=:= Caitlyn =:=

Caitlyn was sitting on her bed wearing just a housecoat, holding her phone. She checked her email once more, but there was still nothing. She was hoping to hear back by now, but she knew Abigail was busy with college. Her sister probably hadn't even seen the email yet.

She'd written her sister last night after talking to her parents. She would have rather told Abby in person or on the phone, but there hadn't been time. So she'd emailed instead, and told her older sister she was trans, and that she'd be going by 'Caitlyn' now. She'd also included a link to Heather's video, and told Abby she'd be trying that spell herself this morning when the full moon peaked.

After looking at the time, Caitlyn opened the camera app on her phone and set it to record video. She propped the phone up on her desk and made sure it had a good view of her bed.

She moved back and sat down, ensuring she could see herself on the phone's screen. A piece of paper on the bed next to her had the spell carefully written out by hand. Everything was ready to go, as soon as the time was right.

Mom opened her bedroom door without knocking again, and walked in demanding "Peter why aren't you at school?! It's past nine-thirty and you're not even dressed yet! You're already late for your first class!"

Caitlyn clenched her teeth for a moment, then sighed. She gave her mom an exasperated look and asked, "Mom didn't you listen to anything I said last night?"

It was just ten minutes till she could try the spell, and her heart was already pounding from excitement and anxiety about that. The last thing she needed now was her mom screwing everything up and making her miss the full moon.

Mom shook her head and said, "There's no such thing as magic, Peter. As for the rest, it's going to take time for your father and I to even process that. I'm not ready to start calling you another name, especially not..." She shook her head. "You're my son. This is really hard for me, and your father."

Caitlyn sighed again. "I've spent my whole life pretending to be someone I'm not. In ten more minutes I won't have to pretend anymore. If you want to stay and watch that's fine, but don't interrupt. Please?"

"What about school?" mom asked with a frown on her face.

She rolled her eyes, "This is more important than missing a couple classes. Please mom! This is the most important thing ever! Just let me have this?"

She almost held her breath as she watched. Mom looked reluctant but finally sighed, "Fine. Ten minutes, then I want you getting dressed and ready for school."

"Are you going to stay and watch?" Caitlyn asked, still feeling anxious.

Her mom hesitated then shrugged, "All right, if it's that important to you." She pulled the chair out from Caitlyn's desk and sat down. She added "You know you're too old to believe in magic, Peter. Whatever you think is going to happen... You're just going to be disappointed and feel silly."

Caitlyn sighed. She knew there was a good chance her mom was right. She knew that Heather's video could have been faked. But if nothing else, it gave her the courage to come out to her family. If nothing happened in the next few minutes, at least she'd taken the first step. Maybe her folks would let her start to transition.

She pushed that thought away for now. No time for doubts, no time for second guesses.

She double-checked and made sure her phone had a good view and that the camera was recording video, then she said, "Ok. My name is..." She hesitated then smiled. "My name is Caitlyn Simmonds, but up till today everyone's been calling me Peter."

She held up the piece of paper, "I'm about to try Cindy's spell. My mom's here too, but she doesn't believe anything's going to happen. Say hi, mom? Wish me luck?"

Mom rolled her eyes. Where she was seated the camera couldn't see her but she said, "Peter this is silly."

Caitlyn frowned then shrugged and said, "We'll see. Here goes!"

Her hands shook slightly as she looked down at the page. She took a couple deep breaths and pictured herself. She'd been practicing this for the last three weeks, visualizing her perfect, ideal body. Holding the image in her mind, she quietly read out the strange words.

It took about a minute or so to finish, then she bit her lower lip as she focused harder on the image in her mind. In Heather's video, there had been a short delay before the magic happened so Caitlyn tried to stay calm and keep her focus as she waited.

Her mom sighed, "I told you Peter, nothing-"

Mom suddenly gasped as swirling white light obscured Caitlyn's vision. She felt a surge of excitement and joy as she focused even harder on the image in her mind. The light faded after a couple seconds. She was still sitting on her bed, but her heart was pounding and she was breathing hard, fighting to keep calm. Mom was staring at her, eyes wide, mouth hanging open in shock.

Caitlyn gulped, "Mom? Are you ok?" Then she blinked and gasped, "My voice! Oh my god it worked!"

Mom was still staring in shock as Caitlyn jumped up and ran out of her room and into the bathroom to look in the mirror.

When she reached the mirror she froze. Staring back at her was her! For the first time she could actually see her own reflection, instead of that guy's face she'd been stuck with her whole life.

The boring brown hair was gone, along with the stupid crew-cut her parents always insisted on. Her hair still wasn't very long, but it was now a cute girlish pixie-cut, and now it was light blonde except for the bubblegum-pink streak from her right temple and back over her right ear.

Her eyes had gone from dull muddy hazel to sparkling green with flecks of blue.

And best of all, her face had lost the ugly sharp angles, the pointed chin and big nose. Now it was round and soft and cute! Her skin was smooth and fair. Her nose was small with a slight upturn, and her chin was small, and there was a cute dimple in her cheek when she grinned.

Everything was perfect!

She made a noise that was half sob, half laugh, then pulled the housecoat off and let it fall to the floor.

Her hands were smaller, dainty, her fingers more delicate. Her arms were slim and smooth. Her shoulders were narrower now. Her chest... She bit her lower lip as the emotions surged through her. She had boobs! They were small, kind of perky, but there was no mistaking this for the chest of a boy.

As her eyes continued moving downwards over her reflection, she took in her waist. And then her hips. She turned slightly and grinned at her butt. That was as far as she could see in the mirror.

Caitlyn gulped and took a step back from the counter as she looked down at herself. She giggled as she realized she'd need new shoes. Those big ugly feet were gone, now they were like her hands, small, dainty, cute. Her legs too, gosh they looked great! Smooth and slim but curvy! Her thighs, her hips... They were everything she'd dreamed of!

And finally, she let herself focus on the last spot.

It was gone! Finally! After praying every night for half her life, she was finally free of that thing that was so wrong. The thing that everyone associated with being a boy. It was finally and forever gone!

Caitlyn let out a little sob of joy, and wiped some tears from her eyes.

It was a miracle! The spell was real, it worked, and she was finally herself!

She looked up in the mirror again. She was grinning ear to ear, as she wiped her eyes again.

There was a noise off to her right, and Caitlyn turned. Mom was there standing in the doorway. Her eyes were wide, and she was holding her hand over her mouth, her expression still one of complete shock.

Caitlyn blushed as she realized she'd left the bathroom door open. Here she was standing completely naked in front of her mom. She quickly bent down and grabbed the housecoat, pulling it on again as she straightened up.

"Peter?" her mom asked, sounding scared and confused. "Is that really you?"

"No mom," she shook her head, still grinning. "I'm Caitlyn! I've prayed for this every night since I was eight! Now I'm finally me! And I've never been so happy!"

Finally she remembered she'd left her phone recording video. She ducked past her mother to return to her room, and felt a moment of giddiness. She hadn't realized before but she was shorter now. She used to be a couple inches taller than mom, but now she was an inch or two shorter.

In her bedroom, she grabbed her phone and stopped it recording. Then she switched to the photos app and opened the video to watch it. She skipped ahead through the boring stuff at the beginning, then with a wide grin she watched the magic happen. It was incredible!

She was still grinning widely as she switched back to the camera app and took a couple selfies.

A half hour later she was sitting crosslegged on her bed, still messing with her phone. She'd edited the video and trimmed off most of the boring stuff at the front, and the dead time at the end. Then she posted it online, and was now writing a few messages for her two social media accounts.

On her 'main' account under her deadname, she posted some before and after selfies and a link to the video, along with the #ChangeTheWorld hashtag, then a final message saying she wouldn't be using the account any more, and to find her on the other one.

What had up till today been her 'secret' second account under her real name, would be the only one she needed from now on. She updated the profile pic there to use one of her new selfies, and then posted a link to the video with the same hashtag.

With that done, she checked her email again. Still nothing from Abby, so she sent another email. She announced to her sister she'd used the spell and it worked, she was Caitlyn now. She included one of her new selfies, and a link to her transformation video.

Finally she realized it was about half past ten and she hadn't heard from her mom in a while. She still hadn't tried getting dressed yet either, she just had the housecoat on. Caitlyn looked through her clothes and giggled nervously, realizing there wasn't much here that would fit now.

She took some time to try on various clothes, but most of it was either too loose, or caused her too much stress. She didn't have to pretend to be that person anymore, and she didn't want to wear those clothes. They represented a part of life she wanted to leave behind now.

Eventually she ended up in a pair of shorts that she'd outgrown a year or two ago but hadn't got around to throwing out, and a t-shirt that had always been too small on her. She was going commando since none of her underwear fit, and of course she didn't even own any bras. Not that she had any clue what her size was. And she was still barefoot, her shoes were all several sizes too big.

With a giggle, she thought about raiding her sister's closet. Abigail left some of her older clothes behind when she moved out, some that stuff might fit Caitlyn. She knew better than to go through her sister's stuff without asking though, so she sent one more email off to her sister, to ask permission.

With that done, she headed downstairs. It was nearly eleven now, and she found her mom in the kitchen. She was sitting at the table, with a cup of coffee. Her phone was on the table next to her.

"Hey mom," Caitlyn grinned. "I think I'm going to need some new clothes."

Mom just sighed. "I've spoken with your father, he's on his way back home." There was a pause then she asked, "Peter, can this be fixed? Can you change back?"

Caitlyn frowned, feeling a different kind of anxiety now. She knew the instructions said you could try again at the next full moon, if things weren't perfect. After a few seconds she decided not to mention that. She was terrified they'd try and force her to go back.

"No mom. I can't change back. I'm Caitlyn now." She gulped and added, "I've always been Caitlyn, I've just been too scared to tell anyone before yesterday. This is me... This is the real me."

Her mom sighed again, "How will we explain this to your sister? What are we going to tell your grandparents? How will we explain this to your school? What about your ID?"

She slumped into a chair, sitting across from her mom. "I've already emailed Abby like three times. I came out to her last night and told her about that video. A little while ago I emailed again and told her I'd done it and sent her a new picture. And a couple minutes ago I asked if I could borrow some of her old clothes. I haven't heard back yet though."

She shrugged and added, "I'll tell my grandparents the truth. I hope they'll accept me but if not, it won't make a huge difference. We only see them at holidays anyways. I don't know about ID yet, I guess I have to figure out how to get it changed. And I'll just tell the school the truth too. I'm still me, I'm just using my real name now."

Mom shook her head, "It's not as simple as that. Nobody's going to believe you, Peter. Its-"

Caitlyn interrupted, "Stop calling me that! I'm not him! I've never been him! I'm Caitlyn, I'm a girl! Can't you see that?!" The new anxiety was getting stronger. She was starting to worry her mom was never going to accept her. Or that she might get kicked out... She had no idea what she'd do if that happened. She didn't have any friends she knew well enough to let her stay with them. And even if she did, nobody would recognize her now.

Her mom was staring at her now, looking upset. And maybe a little angry.

Feeling more nervous, Caitlyn got up and ran back upstairs to her room. Mom didn't even say anything as she left the kitchen.

She wound up laying on her bed, hugging her pillow as she tried to calm herself down. After a few minutes she checked her email again, but there was still nothing from Abby. Her sister was probably in classes now. Or... what if Abby had seen her emails and was ignoring her? What if her sister rejected her?

Caitlyn felt tears starting to well up now. It wasn't fair. She'd wanted this her whole life and now that she finally got what she'd wished for, she was scared everything was going to go wrong. She didn't know where to turn. She needed someone, anyone, to just acknowledge her, to let her know she did the right thing, that it was going to be ok.

She opened the web app on her phone and pulled up the page with the spell and the instructions. She blinked away some tears as she read through them again. Maybe she missed something. Maybe there was something there about what to do next. Something about family and ID and stuff, something to make it all better.

No. She hadn't missed anything, there was nothing else there.

She blinked away more tears. The only thing at the bottom of the page was that email address, for if you needed help. Except the spell hadn't gone wrong, it did exactly what she wanted, right? But she needed help now. She tapped the address, then with shaking hands she wrote out a short note.

She said she used the spell and it was perfect but everything else was going wrong. She was worried her parents were going to disown her, kick her out, or worse, that they'd try and force her to reverse the spell. She didn't know where to turn or what to do. She wrote that she couldn't go back, she refused to go back, but didn't know what was going to happen to her. And she wrote that she was scared.

Then she sent it off. Finally she curled up and closed her eyes, hoping things would get better.

PurpleCatGirl

You might recognize Caitlyn if you've read the Brotherhood of Diomedes, she appeared in the first part of the Epilog. This chapter (and the next 3 that follow) all take place on May 23rd, the same day as part two of the BoD epilog. 

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