Anger (TW)

"Look, you need to leave now!" I half shouted, both the volume and pitch of my voice climbing as I reached and then passed my limit. A witch?! This chick was loonie tunes, and I wanted nothing more to do with her. Unfortunately, she didn't look impressed.

She smirked and replied, simply, "No." Very calm. Very matter of fact.

If anything, this just pissed me off even more.

A different man might have tried to grab her, to throw her out physically. Thankfully, this wasn't even a possibility for me. I wanted her gone, and now, but I wasn't going to get violent. Instead I started for the bedroom to get my phone, which was plugged into the charger on my nightstand.

I made it a whole two steps before I felt my feet lift off the floor. I tried to flail about, naturally, but wasn't able to move a muscle. My clothes shredded and flew off in every direction as I found myself spun about in midair to face her.

My earlier reaction of anger might have had a little fear mixed in. Some part of me had to wonder whether she was really a witch, whatever that meant. Faced with undeniable proof of supernatural powers, the anger part died away with a whimper as the fear blossomed into full-on terror.

Elspeth's face wore a thoughtful expression as she paced around me. She mused, "Going for the phone to call the cops was actually not a bad idea, if I were actually 'loonie tunes,' as you put it. Pretty stupid idea considering I was telling the truth, though of course you didn't think that was possible. The question is what to do with you now. Certainly can't have you calling the cops."

She smiled, and I considered the relative merits of screaming my fool head off. I decided it was worth a try, and opened my mouth to do so, but nothing came out. Fuck!

"Stay here for a minute," she said with a chuckle, and went out onto the balcony with her cellphone. There was just enough noise outside on the street that I couldn't hear what she said to whomever she'd called. She paced a bit. Nodded. Shook her head. Nodded. All the while, I hung naked in midair, unable to do anything but watch and wait and silently freak out.

When she came back inside several minutes later, she was carrying a folder she hadn't had before, leafing through it with a pleased expression on her face. She took a photograph out of it, and dropped the folder on the table, then came back over to where I waited helplessly.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, roomie. Had to call in a favor from a friend of mine in DC."

Her gaze got scary intense. Then, it felt as if someone slipped my entire body into a giant, person-shaped glove, starting at my feet and inching its way up. My calves, then my knees, then my thighs were engulfed. My pelvis and hips were next. I looked down, realizing that I could even as I did so, but could see nothing but my naked self hovering about a foot off the floor. That didn't stop the sensation of being engulfed by some tight, smooth garment, though. The feeling didn't stop or slow as it swam up my abdomen, up over my chest to my neck. It did pause there as my hands suddenly got into the act, and the same invisible garment spread up my wrists, forearms, over my elbows, then my upper arms, and finally over my shoulders to the neck. Finally, the sensation shot up all at once over my face. I even felt it on my scalp, though my hair should have prevented that.

Thus far, the experience was merely odd and kind of alarming. Now it graduated to agonizingly painful. If before it felt as if I was enveloped by some sort of full-body glove, now it felt like that glove rapidly began to shrink. Honestly, there's no way to describe it because there's not much in most folks' experience to compare it to. Every square inch of my body was squeezed as if a million ratchet straps were being tightened all around me.

It didn't take long for the first bone to snap. It was the thumb of my left hand. I remember that with one hundred percent clarity. Hearing and feeling that snap was the last clear thought I'd have for a while as one bone after another followed suit. Ribs. Arms. Legs. Jaw. Pelvis. Even my skull was squeezed to the breaking point and beyond. I couldn't scream. I tried, but no sound came out. I couldn't pass out, either. I prayed for that, but no one heard.

The actual next clear, distinct memory I have was of my feet settling gently to the ground. Elspeth was standing in front of me, beads of sweat standing out on her face. The agonizing pressure was gone, but nothing was right.

Elspeth had been several inches shorter than me. Now I looked her straight in the eye. And my body felt way, way off.

I asked, "What the fuck was that?" and was astonished at my voice, which didn't sound like my voice at all.

Elspeth took a deep breath, smiled broadly, and replied, "Now we have a lot more in common."