Crystal Ballerina
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"Hey, Little Duck, how you feeling?" Kyle nudged open his little sister's door and peered inside.
He expected to get hit with a pillow chucked his way. Instead, he watched her groan and slap an arm in his direction. That bad, huh?
She managed a tiny croak. "I'm nada duck. Imma swan."
He glanced at her walls, covered by cut-out photos of famous ballerinas and birds just as graceful. Every single one his little sister, Desiree, had at some point tried to breathlessly explain why they were so awesome.
He always responded by calling her a duck. She slapped her feet around, awkwardly flapped her legs, and had always been a little pudgy (despite mom's assurances it was just baby fat). He knew not to push it till she cried. Still, he thought she was getting really good at this dancing stuff. But tonight was her first big show, and she'd come down with a nasty bug.
Between coughs, Desiree fussed with something in her hands and muttered, "It must be broken..."
"What's that?"
Listlessly, she handed the necklace over to her brother. It was a silvery, sparkling crystal strung on a narrow band of twine. He'd seen her wearing it before but figured it was just some kiddie, costume jewelry she liked.
Clearing her raspy throat, Desiree explained, "It's a good luck crystal from Mr. Celocostra. He said...if I focus and focus and concentrate really real hard then...It will make my dream of being a perfect ballerina happen."
Kyle dangled the crystal in front of himself. It had a strange glow, like there was a fiber-optic light inside. His little sister explained she used up all her energy in bed wishing and wishing and wishing so hard that her illness wouldn't ruin the show, that it would be okay. But she was still stuck in bed, feeling more tired than ever.
Groggily, she whimpered, "It must be broken. You hafta...go see Mr. Celoco...Mr. C. and tell him. Maybe he can do....sumpin..." With that, she was out, back in Dreamland. Kyle sighed, set a wet towel on his little sister's head, and took away the soup she hadn't touched.
In the bathroom, he stared at the crystal and rubbed his face. The show would be starting soon. Using the family's spare car, he drove down to the dance hall. Mr. Celocostra was flanked by nervous little girls stretching, flexing, and fidgeting.
He immediately pulled Kyle aside and asked him, his mustache fluttering like it was alive and his Eastern European accent so thick Kyle took several moments to comprehend his words, "Sizter? Vere iz she?"
Kyle shook his head. Sick and not coming, he explained. He held out the crystal and told him what his sister had said. She wished on it and focused on it, but it seemed to be broken.
Mr. C contorted his brow and scoffed, "Nonsenz. Zis iz my most powerful crztal. See?"
Without warning, the teacher took it from him and slipped it over Kyle's head.
Before he could protest, a wave of warmth washed through his body. His jeans fluttered across his thighs. A band cinched his long hair into a neat ponytail. And his lean, muscular shape slipped into a tiny one with a pudgy, girlish tummy.
Kyle lifted up the satiny fringe of the gown, his mouth dangling open. He had become his little sister.
"See!" Mr. Celocostra repeated, with a clap of his hand, "Your vish came true, Desiree."
Standing before a nearby mirror, Kyle marveled and puzzled. Desiree?
Kyle spun around. "Oh my goodness! I should've gotten here earlier to practice. I'm so sorry, Mr. Celocosta!"
Mr. C shook his head. "No. No need for zorries. You are ready, Desiree. You vill be perfect."
After a deep breath, she joined the other girls with an excited giggle. She wouldn't be a little duck tonight. She would be a graceful swan!
Crystal Ballerina - Alternate Story
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Colin leaned against the exercise bike and sopped up the sweat clinging to his body. Twenty minutes and he was done. He couldn't lift his legs another inch in the peddles.
He'd been coming into the gym every single day for weeks, and it just hadn't gotten better. Same plateau. Same weight. All he'd added was exhaustion.
Still, he knew he'd come back tomorrow. He had to. Ever since he felt a muscle spasm that had thrown out his back and left him hardly able to breathe. It was a wake up call. He couldn't keep putting it off as he sat for hours in his chair and clacked his life away, squinting at a screen.
Out of desperation, he searched through the stores downtown promising all sorts of natural and mystical remedies. Lose weight. Gain energy. Stop pain. It all seemed so silly.
At the end of his trek, after ordering a veggie sandwich from a little café, he noticed a store at a location he'd assumed was empty and dark. The Crystal Ballerina. Strange name, but he shrugged and figured it was worth a peek.
It was so much smaller on the inside than it appeared from the outside. A simple ten-to-twenty foot area was lined with a rainbow of colorful crystals strung on simple, black pieces of twine. Scratching his chin, he didn't have much time to look around before a towering man with a thick, Eastern European accent clasped his shoulder and refused to let go.
He tried to parse the smattering of words into something he could comprehend as he watched the man's dense mustache wriggle like it was alive. When Colin got the chance to speak, he explained that his workouts weren't working, he was so exhausted, he didn't feel any better or different, and he was frustrated.
The strange man peered deep into his eyes, like a hawk sizing up a small mouse, and told him, "Everyzing iz challenge. Work. Energy. Focus. You juz need zee right tools." Leading him along, the man directed him to a silvery crystal on the wall. Colin held it, stared at it, and even slipped it around his neck. Nothing happened. He looked back at the strange man.
Fanning his hands, the man reminded him about focus, work, and energy. Colin frowned but figured it couldn't hurt. It looked nice, if a little weird for a grown man to wear.
Buying the crystal, he took it home and stared at it some more. He worked out at home with it and concentrated. Focus...FOCUS! He nearly passed out from the rush of blood to his head. In resignation, he looked at it, thought of that silly Crystal Ballerina shop, and just focused on things changing for him.
Instantly, the crystal warmed and began to glow with an ethereal light. Blinking, Colin didn't have time to scream, as he felt like reality was a book and something had just ripped out several pages he happened to be standing on.
Catching his breath, he attempted to get his bearings. First, everything seemed big and he wasn't in the same room. Photos of skaters and dancers, with their heels raised high, covered the walls. Hearts and deep shades of purple swallowed the rest. Scowling at a makeup kit on a countertop, he felt fluttering and nervously looked down.
He was a girl! Maybe. His hands were smaller than he could ever remember them being. And he was wearing a dress. A very smooth, silken dress, which made several things obvious. He still had a belly, not as bad, but rather like the one he always carried as a boy. Something that didn't match up with boyhood was the flat, soft feeling between his legs.
Trying to breathe, he lifted the hem of that dress to reveal long, girlish legs. He felt embarrassed to look at a young girl like this, especially one seemingly barely into puberty with the flatness of her chest. He was adjusting his tight ponytail when a woman's voice called from down the hall.
"Candice?! Are you ready for practice? We have to go!"
Stunned, Colin answered back with a swift "Hello?", which the voice took for a game they "didn't have time to play". Hesitantly, Colin tried, "Alright...mom. I'll be there in a minute." Her voice, high and tiny, felt surreal to speak. This satisfied the other voice, as it reiterated, "A minute. One. Sixty seconds. That's all."
Colin would soon learn a lot about Candice, literally thrown into the deep end of her. She was him and he was her, as far as he could tell. An aspiring ballerina who danced across the floor. A second chance. A new start. But not a perfect one. Her brand new, older sister (who was annoyingly-pretty to a fault) teased her as a "chubby monkey".
She just used it as fuel and inspiration to work harder.
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