Taboo

Chapter 2
Ending 1

Chapter Description: The first ending.

The following morning, as sunlight invaded the nursery, the faint sound of birds chirping drifted in from an open window. Nathan pried his eyes open and yawned. Something had most certainly changed, but he couldn’t quite tell what.

Oh, no.

With a little inspection, Nathan recognized he was no longer lying on a bed but inside a crib. The bars seemed to rise like giant pillars around him and his body felt fat and frustratingly uncoordinated. As he struggled to maneuver himself upright, he heard rapid footsteps approaching. When the door swung open, his pulse quickened.

“Oh my god, Nathan. I’m so sorry!” Katie said, rushing to the edge of the crib. “I didn’t mean this to happen.”

Nathan labored to produce an intelligible sound but everything came out an infantile mess. Katie took him under the arms and lifted him carefully from his little prison. From first glance, she appeared in her late teens. It didn’t take Nathan long to figure out what that meant...

“I made a wish that morning,” she cried. “I didn’t mean to. I forgot. It just popped into my head.”

Nathan found even basic facial expressions challenging.

“I thought of you... like the son I never had...” Katie said, hugging Nathan to her breast. There, Nathan felt something sharp poking him in the chest.

It was the talisman, hanging there innocently, between them.