"

I slowly made my way to the dining room to join my family already eating.

"Hi Sleepy Head," Mom said.

"Hi everyone."

I looked at the clock to see the digital stove clock read 6 p.m.

"How long was I asleep?" I asked.

"Almost two hours, I think," Sarah told me. "I heard you come in and go upstairs around 4 but didn't hear anything else after that."

"Yeah. I didn't sleep very well last night. I needed a good nap."

"Well, dig in, Son," Dad said. "Before your sister eats it all."

"Dad!" Sarah laughed, and we all joined her before starting our normal dinner conversation.

My parents grilled my sister and me about our activities and we tried our best to give away as little as possible. My life had fallen back into its normal routine, everything except for a nagging feeling that changes were coming, and soon.

***

A change did occur on the night of the next full moon. I remember it well ... sort of.

Luckily, I'd had an early dinner and retired to my bedroom to do my homework. I remember it getting dark outside. The moon rose soon after sunset and moonlight filtered through my window as I sat at my computer doing homework. I'd nearly finished my last assignment when the pain hit.

Intense pain coursed through my entire body, and it hit so hard and so quickly that I blacked out. I don't know what happened after that. I only remember waking up naked on my bed the next morning, shivering from the cold.

I sat up and stupidly looked around. The time showed I still had 30 minutes before I normally got up for school.

"What the heck happened?" I asked the room.

My discomfort stopped any more questions I might have had. I had to get up and grab my bathrobe to ward off the cold. I even did a few calisthenics to warm myself up more quickly. I didn't do them for long though because my phantom boobs immediately reminded me of their presence. Their excessive bouncing drove me crazy.

I stood still for a moment, trying to think of a low impact exercise I could try when I noticed my computer. The screen displayed an open window, which struck me as odd because the screen saver and power saver should've kicked in hours ago.

I walked over to have a look and saw a chat program I didn't recognize. Someone named Allie had been chatting and logged out, leaving her screen name displayed at the bottom. Logging out had cleared whatever conversation had occurred so I nothing to go on. Who the heck was Allie?

I looked around for more clues and saw a note on my desk next to my mouse pad. The note contained the following strange set of cryptic letters:

VS! 34C Jr3 XS

I thought the first number and letter combination could be a bra size and I shuddered when I thought about what that might mean.

As I stared at the note, a new sensation slowly crept up on me. It took me a moment to realize what it was, and when I did, I'm sure my face went pale. I had a very strange and very strong urge to go clothes shopping. What the heck?!

I had to contact Liz as soon as possible, and I had to do something about my new compulsion. Something very odd happened last night and I knew it had something to do with the spell. I didn't have Liz's phone number so I called Bernice first. After updating her and promising to keep her informed, I got what I needed and made another call.

"Liz? It's Alan. Can we meet ... uh ... at the mall after school, say around 4? I'm not sure what happened last night but I think your spell started working."

After some careful prodding by Liz, I reluctantly explained why I wanted to meet at the mall and my new friend readily agreed to meet me. Then I hung up and proceeded to get ready for school.

I threw on some clothes, stuffed the cryptic note in my pocket and hurried downstairs to make sure I could get a ride to the mall after school. I had to brave a fair amount of teasing from my family but I just had to get to that mall.

***

School might have dragged by at an exceedingly slow pace if I hadn't found myself constantly daydreaming about clothes, and not just any clothes. No, I had to daydream about girls clothes. To make things worse, after the first couple classes, my imagination didn't stop with clothes. I began adding makeup, jewelry and all sorts of other accessories. My compulsion was getting out of hand.

I alternated between groaning about my fixation and getting excited about shopping. It felt like there was a game of tug-of-war going on inside my head and I just wanted it to stop.

When lunch rolled around, Sarah showed up at my table as usual. She sat down to talk to me and I tried to ignore my new interest in fashion, but my mouth betrayed me.

"That's a lovely shade of lipstick you're wearing," I said to my horror. It just slipped out.

"Thanks," Sarah responded. "It's quite expensive but I love the color."

It was almost comical when it finally sunk in who she was talking to and what we were talking about. Her eyes widened in shock and her lips moved but no sound came out other than a faint squeak.

"I know," I told her. "Please don't try to talk. Just listen."

She slowly nodded.

"This has to do with my condition, the one I've been hiding from everyone. It's related to what I just said to you and it's getting worse. I thought witchcraft would help but things aren't working out."

I was close to tears then. I couldn't help myself. I thought I'd be getting better with Liz's help.

Sarah gave me a sympathetic look and lightly touched my arm. As usual, I could count on her for support and that gave me a wild idea. I thought I could continue to depend on her so I decided to take a chance.

"I'm going to ask a favor now, and this might sound hard to believe."

"Okay," Sarah managed to get out.

"Would you go to the mall with me after school? I'd like your help with ... something." I couldn't bring myself to specify that something. I couldn't say the word, but that didn't stop Sarah from saying it.

"You want me to help you shop?!" Her mouth hung open and she slipped back into shock.

I spent the rest of our lunch time trying to snap her out of it, and I wisely decided to wait until we got to the mall before I told her the rest. I just hoped she didn't faint when she found out what I wanted to buy.

***

I couldn't get to the mall fast enough. I sat in the back seat with Sarah in the front while our mother drove us.

"Can't you drive any faster?" I whined.

"Goodness," Mom said. "Why the hurry? Are you meeting a girl?"

"Mom!"

"Oh. Right. You're taking Sarah with you. I don't understand this at all."

"I don't either," I muttered.

We arrived without further incident, but I felt bad about not telling my mother more. I had to remind myself that she wouldn't believe it.

"I'll be back to pick you up in two hours," Mom said.

"Can you make it three?" I said. "Please?" Something told me I'd need more time.

My mother gave me a funny look but nodded agreement and drove off, leaving Sarah and me to find Liz.

Before I even entered the mall, I looked around at the chaotic jumble of buildings in different sizes and colors and sighed. Everything seemed so much more interesting than the last time I'd come. Usually, I'd only go to buy a couple things I needed and leave as soon as I could. Now I couldn't wait to spend as much time as I could.

We met up with Liz at the bookstore like we'd planned. She didn't care much for the new age section but she loved romance novels. We caught her reading the back of a novel in the fiction section and I introduced her to my sister. Then we got down to some serious talk.

After quietly updating Liz and then spilling virtually everything to my sister in the bookstore, I surprised myself. I felt nothing but relief. Maybe I'd used up my embarrassment quota for the day.

Liz reacted much as I expected. She stared into space, lost in thought. I left her alone and concentrated on helping my sister accept what I'd just told her.

Sarah didn't take it too badly, really. She didn't faint and her mouth didn't hang open. I watched a couple minutes as she shook her head in disbelief and then sprung the last surprise. I pulled my note out.

"I found this note on my desk the morning after the full moon," I told her. "Are these all clothing sizes?"

"All except for the first one," Sarah said.

We caught Liz's attention and she took a quick look at the note.

"Interesting. Is this your handwriting?"

"I don't know," I said, taking another good look. "There isn't enough to be sure. You don't think I wrote it, do you?"

"I don't know who else could've written it," the young witch said. "But I need more information. This is all new to me. The only thing that comes to mind is multiple personality disorder but that doesn't explain everything."

"Well?" Sarah interrupted as I started to ask a question.

"Well, what?" I replied.

"Come on! Why did we come here? I know what the first part of the note means. It's time for some serious lingerie shopping!"

My shopping crazy sister grabbed me by the wrist and led me to a very large store that specialized in lingerie. I'd never heard of the place but Sarah and Liz both assured me it had a lot of nice things.

I hesitated near the entrance and stared at the window displays.

"Do I have to go in there?" I said, blushing. "Can't you just buy it for me? You have the sizes."

Liz gave me a curious look and let Sarah handle me.

"Brother, Dear. Don't you want to go in and look at all the pretty things?"

She played rough, appealing to my inner girl, and I felt my fears ebbing, allowing my shopping compulsion to surface again.

"I'm ... I don't ...," I stammered.

"You have to look to see which styles and colors you prefer," Sarah continued with a sly smile. "Come on. It'll be fun."

I lost it then. I lost my mind and marched into the store on a mission. I ended up giving some money to Sarah and letting her pay for my lingerie selections but I paid for everything else in the next couple stores until my money ran out.

"I can't believe I'm broke already," I whined. "I was just getting warmed up."

"I'm impressed, Sis," Sarah said. "You have a good eye for fashion and got some great bargains."

"Sis?!" I said, bristling.

"Well you've been acting more like a sister than a brother for the past two hours."

She had me there. If I doubted her words, all I had to do was look at what I'd bought. I carried four bags that contained a pair of pink and white walking shoes and a purse in addition to loads of feminine clothing and lingerie.

"Well at least don't call me that in public," I said quietly.

"Sure thing, Allie," Sarah said with a giggle.

I started to protest but she hugged me to show me that she really cared. It worked well. I returned the hug with a lot of affection. I felt lucky to have her as my sister.

Liz remained very quiet most of the time. She'd become a spectator of sorts, watching my every move. It made me a little nervous the few times I noticed her, but I let it continue. I asked her to come for a good reason and she tried her best to help by looking for every possible clue. That included changes in my behavior.

I think all three of us wondered if I could ever be satisfied with enough shopping. I continued to exceed expectations when I insisted on window shopping. I might have run out of money but I still enjoyed looking.

With about 15 minutes left before Sarah and I were to be picked up, I had a last sudden urge to get a few more things. I begged and promised to pay Sarah back with interest if she'd only lend me the money to buy some mascara, eyeliner and lip gloss. Thankfully, she agreed without batting an eye.

"You know, I always wanted a glamorous older sister," Sarah casually remarked as we left the mall.

"Hey! Knock it off!" I shouted, causing Sarah and Liz to laugh.

Before we separated, Sarah and I exchanged email addresses with Liz, and Liz promised to do some research and give my problem more thought. Then things got a little tricky.

I neglected to think about how I'd explain my purchases to my mother. It took Sarah by surprise too.

"We could say you couldn't find what you were looking for," she offered. "I'll say all of this stuff is mine."

"Right," I said. "I'm just carrying this for you."

"You don't have to carry it all."

"Yes, I do," I said, clutching the bags more tightly.

My inner girl mentally squealed with delight while I shopped and now she complained just as strongly at the thought of parting with what I'd bought, even for the short ride home.

"Interesting," Liz said. Then she walked away, deep in thought.

"Thanks!" I called after her.

She did a little finger wave without turning around. That was the last I saw of her for several weeks. In the meantime, my life just kept getting stranger.

*** to be continued ***

 © 2008 by Terry Volkirch. This work may not be replicated in whole or in part by any means electronic or otherwise without the express consent of the Author (copyright holder). All Rights Reserved. This is a work of Fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional and any resemblance to real people or incidents past, present or future is purely coincidental.