Gun Culture Chapter 1 free porn video

I it was an evil object the moment I saw it sitting there on the table. I knew in the way that a psycic can sense the presences around her, the members of the visitors deceased. I saw the reflections of people in the reflective stock of the grip, and I imagined bloodthirsting rounds streaming from the blackened end of the pistol like red moths, the envoys of the damned. I knew in a moment that the gun had a history, much more than the battered look it suggested. Any gun can look that way given use without care. Amie oblivious of my sudden change in mood carried on walking. Jamie on the other side of her, his arm in hers, she laughing in the midwinter sun, her breath coming out in long streams. Amie was happy. She was in love, and I realised in that moment that I had never understood. Not until this moment. I stepped closer to the stall, I hadn't even seen the guy behind it, but he spoke to me, already having seen my interest in the strange weapon. It was a rule of the club that our guns not be new. We were all agreed that a gun had to have a history for it to be of value, and the black automations of the ghetto, reflected this cold age in vivid detail. New guns were short and immature, like wine a gun matured. No member of our group would defile themselves with a sub-standard inbred model, our collective word for new, though it was also synominous with bad. Inbred. I didn't know enough about guns to be able to tell you what calibre the gun was, nor any other of the technological statistics that Leon is so fond of listing. But looking at that piece of evil, on the stall of that windy hill, I wished I did just so I would know more about this gun that had enchanted me. "Interested in the gun?" The merchant asked. His accent was hick, he was a hillbilly I decided. Hillbillies were backwards folk, screwing their own sisters, and they didn't give a shit about the rest of the world, but they did know guns. He would have bad teeth, no... one bad tooth, to the left of his face, sticking out like a wart on a centrefold model. A thick meaty hand came down onto the gun, it's shadow stretching over the handle like the whip across a beaten and defeated slave. I winced with the image, glad that the cap covered my eyes from the beady cold ones of the sharp-eyed merchant. "Yeah. It sure is a strange piece," he said in his thick drawl. "Old too, an anti-que." He pronounced the last word in two syllables, stringing the sound out, like it was a lever to prise my cash out of my hands. The merchant waited, I knew it was waiting for me to speak now, perhaps wondering why I had not done so far. For the first time I looked up, my eyes flicking across the features of the man. He had an earring in his right ear, a little gold loop, a shaved, bristling head, and his teeth weren't black, but they weren't white either. I opened my mouth, but I knew before I started that it was a wasted effort. Sometimes the words could come to me, sometimes it felt like spitting broken shards of glass. Words had no love for me, I could never make them beautiful in speech, only on paper. "H-h-h-h-h-how m---m-m-much?" I said. I saw the tiniest flicker of amusement in the eyes and lips of the merchant. In that one question I had given away my greatest weakness to him and he knew exactly how to play it. In a plea of support I looked at the gun, but it felt cold to my mind just then. It was his slave, it owed no loyalty to me. It saw nothing in me but what it recognised in others. "Well.." The hick merchant paused, giving himself evaluation time. "Like I said, it's an antique. And it is in good condition and all..." He lied. I wished I could tell him that he was lying, that the gun was practically falling apart through misuse, but I didn't trust myself to. "... So I guess I could let it go for fifty bucks." J.J. was there, next to me then, slipping her arm into mine. J.J. was a cool girl, I liked her a hell of a lot. She'd seen me in trouble, thankfully and like the angel she was she'd come to help. "Hey Red," she said, her long drawl like the protracted vibrations of a harp. "What you found?" Confidently she held her hand out to the merchant, and charmed enough to trust her a little more than he did me, he let her handle the weapon. J.J. could read my face much better than the merchant, she knew that to me this was something special. I turned and watched the gun in her hands. It seemed a significant improvement from the hands of the merchant, J.J.'s hands handled the weapon confidently but with the balance of efficiency and will that made her such a unique character. All of us were unique characters really. "Nice," J.J. said, though only in an offbeat way. "Looks like the one we saw on the other side of the market." She lied. "You like guns?" The merchant asked her. "That's kinda hot." J.J. looked up, right into his eyes, and flashed him one of her best smiles. "How much for this mister?" she asked, shifting her weight a little. She knew all the subtle nuances of sex appeal and she used it all to her advantage. The movement of her body drew the merchants attention, even if only slightly. It made him aware of her. I wished I was as confident as her. I wished I was her. The merchant, having made his pitch already, although perhaps regretting it a little in the perception of this girl, stuck to his guns. "Fifty bucks," he repeated. J.J. laughed, it was a harsh sound, completely unlike her. She handed the gun back to the merchant. "Come on Red. We'll get the other one," she said. "It's only fifteen bucks over there." She added with a contemptuous flick of her eyes at the merchants face. J.J. wasn't always as confident, I knew. But there was practically none of the old hurt left in her. Sweet Polly-Apple had sucked the hurt out of her and fired her little doubts and blames a dozen feet into a painted black and white target deep in the heart of the old mine. Her Apple was in the front of her pants, just an innocent bulge across the front of her hip. To anyone else it might have been anything. But we knew where her strength was, just as surely as I knew that I had just found mine. "Look," the merchant said as J.J. turned. "I'll let you have it for twenty-five." J.J. visibly paused. "Well, it is a long walk back," she admitted. "Though it's in slightly better condition too. Twenty. No more." The merchant blinked. "Ok," he said, holding out the gun to her. J.J. didn't take it though, she let me do it. I took it from the flabby hand of the guy and the weight of it was almost exactly like I had imagined it to be. It was a western style gun I saw, like one of the old six shooters of the not-so-forgotten west. But it was different aswell. For one thing it was shorter, the barrel neither short nor long, just a medium that looked unlike any other gun I had seen before. J.J. held out a couple of green notes to the merchant who took them quickly. I looked up into her face. "N-n-n-n-no," I said. I wanted to pay for this, she didn't have to. She shook her head, smiling slyly though. "It's your birthday soon," she said, her accent thickening the words making them as seductive as she was. "That's your present from me." "T-t-t-t-.." She put a long delecate finger across my lips. "Shhh." She winked, taking my arm as we turned around. "You don't have to do that Red." I looked at J.J.'s ocean green eyes and I remembered the first time I'd seen her, perched on the end of Amie's arm, stick thin, shaking like a leaf through exhaustion and withdrawal. She had been gaunt and had looked ready to die almost. Now, she was back up to a healthy weight, and she'd grown much better in her character for it. She'd beaten the drugs going absolutely cold turkey. She confessed later that the gun club gave her the strength she needed to win herself back from the evil white powder. We were proud of her, and I especially was. She was everything I wanted to be. I looked down at the lump of steel in my fingers, flicking open the barrel a little too hard, as the one I had temporarily adopted had a slight deformity in the chamber, making the chamber stick when I had to reload. The gun didn't protest against this, but I realised I had hurt it slightly. I wouldn't do so again. The chambers were empty, I saw, the hick merchant too stingey to have provided any. So I slipped the gun into the inside breast pocket of my coat. Even there, I could feel it's heaviness against my chest, and radiating off it a chilling warmth which I decided must be the strength of evil that the gun embodied. The gun was perfect for me, I realised. In the moment I saw it, there had been a connection between it and me, and I knew I had to have it. It wasn't the look of it, it wasn't anything physical in it's structure. It was as if I saw the personality of the weapon in that moment, a glimpse which was growing stronger and stronger even now. The weight of the gun was comforting to me in two ways which the old temporary model was lacking. Me, J.J., Amie and Jamie... we were all part of the gun club, and it had transformed every one of us into something greater than what we were before. My own life had been riddled with harassment all through school since day one. My unusually potent stutter made me a consistant source of petty amusement to weak minded individuals. Quite naturally I had a very low self esteem which in a way contributed as much as the bullies to my two unsuccessful suiside attempts. Since the club had been introduced to me by Hank and Leon though, I had been growing into a better, and more confident person. I suppose it's like I had learnt kung-fu or another method of vigorous self defence. It had given me confidence. Because of the goodness that the club gave me, and the good it had done for J.J. not to mention all the others who had all progressed from the people they were into better people, because of all of that I knew in my blood and bones that the club was a good thing. Just as I knew that the gun in my pocket was an evil and corrupt instrument. Just as I knew that I would be the catalyst between the goodness of the club, and the badness of the gun. There could be absolutely no more poetic and fitting a gun for me. The second reason the gun was right, was rooted more in my psyche than in an emotional one. The gun was heavy in my pocket and mirrored the weight in my dreams of my chest when I dreamed that I was a girl instead of the freak of a guy I was presently. It was a secret desire, one I had never shared with anyone, nor even spoken aloud even to myself. I'd never given the fantasy anything more substantial than thought, but I fed it every night. As Jamie's brother pulled up at the entrance to the old mine, I pushed open the door and jumped out, J.J. slid out behind me, and on the other side of the car, Amie left the dusty vehicle. "I'll see you guys tomorrow," Jamie called from inside the car. I gave him a wave through the window, and J.J and Amie said their goodbyes. It was only a short trip through the mine buildings to each of our homes, and although the sun was setting we weren't afraid. There were few muggings in this town, mainly because it was still small enough to be aware and curb the efforts of the minority of troublemakers. Such was that the mine buildings were the base of our gun club. In a disused sub- basement on the inner eastern section of the site our collective treasures and second home was hidden. Well, hidden was a relative term really. We had a lock on the door to the sub-basement, and there had been one time when Hank's father, who happened to be the sherrif, had followed his son to it, but it turned out that he agreed with what we were doing in the end. He'd seen the change in Hank, as had we all when the club was first founded. "Hey Red." Amie was looking at me, a grin crooking the side of her mouth. I realised I had been staring through her for a few moments. "Whats up?" She drawled, just like J.J.. That was one of the things I liked about this place. My own parents were English, and I had something of a hybrid accent of theirs and of my friends. If I went to England, I couldn't pass for one there, but I couldn't really pass for an American either. "J-j-just t-thinking," I replied. Now we were back here, back where I liked being, I felt better. It's amazing that my stutter got better when I was happier. I wish it happened more often. "Show her Red," J.J. said, coming up next to me. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the pistol. For the merest second, I thought I saw a white ghost moving across the handgrip, but it was just a reflection of the streetlamp. As one we began to move towards the mine entrance, stepping over the low rusted chain that was all that was left of the barrier. Hank's father had said that once it had been fenced all around, barbed with wire, and that the entrance had been a great pair of gates which always stood open because the mine was so large that people were coming through it all the time. It had all been stolen though, what Hank's father, with a laugh referred to as recycling. Just as our sub-basement had been recycled in a way. "Awww, that's a nice one," Amie said, tracing a finger along it. "It's in bad condition though. It needs some care." "Since when did you become Leon?" J.J. asked, with a smile. Amie flashed her a smile right back and then ignored her. "I t-t-t-think I'm gonn-n-na w-w-work on it," I told her. It was pretty much a speech from me. I was usually so quiet because of my stutter. It was hard for me, and it was almost as bad for them when they had to listen to me blunder through the words that came so easily through my hand. Amie grinned. "Can I come help?" She asked. I nodded, smiling. It didn't really matter if she came or not, it wasn't really an activity that we could do together, but it would be good having her there with me, and perhaps afterwards, when it was ready, I would fire my first shot with the new christened weapon and she would be there with me as witness. I nodded. "Oh no you don't," J.J. interrupted. "No way Amie. Not a chance love." Amie looked at J.J. stunned for a second by the uncharacteristic rudeness of her. J.J. however just smiled. "You're not having Red all to yourself," she said, putting her arm over my neck. She was a little bigger than me and I could feel the pleasing but uncomfortable weight of her chest against my side. I was always aware of what I coveted in the two girls, I guess it's a natural reaction really, but it was the motive I had to guard from ridicule. I had no doubt that the others would confide even such deep secrets, but what I was worried about was not that they might know, but that they might not understand. I mean, lets face it, sexuality was a hard subject with which to grasp diversity anyway, and what I wanted was radical even by the perceived extremities of that subject. I wanted their bodies as my own. That was the truth of it. I think in a way, I was supposed to have had one of my own, but that it had been perverted at some point in the processes of inception. I know it was strange, but life was stranger. I'd been on the internet, I knew. There were a lot of fucked up people in the world, but I didn't count myself amongst them. I would never hurt J.J. or Amie in any way. I knew that I was harmless, even if the gun was loaded. I was harmless to them just as they were to me. Even though the both of them could have hit bullseyes at twenty paces, nineteen times out of ten. I don't know what it was about the group that had brought this change out in the two girls on either side of me as we made our way towards Warehouse 17 and towards the second home we were all part tenants of, but the two of them actually seemed more feminine than the rest of the girls in school combined. I don't know if it's that I've never had a sister, or just some step of life that I had missed somewhere, but introduction into the group had turned both girls into strong women, again, something I privately envied. J.J. flirtatiously whipped off my cap and tucked it down on her own head. It was the kinda thing she did, to me especially. The doorway to Warehouse 17, doorless, was just a black shadow in the gloom now. Even in the midday sun that doorway was always dark. It was like stepping through into a different world when you walked through that doorway. It was a dark, but fascinating ulterior world, like a buried and forgotten city. It was a world where I hardly stuttered, and the presence of guns in everyday life was just a natural thing, like clothing. I remembered the red tube top that J.J. wore last year in the big heat, when you could practically fry bacon in the midday sun and have no need of flint and tinder. We'd crawled down here and discovered that the air was coolly refreshing. I think Amie was just getting her tits at that point, or perhaps that was later. J.J. stepped through the door, vanishing in a moment into the blackness just as if it were actually solid, and she were not. I stepped up and through, feeling my passage marked by a wave of coolness, like a line had been drawn in the air. I breathed in the sepulchral air and realised that secretly, I liked it. I wish sometimes we could all spend the rest of our lives down in the sub-basment below our feet, but life always intervened. Besides, in the dust and the darkness, J.J.'s curves always looked ten times better than what they were. I really don't know why that was such a turn on, but it was. I felt the gun, now back in my pocket and I smiled. If I couldn't have one dream, then I could at least have this one. J.J. walked ahead of us, her eyes adjusting quickly to the darkness, while I lingered for a moment more and Amie entered behind. It was generally accepted, although I don't remember there ever being such a rule actually said, that my gun could perhaps be considered not quite as thourouly mine as it would be after it's baptism. It was a kind of religion too in a way, although we termed it as a breaking in ceremony. But there was a preparatory process that I doubt very much that little children had to go through. I personally stripped down the gun into its componant parts, laying out each piece just like Leon had taught us to. Laid out like that, you really began to appreciate how much more the gun was than just it's mere pieces would suggest. We had a pile of brown emery clothes that had been left behind in the mine and my new gun was laid out on the surface, like a bride preparing for a wedding. Laid like this I could see the fine details, the scratches, the nicks and cuts that were the scars of the pistol's life. Each one of those defects had a story to tell, I wondered if I'd ever seen a gun with a more definable sense of historical.... I couldn't think of a word for it. I looked at the curved block of wood, even now it looked like an important cog in a machine. Denuded, and it still looked strange. Amie put a mug of coffee down on the table next to the laid out cloth, then she sat at the square table we had carried down here, all the way from Hank's caravan in his yard. We all brought things to this place to make it home for us all. "How do you feel?" Amie asked, waking me up from my thoughts. I realised I'd been staring at the gun parts for a good minute or more. I had a strange habit of distraction, my mind tended to wander easily. The others didn't seem to have this problem, so I wasn't really sure how to explain it to them. "G-good," I said, feeling even better for hardly stuttering at all. I wondered if I could ever learn to speak properly, without the words getting stuck in my throat and falling over each other in outbursts of clogging breath. "I was talking to Hanna Face-ache yesterday," Amie said, taking a drink of her coffee. "She says that June finally asked you out," Amie said with heavy significance. I knew where this was going. She was going to ask me why... Amie put a piece of paper onto the table and pushed it across to me, adding a pen. This was the usual way in which I would have longer conversations with my friends. I didn't like stuttering and they were at pains to listen to me, it simply worked better. /I got embarrassed\ I wrote. "Oh," Amie said, watching me carefully. After a moment she asked the question I knew had been coming ever since I'd watched her walking in on the arm of Jamie. Amie was the type of girl who pried, she wanted to know about things like this. "Red. Tell me to shut up if you want to.... But why don't you like girls, or even boys come to that?" I could feel myself going red, just like in the old days, in the old playground, with the older bullies circling me, chanting their hallowed old playground taunts. The words had changed, but the intent was ground into the very playground itself. It was a place of ridicule, of scraped knees, and blood on the grey surface. And me, red in the face trying to speak, to answer them with defience, my hands balling, my temper rising and behind them the teacher hurrying over. I wish I'd laid them all out right then. But I hadn't. I'd been soft and it had affected me forever. Amie's hand reached across and pressed onto my own, her palm felt so soft against the top of mine that I smiled at her. "It's ok," she said, drawing back. "You don't have to tell me. I'm just interested." /I don't hate you.\ I wrote J.J., much too close behind me, stepped even closer, surprising me a little as my hair brushed across the top her naked belly. She laughed when I jumped, and then put her arms around my neck. "Red likes girls," J.J. said, I felt the vibrations of her voice coming through her skin. "I think he's just not found the right one yet." She let her arms trail lightly across my chest as she moved around me into the chair opposite Amie. She'd taken off her tube top I saw, and now was dressed only in her jeans and bra. We had some really good heaters down here, Hank's father had installed them himself just a few weeks after he'd found out the big secret. But we'd done all the rest of the decorating ourselves. We didn't have painted walls perhaps, and little more for convienience than a toilet with a tin underneath, canned goods and one portable generator, capable of powering the lights and kettle, but other than that it wasn't much. It was more a tempory home only, and that's all we needed. "Yeah," Amie said, watching my face. "I see what you mean." J.J. laughed. I knew they were playing with me, but I didn't mind. It was actually kind of funny. I shook my head dismissively and picked up the first piece of the gun, starting to clean. J.J. reached across and picked up the club foot of the handle. As she leaned forwards, resting her elbows on the tabletop and lifting the handle infront of her face, I couldn't keep my eyes away from her chest. I was polishing the barrel of the gun at the moment this happened and my finger slipped, catching the far target sight on the end. I remember how surprised I was at that, and when I looked, I saw no sharp edges there. I looked at my finger, it wasn't a deep cut, but there was a drop of blood blooming up from the mark. Amie giggled. "Jane, you're making Red nervous." J.J. looked at me, and I saw a mischevious amusement cross her face. She smiled apologetically and put the handle back onto the emery. "Sorry," she said, but didn't get up. Amie flicked open her lighter at this point as she lit the abnormally long cigarette. I hadn't even seen her as she got up and retrieved it from the supply that Hank got from his father. Even though he was the sheriff it seemed that Hank's dad was familiar with the joy of youth. What made it surprising was that he quite openly in his professional time, abhorred the use of dope and it's budding practicioners. I guess in a way it was the same with the gun club. He'd met with us all, after he'd first found out and confided that he had suspected that there would have been some `bad sorts' as he put it in the club, but he seemed pleased with the few of us who were there. He'd pretty much ran through his basic talk which he said he gave to the people in the cells who peddled the stuff, about it not being seen as a major problem but that it could develop into one if not treated carefully. He was easy to respect, just like Hank was, and at the end he'd ruffled his boys hair and said that he'd said all he needed to, and that his boy had chosen his friends well. I think we all felt better after that. Finally it wasn't a secret club any more, not wholley so anyway. There was someone who mattered that knew about us and what we did here, and he knew that we were in no danger of starting a gun battle in town or getting a dozen people killed in a botched holdup. He probably knew that we were going to grow out of it too. J.J. sure had grown up. And so had Amie. I wiped away the speck of blood from my hand and carried on polishing the metal. I had gotten most of the dirt away by this point, it had just been difficult at the beginning. Now the gun barrel seemed to actually be co-operating with my brush, like it had been a cat that I'd had to win over with some cream. That might make a good name though. Cat. Yeah, hold on, let me get my Cat. My Cat'll beat yours. Something wasn't right though. This gun had a slightly feminine overtone to it, and while Cat could perhaps be considered an asexual name, I wanted something slightly more.... Kat. Yeah, that sounded better. The piece was clean now, so I picked up the next piece, this time the dirt actually almost slid off as my brush touched it. I was done with the piece in a moment. I picked up the next and even with the movement, the pieces of dirt were just flaking off. I watched, feeling a little detached from the world now. The gun hadn't been like this before. I remember when I took it apart, I had remarked on the toughness of the dirt. J.J. passed the joint to me. Her eyes were slightly unfocused now. Hank always got the best stuff from his father. I took a long pull on the joint and the gun was just a gun again, nothing unusual except a little dirt that had probably just cracked in the heat down here. Yeah, that was probably it. I took another long pull and passed it back to Amie, who took it greatfully. I picked up the handle, the piece that J.J. had replaced and as I did a piece of dirt came away from it, and something white showed through. Curiously, I lifted the handle and looked at the symbol there. It was a little like and S, just slanted and less proportionate. I could feel the weight in my hand and I knew that this piece of elegant wood was a strange heart. This was something weird alright, and.... I felt something under my hand, a very slight vibration, as though the wood had breathed in, very slightly and then out again. But that was impossible. I listened to the feelings I was getting from my hand and when it came again, I was ready for it. It wasn't an inhalation, but it was vibration. I watched it for a moment, feeling the pulse coming out of it again. This was real, this shouldn't be happening. I realised I'd been looking at the thing for a good few seconds now, so I lowered it, wondering exactly what I had accepted and how much trouble I was going to be getting into. I lowered the handle carefully. Perhaps I could just throw the gun away. It would be a waste though, and J.J. wouldn't speak to me again if I did that. No, that was... There was someone sitting opposite me. It was a girl. She was about the same age as me, but taller, she wore nothing but a red velvet dress, and her figure was increadable. She had a pretty face, although her eyes were closed and her face was set by two pincer like tufts of hair, framing her face. J.J. had seen her too. "Who the fuck are you?!" She demanded, and Amie, who had taken a few more tokes than either of us, looked around blearily. The girl didn't react, but I heard her draw in a long breath. Then, when her eyes flicked open, she was looking right at me, through my eyes and into my brain. It was spooky. "Where the hell did you come from?" Amie asked, still behind the situation by a couple of steps. The girl smiled slowly, her mouth cracking open. I saw rows of viciously sharp teeth in her mouth, certainly not human ones, she had two long incisors too. J.J. stumbled backwards out of her chair. But the girl didn't move. She was still staring at me. "Hello Red," she said, still fixated on my face. "Hi," I said, weakly. For once I didn't stutter. I put the gun part back down onto the cloth. It was no use just right now. I'd need something stronger if the girl chose to attack, and I bet those teeth would do one hell of a lot of damage before I knocked her cold. The girl turned her head slowly so that she took in J.J. "And you must be Jane?" She asked, although there was less certainty in her voice this time. J.J. didn't answer. But Amie did. "Who the hell are you?" "I am Hellcat," she said, turning to Amie who visibly flinched back. "I am a demon." "A demon?" J.J. scoffed, though I could hear she was rattled now. I guess her trip had turned bad. Dope was good when you were in the mood, but if you were depressed, or scared it just made those feelings a hell of a lot worse. J.J. was shifting her weight from foot to foot now. "While I am infact going to possess you Red," She began, leaning forwards. "You do not need to fear. You'll be judged on your actions alone when we die." I blinked. "You what?" She grinned, patiently. "I... am going.... To possess you," she said. "Like hell you are," J.J. said, though I didn't know what she intended to do, I appreciated the gesture. I tried to think about how she could have appeared at the table with us, but I knew that there was no way it could have tricked all three of us. She wasn't there one second, and then she was there, there was no other option I could see. The room had been empty when we'd entered and there was a solid wall behind her. "Why?" I asked, finally. "Red, don't listen to it," J.J. said, but I knew she was panicing now, she didn't know what to do. Amie had her gun out now, and pressed it against the side of the girl's face. For a moment nobody moved. I wondered if Amie really had the courage to shoot someone. "I really don't intend to harm anyone very much," she said placatingly. "At least no-one that Red cares about." "Look, I don't know how you got in here, but get the hell out right now," Amie said, I heard menace in her voice that I'd never heard before. "I can't," she said, turning slowly to look at Amie. "I'm part of Red now. There is no going back, theres only intergration now. "What the hell are you talking about?" J.J. demanded. Hellcat turned back to look into my eyes. "You know the truth," she said, deliberately. "You cut your finger and let me in. Now let me finish the job and you will know heaven through my eyes. Let me take your body and absorb your soul. You cannot win, the game has already ended." "Like hell," Amie said, and fired. The bullet pinged off the wall behind Hellcat and zipped off into another part of the basement. Hellcat was completely untouched. The gun dropped out of Amie's hands and she rose, stepping away from the figure. I could see terror in her eyes now, although curiously I didn't feel afraid. She smiled again. "I will forgive you that Amie, I am not vindictive and personally, I like to keep the host as much in tune with myself as possible. How would it be if Red hated me for what I had done for you. That would dull the edge of the pleasure I bring. She closed her eyes slowly. "Ahhhhh. Can you feel it Red?" Now she said something, I could feel things, strange things happening. It was like silent bombs were going off around me, near and far. I felt thud after thud pummelling me left right and centre. Most of the explosions were at ground level I senced. "That's the sound of you being erased from history," she said, cryptically. "And the new us coming into existence. I will allow your two friends their minds unchanged, but they will be the only ones who will know who you are just now." "No," Amie said. "Don't hurt him!" "I'm not going to hurt anyone," Hellcat said, still in that level tone. "Not for a few years, and never near this town so don't worry yourselves. Her eyes flicked up to my forehead and I felt my hair starting to prickle. J.J. gasped. I turned and saw her looking too. I reached up and instead of the bristles I expected to feel, thick wavy hair was there. I felt the two pincers reached down across my face. I looked back at Hellcat. She actually looked strangely weaker just then. Her eyes were wincing a little like it was a huge effort to do this to me. I felt the tingling stopping and her discomfort seemed to lift. She smiled again. "Thank you for buying my gun," Hellcat said. "Don't worry about your appearance, history generally covers for the minor discomforts. "I d-d-d-d-..." I tried again. "I d-d-d-d-d..." She nodded. "I know. No-one ever does to start with." She paused and she began to fade away. "But don't worry. It'll be worth it eventually. I promise." When the figure had vanished, I sat there staring at where she had been. I knew somehow that what she was saying was true, every word of it. It was a little like I'd known her all my life, and just had an instinct for telling her lies from the truth. This was hard cold truth, and all the evidence I needed was dangling infront of my face. She'd changed my hair to look like hers. At least that's all I hope she did. J.J. moved back to her chair, watching me all the time. "Red?" she asked. I nodded. "Holy shit," J.J. swore. "She means business." "What the hell are we going to do?" Amie swore. I looked across at her, then felt a stab go right through my head. I closed my eyes in pain. I could feel my head beginning to throb now. I looked at my hands, they weren't a lot different than before, and that was good. I didn't dare check my crotch infront of the girls, but I think I was safe, she'd changed nothing but the hair it seemed. I took a deep breath and felt a little better for it. "I d-d-d-d-d-d?ddd-d-d-d-..." I smashed my fist down on the table, trying to brace myself to get the words out. "d-d-d-ddd-d-d-d-..." It was no good. J.J. reached out for me, but didn't touch me. She seemed afraid of me suddenly. I grabbed the pencil again and wrote it instead. /I don't think theres anything that we can do.\ I wrote. "How do you know?" Amie asked. /I don't know. I just do.\ "How are we going to deal with this? Nobody will know you!" She almost shouted. She was getting a little hysterical. I reached out a hand to her and she took it. You'd almost think she was the one who it had happened to, not me. She took a couple of breaths and I realised she'd just tried to kill someone and then not been able to. She would be in a state. J.J. stood up and pulled something out of one of the kitchen drawers. She handed me a hand mirror, and with mustering courage I looked at my reflection. What I saw startled me. The reflection actually did look a lot like me, but my face sure had changed, or at least my bone structure had. It was a girl's face though, and the hair matched Hellcats, except that it was still my shade of red, although it did have jade stripes in it. Forgetting my dignity, I pulled at the collar of my shirt, and looked down. My chest hadn't changed much and that was a relief which was strange because I'd have thought I'd have been glad if it would have changed. The only difference that I could see right now was that my chest which had had a couple of hairs before, was now completely hairless and with imagination a little smoother too. That wasn't really a good sign. I reached down and felt my crotch, knowing that I couldn't put it off any longer, and I felt it still there. I breathed out a long relieved breath. "I'm s-s-still a guy," I said, although my voice told a different story. J.J. raised an eyebrow. She looked across at Amie, hoping I think for support, but Amie wasn't really listening. "She's got you," J.J. said quietly. "Ok, what do we do?" "I d-d-d?d-ddd-d-d" "Don't?" I nodded. "know." "HELLO?" came a voice. I froze in my seat. "N-n-n-not read-d-d-d-y" I croaked. "Go to bed," J.J. said quickly. "Get tucked in." I nodded and stood up, moving quickly towards one of the two beds we had down here. We didn't use them often, only when we were having an all night party or something. I pulled back the covers and pushed myself into the bed. As an after thought I quickly shrugged myself out of my jeans. The new group member might not notice, but it's better to be positive. J.J. was in the room quickly, pulling a shirt over her head and then she was gone again. "Quit yelling," Amie said, from the door. "Hi Amie," said the voice again, this time I recognised it. It was Hank. The group's leader. "Red's asleep. Come on in." "Asleep?" Hank said. "I thought leon said she had bought a gun?" "Yeah, he did," Amie said. "Hi Hank," J.J. said. "Hi sexy," Hank replied, easily. "Red was really tired," J.J. said quickly. "Sandy said Red's boss was riding her really hard tonight." "...er... yeah..." J.J. said quickly. She'd noticed that Hank was using the female sense when referring to me. *What the hell did you do to me hellcat?* I thought. As I shifted in the bed, I felt another oddity, my legs had changed. I hadn't noticed before, though I didn't know why, but as I ran my hand up and down them now I felt nothing but smooth skin. She was turning me female. She really was doing it. I didn't know if I should be exited about it, or want my old life back. I didn't really belong here, it wasn't my life. "J.J.?" Hank asked. "Are you alright?" "Yeah. I'm fine," she replied, a little too quickly. He didn't pry though. "So this is it eh?" Hank said. I heard him touching a couple of the pieces. My hips were wider too. Oh god... "Looks like a beaut," Hank continued. "Did she fire it yet?" "er.. no," J.J. replied. Suddenly I couldn't stand it any longer. A big part of me wanted to curl up into a ball, but the stronger part of me knew that it wouldn't help. So I'd got my fantasy, fine. Don't go to pieces. We were going to have to deal with this as it comes. I pushed my legs out of bed, and pulled back on my jeans. My legs looked good, but I wasn't really ready for them yet. I walked back towards the voices. I knew I had to face this, and there was no way I could let the girls start to cover for me, because Hank was smart, and he'd want to know why they were covering for me and then it would all come out and he wouldn't believe us, because I just knew that he was convinced I was a girl, and nothing, at least nothing I was prepared to do was going to change that. A part of me felt like curling up into a ball on the floor and crying, but the greater part of me wanted to actually enjoy myself, and I wasn't really going to achieve anything on the floor. The gun had been Hellcat's vessel. It had been how she had gotten to me, but now it was nothing more than a gun, the gun infact that I thought J.J. had bought me. As I came around the corner, I saw that Hank was sitting exactly where Hellcat had been. I resumed my seat at the table. "Hey babe," Hank said, smiling. "Leon told me the news." His face darkened a little. "You ok? You look a little off." "I'm f-f-fine," I said quickly. J.J. reached out an arm to me and held my forearm just for a second. Hank watched all this then shook his head. "Ok, just what the hell is going on?" he demanded. "Did I walk in on a big argument or something?" "No," Amie said, none of us meeting Hank's eyes. Hank leaned forwards, studying all of our faces. J.J. just looked worried, Amie looked a little lost but I guess I was the prize winner because he just fastened on me. "Red?" he probed. I looked up at him. He sat back slowly, like he'd just realised. "Did someone touch you?" He asked, and I could hear the anger in his voice. "Was it Jerry Wild again? Just tell me and I'll get my dad to bring the bastard in, we'll have us a shooting match and blow his balls off." I shook my head. "n-n-n-.." I gave up, he got the message. There was another uncomfortable silence, then he gave in. "Ok," he said, putting up his arm. "I understand. It's private stuff, that's fine. But I want you all to know that I love the bones of each of you. As does the other guys. If you guys are having trouble, that means the group is. All for one and all that bullshit." Hank said. He got up, and pulled out another of the dope sticks. J.J. the most collected of us, lit it for him. "I have some good news," Hank said quickly. "I was going to save this for the Thursday meeting, but you girls look so glum right now that I think I'll use it now." Amie glanced at me, and I caught her eyes, but there wasn't a lot of things we could say at the moment with Hank there. "W-w-w-what n-n-n-n-..." I closed my eyes, trying to make the word come out. "n-n-n-n-n-n-news." Hank looked pained when I looked back at him. I knew he felt sorry for me, like they all did. My speech problem was directing my life these days, or had been. Now I suspected it would be even a little more of a problem. It was always words beginning with n that were the problem. No begins with n. "Well..." Hank said. "my dad's got wind of a rifle and pistol tourney. He said he'd take us there if we wanted to go." "Rifles?" J.J. asked. "I've never tried one of them. Are they any good?" Hank shrugged. "I assume so. Leon could tell you for real." Hank passed the joint across the table to me, I took it greatfully and neither of the other two wondered aloud why they had been bypassed. It didn't really matter so much, there was more in the drawer if they wanted some of their own. I took a long pull on the toke and felt the world begin to edge away again. That was good, that was better. My hands went back to work on the gun, though I decided it had had enough cleaning for now. I wanted to try it now. It had been so much trouble, I wanted to know if I had been suckered into a bad deal aswell as a bad reality. "W-w-w-what bullets?" I asked, passing the complete gun to Hank. He knew nearly as much as leon about guns, he just kept it to himself. He held the gun for a second, examining it and turning it in his hands, then he flipped the chamber out and looked at the holes. Without a word he stood up and we followed him down the corridor to the shooting range. "Gonna christen it?" Hank asked. "Yeah," I replied. He turned onto the firing range we had made out of office dividers and a couple of targets. Leon kept three baskets here, though I didn't know the bullet types any more than I did French car manufacturers. Being around guns just didn't seem to work with me. I knew what my old gun took, but that was about it. The middle basket on the right. That was easy enough to remember. Hank paused, looking at the gun again then he went to the basket I normally used. He slipped a bullet into the gun and closed it quickly, turning and handing it to me. I stepped up to the waist high barrier and took aim at a rather battered dummy down at the bottom. The target didn't matter really, there just had to be one. I took aim between the dummy's eyes and let my finger touch the trigger. I waited for a full second, letting the breath out of me. Near the bottom of my breath, I said. "I n-n-name you Hellcat." Then I fired. I saw the spark fly off the dummy's forehead and I knew I'd hit it. Hanks hand, strangely heavy came down on my shoulder. "Angelina Harrow, I bind you forever to Hellcat." I felt my gut tightening as he spoke my new name. To hear it in his commanding voice that he inherited from his father, I knew it meant more than he had intended and that I would always remember this moment as the time I learned my name, aswell as I became Hellcat's owner. Angelina. I think I would have preferred to be called Patience, or one of those other hippy created names. Angelina, that was just so... well, tomb-raiderish. I turned my head and saw J.J. standing to the side of Hank. I shared something with the two girls now, and I knew that they'd never betray me. It was as embarrassing for them to admit as it would be for me. J.J. was just looking at me nervously, so I smiled. "You know..." Hank said, sarcastically. "If anyone wants to fill me in on what's got you all so weird tonight, I promise not to tell the rest of you." J.J. punched him on the arm. "HEY!" J.J. put up her arms and I went to her. She hugged me, and I hugged her back, it was a strange moment. "You know, I've changed my mind," J.J. said. "How about we go back to mum's place?" "Sure. Sounds good," I said, though I knew she had decided that it would be better at a place where we couldn't be interrupted and we could talk. This place was fine, but there was always the outside chance of one of the boys coming in. "Ok," Hank said. "House party!" "You're not invited," J.J. warned. "Just girls only tonight." I felt her hand tighten a little around my shoulder when she said that and I knew she hadn't missed much of what had happened tonight. "Awww." Hank cooed, looking dejected. "We'll see you tomorrow Hank," I said, pulling away from J.J. Hank smiled and before I knew what was happening he had stepped forwards and pulled me into a hug. I was completely surprised at this, it just wasn't something I was used to, or even expecting. "Ok Red," he said, I could hear his voice booming inside his chest. J.J. saw my paniced eyes, but shrugged very slightly. He stepped back and kissed my forehead. I wondered if in this existence we'd ever really been more than friends, or indeed if I had experimented, who it had been with. There was a lot of potential embarrassment there. "This is your penultimate step," he said quietly. "Our little angel is growing up fast. Only one more barrier for you little princess, and then you'll be a woman." His words stung a little, but they also felt good in a way. It was confusing. Everything seemed to have two sides to it now. It wasn't like before. Everything seemed to be double edged. I looked at him sharply. I had the strange idea that he knew what had happened to me, but as I opened my mouth to speak, I realised that there was nothing odd about Hank's expression. It was uncertain, and if I jumped to conclusions I could also be leaping into embarrassment. Hank's eyes narrowed a little as once again he detected the obscure unuttered thread that had laced the conversation he was having with us tonight. Hank was sharp. He didn't speak though. He just watched me, looking privately for clues even though he trusted us, human nature is to be curious. I made my face look blank. "Red..." J.J. said, carefully. "Why don't you just tell him?" I turned to J.J., openly disbelieving my ears. This was no mere secret, this was potentially life shattering. Hank had not picked up wind of the change, had acted infact like I had always looked like this, so I was inclined to let him go on thinking that. It would be easier and there was nothing to be gained but embarrassment. "Fine," J.J. said, "Well, I'll tell him then. It's nothing to be ashamed of!" She said quickly. What the hell was she doing? She knew I didn't want Hank to know the truth, since I had appeared at the table she had known that. I narrowed my eyes at her, trying to get her to shut up, but apparently that was infact what she wanted me to do. "Red got her period," J.J. said quickly. "If you must know." Hank paused, and then let out a quick bark of a laugh. He put his hand around my shoulders. He didn't say much more than that, there was a twisted kind of embarrassment in my gut, but I knew it was better than it could have been. I knew Hank was feeling it too. Guys never like talking about female problems, at least those kind anyway. It makes them uncomfortable. "Ok. Ok," Hank said, moving away. "I'll give you all some privacy." He took a couple of steps then turned back around, walking backwards towards the stairs. "Red. I want you to practice as much as you can with that gun. I want you at your best for the competition." I nodded, though I didn't dare try to speak. My mind was so cluttered up with barrelling thoughts right now that they would have jumbled up any centance beyond hope of comprehension. Then Hank was gone and after another moment we heard him climbing the stairs. I let out a long breath of relief and leaned back against the rail behind me. J.J. watched me for a moment, then came forwards. "Sorry," she said. I nodded. "n-n-n...nothing to be sorry f-for," I said. "If you guys have given up playing games." Amie started. "I'd like to say that what we just did was wrong." "We know," J.J. said, looking over at her. "But what could we have said? Hank wouldn't have believed us." "Why not?" Amie said. "Amie," J.J. said patiently. "Hank was calling Red Angelina from the moment he walked in. That's who she is now." She raised her hand to my arm, it's strange how comforted I felt just from the gesture. It was kind of surreal. "I don't like lying, and especially not to Hank, but I will hold Red's secret, if that's what she... what he wants..." I nodded, although I'd rather she had just called me a she instead of confusing things. "Yeah," Amie said quietly. "I'm sorry Red. I just don't like lies. My mom lies to me all the time." I walked forwards, and hugged her. It came surprisingly easily to me. It was just something I had to do at that moment. "Lets go to Ja-a-a-nes," I said, turning back to J.J. She nodded, smiling a little. Right from the minute I stepped up onto J.J.'s house's welcome mat, I knew that Hellcat's historical changes had been absolute. I knew in a moment the utter severity of what she had done in a moment, and I knew that however hard I fought it now, I would never have it completely corrected. I never had had any chance in opposition to her, from the moment I cut my finger our paths were completely intertwined and there would be no separation of the two of us. It was like I guess she had bought half of my brain for her own use and was now looking intently at the other half. I knew there would be further developments between us, I had a strange idea that the penis, which was still attached to me, wasn't going to last long. She'd called the whole thing a possession, so presumably at some point she was going to try and take over control. I wondered how I could resist her, and even if it were possible now. We were met on the doorstep by Jane's brother. He wasn't the nice kind of brother and sometimes when Jane showed up with a black eye, it was usually his doing. Although to be fair it didn't happen often. Kirk was just saying goodbye to his friend, Elwin Goodbody, the two of them were two thirds of one set of playground obstacles I faced most mornings. J.J. uttered a chilling hello to the pair of them as she stepped past, and I knew at that moment that something was going to happen. Elwin had paused, still with one foot in the door. He put his hand up across where I was going to walk and I turned to him. "Hello Red. How'd you like to come to a party with me tonight." There was menace in his question, there always was with Elwin, he could put a chill into good morning. I didn't like him, rumors were that his father beat him practically every night and that it had twisted his soul. Personally I wasn't inclined to agree. Elwin was just evil, but then so was Kirk. They had broken two of my ribs as well of my nose one time when they caught me alone and out of school. They had finished the insult at the end with the assurance between them that I wouldn't tell anyone anyway because I was incapable of speaking more than a word at a time. That hurt a lot more than the beating. I shook my head, but he didn't remove his hand. "Come on, it'll be fun." He lied. I wondered how he could tell such a big lie with a straight face like that. I shook my head again. "What?" He asked, faking hurt feelings. "Are you saying you're too good for me?" Kirk laughed, but for the first time in my life, I actually felt like I wasn't afraid of them. They were just small minded people and there was nothing that they could do about it. Theirs was the most pitiful existence, not my new one. I paused, just for a moment, and then with a smile I nodded. I'd probably pay for that later, but it was worth it to see the surprise crossing his face just then. I ducked underneath his still outstretched arm, deciding that he wasn't going to move it. I was inside in a moment, and following J.J. up the stairs to her room, though with my ears behind me, listening for any follow up comment from Elwin. Hellcat was in my pocket, and I already knew that the effect she was having was completely different from the one that crappy temporary gun had had. Nobody spoke until the door closed behind Amie, but then we all grinned. J.J. was looking at me with a gleam in her eyes, just as though she was a little proud of me. "How does it feel?" She asked, although there was no need to ask what she was talking about. Her tone was curious, not satisfied, so I knew she meant more than the verbal abuse on Elwin. She meant how did I feel in myself which was a different thing really. I flicked her a double thumbs up and she grinned. "In a few weeks Red, I want you to tell me the answer to this question. Do girls have more fun than guys?" I smiled, I knew she was pushing me to revel in what I was becoming and I was actually starting to like the idea. It was like all that fake upper part of me, the front I had been using to hide behind from the rest of the world had just fallen flat and I honestly wasn't sure if it was pushed from behind, by me. Or perhaps even by Hellcat. As all my friends had learnt to do, J.J. crossed to the computer she had in the lower part of her desk and pushed the switch to turn it on. It always helped for me to have somewhere I could write, and it saved uncomfortable pauses if it were readily available. I sat down on the bed though, as J.J. crossed to the door. I had some stuff I could perhaps say, but I really didn't feel like doing a lot of typing just now. J.J. stopped with her hand on the doorknob, and I saw that something behind me had caught her attention. J.J. hesitated, then stepped forwards, towards me, but still looking in the same direction. I began to turn but J.J. grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet, then she turned me around. There was a mirror behind me, and for the first time I saw who I was actually becoming. I'd only looked at my face in the hand mirror, I realised. I should have done a little more. The face was still this slightly newer one, but my figure was different. I still wore the same clothes, but a little differently. You could see the roundness of my chest below my shirt that I knew I didn't have just now. The shirt was tighter against them than it was around me, and there was an inch of skin at my belly left exposed before the blue jeans began. I felt my breath catching in my throat as I looked at myself. It was true that it was how I had always dreamed I could have looked, except for some fine details, but my chest was just right for me, neither too large, nor small. J.J. put her hands up and scooped my hair in her hands, holding it there, then she let it go and it flopped back to it's usual position, but now it was kind of waving back. "Shit," I breathed. J.J. smiled in the mirror. "You're beautiful," she said. "No wonder Hank was all over you." I turned. "He was?" "No. I'm just joking. But you certainly got Elwin on your tail." Amie appeared next to us in the mirror. She was always slow at realisation, but there was no better worker in the town. Amie was very single minded sometimes and would often focus on something and forget about everything else. "Whoa," she said. I stepped back, and put my arms around both of them. The figures lips moved in time with my own, perfectly timed. "Girls? I w-w-want t-to t-t- t-thank you both." "Accepted, but only if you let me hang out with you in school," Amie said, grinning. "Oh god, you are gonna be such a guy magnet." "n-n-nah," I said, though I was thrilled inside. I don't know why though, I didn't want a boyfriend, and certainly not this early, if indeed at all. Amie reached up her hand to where my chest should have been and I watched as the Amie in the mirror stroked her hand down the front of mirror-me's shirt. Just for a fraction of a moment, I could feel her hand, but it was hard to describe. It was there, and yet it wasn't. I guess I could only relate it to the hand that itches when the whole arm is gone from a soldier. I'd heard of such things happening usually when the shock had taken grip of them after they had lost an appendage, this was probably a lot like that. Amie's hand dropped away. I walked around the bed and sat down on the other side of it, facing my reflection. Behind me I saw J.J. discreetly tugging Amie towards the door. "Come on, lets raid our fridge," she said, her voice quiet and low as though she didn't want to disturb my thoughts. I leaned forwards on the bed, surprised that I actually should feel so shocked by this. It took me a moment to realise what I was seeing, but I nearly shouted in fright when I realised. I stopped myself though, it would have brought J.J. and Amie, not to mention anyone else in the vicinity, running. Hellcat's head was sticking out from underneath the bed. She was smiling. "You again?" I said, not sure if I should feel angry with her or feel happy. I guess I was confused. My emotions didn't seem to know what they wanted any more. She nodded. "Me," she confirmed. "What do you want now?" She raised an eyebrow. "Just because I'm a demon doesn't mean I'm not a nice person to the people who matter." "Yeah, ok. Whatever," I said, glancing back up at my face in the mirror. Shit, I really was as pretty as Jessica Hamsons, and she was the head cheerleader. I wondered what kind of life the person in the mirror has had so far. I looked back down, but Hellcat's head had gone. When I looked back up at the mirror though, I saw her behind me. She was on her knees, directly behind me, her head over mine in the mirror. I saw the paleness of her skin, and how mine was exactly the same tone. I blinked in surprise. Hellcat had four arms. "I just wanted to make sure you were settling in alright," Hellcat said. She used her top two arms and pulled my hair back and began to play with it, just like J.J. had. I wanted to tell her how angry I was, to shout at her, but something stopped me, perhaps it was just the strangeness of her body. I didn't have the energy to argue though and she had perhaps done me the service of granting my wish, a wish that in the lonely days before the gun club had once had me on a lonely country road, a mile from home, looking up at the pale moon in a deeply blue sky and telling the world at large, albeit quietly, that if there was a god that would grant me a favour, I would dedicate to them my afterlife. Unsurprisingly enough, absolutely nothing had happened. "Did a god send you to me?" I asked, just out of interest. She looked puzzled. "No. But probably fate had something to do with it. I was trapped in that gun for an exceptionally long time. I need the right kind of mind, to be released." "Oh," I said. "You're probably the prettiest person I've touched though," she said, looking at the reflection in the mirror. "Gee, thanks," I said. It felt a little more like an insult coming from her, it had been her doing after all. She laughed quietly, putting all her arms around me, and grinning with her head on my shoulder. I couldn't help but smile even though it was weird. "I know you want to feel mad at me Angelo," she said. "Can I call you Red too?" "Yeah. I guess you can." "Thanks Red. I know you want to hate me, but I know that something else is stopping you too. I don't pretend to understand, and I suspect it'll be some time before I do. But know this. What you see, hear, taste, smell and feel is all recorded inside your mind. Your whole life waiting to be read. I am reading you, not like a book, more like some kind of 3d world. It is real what I'm reading and it happens to me, just as it did to you. If you hate me now, when I read this bit, I will feel that hatred for myself. If you want to hate me, I won't ask you not to. But know that eventually, I will be attuned to you." "I know you think this is unfair, and that's true too. Try and imagine what it's like for me, because this is my whole existence. I can't stop doing it, any more than you can stop breathing. It isn't so bad really, not from your point of view. It's true that change is sometimes worse, but not very often. I already know a deep part of you already." Hellcat leaned back, her two top hands returning to my hair, but her bottom two grasped both of the mirror-me's tits in her hands. This time I actually felt the contact and it was so real that I had to look down to persuade myself that nothing else had changed. "I don't know why I came to you. I don't even think I've ever had such a reaction on anyone I possessed either. But I can't remember too far back. Sometimes fate throws me where I can do some good, sometimes she keeps me locked away for a thousand years." "How old are you?" I asked. She smiled and shrugged. Her hands dropping away. "Are you going to take over my body?" I asked, knowing it had to be said. "For now, no," she replied easily. "I'll be there, ready to step in should you need me, but for now I'll sit back and continue experiencing your history." "But you will eventually?" She paused, then nodded. "Of course. But by that point we'll probably be so alike that you'll hardly know the difference." She let her fingers intelace across my thighs. "The last few possessions that I can remember were all female. It's certainly not enough to draw any kind of conclusions from, but from your reaction I wonder if now I am the combined parts of those women and you." She mused "I think I'm glad you changed though." "Whys that?" I asked. She smiled, shaking her head a little. "When you have fun, I have fun, or at least I will when I get to that part of your life, and nobody has more fun than girls, and more hurt too." She added, pausing. "I'm sorry if I spooked your friends." "I know you're the wrong person to ask, and I know you'll probably lie anyway, but I don't know who else I could ask. Can I exorcise you?" She looked at me for a moment, then I saw a little sadness cross her face. She shook her head. "It's far too late for that. But if it makes you feel better, you never really had a say in it to begin with. It was over much too soon for you to have done anything as is always the case." "Look, if we're stuck together just give me one reason why I can trust you." She shook her head. "I doubt very much that you can trust me. Not for years and years more I should imagine. But it's not a problem. Your survival and mine is guaranteed for at least a hundred years. You won't even age past twenty or so. But don't let that worry you. Go to school, get an education. Please go get a boyfriend too. Live your life. When I come calling, you tend to get less choice in the direction we take." She paused. "I can feel that you feel slightly better about me now. I'm glad." "I don't feel better, I just understand a little more," I replied, quickly. "By the way," she added, almost as an after thought. "Did you notice that you haven't stuttered since you started talking to me?" I blinked. I hadn't? "You know that means you can beat it?" she said. "If you want to hard enough." She faded, faster than she had before at the table, she was gone inside of a second this time. My hair flopped back down from where her hands had bee