Chapter 7: Janice

It was early next morning when Janice woke up. Jacob was long gone, having been shooed away by Rosemary with the promise that he could see Janice again later. Also, Janice's prom dress had been removed. She was now wearing just a simple cotton nightdress and cotton panties.

Rosemary had been waiting in the room for Janice to wake up. This was it. Rosemary was certain Janice was now fully restored to her new body. Janice groaned and sat up.

"Janice? How are you feeling?" Rosemary rushed to the side of the bed and gently patted her hand.

"Mom?" Janice looked up.

"Sweetie?" There was a pause as mother and daughter both looked at each other. Janice struggled to clear her mind. It took a second before she woke up fully, but then suddenly the events of the past few days came back to her.

Janice sat up and slapped Rosemary hard on the face. "You BITCH!" she shouted, angrily. She roughly pushed her mother away, who staggered back against the wall.

"Janice, my baby!" Rosemary cried.

"Mom, I never had the guts to tell you this before, but you are pure evil. I hated you 25 years ago, and I despise you now. You trapped and murdered an innocent man!! Have you no shred of decency?"

"You've got it all wrong!" Rosemary cried out. "The murderer is the one who ran you off the road. That's who the murderer is, the bastard who deprived me of you to begin with!"

Janice smiled a wry smile. "Here's something else I've been meaning to tell you. Remember, 25 years ago when I got into the accident? Well, I was running away from home. I had had enough of you, the way you controlled my life and Dad's, and I was getting out. So no matter what, you were going to lose me."

Janice got out of bed. "I'd rather be dead than to have to live my life with you."

Janice tried to take off the nightgown. But the nightgown grasped tight around her legs, refusing to let go.

Janice looked up at her mother with disgust. "Jesus Mom. Give it up. I learned your tricks too well for you to pull this shit on me." She brushed her hands lightly over the nightgown. It went limp and she easily pulled it off.

"Please, you can't go!" Rosemary grabbed Janice roughly by the arm. "I love you. Maybe it was wrong, but I wanted you back so bad. Can't you forgive that? Don't you see? I did it all out of love!"

"Sorry Mom."

"Janice, please! If you leave, it will kill me!"

"Then that's what you deserve. Now get away from me." Janice roughly shoved her out of the bedroom, slamming the door.

"After all I've done for you! And now you hate your poor old mother!" Janice could hear her mother sobbing down the hall.

Janice shouted after her: "It's not going to work! I won't feel sorry for you! You're a murderer!"

Janice looked around the room for something to wear.

"Jesus, my prom dress? What the fuck's up with that?" For an instant she flashed on a memory of prom night, with Jacob. Her cheeks flushed.

Janice spied Paul's original clothes, lying on the floor. She picked them up and started to dress. The male clothes felt weird on her skin, too loose and coarse, but somehow stealing Paul's clothes after stealing his body seemed appropriate. "Might as well keep all his belongings together," she reasoned.

That thought caused Janice to pause for a second. She looked around the room and went to the closet. After a quick search she found what she was looking for. "Wow, and they never opened it." It was a knapsack, and it contained all the things she felt she needed to start her new life; a thousand dollars, her birth certificate, passport, driver's license, diploma, scrapbook, underwear, and other essentials. "Amazing. Let's get it right this time."

Janice left her room and walked down the stairs. "Man, this place is gross!" Her Dad had been the one to keep up the place. He was the only one who had cared about the family.

"Janice."

Janice looked up. "What?"

Rosemary descended the stairs, looking pale. "I love you. I'll make it up to you. Please don't leave."

Janice watched her mother approach. "I don't believe you. You make promises and you never keep them."

Rosemary reached out her hand and touched Janice's wrist. Janice felt a magic bond encircle and trap her wrist.

Janice looked at her mother with a disgusted look. "Please. You are so pathetic." Janice closed her eyes for a second, twisted her wrist, broke free of the bond, and then walked to the front door.

"NO!" Rosemary ran to catch up, stumbled to her knees, and, crawling forward, grabbed Janice around the ankles.

Janice reached out to the lock of the front door. She didn't need a key to open it. In fact, there were no keys to any of the doors in the house. All she had to do was touch the lock and rotate her finger, and the lock slid smoothly open.

"Goodbye Mother." Janice kicked away her mother's arms, stepped outside, and slammed the door behind her.

As Janice walked down the driveway, she spied Paul's car. Feeling in the pockets of the jeans she was wearing, she found the car keys.

"Hey! Janice!" Surprised, Janice looked up.

"Oh, it's you, Jacob."

"Hey, why are you wearing those clothes? Anyway, I was hoping we could go out tonight, seeing as it looks like you've recovered and all. Last night was just incredible, wasn't it? Umm ... what do you say?"

"Last night?" Janice played innocent.

"Yeah, uh, last night. Don't you remember? In your bedroom?"

"What happened last night?"

"Well, I ... uh ... that is we, uh ... I came to visit and comfort you."

"Don't you mean that you took advantage of a delirious sick person, using her confusion to coerce her into degrading sex acts?"

"No! You started it! I mean..."

"You bastard." Janice took a step towards Jacob, and jammed her knee into his balls ... hard.

"Fuck!" Jacob shouted, dropping to his knees, clutching at his crotch.

"I've known what you were really like since that night at the prom, you asshole, fondling my best friend in the hallway! If I could castrate you, I would."