I smell Kwamé.
It's the first thing I register, even before opening my eyes, before I pick up Akatua's lavender-y scent, before I notice that I'm naked, in a bathtub filled with water.
Thank God I waxed.
It's a weird thought to have considering everything that I've been through before I passed out, but it comes to me, anyway. When I open my eyes to survey my surroundings, I am met with their cautious, concerned expressions.
"Uh..." I trail off, not quite knowing where to begin, "... why am I in a tub of water?"
They share a look before Akatua hangs her head. I begin to worry about what she'll say next, worry that it will be something that will really piss me the hell off.
"It came early."
"What came early?" I ask Akatua. She bites her lip, looking relatively pale under the bright lights, as if trying to think of how best to phrase things.
"Er... your day of metamorphosis," she tells me. It takes a moment for it to click together in my head, but when it does...
"Nya, wait," she says as she holds me in place, preventing me from climbing out the bath tub. "Hold on." I give her a burning look, one that tells her not to test me. She sits back on her heels and sighs as I get up and walk over her, wetting up the bathroom floor in the process.
I stand in front of the full length mirror and look at myself. I look... different. A bit more like Akatua, but also a bit different. My eyes are more almond shaped than they were before, and my breasts and ass look bigger. My lips look fuller, my cheekbones look sharper. If I were looking at a picture, I would swear that it's some wacky photoshoped version of myself... but it isn't. It's so real, it's not funny.
"How?" I ask, beyond confused. "How is this possible?"
"I'm not completely sure, but it's probably affected by stress. They knew. The Ol' Higues. I'm... sorry, Nya."
"You know that this isn't your fault, right?" I tell her, but when I look at her, now sitting on the wet ground by the bathtub, I know she disagrees.
"I should have known," she mutters, fiddling with her fingers.
"How the hell were you supposed to know?"
She simply hunches over while Kwamé puts a hand on her back soothingly. Sighing, I pick up the towel from the rack and dry myself off before wrapping it around myself. I don't miss the way Kwamé watches my every move, both concern and interest twinkling in his eyes.
When I go into my room, I let out a frustrated sigh. None of my underwear will fit anymore, not comfortably at least. I wouldn't have expected to be so calm after something like this, waking up in a bathtub looking like I'm fresh out of plastic surgery. Hell, what will my classmates think? My boss?
More importantly, who cares?
Wait, so does this mean I have to retake my student ID picture? My driver's license? Will I be accused of stealing my own identity?
Yeah, I am freaking out. Delayed reaction, I guess.
"Nya," Akatua says when she sees that I'm starting to freak out. All of these questions hit me way too quickly. "Nya? Breathe, honey." I realise that I'm kneeling on the ground in my room, and my towel is unravelling, but I don't care. I don't give a shit about that, because I'm too busy freaking out.
"Nya," she says rubbing a hand down my back, "you need to calm down."
I can't.
"I don't know," I tell her, squeezing my eyes shut. I hear movement behind me and I know that Kwamé is there.
"What don't you know?" she asks, putting one hand on my back.
"Anything," I tell her, inhaling heavily. "I don't know anything anymore... I don't know..."
"Come here," Kwamé says, sitting on the ground beside me and pulling me into his chest, rubbing small circles into my back. I stay there and hyperventilate, fall apart in his arms, glad to get a certain sense of safety from his strong body holding mine.
"We love you," he tells me, lips on my neck, "and we'll figure this out. I promise." When I calm down, I sniff him a little bit, like the weirdo that I am, before resting my head on his shoulder.
"You smell nice," I tell him as he rubs my back. "You always do."
"Even as a bull?" he asks me playfully. It makes me smile.
"Never checked," I tell him.
"I'll, uh, get some stuff for you to wear," Akatua says, getting up slowly. "Kwamé, look after her for me please."
"Yeah," he says without turning his head.
"Where are you going?" I ask her, still inhaling the smell of Kwamé's skin.
"I'm going to buy you some panties, since yours can't fit anymore."
"Thank you," I tell her, as she walks out the door. I sit in silence for a while, before sighing and speaking.
"I'm sorry."
I feel his hand pause.
"What are you sorry for, sweetie?"
There he goes again with those terms of endearment. I know it's probably out of practice, because it's something that many Jamaicans, including myself, just do, but every time he does it, I feel all tingly inside.
"I'm being a drama queen," I admit.
"No you aren't," he says fiercely, pulling back. "Anyone who's been through even half the shit you've been through has every right to freak out. I'm just so sorry it had to be you."
"I..." I begin, but I donk know what to say. I try again. "It's worth it," I tell him, "being around you. With you. Both of you." I let out a sigh of contentment when he begins to rub my back yet again. "You're worth it."
I don't have to pull back and look to know that he's smiling. I can hear it in his voice when he says:
"You're worth it, too."
***
Over the past few days, since I've undergone my metamorphosis, I've experienced more than just physical changes. For one, I didn't expect to become so... horny. I've been walking around the house, getting wet every time I see, smell, hear or sense Kwamé, and I know that he can smell it on me. If he could smell me nearing my period, he can definitely smell the liquid constantly gushing out of my birth canal. He's been avoiding me because of it, and I know he's losing his grip on control, too.
I'm sitting uncomfortably in my own wetness on the sofa, when he tentatively sits across from me, before looking at the television, back muscles stiff under his white t-shirt. Spongebob is on, and I have a feeling that he's barely registering what's going on on the television.
"So, you've stopped avoiding me," I say to him. He turns his head sideways, not fully looking at me, before answering.
"Couldn't do it forever," he says to me. "We live together."
"Fair point."
We sit there in an uncomfortable silence before he speaks to me again.
"Are you a virgin?"
"What?" I splutter. Surely, I must have heard wrong.
"Are you a virgin?" he asks again, and I groan internally. He isn't going to make this easy, is he?
"Yeah," I tell him as calmly as I possibly can, but I can feel myself getting wetter by the second.
"Huh," he grunts, and I never knew that that noise could sound so... amazing. Sexy. Rough.
Promising.
"Why? What is it?" I croak.
"I just want to know how much it'll hurt when I f*ck you for the first time. How gentle I'll have to be."
"Are you a virgin?" I ask him, and he turns to look at me, his eyes reddening and hooded with lust.
"No, I'm not."
Something tells me not to ask about it and before I know it, he's standing over me,tilting my chin up.
"I'm tired of this," he says, before kissing my forehead.
"Tired of what?" I ask him in a shaky voice.
"Tired of torturing us both." He leans in and kisses me on the on the lips, and I lose it. I pull him in, and he almost falls on top of me, thanks to my recently acquired super-human strength. Then he pulls away.
"Get up," he says to me, his eyes ablaze now, and it's as if there's nothing there but him. The sound of the cartoon on the television is all but a distant memory. Our breathing and the sound of my pulse is all that's really there. Quickly, I do what he's requested, and he smirks at my eagerness.
***
"Great. You're done. Now would you please open the door?"
Sighing, Kwamé pulls away, his eyes now back to normal, and puts his clothes back on, slowly, might I add, and hands me my shorts. It takes me a minute to recover enough to put them on, and sit as he walks to the door.
"You guys--"
Kwamé interrupts her by opening the door, and she steps inside. She takes in the sight of my naked chest before shaking her head.
"Lu'lu is back at it again."
Kwamé's expression instantly sours.
"I'm just done having sex, and you had to pour that shit on me."
Akatua huffs out a breath of frustration before handing him a newspaper that I didn't realise that she had until now. He raises an eyebrow before reading it aloud, probably for my benefit.
"Men from Sligoville Disappear."
Oh, no.
"Are you sure it's her?" I ask.
"According to Zuhrah, yes."
"We should kill her," Kwamé says.
"If we can't die, how can she?" I ask. It's a question that I've had before.
"Kill her spirit. Kill her inside. Make her wish she could die," he clarifies, eyes glowing.
Well, damn.
"Has your friend made the instrument yet?" Akatua asks, and Kwamé nods.
"The friend from St. Lucia?" I ask. He nods, and I cock my head to the side in curiosity.
"What is he, by the way?" I ask. Kwamé never told me.
"He's a loupgarou. Werewolf."
"Ah," I say, nodding my head. I look between them, waiting for them to continue.
"He's started," Kwamé tells her, before turning to me. "It's something that can cause great pain to whoever is on the wrong end of it. To put it in terms that you'll understand... it's like the Cruciatus Curse in Harry Potter. Or Papa Tunde's Blade in the originals." I look at the ground, and shudder, not sure if I'm comfortable inflicting that much pain on another individual.
"Hey," Kwamé says when he sees my concerned expression. "Just so you know, she'd do it to you too, if she could."
"I know," I tell him. "I'm just..."
"Not capable of evil," he finishes for me. I bite my lip and nod. "You have to learn to be, if it's in self defense."
"I'll try," but I sound unconvinced of my capabilities, even to mg own ears. Akatua comes to sit on the couch beside me and rubs my back.
"Trust me," she says, "in the moment, you'll do more than try."
I hate to admit it, but I'm afraid of hurting Lu'lu, afraid that it will awaken some dark force inside of me that I won't be able to switch off. I do have her essence running through me, after all.
"There's another issue," Akatua says, fiddling with her thumbs while looking down. Sometimes, when Akatua is nervous about things like this, it makes me nervous, especially since I know her to be so... confident.
"Anything that can be done to her... can also be done to us, you and I, Nya, so if she gets the instrument--"
"She won't," Kwamé says fiercely, but I'm not convinced. Akatua's words... they don't just scare me.
They terrify me.
***
* Sligoville is a place in Jamaica near to Flat Bridge and the Rio Cobre.
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEdiSMMRLQ7
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhRQMSbQ8RQ
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvnTuOjfdpe
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhq6VnRuXJK
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkGTIUEEAP3
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcOC2R7PFVm
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG9nAH9GdQ6
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNTJMAK9vUd
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcr0UhcXfg9
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpKmUn7S6nZ
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8OB8IvsJH2
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcNRTshMVgX
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvMrl4Nixkj
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6LQUfISyMd
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN3RNZPat0o
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEF7GKTXhnD
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt9l0KoHhxd
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6BfNXEC5IQ
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQfG8wsLWTK
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZnqZ5ofDGS
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkswh7bPgCK
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgJ2cFsvqfI
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWwzQeBQy6M
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwNC6ONeoRF
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYFa6YOlvkm
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvWlTNS7xwF
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcqnR3OqviU
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiGQosIMbHn
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5EPVL7ER1G
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBm0Ts0C3NS
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvB3niCdjsJ
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMTJcga0vem
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiCo7oWN7gc
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4LkjUnSHzK
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ6YHb9SMfF
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6CSMTPiUdY
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD6qyt6BJCK
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgjuMRD9Kyz
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvafglMASR4
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRxbbUIhAUu
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMqxGFmH4eH
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3G852aNYTa
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ90dqgvLDHh
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDnplzkEbk7
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡADFV3jahn4
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6qjIDWJ7Z5
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmcERmEYdIk
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiMMUBOqf2k
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZWi9DwWjNq
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJD9nslEAxD
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcyHxXovLQb
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXrxwkjjLm6
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyLiifi3Qnt
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhL9iuAQeT0
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp6FWHLHG0p
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsNOdnIjqB5
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZCym7deOEb
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWZRTLDyS2m
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYP0PtooqSQ
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG6NkJFQcJR
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh2xB3Wf70w
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgSF6N9g51W
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9H3iKlqDr8
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGUWEXjUe1f
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbWLbGadnfy
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzfRPQPH0kr
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQxcyr2Fdfy
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡup2RBJwDNN
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu7YNd0Y77W
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHthAt5CGUf
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl3UUkj1PbY
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ppBwHOl4Y
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlrvWbwE0ew
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeq5d7Kf1jF
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCKTtYq1jX0
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPJxniiQi2M
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIoe4e4le2e
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqDRqorsK2e
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEQC7O0zKkH
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7RW99eMwvi
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3VXIkE3Oeg
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfjf7bYF6Bg
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoqV5QA87qF
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDzD33EMyGb
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3kKEbNEvLg
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoOXXjGIjQO
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhopT6PuEr8
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGUgDfNWtNu
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb5GZboEBwY
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4CTvPZCpwe
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQKTDJP8pDn
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXZ3FmTJDJm
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBZd6a8RKxY
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPLRkGf4Xfq
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHtqJGqHO1h
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQzRSZwXmPi
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ9PnVGClCf
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGmhdnlRuSZ
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBrSzrG3ARh
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3HeSrXVTja
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAVaFnqmL9t
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWmkg80nJmo
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHEDio5Vl0L
563Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiiZPmNejew
