Chapter 8

Sunday, January 9th, 2022
Colorado Springs, Colorado

I looked at the girls. They stared at me with slightly pursed lips and wrinkled brows.

Meghan spoke first, saying, “You are so full of shit. I’m amazed you could keep a straight face through all of that.”

Jan just kept staring.

Meghan said, “Well let’s get to the proof you want to show us already. Come on, stun me with your magic act.”

Jan still said nothing.

I said, “Okay, I want to do just a little thing so I can save power for a bigger demo when you start to actually believe what I’m saying might be true. Pick one of my hands.”

She smirked and used her right hand to point to my left. I held it up and spread my fingers wide, then flexed them in a wave and spread them again.

I pointed at the fingers one at a time with my other hand and said, “Pinkie, Ring, Middle, Index, Thumb. Pick one and I’ll remove it.”

Meghan looked doubtful but said, “Thumb.”

I extended my hand to her and asked, “Do you want to check it first?”

She shook her head.

I held the hand up again and sent, [Go ahead.]

My thumb shriveled up and went away, with smooth skin forming where it used to be. I slowly moved my fingers and turned my hand to show it to them from all angles.

Meghan came closer and felt my hand and looked it all over from up close with a look of confusion on her face.

I said, “I can grow it back while you are holding my hand, if that will help prove it to you.”

I spread my fingers again and gestured with my other hand to show her what I wanted. She wove her right hand fingers into my remaining ones, then swiped her thumb over the spot where my thumb used to be. Then she looked at me and nodded.

My thumb grew back without my having to say anything to Carl. She used her thumb to pin mine in her grasp as I wiggled it some.

Meghan said, “That’s unreal. Creepy and cool at the same time. You are saying that you can change your whole body into someone else.”

I said, “I seem to have to keep the overall body mass the same, but yeah that’s what I can do. I saw a much shorter and much fatter man at the store the other day. I’ve been practicing by changing into a slightly modified form of him and back to me. I only have the power to make that change and back one time right now. But if you want I can do that, or we could figure out something similar if you prefer.”

Meghan asked, “So you could turn into a twin of me?”

I said, “Well, I haven’t tried changing gender yet, but I think I could change into a much much heavier twin sister if you wanted me to. Hmm, might be tricky and use more power than expected. I might have trouble making it back to me if I used too much. I haven’t ever completely run out of power before, so I don’t know what will happen. It might be better to stick to what I know works first.”

Jan still said nothing. Meghan said, “Okay, let’s go with that.”

I stood up and looked down, then said, “The big version of me won’t fit in these clothes. I should grab my sweatsuit.”

Meghan said, “Well I’m not easily offended and Jan has certainly seen you. How about you really give us a show?”

Jan raised her eyebrows and she and Meghan passed some sort of look between them, but nothing else was said. I shrugged and started undressing. In short order, I was standing there naked and Meghan had an approving smile on her face.

I said, “Here we go,” and Carl started the transformation into Max. In a few seconds, the tingling stopped and I stumbled for a bit as my balance and strength were different. In fact, this was the first time I had stood as Max and my legs were not really happy about it.

I turned around in place and then looked at the stunned faces in front of me. I sent, [Let’s go back] to Carl and we quickly reverted. I slowly got dressed again, as the girls seemed to have a silent conversation.

Jan finally spoke, “That’s amazing Paul, but you lied to us about everything.”

I nodded, “Paul Johnson only really exists for the three of us. I made him up because I had to. I couldn’t use any real details of my old life. I pulled the name out of thin air and I have been scrambling to make him real ever since. Honestly, I don’t see how I had any other choice in the matter. I get that you feel betrayed. I understand that, but I also think I have a right to have some kind of life. I couldn’t live my old life anymore, so I chose this life to live and I’ve been sharing it with you as it has become more real every day.”

Jan just shook her head sadly and said, “I don’t know what to think Paul, I just don’t know.”

I sighed, “That’s okay Jan. I understand. Give me a couple of minutes to pack and I’ll head back to the hotel. I’ll stay away and give you time to think. If I don’t hear from either of you by checkout on Wednesday, I’ll take that as your answer.”

I stood and opened the closet door and grabbed the luggage we had stored there, then headed to the master bedroom and began to pack. When I was done packing I set the phone and the copy of the key that I had made on the nightstand next to the bed. I set the luggage by the front door and verified that the hat and gloves were in the coat pockets and did a mental review of anything else I had here. When I was sure I was ready I headed back to the 2nd bedroom.

The girls were still sitting on the daybed. Meghan had Jan’s head on her shoulder and was gently stroking her hair. I gave her a sad smile and said, “I’m all set. Thank you both for everything. I hope I see you again.”

Meghan returned my sad smile and Jan stayed silent. I put on my coat, grabbed my luggage, and headed out. I had only gotten a hundred yards down the road when Meghan pulled up next to me. I opened the door and she said, “Let me give you a ride.”

She took me to the hotel and we parked outside the door to my room.

She turned to me, reached for my hand, and said, “I don’t know what her decision is going to be, but I want you to know that, regardless of what she decides, I am your friend and I am willing to help you. If Jan doesn’t want to be involved, I’m okay with keeping her out of it. We’ll work out the details later, but I want you to know you are not alone.”

I let out a relieved breath I hadn’t realized I was holding and said, “Thank you, Meghan. That means the world to me.” I hugged her and got out of the car. She popped the trunk so I could grab the luggage and I took it all into the room. I waved to Meghan as she left and I laid down on the bed.

Monday, January 10th, 2022
Colorado Springs, Colorado

There was a knock on the door. I looked at the clock and saw it was just after 1 pm. I opened the door to see Jan standing there in her uniform, which today was just a black polo shirt with a bright Denny’s name tag on it and dark pants. She asked, “Can I come in?”

I stepped back and gestured for her to enter. We each took a seat at the table.

She said, “I want to apologize for not talking to you last night, but I had a lot to process. I should have at the very least offered you the 2nd bedroom and I feel crappy for letting you leave just to soothe my hurt feelings. I told you that you were welcome in my home and I feel like I broke a promise last night. I’m sorry.”

I said, “You will have to bear with me for a moment. I don’t know what to do. I think that might be the first time in the history of mankind that a woman has ever apologized that well.”

Jan leaned across the table and swatted at my arm and said, “You asshole. I was serious.”

I said, “I know, and I accept your apology. Will you accept mine? I am sorry for deceiving you. Hurting you was never what I wanted.”

She smiled and said, “I will, but I do want to talk about what was real and what wasn’t”

I considered that. “Jan, I think I understand what you are looking for, but I don’t know if I can give it to you. Let’s work from the premise that while every word you heard me utter about my past was a fabrication, it is also true that they are all honest to the concept of who I am. I think what you really want to know is what emotions you felt from me were real. But the truth is all of them were real. For example, when I wiped the tear off my cheek after discussing my father’s accident? The facts are that it never happened that way, but the feelings I showed were mine. They relate to a slightly different real event from my own life. I can’t talk about that event, but the emotion I shared with you was very real. Paul Johnson has no past. He has nothing to share with you about anything before Friday when we met.”

Jan asked, “But how can we move forward, how can I know what’s true?”

I said, “Simply learn to stop asking questions about what happened before we met. I had to make up things because you would reasonably expect me to have a past and it was reasonable for you to ask about it so you could get to know me. I had no choice but to fabricate things to tell you because I couldn’t reasonably expect you to accept my non-answers. But now, while you know I have things I can’t share, you already know a lot about what kind of person I am. You seem to like how I make you laugh. You seem to like the way I treat you. You seem to like the way I think. You seem to like the way I look and feel and the way I touch you. Build on those things, they are all part of me and who I am. I don’t want to deceive you. I’m not trying to trick you into anything. How about if instead of making something up, from now on I promise to tell you ‘it’s a secret’ and you should either let it go or find another way to ask what you want to know.”

After a moment, she said, “I can get behind that idea. We won’t know until we give it a shot, but I would very much like to have my friend back.”

I stood up and we hugged, which soon turned into a kiss. The kiss soon turned into lost clothing, and that turned into an hour or two of make up sex.

As we lay intertwined on the bed Jan said, “I know I didn’t make a big deal about your powers last night, but they really are amazing.”

I said, “Thanks, it’s been interesting figuring out how they work and what the limits are. I have reason to believe there are a lot more things possible that I haven’t figured out yet. It’s going to take a lot of time and practice before that becomes a reality.”

She said, “So you can get better somehow the more you practice?”

I told her, “Yes, I’m still very new to it. There are a couple ways ... you know what, we should save this conversation until we can include Meghan. At least the first few how it all works questions. I don’t want her to feel left out, or a lesser part of all this. Her support has meant a lot to me.”

Jan smiled, “That’s fine. I’m glad you feel that way. I want her to feel included too. I know she had a morning shift today too, but she should be free now. You should call her.”

Jan was getting out of bed when I said, “I don’t have her number, and I left the phone at your place.”

She reached into her purse and handed me her spare phone. “Here, this is yours now. I don’t want it back, and it’s ‘our place’ until you decide to leave. Please come home.” She handed me the key and kissed me. “I’ll text you her number.”

I called Meghan and put it on speaker, “Hi Meghan, it’s Paul. What are you up to?”

She replied, “Hi Paul, I’m just hanging in my apartment. Have you heard from Jan?”

Jan said, “He’s heard all sorts of things from me.”

Meghan laughed, “So that’s how it is huh? Good.”

Jan asked, “Have you eaten yet?”

She replied, “Nope, not since lunch which was before 10 am.”

Jan said, “It’s after 3 o’clock now, how about you grab a pizza on the way over to my place and we have an early dinner tonight? We want to talk about stuff with you.”

Meghan asked, “Pepperoni okay for both of you?”

I said, “Actually, I would prefer Sausage and Mushroom please.”

Jan said, “I’ll split the Pepperoni with you, Meghan.”

She said, “Sounds good, see you guys in a bit.”

I hung up and asked, “Shower?”

Jan said, “Quick one, no funny business.”

Somehow funny business still happened, but it was just a token effort for the humor. We quickly got dressed and gathered up my things and loaded them into Jan’s car. At home, we unpacked my things and put the luggage back in the other closet.

Meghan showed up with the pizza and we all dug in. After we each had finished our first slices and started on our seconds, Meghan asked, “So what did you guys want to discuss?”