He's...or rather, She's far too gone now.

Slowly, painfully, I pushed myself up, my limbs trembling, my body aching. The intense, programmed horniness had receded, leaving behind a cold, hollow ache. The full weight of what had just happened, the violation, the **** pleasure, the complete surrender of my will... it crashed down on me with horrifying clarity.

I had given up. I had let the curse win. I had let Marcus Thorne break me. There was nothing left of Ethan Riley. Only this... this empty, aching, female shell. I didn’t bother getting dressed. What was the point? I stumbled out of the locker room, out onto the deserted soccer field, the setting sun painting the sky in shades of blood and bruising. Liam was gone. Probably went to get help. Or maybe he just couldn’t bear to watch anymore. I didn’t blame him.

I walked home, a slow, shuffling gait, my bare feet cold against the pavement, my borrowed female body feeling alien, violated, yet strangely... quiet. The urges were gone. The constant, gnawing need... silenced. Replaced by a profound, soul-deep exhaustion. I let myself into the house, ignoring Mom’s startled gasp from the living room, Megan’s disdainful sniff from the kitchen. I trudged up to my room, closed the door, and collapsed onto my bed, not even bothering to pull the covers up.

I was done. Done fighting. Done resisting. Done trying to be Ethan. Whatever the curse wanted, it could have. I didn’t care anymore. I just wanted to sleep. To forget. To disappear. And as darkness finally claimed me, a single, stray thought, faint and distant, flickered through the haze of my despair: Maybe... maybe being a girl wouldn’t be so bad after all.

The next morning, I woke to the insistent chirping of birds outside my window. For a blissful, disoriented moment, I forgot. I stretched, my limbs feeling heavy, sore. Then, memory flooded back. Marcus. The shower room. The violation. The surrender. A wave of self-loathing washed over me. I squeezed my eyes shut, not wanting to face the day, not wanting to face... myself. What had I become?