Author’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of the characters and event portrayed in this story to any person living or dead or any actual event is purely coincidental.

 

Under Covers               by: Marti B

 

Richard was scared! No, that’s not quite right, Richard was absolutely terrified as he laid ramrod straight in bed. The covers were pulled tightly across the bridge of his nose leaving only the top of his head visible.

"Just like a five year old afraid of the ugly green monster in the closet" said Richard to no one but himself.

At fifteen, Richard was no five year old. He knew that the covers had no magic powers to protect him just as if he knew that there were no ugly green monsters lurking in his closet. His monster looked like a beautiful woman and she lived inside the north wall of his room. Her looks though, didn’t make her any less dangerous.

What a way to face your last hours of existence! Cowering in bed like a sissy. Richard felt so alone and vulnerable lying there. There was no one to tell, no one to protect him. Why did his parents have to buy this house? Why did his dad have to get transferred to New England and why did he end up living in some place called Good Witch Cove? In the end, it really didn’t matter. All these things had happened and now, just two days after turning fifteen, Richard’s life was about to end.

He remembered how he literally ran through the house the first day his parents showed it to him. He had three rooms to choose from but something drew him to this room. Was it the lady in the wall calling him even back then? He didn’t know, but here he was.

Everything started out great. School was neat and he quickly made a lot of friends. He made second string on the football team at strong safety. He even played in the homecoming game when Tom twisted his ankle. Richard was too short and really didn’t care about basketball but he had a hard time containing his enthusiasm as the first signs of spring heralded the coming of baseball season.

None of that seemed to matter any more. He just wasn’t ready to die. There were so many adventures to experience. Richard stole a glance at the clock on the dresser. It said eleven twenty-three. About an hour and a half to go he thought.

Richard thought about the first time he saw the woman in the wall. Several times over the previous week, he had awakened with the certainty that someone was in his room watching him as he slept. Once or twice, he had even felt the light brush of a hand across his cheek. What was it, three weeks ago when he saw the figure disappear into the wall? He had leapt from his bed and followed the faint scent of perfume across the room to the spot where she disappeared. In the darkness, the wall looked solid. He pushed with his shoulder and then dug his fingernails in to try to gain some leverage, but the wall wouldn’t yield its secrets. Richard woke the next morning with a vague recollection of the previous night’s events. He did remember that he had to look at the north wall for a secret door. He searched without much enthusiasm the next morning without much luck.

Two nights later, he felt her presence again. He slowly opened his eyes. He could just make out her shape even though she stood only a couple of feet away. Richard started to get out of bed but a strange force seemed to suck the strength from his muscles. As Richard struggled, unable to escape the clutches of the covers the woman smiled. Her laugh was musical as she lightly brushed his hair out of his eyes.

"Oh, I can see that you’ll do just fine." She said. "Now, now girl. Quit squirming before you hurt yourself. I’m not going to hurt you tonight. However, wait until you turn fifteen. The I’ll be back seeking revenge for all the hurt you and your people caused."

Richard continued to struggle as the woman slowly glided over to the wall. She passed right through the solid wall, which seemed to swallow her completely. Even after she disappeared, he was unable to free himself. Exhausted, he fell into a troubled sleep. When he woke the next morning, again he had a vague recollection of the night’s events but the details were blurred. Since everything looked normal, he put the incident behind him. He had no problems getting up and out of bed. He felt tired, as if he had just finished a work out but Richard attributed that to just a bad dream.

A week later Richard woke in the middle of the night for no apparent reason. As he opened his eyes, though panic seized him. He wasn’t in his room! It looked like his room but it seemed to be decorated for a girl. The windows had eyelet curtains with floral tiebacks. The walls appeared to be a hue of pastel lavender. His bed, no this bed had a canopy! Even he felt different. His hand unconsciously moved to his head only to get tangled in his long flowing curls. He sat up in bed and felt the weight of his breasts. His hand moved from his head to his chest. He gently touched his breast but his hand seemed to pass right through his new skin.

Richard called out for help but the sound was much higher pitched than his own crackling adolescent male voice. Richard panicked! He needed his mom, now! Richard’s legs refused to respond to his mind’s commands. He sat in bed held by an invisible force. A voice whispered in his ear. A hand lightly stroked his cheek. The panic lessened but fear firmly gripped poor Richard. He felt rather than saw the mysterious woman from the wall.

"Just a few short weeks, and all this will be yours." She said. "Do you want to thank me now or wait for your present before you express your appreciation."

Richard tried but was unable to answer. He wanted to call out for help. He wanted this nightmare to end. He needed his mom!

Richard struggled to break free from the spell that held him helpless. The lady once again seemed to hover as she moved effortlessly through the wall.

Again, Richard fell into a deep but troubled sleep. The sun was just peeking above the horizon when Richard woke. His first act was to carefully peek from under the covers. Whew, it was his room. Richard jumped from the bed and headed to the place on the north wall where the lady had disappeared. His purposeful stride turned into a timid tiptoe approach as his confidence slipped away. He wanted to run. He needed to tell someone about his visitor the previous night. But who?

All of that was in the past now. Tonight was the last he’d spend with his family. A tear slowly trickled from the corner of his eye. Richard was too scared to release his grasp on the covers to wipe it away. Richard stole another look at the clock. The digital display told him it was twelve fifteen, less than an hour to go. Richard fell into a troubled sleep.

It must have been the chill that woke him! Richard slowly opened his eyes. He didn’t recognize his surroundings. Where was he? He realized that he was standing naked, facing the north wall where the lady lived. Involuntarily, his eyes lowered as he felt the lady emerge from her lair.

"Well, well, I see my little girl is ready for her big night. But, you’ll catch a cold standing here. Come child, get back into bed and pull the covers up."

Richard followed the lady’s instructions while an inner voice screamed at him to resist. The lady helped Richard snuggle into the covers. She pulled the heavy quilt up to Richard’s chin. She brushed a wisp of hair from Richard’s eye.

"Isn’t it amazing, the trust we place in inanimate objects." She said. "Take these covers for example. An hour ago you clung to them for protection and now, now they will be the instrument of your change!"

Richard felt the covers tighten around his body. He tried to escape but the soft material held like steel. He opened his mouth to scream for help, but a tendril of blanket filled his mouth. It continued to snake its way down his throat. Richard panicked! Was he going to die choking on a quilt? He struggled vainly.

Suddenly, there was a new penetration as the animated covered entered his rectum. He felt the material swelling as it worked its way through his lower body. Another penetration ass the covers entered the opening at the head of his penis. This time, the covers seemed to be pulling Richard’s developing penis back into his body. His body totally filled with the magic of the covers convulsed violently on the bed. The lady just stood there and smiled. Slowly she began to fade as Richard lost consciousness.

"Rachel, Rachel Ann. Are you up yet! You’re going to be late for school!"

Richard shot up in bed at the sound of his mom’s voice. He was still dazed from his experiences the previous night. He was also confused. He was sure it was his mom’s voice, but he didn’t recognize the name. Who was Rachel Ann?"

The answer to this last question came swiftly as his bedroom door swung open and his mom’ head appeared.

"Come on Rachel. Get out of bed now and get into the shower. Don’t get your hair wet because we don’t have time to dry and style it. You’ll have to wear it in a clip again today."

"Mom!" Richard cried. "What happened?"

"You overslept again young lady. That’s what happened!"

His mom disappeared before Richard could ask any more questions. He sat up and immediately felt the changes in his body. He looked down to see the cute breasts poking out of his nightgown. His hair fell in a cascade of auburn curls across his face. He looked up. He was in the room of his dreams. The eyelet curtains, the canopy bed, him, all the things in his dream had come true!

Richard went into the bathroom to shower. Without thinking, he stood under the spray soaking his body from head to toe. He emerged from the shower and began to dry. He rubbed his hair with the towel to get most of the moisture out only to get his long hair hopelessly tangled. He tried to pull a comb through but only managed to get the comb stuck.

"Mom! Can you help me?"

"I swear Rachel, at times you just seem so helpless." His mom said while carefully brushing the tangles out of Richard’s hair. She managed to get the tangles out and started to braid her daughter’s hair in a single large braid.

"We don’t have time to fix your hair today so we’ll just put it in a braid while its wet."

Breakfast was a quick glass of juice and a kiss for mom as Rachel headed off to school. The feel of the skirt brushing lightly on his legs was a new and pleasant experience for Richard. He loved the feel of the material as it softly flowed back and forth in rhythm with his footsteps. The shoes though were another story. Richard had selected a pair of platform sandals from the closet. He had seen girls wearing this style before and thought is would be easy. It was weird feeling the heel of the shoe dropping away with each step only to reattach itself to his heel on the ground. He almost tripped several times because of the almost three inch thickness of the soles of the shoes.

Richard also noticed how his body seemed to glide down the sidewalk. He felt the sway of his hips as the female anatomy did its job.

As he approached the school, Richard was seized with panic. He normally hung out with Joe and Tom before the morning bell but that was as a guy. He had noticed that the girls seemed to form into three groups; the cheerleaders and the sports groupies, the geeks, and the "bad girls". He really didn’t know which group to join and he didn’t want to stand out in the middle of the schoolyard by himself.

The problem was quickly resolved when he met Jennifer just outside the school.

"Hi Rachel, running late again I see", said Jennifer motioning toward the braid. "Me too." Pointing at the twist of hair held in place by a large brown alligator clip.

Jennifer led Richard over to the cheerleaders where they joined Beth, Brittany, Alicia, Dawn, and Amber. The whole time the girls talked Rachel felt the stare of Amber who seemed to be looking at the new girl with a smile.

By the time third period came around, Richard was beginning to think that he had the problem. He seemed to be the only one who knew that, up until last night, he had been a boy. Everyone acted and talked as if Rachel had been around forever. Richard wanted to scream. He needed just one person to talk to. He wanted to find out what happened to him.

Richard went to his locker after third period Literature. As he opened the locker, a small folded piece of paper tumbled out. Richard bent down and picked up the paper. As he opened it his books crashed to the floor causing the normal commotion to pause briefly as people looked at the startled girl. The note hit him like a heavy door.

"Hi Richard,

Oh, I guess its Rachel now since the little dick is gone. Quite a difference isn’t it. What’s the worst part, being a girl now of realizing that no one misses poor Richard"

The note wasn’t signed. Richard looked around, scanning the faces to see if someone was watching. Someone else knew! There was someone who he could talk to. Richard headed off to lunch.

The rest of the day was a blur as far as schoolwork went. Richard watched the other students trying to find out who had left the note. He needed to talk. When was he going to change back to his old self?

Richard walked home slowly after cheerleading practice. Several times other girls would come up to him to talk but none gave any sign that they thought of him as anything but the girl he had become.

About a block from his house, he heard a familiar voice calling Rachel from behind. It was Tom!

"Hi Rachel. You looked great at practice today! I had a hard time concentrating out there in left field."

They talked about school and the weather. Richard knew here was another agenda working here but couldn’t figure out what it was. Was Tom the one who left the note? Richard almost asked but then realized that it was a different agenda at work. He knew that Tom was hitting on him. He enjoyed flirting with the ruggedly handsome boy. As they reached Richard’s front walk Tom seemed to muster his courage.

"Rachel, do you have a date for the spring dance?"

"No, not yet." Richard answered.

"Would you go with me?"

"I’d love to!"

A quick kiss on the lips and Tom was off running down the street. Richard turned toward his front door with a smile. He was attracted to Tom. He wanted Tom. As the full realization hit, the smile dissolved into fear. Richard ran into the house and sped up the stairs and into the safety of his room. Safety? After last night? Now, that was a joke and Richard couldn’t help but laugh.

Dinner with mom and dad was tough. Didn’t they care about their missing son? It seemed like they had forgotten ever having a son. Mom asked about Tom. It was obvious from her questions that she saw the events on the sidewalk. It was just as obvious that she approved.

Richard woke in plenty of time to get ready for school the next day. He showered and carefully brushed out the tangles in his hair. He blew his hair almost dry then began rolling it on a set of large heated rollers. His hands seemed to move without thought indicating years of practice. Was this whole boy thing just a delusion?

Richard sat at the vanity in his room and began applying makeup. He began with a light powder. He added just the right amount of blush to accentuate his cheekbones. Eyeliner went on smoothly as did the red lipstick. He sat back to look at the results and was pleased. God, he was a good-looking girl. He selected a demi-bra from the drawer and hooked it in the back. A matching thong was next. The day was supposed to be warm so Richard picked out a bright green tank top and a contrasting mini-skirt. He went back into the bathroom to remove the rollers just as mom called from downstairs.

"I’ll be right down mom!" He called as he brushed his hair. A few touches with the curling iron, a light misting of hairspray and he was ready for the day. Well, not totally ready because there was still that voice that reminded him that guys didn’t dress this way.

Richard almost lost control in Literature. He was sitting there listening to the lecture when a flood of memories assaulted him. Boy memories like fishing, hiking, playing football. Memories of times spend with friends in guy talk. The realization that he would never experience these boyhood pleasures again bore down on him like a tremendous weight. He raised his hand and asked to if he could be excused. A couple of boys in the class made some comments about "that time of month." Richard ran into the hall, leaned up against the lockers, and sobbed.

"The second day is the toughest", a voice said.

Richard looked up to see Amber standing next to him.

"What?"

"The second day. I just told you that this is the worst day following the change, Richard."

"You know? How?"

"I know because I went through the same thing two years ago. Come on, we need to get away from here before the bell rings and the place turns into the normal zoo."

Amber led Richard out a side door and then through a gate. The two girls walked down Maple to the park. They found a secluded bench and sat.

"What happened to me?" Richard began.

"It’s a long story." Replied Amber. "It all goes back to the late seventeen hundreds and the Pilgrims. The area around here was originally settled by the Brammert family a couple of years after the landing a Plymouth Rock. The Brammerts built the large stone house that you live in today. Anyway, people followed the Brammerts to the area. Back then it was called Brammert Cove."

"It was a couple of years later that the witch panic hit the town. The smoke from the fires in Salem was visible to the north. I couldn’t find out what caused the accusation but, the Brammert twins Ethan and Elvira were accused of being witches. Their mother pleaded with the mob to spare her children but to no avail. As the fires were lit, the mother’s voice raised above the noise of the crowd. She cursed the town and everyone in it. She swore that because the town had stolen her children she would steal their legacy. Not one surname of the people present would survive."

"The crowd turned on the old woman. A third fire burned that afternoon and the glow could be seen as far away as Salem that night."

"Well, the town quickly forgot the curse but a strange thing was happening. All the children were girls. This went on for several years. One by one, without a male child to carry on the family name, the surnames began to disappear. The problem was no one seemed to care."

"The town almost disappeared in the 1830s but had a resurgence after the Civil War. The cove was renamed Witches Cove then and was changed to Goodwitch Cove in about 1885. When the people returned, the curse returned as well. In 1897, the Goodwitch High School was renamed Brammert Girls Academy. There are no records but, the implications are clear if you understand the curse."

In the 1930s, the strange predominance of female children caught the attention of a young researcher from Harvard. He came to Goodwitch Cove and was amazed to see all the girls. There were a few boys but they all seemed to be under twelve. The young researcher went over to Crawfordsville to the hospital and made a strange discovery. The hospital birth records indicated that the ratio of males to female children in Goodwitch Cove was about 47/53 percent. He returned to the town and began to follow-up by looking for specific children in their mid-teens. He couldn’t find any of the male children listed in the hospital records. What he did find is that the families who should have had male teens were raising girls. He conducted physicals on several of these teens and determined that the teens were genetically female. The researcher settled in Goodwitch Cove to continue his studies. Three years later, the study appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine. Nothing happened for another four years. A recently graduated geneticist happened on the article while doing research. He came here looking for the author. He found her living in the big stone house without any recollection of the previous research."

"That brings us to today. As you can guess, the curse is still active but less powerful. There are boys around but they tend to live in the outskirts of the town. There are no boys living within the original boundaries of the town. At least not teenage boys. Sometime between the thirteenth and sixteenth birthdays, the boys change into girls. Most remember being boys for about a year but the memories fade quickly. As far as the rest of the people are concerned, they don’t have a clue. To them, the girls have always been there."

"The change is permanent Rachel. There is no going back. In fact, ever since you appeared, my male memories are fading quickly. I think I retained my awareness to help guide you through the process just like you’ll be here to guide the next girl through the transition."

"There is one other effect of the curse that you may have noticed. You are attracted to boys and have an almost uncontrollable urge to have sex. You’ll do almost anything to lure a boy to your house and into your bed. The only problem is, you may go to sleep with a boy but you’ll wake sleeping next to a new girlfriend."

Rachel and Amber returned to school just in time for afternoon classes. Rachel asked Amber about their talk during practice but the confused expression on Amber’s face told Rachel that the knowledge had been transferred. After practice, Tom walked her home. They flirted all the way to Rachel’s front walk. By this time, Tom was almost as hot for her as she was for him. Together they turned up the front walk. They held hands all the way to Rachel’s bedroom.

Tom was gentle as he took Rachel’s virginity that warm spring day. Lying under Tom, Rachel smiled as she thrust back matching him stroke for stroke. She only caught a brief glimpse of the lady from the wall floating near the bed. She was determined to give Tom the gift that she never experienced. As Tom collapsed on top of her, Rachel smiled at old Mrs. Brammert. At least Tome would have this memory for another year.

 

 

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