Maria (Sister)
But he couldn’t just lock himself in his apartment for the rest of his life, or however long this curse would last. Maybe Leland will have a cure. That old son of a bitch knew what this would do to me. That would have to wait. First, he had to get help. He ran out of the bathroom, whipping his fluffy skunk tail through the air behind him. Morbid curiosity drove him to try and move it.
Sure enough, it wagged on command like the feathered fan of a burlesque dancer. That was kind of cool, but not enough to stay focused on. His phone was left on his dresser. He clicked the power button, bringing up the lock screen. A few rapid taps unlocked it and brought him to the home screen. He opened his contacts and selected the person who lived the closest, his sister Maria.
She picked up on the third ring. “Hey! What’s up?”
“Maria?” His voice was a harsh reminder that he was no longer a male. He clapped his paw back over his mouth. Shit! He cleared his throat, then tried to correct his pitch by bringing it lower. “You there?” He cringed hard. It was painfully obvious that he was trying to change his voice into something more masculine.
“Uh, yeah?” Maria said, sounding concerned. “You OK? You sound weird.”
“Um, yeah.” His attempt at sounding more natural failed. “I mean… no. I kinda have an emergency.”
“Oh. What’s wrong? What happened?” The worry in her voice cut like an edge.
“Well, I’m fine. I’m not hurt. Nobody’s hurt, but… I need you to come over.”
“OK. I’m headed over right now. What is it?”
He cringed. “It’s hard to explain. I can’t tell you over the phone.”
He heard the frown in her voice. “OK… How bad is it? What’s going on? Do you need me to call the police?”
“No! Just… Just get over here, OK? I can’t explain it without you seeing it.”
She didn’t ask any more questions. “OK. I’m on my way.” She hung up the phone, leaving Jared alone in the silence of his apartment. He spent the next several minutes pacing around, rubbing his paws nervously. His pink button nose twitched incessantly. His tail would flick and jitter behind him. He tried putting jeans on, only to find that the extra padding of fur prevented that. A towel around torso was going to have to do. A sharp buzzing sound rang through the apartment when his sister hit the intercom. He unlocked the door for her and she came running up. Jared panicked. She can’t see me like this right when she walks in! He ran into the kitchen and hid behind the doorway right as he heard knocking on the door. “Hello?” called a voice.
“Come in,” he hollered. “It’s open.”
Maria opened the door and stepped inside cautiously. “Jazz? You here?”
Written by TheGreatJaceyGee on 25 January 2023
