Violet felt fantastic. She’d just gotten into her own hot shower, and soon she’d be in fresh, clean clothes, ready to go out for a very normal night with her best friend. At least that’s what she kept trying to tell herself.

  Not that she didn’t feel fantastic. Actually, she couldn’t remember the last time she felt this energized and content, physically. Exactly what the feeling was, she couldn’t quite put her finger on, but it seemed particularly noteworthy in the context of her insane day. No, in this case, “normal” meant nothing impossible, insane, or out of control, and even as she stood there, steam and water running over her neck, she knew normal was not going to be an option.

  When she’d left Ryan’s apartment, most of the tension had just lifted off of her. It wasn’t until the bus ride home that she’d started to piece together everything that had happened between them. From the moment the the bus pulled up in front of her, half a dozen unfamiliar emotions washed over her. The bus driver didn’t just look bored and tired, she knew he was bored and tired. She felt it, as if she’d worked his entire shift. By the time she’d taken her seat near the front of the bus, she’d been absolutely certain three of the five passengers found her attractive to varying degrees, and being hyper-aware of their attention had made her even more self-conscious of how visible her nipples now were through her sweater.

  Just as jarring, though, had been the way she’d constantly felt touched and jostled, despite sitting stiffly with her arms folded to hide the two small bumps in her sweater. Her right foot felt like it was pressing the pedals of the bus, perfectly synchronized with the bus driver’s movements. Her butt had been far more sore than it should have from a few seconds of sitting. She’d felt the plastic steering wheel in her hands, even while she’d held her own arms through her sweater, even while she’d felt three or four differently textured phone cases in those same hands. Each motion of the bus had been baffling, impossibly feeling as though she’d been facing multiple directions at once. It was a nightmare of sensory overload, and it had been enough to make her nauseous.

  Fortunately, it had not been a long bus ride, but as the overwhelming sensations drifted away behind her, it had started to truly sink in — she could feel people, or rather, what they felt. It wasn’t specific to sex, or orgasms, or Ryan. She felt everything, from everyone. She had no idea how, or why it had started, or if there was any way for her to turn it off, and she couldn’t help wondering whether she was actually losing her mind. Such a thing was beyond impossible, right?

  The impossibility of it certainly didn’t stop her from continuing to faintly feel sensations which were not her own, even in the supposedly secluded confines of her small apartment. Either she really was crazy, or these were her neighbors.

  Part of her couldn’t wait to validate her experience with Meryl, though exactly how she would confirm it wasn’t just in her head, she wasn’t yet sure. The rest of her was terrified. Would it be lying to not disclose this experience to her friend? Would Meryl think she was crazy if she did? What else were they going to talk about? The weather? She could hardly say much about her day or Ryan without getting into this mess anyway. Besides, Meryl was obsessed with anything witchy. If anyone was going to appreciate “demon” eyes and inexplicable psychic powers it would be her.

  As the water continued to run down her skin, Violet marveled at the breasts she apparently now had. How had they appeared so quickly? Would they get even bigger? She slid her forearms over them. They were so squishy, and a bit sore. Her nipples had grown, too, reminding her of slightly undersized gumdrops. Were there any other changes she’d missed? She made a mental note to take a close look after drying off and finally turned off the shower. After gently ringing her hair and padding herself dry, she set to work blow drying her hair, smiling a little as she noticed the unfamiliar bounce of her chest in the mirror.

  With a section of her hair dry, she noticed it catching the light strangely. Mixed into her light brown hair were dozens of white hairs, as though she was starting to go grey. Only, on even closer inspection they weren’t grey at all, but rather an almost pure white.

  Violet looked at her reflection with concern. The hair didn’t bother her necessarily. She’d always thought white was cool. But it made her a little more apprehensive about other changes she may not have noticed yet. Still naked, she gave her reflection a thorough inspection. Was it her imagination or were her hips wider? No, that couldn’t be. Maybe her breasts were making her waist look a little smaller. No, she definitely looked a little different.

  She moved down, looking down at her feet, then trying to peer between her legs and feeling around from behind. She felt softer, as though she’d put on the tiniest bit of weight through all of her skin. She’d always been particularly bony, so the subtle change really stood out now that she was paying attention. She could see and feel the difference in her arms and feet, though the effect was especially prominent around her thighs, her butt, the little (now less) bony mound above her clit, and everything in between. She noted as she explored how nice it felt to squeeze all her squishier parts.

  Another thought occurred to her. With all these changes, she had to have gained weight, right? Violet slid her scale out from under her bathroom sink and stepped onto it. One hundred and five. That was normal, or close enough. It had been months since she last checked, and she was only three pounds heavier now. Confused, she slid the scale back under the counter and continued looking for changes.

  Her face seemed different as well, now that she was really looking. She leaned in close and turned her head back and forth. Maybe her cheeks were a little smoother? Did her lips normally look like that? They were a light watermelon color and had a slight shimmer. She licked them to see if they were wet and found they hadn’t been. Now that she had, the shimmer was even stronger. Overall it was subtle, but she felt like it was something she would have noticed before.

  I look… hot, she thought, leaning back a little to take everything in again.

  Maybe it was in her head, she didn’t look that different. No, she definitely did, and she was… glowing. Not literally this time, but she couldn’t find a blemish anywhere on her soft skin. She couldn’t even find the scar she’d had on the right side of her forehead since she was five. Her eyebrows looked sharp, her eyelashes dark and long. Normally a fancy night out meant makeup, but she thought might skip that tonight. She could almost swear as she turned her head back and forth that the skin around the corners of her eyes and her cheekbones sparkled slightly. She leaned close again to stare at her irises. They weren’t glowing, but they were more of a light lavender than her usual grey.

  Suddenly, Violet felt fear rising inside her. Who was she? What was she? Would she even be recognizable in a week? Would she be reading people’s thoughts? She stared at her reflection for a while, waiting to see which emotion would win out when the storm settled. This reflection wasn’t someone she recognized, but it also felt so right, so… her. And it was cute.

  No, the changes that scared her were mental. But everyone gets horny sometimes. It would pass, or she’d figure out how to fix or control it. Same went for her strange… empathic sense. It wasn’t as intense as she was remembering, or she would get used to it, or learn how to control it. It was going to be fine. She sighed and pushed her hair behind her ear.

  It was pointy. Just slightly, but it was obvious now that her hair was held back behind that point.

  Jesus Christ. How…

  Part of her brain locked up on the word “how.” Another raced off to figure out how to justify this to friends and family — elf-ear cosmetic surgery was a thing, right? Another part kept interrupting to remind her that elf ears were really cute and this was actually an amazing development.