With a newfound determination, I started heading back towards that gothic-style house. If anyone knew what was going on with me, it would be the witch. It was a rather unpleasant walk, owing to my lack of expertise in heels, but a few minutes later I was furiously banging on the door. A moment later, the door slowly opened, and the woman stood before me once more, still in the black cloak.

 

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but we ran out of candy some time ago… Oh, it’s you.” the woman, the witch, smirked upon seeing me. “I see you kept the costume…”

 

“What the hell did you do to me, lady?” I demanded, stepping forward towards her.

 

She effortlessly stepped backward and gestured with her hands.

 

“Come on in,” she led me into the house. “And by the way, my name is Tabitha.”

 

Normally, I’d have never stepped foot in there, but under the circumstances, I didn’t have any other choice. The inside looked a lot like the outside, very old, with a lot of vintage items strewn about mixed with modern ones, a couch that looked like it was from the ‘70s, but a plasma screen TV in the living room, a phonograph but also a modern sound system.

 

“So, tell me what’s happened, Max. And if I might say, you look rather pretty like this.” the witch smiled, motioning for me to take a seat on the couch as she sat in a leather chair.

 

“Isn’t it obvious? I turned into a girl because of that stupid costume! And I didn’t even notice it, I mean, I noticed the changes but it was like something made me write them off as normal and then Laurie kissed me and I suddenly realized that I’d been transformed! And then I came here to make you change me back!” I shouted.

 

“I see. And what makes you think I had anything to do with this?” she asked incredulously.

 

“Are you kidding? It started after you gave me that costume bag! Not to mention all those schoolyard rumors that you’re a witch!” I replied.

 

“Very astute, humans usually aren’t quite this genre-savvy. Although usually those under this spell don’t become aware of the changes until after the spell wears off. And even then they write it off as a weird dream. What did you say happened?” she thought for a moment. “A kiss? Ah, now I understand. True love’s kiss can cause glitches in the spell.”

 

“True love’s kiss? But Laurie isn’t my… is Laurie my true love?”

 

“You tell me! Isn’t that why you wanted to go to the party?”

 

“Yeah, but… She’s not into guys. She told me that.”

 

“You don’t look like a guy right now to me.”

 

“But I’m supposed to be a guy, and I want to go back to being one! So how does it work? I just take the costume off and I change back?”

 

“It’s not quite that simple, and it wasn’t the costume that did it.”

 

“But if it wasn’t the costume, then what changed me?” I asked, before suddenly realizing the bowl of that same pink-wrapped candy that she’d handed me earlier. “The candy is what did it.”

 

“Exactly. The costume was exactly what I claimed it was, a gift. It still would’ve fit even if you hadn’t eaten the candy, and would have been a costume designed for a man, but I’d hoped you would, after all, a familiar without a witch is just wrong.”

 

“But why turn me into a girl? Is that what all those stories about missing kids are about? You changed them into girls?”

 

“What? Of course not! The candy isn’t for changing gender, it’s simply to allow the person who eats it to have a wish granted. And I have no idea what those rumors are talking about, my guess is those kids just moved away suddenly, it used to happen a lot in the age before telecommunications.”

 

“But it’s pink!”

 

“And I like the color pink, honestly, you humans get so caught up on gender normative stuff it’s a wonder you made it out of the dark ages. It could’ve been colored purple or orange, but I had a lot of pink food coloring that was about to expire!” the witch said. “I didn’t change you into a girl on purpose, the candy simply transforms you into what you need to be in order to get your wish, your wish being able to go to the Halloween party and confess your love to that girl.”

 

“But why did… Because the girl version of me is friends with Laurie, and Laurie’s sister babysitting Dana is why I was able to go to the party.” I smacked my forehead. “That makes sense.”

 

“Bingo! I was wondering how long it’d take you to figure it all out!” the witch grinned and clapped her hands.

 

“Wait, how did you know all this if I just now told you about it? Have you been spying on me?” I demanded.

 

“Spying is such a harsh word, I would be an irresponsible witch if I didn’t keep an eye on the effects of my spells. I was simply observing to ensure that you weren’t in any imminent danger, you probably don’t realize how dangerous house parties can be for girls...”

 

“You’re distracting me! I want you to reverse this. I want to go back to normal!”

 

“Unfortunately, that’s beyond my power at the moment.” the witch said.

 

“You mean I’m stuck like this forever?” I asked.

 

“Remember what I said to you before? Think hard, I know sometimes these spells play havoc with the short-term memory, but really try.” the witch said.

 

“Besides, dressing up and being someone else for a night can be fun!”

 

“For a night. The spell has a Cinderella effect built into it, at the end of the night you’ll go back to the way you were.” the witch said. “If that’s what you desire, of course.”

 

“Well, why wouldn’t it be? I didn’t ask to be a girl in the first place!”

 

“No, but the spell wasn’t designed to do anything that you weren’t okay with. I’m an ethical witch, all of my spells have a consent charm. The spell can change you, but only if at some level, even subconsciously, you’re okay with it.” Tabitha said.

 

“That’s ridiculous!” I shouted. “I don’t want to be a girl! Why would I be okay with that?”

 

“Because maybe a small part of you thinks your life would be better that way?”

 

“No way!” I crossed my arms in defiance.

 

“Give me your cell phone,” Tabitha said. “I can temporarily reverse the spell on an object to show you how much has really changed.”

 

Realizing I hadn’t checked my phone since before the party, I quickly grabbed it out of the purse, noticing several missed calls and texts from Laurie, Darren and Raffi on the lock screen, with a photo of the four of us together on it, but Tabitha quickly wiggled the fingers on one hand and snapped with her other hand and suddenly, the screen glitched and my lock screen was clean and my wallpaper had returned to the previous state of being a poster for a movie I like. Unlocking my phone, I started scrolling through, not sure what I was looking for.

 

“Check your messages,” Tabitha said.

 

“There’s nothing here,” I said. “At least nothing new.”

 

Suddenly, my phone buzzed, and a message from a number I didn’t recognize popped up. I quickly opened it,

 

555-0173: “Hey Max, it’s Laurie. I’m really sorry for embarrassing you at the party. (Got your # from Darren and Raffi, hope you don’t mind) I thought it was really sweet what you said and I’d love to talk more and maybe become friends, but we can’t ever be more than that. It’s not you, it’s just that I don’t like boys. Do me a favor and please keep that to yourself though, but I felt you should know, and I’m sure any girl would be lucky to hear that from you. Talk more in class on Monday?”

 

“I guess I ended up running out of that party regardless… Except, hold on a minute, I wouldn’t have been able to go to that party if I wasn’t a girl!” I said.

 

“Correction: You weren’t allowed to go, but you’d have snuck out of the house anyway,” Tabitha said, to which I nodded with acceptance, it sounded like something I’d do.

 

“Okay, so I got disappointed, that still doesn’t convince me that being a girl is better,” I said.

 

“And now…” Tabitha snapped her fingers again and the screen glitched once more, and my messages app was full of conversations I’d never seen before with classmates I barely knew. 

 

Darren and Raffi were really my only close friends, but apparently not if I was a girl. Apparently ‘Maxine’ had a bunch of friends, likely stemming from the fact she’d done extracurriculars, while I was satisfied to just hang out and play video games with the guys. I guess that was nice, being a boy I always felt too scared to talk to girls, but evidently, it was easier as a girl. I checked the group chat that I’d been talking to them in earlier and saw that Laurie was now a participant, and while the conversation went roughly about the same, it also featured Laurie chiming in with a comment about how she’d try to work something out to help me find Dana a sitter.

 

Flipping to the photos app, I found a bunch of photos of ‘Maxine’ doing various activities around school and with her friends, most of whom I only knew in passing, although the vast majority of the pictures included Darren, Raffi, and Laurie, which made me feel good. But there were also a bunch of pictures of me and Dana. I didn’t have a single picture of Dana on my phone when I was a boy, and frankly, I think tonight had been the longest I’d spent doing something with her in years, certainly since our interests didn’t really align that much. But as sisters, it seemed that they did and I even spotted a photo of us in our costumes that I didn’t remember taking. I felt a warmth as I remembered how she’d complimented me after I’d changed into the costume, but brushed the feeling away since that was clearly the spell’s influence.

 

“S-still…” I said. “That doesn’t prove anything!”

 

“Really? Well, if you’re that sure of it, then I guess that settles it!” Tabitha said, standing up. “You’d better get going, you don’t have that much time left before you change back.”

 

Stuffing my phone back into my purse, I bid Tabitha farewell and headed back out into the night. As I made it down the driveway back onto the sidewalk, I was suddenly embraced in a hug by an unknown figure. I felt afraid at first, but the fear evaporated when I realized who was hugging me.

 

“There you are, Max! We were so worried about you!” Laurie exclaimed while simultaneously trying to catch her breath. “She’s over here, guys! I found her!”

 

Darren and Raffi quickly jogged up and were similarly out of breath.

 

“Didn’t you get any of our calls or texts?” Darren asked.

 

“And what were you doing over here, anyway? This is where the witch lives! You’re lucky she didn’t eat your soul or something!” Raffi exclaimed.

 

“I’m fine, and I wasn’t looking at my phone. Oh, and Tabitha is actually really nice.” I said.

 

“Tabitha? You’re on a first-name basis with the witch?” Darren asked.

 

“Yeah, I, uh… caught her name while I was taking Dana trick or treating,” I replied, not wanting to explain why I’d been inside her house moments earlier.

 

“Whatever, I’m just glad you’re okay. Can we uh… talk privately? I promise it won’t be like before.” Laurie said.

 

Darren and Raffi simply nodded and headed off around the corner, while Laurie took a deep breath.

 

“I’m really sorry about what happened before, I thought there were signals and I totally misread the situation,” Laurie said.

 

“No, no, I’m the one who should be sorry. The kiss was phenomenal! I just… wasn’t expecting it. I mean, all I planned to say was that I really really liked you.” I said. “And when everything happened so fast, I just sorta… got overwhelmed.”

 

“Oh my god, I’m so relieved! I was so afraid that I’d made things weird, and I really didn’t want to lose you as a friend if I was wrong.” Laurie gushed.

 

“Don’t worry,” I said. “I think we’re finally on the same page.”

 

I leaned in and now it was my turn to catch Laurie off-guard with a passionate kiss on the lips. This time when we kissed, my thoughts were much more clear and I realized that I did love Laurie. Whether it was true love or not, at that moment, I wasn’t really sure whether or not I wanted to give all that up. Throwing in the other benefits to this new life I’d been handed made my decision a whole lot easier. I wasn’t unhappy as I was, but I couldn’t deny that I’d felt a lot happier tonight. Could it really have been as simple as not being who I was meant to be?

 

“How was it this time?” Laurie asked.

 

“Great, but uh… you’ve got a little something…” I motioned towards my cheek.

 

Laurie reached up to scratch it, before remembering that she had fake blood on her face from her costume and rolled her eyes before playfully punching me in the arm.

 

“Come on, do you wanna go back to the party?” Laurie asked, grabbing my hand.

 

“Yeah, but I’ve just got one thing to do first. Wait right here!” I pulled my hand away and ran back up towards Tabitha’s house.

 

The door opened before I had a chance to knock on the door, and Tabitha stood before me with her hands behind her back.

 

“What do you want now?” she questioned.

 

“Uh, about the spell. I know you said it was gonna wear off at midnight but… what if I don’t want it to?” I asked.

 

“I had a feeling you’d be back,” Tabitha replied and held out an orange-wrapped candy that looked identical to the pink one from earlier in all but color.

 

“And this one…” I started.

 

“Makes the spell permanent, and it’ll give you all the memories that ‘Maxine’ is supposed to have. But it won’t mess with your existing memories, so you’ll always remember how it was before, even if nobody else does,” Tabitha finished. “Consider that a gift.”

 

“Thanks,” I said.

 

“Don’t mention it, and if you have any problems, come to me and I’ll see what I can whip up.” Tabitha winked at me and I nodded and headed back down the driveway to where Laurie was waiting for me.

 

“What was that about?” Laurie asked.

 

“Just some last-minute trick or treating,” I said, unwrapping the candy and putting it in my mouth.

 

“Trick or treating? Aren’t you a little old for that?” Laurie asked.

 

“You’re never too old for candy,” I smiled and grabbed Laurie’s hand. “Let’s get back to that party.”

 

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Tabitha on her porch smiling as Laurie and I walked away, hand in hand.

 

The End