Daddy's Girl

Chapter 1
Mommy's Girl

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Chapter Description: The start of Annette's adventure where she meets Vain and the Old Woman, and then has a touching seen with her mother.

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Chapter One: Mommy’s Girl

Annette walked down the street, thinking about her mother’s words from earlier, and she decided to try and take it as an appephemy. To try and be less selfish, almost every person she knew did everything for everyone else, and Annette wanted to do that sort of thing too. To drop everything she was doing that was important to her and help an old lady out, or go work in a soup kitchen, or help out at an orphanage. All this was an effort to be the exact opposite of the man she most despised. Her father, who she views as the most selfish man she’s ever known, or will ever know for that matter.

This girl was not the most attractive young lady in her school, or else she might have had more masculine things on her mind, but perhaps it wouldn’t have made a difference. Maybe no matter what would’ve happened she would’ve seen that brittle looking woman carrying all those boxes whether or not she was a cheerleader or the president of the chess club.

Or maybe she had to be the person who she was, a girl of average everything, not particularly talented in anything.

But she did see that old woman that day, with gray hair almost to the point of white and about a dozen white and black boxes that looked liked a vertical checker board. Keeping her perfect mother’s (who was above average in everything, intelligence, beauty, money, parental skills) word to be considerate of everyone’s feelings (even though it was aimed toward her younger brother) Annette decided that the old woman was having some difficulty, although she wasn’t even breaking a sweat. "Excuse me?" Annette called out to the old woman, who looked back with a grimace at the girl, which Annette took as a sign of having difficulty, justifying her action of bugging the poor women. Annette snatched the boxes out of her hands. "Would you like some help?"

"No, not really, but you might as well since you already have the boxes anyway." The old woman replied. Annette nodded, pleased with her deed and the acceptance of her companion.

Annette and the old lady walked side by side, as different as two sides of a penny, one old, one young, one grouchy with her chore, one pleased with her deed. one wearing a tight, conservative bun, the other wearing a simple, carefree ponytail, one wearing an all black death, as if in mourning, and one wearing white jeans and a white Abercrombie and Fitch t-shirt, the apphimey of purity. Even the boxes were different patterns"So, where are we heading anyway?" Annette asked as they walked through a down she had never been into to and was filled with boarded up houses and closed up shops.

"We’re going to my store." Was all the old woman said, in a tone that made Annette cringe and grimace, losing her perky attitude that she has obtained with her good deed.

"Mhmm," she replied, quickly losing interest with her task that she had placed on her selves, "So, what do ya sell?" Annette asked trying to keep the strange quite that she suddenly

noticed. Not only had she figured out the silence that engulfed the ragged part of town, but was figuring out that this place was completely devoid of life except for the two, and also, that if she tried to go anywhere with out the old woman, that she would be lost. Annette had the feeling that her cell phone wouldn’t work in this part of town either, as they never did in scary movies.

Looking towards her young companion, she replied simply, "Wants."

"What kind of wants?" The spooky air was getting to Annette.

"All kind of wants." The old woman’s frowned deepened.

Annette nodded. "Would you care to elabenate?"

"The word you are looking for is ’elaborate’, and I suppose if I must, I sell whatever a person wants in their mind."

Annette started laughing, snorted, then stopped herself. "Is-isn’t it ’heart’, not mi-mind?" She asked forcing herself to keep a straight face, it wasn’t very nice to laugh at people.

"An organ that pumps blood doesn’t normally have wants."

"I guess I meant the soul."

"How do you even know you have a soul? What does it look like? Has it ever ached?"

"I don’t know. I’m pretty sure mine hurt before when I got dumped by my boyfriend."

"You’re too young to know what it means to have a broken heart girl. Try watching all your friends die of old age. Witness your parents deaths. See your husband of sixty-nine years die. Don’t try comparing a hurt soul to getting dumped by an asshole who asked you out over a text message and saw you for a week and a half." That shut Annette up for the rest of the trip. For an hour they walked through the ghost town filled with garbage and broken houses. The SKY even seemed darker. Heavy black clouds filled the sky. A bit of tumble weed floated lazily across the street.

Finally, the two were in front of a dark building, complete with light blue paint darkened by smoke and old age, and shaded windows with the window on the right reading "Avery’s Wish Store and Fortune Telling" in a strange font that looked threatening. The old woman looked at Annette with pity in her eyes. "You can just stay out here if you want,, I’ll take the rest of the boxes in then take you back where you were."

Annette, even with fear of death’s shadow upon her, always had to finish something she started, shook her head with her fearful eyes and said, "No, I’ll come in with you."

"It’s a pity, for such a nice girl, you’re really stupid, come in then." The door opened on its own accord and the pair walked into the dark. Inside, the lights flickered on and the old lady placed the boxes on top of a counter that separated the two halves of the room. There was nothing else there but a small, oval table and two chairs, along with a single, sad looking door behind the counter. "I suppose I better pay you now. What do you want?"

The young lady shook her bewildered head, wondering how such place could have scared her. "No, I did it to be nice. I’m trying to be nice to everyone now, so I decided to start with you since I saw you first." She tried to explain.

The old woman shook her head. "I’m sorry but this is how it works, you helped me, now I have to give you something you want. You said you wanted to be nicer to anyone, so let’s work on that. Open any one of the boxes that you were carrying." Annette felt herself move without her own accord, and picked up a small white box. "I’m sorry. Please, just walk out, you will be able to find you own way home."

Maybe it was fate again, working in mysterious ways, but she suddenlly felt her mind working on a different plane. She gently set down the box, and grabbed a different white one from the old woman’s pile. In a voice that resonated utmost certainty, Annette said, "No, this box." Seeing a strange tint in her eyes that the old woman seemed to recognize, and she knew that she wouldn’t be able to stop the young lady from taking THAT box, that terrible box that would make her unhappy, but everyone else feel some sort of joy. In the end, she just hoped the helpful young lady who had just wanted to help someone and was pushed by a darker force to pick that box up, would end up feeling a little happy.

******

Annette, in her strange daze, found her own way back home with out any help at all. When she looked back, she realized that she couldn’t remember any bit of her journey. Except for the store and the words, it just seemed like a sort of day dream, until she looked down into her arms where she saw the small white box. Feeling a strange sort of anticipation, she walked back to her house, which at the time was empty with her mother at the office, her brother at lacrosse, and her father only God knows where. She walked up to her yellow

bed room, filled with cds and books on two book cases, a full body mirror in the corner, a closet which was filled to the brim with clothes, a desk where computer sat, a bed with a flower comforter where the stuffed animal denizens laid lifeless as permanent trinkets from her childhood (except the ones from her father), pictures of her friends and family(except for her father) laid a strew across her wall.

She flung her coat on the chair and and jumped on top the bed, examining the strange box. Feeling something resonating inside it, some sort of power a kin to the magic in old legends and new stories a like, she just felt strange even thinking about opening it. She knew in a dull part of her mind that she shouldn’t open it, but something just made her.open it at last.

A strange haze floated up to meet Annette. It wasn’t a bad feeling, or a good feeling for that matter when it entered her waiting mouth and nose. It didn’t have a medical taste like her asthma had when she was a child, or the pure oxygen she was given when she was in the accident that drove her father away from her. It was nothing, but felt like everything.

Peering inside the box, Annette saw an old brown, tattered parchment, which read,

"Hello dear Wanter,

It is nice to meet you, my name is Lady Vain

and it is a pleasure to meet you and be

inside your body. You see, the gas that you

most likely inhaled was me! Don’t you see?

Anyway, I am a magical spirit which will turn

your body into whatever a person who sees

you wants you to be. Like, for instance, if a

middle aged man were to see you and wished

you were closer to his age, you would almost

immediately turn into whatever age he wants.

Neat, huh? And you can’t change back until

someone else wants you to be a different

age or appearance. That’s just how this

works. Do you understand? Keep

checking the box, I will tell you more about

me as time goes on.

Love ya,

Vain"

Annette tried in her head as hard as she possibly could to figure this out. Many possible various situations popped in and out of her mind as fast as they could. Very soon, she had a head ache. All of this ’magic’ and ’spirits’ and stuff annoyed the hell out of her. All she wanted was to be a nicer and better person and all this was thrown on to her lap. It was just so unfair! Why did she get all this bull crap to deal with?

Eventually she calmed down enough to read the note again, trying to figure out what kind of sick joke this was. She noticed the ’the sees you part of it’ and decided to try it out. She walked over to the full length mirror and took off her cloths, just in case it really did work. She wished she was in her twenties, and lo and behold, her brown hair grew longer, her breast became more mature, and her height grew at least another four inches, making her an even six feet. Annette squealed in delight at her new body, or rather, her old body just...older. Her comfortable underwear, simple and comfortable had magically changed into something much more sexually appealing.

She imagined calling up her friends and bragging about Vain, and then she thought about all the dumb boys that didn’t give her a second glance at her. Then the word ’boy’ crossed her mind. She was a women now. At least twenty two. She should be going out with real men, at clubs and where ever twenty year olds went to meet and date. A party or something. Down stairs, a door opened and closed, and her mother’s perfect voice called happily up to her, "Annette, Allen, I’m home!"

Annette smirked and put on her cloths which had also turned into something more form fitting, and ran down stairs to meet her mother, who gasped at the sight of her daughter, who although was vastly different, still dept enough of her form to be recognized.

"Annette! What in the world happened to you?!" Her mother asked grabbing her daughter’s shoulders. Annette grinned deepened and handed her mother the note from Vain.

"I know it sounds impossible mom, but its true, I just looked into a mirror and wished myself to be in my twenties, and poof! Here I am...Don’t I look vulpcious?" Annette asked, posing into a sexy stance for her mother.

May stared at the parchment for a long time, while her daughter slowly realized this was not the time for poses or bragging. May’s mouth stood a gape while she read and reread the parchment letter until she finally she put it down on the table-counter, and stared at Annette for a long time, thinking, what about, Annette had no idea. "Well, this is certainly odd..." Her mother commented slowly in an almost whisper her daughter barely heard, May’s emotions still not obvious enough to Annette.

"Well, mom..."

"Sweetie...So..." May began slowly. "You can be any age I want you to be right now?"

"Yea, I guess I can be."

"So...Would...I...I’m not quite sure how to go...well, what am I suppose to do, Ann?" May’s perfect face was clouded with confusion.

Her daughter just shrugged. "I guess I don’t really know. I was trying to help this old lady and then she gave me a gift and it turned out to be that weird box, and now I’m twenty something. What’s wrong, mom?" Tears had suddenly started dripping down her mother’s face.

"I...Well, I wanted something like this for so long and now...I... Don’t know where to go with this."

Annette became confused herself. "You...what? Wanted me to be older?"

"No...I wanted my little girl back...Allen too, but I just wanted to hear you to be my cheerful little angel and now, you can be but...I just don’t want you to be unhappy. I don’t want to be selfish, but...I also want to be at the same time...It’s really strange, dear." May bit the bottom of her lip and dabbed at her eyes where tiny streams of black were starting to run.

Annette gulped and said, "Mom...I really do want to be a nicer person, so...If you want me to be a little girl...Go ahead. But just for a little bit, ok?! And as soon as Allen gets home, I’m turning back." May’s frown turned into a grin and Annette felt vapor going through her whole body, twisting and turning her shape back to being a tiny child. Around her was flowery sundress and her mother’s arms. "Mommy..." Annette whispered into May’s ears.

"Annie..." She whispered back

To be continued...

 

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