BeSwitched, Paranormal Romance

by Molly Snow

  “Yes. Please, you gotta help.”

  “Help what? What’s the matter?”

  “Idis. She’s downstairs right now, trying to kill Surla who’s been BeSwitched with Cathy here.”

  “She is?”

  “Not only that, but she is going to do it with the help of Black Magic.”

  “Black Magic!” Gretchen gasped. Her wine glass dropped and shattered on the ground. “I can’t do this alone.” With a slight pause, she turned around to her party scene. “Sisters! Marilyn!”

  Idis’s arms outstretched, and as if being supported by someone under the arms, she flowed effortlessly from the upstairs down toward Surla. Her boots finally came to a clank against the wood flooring. The witch leaned over Surla’s weary body. Surla’s lungs heaved for breath. Idis loomed over her without expression, then retrieved the Spellbook, and came back to slap a cold, bony hand across Surla’s cheek, and laughed. Surla spit at the witch, and it landed in her eye.

  “You vile little… ER!” Idis stormed, and a powerful rush of wind thrust Surla against a wall and into a bathroom.

  The door slammed shut and locked by itself. Surla’s eyes darted around and landed on a window. She slid the clear shower-curtain to one side, and stepped into the old-fashioned bathtub, to open the possible escape-route. She could hear the kitchen sink run with water. Without warning, the bathroom sink’s faucet burst out with water, followed by the tub’s.

  Surla worked at the window but it was no use; the lock automatically went back down with each attempt. “My gosh. This house is completely possessed!” With that said, the shower curtain grabbed at her, enveloping her in the plastic. She tried to fight back, punching and kicking, but it wrapped around each of her limbs with ease, then shoved her down onto her back, water rising around her.

  Upstairs, eleven maddened witches flew through Vladimirror, all having very extraordinary characteristics. One that looked the youngest, around twenty-three, had silver long hair which waved into curls at the backs of her knees and blood-red lips that were naturally glossy. “Saffron, where’s Marilyn?” Gretchen turned to her and asked.

  “He’s coming.” Her violet eyes twinkled with animation.

  “Hurry up!” Gretchen saw him. His long black hair was sleek, skin was pale, and one eye was baby blue while the other was black.

  “As long as I don’t have fun.” He stepped his gangly legs through the mirror.

  “They’re downstairs fighting. It sounds like it’s coming from the bathroom,” Pussface quickly informed.

  Idis was in the kitchen washing out her eye, when the witches snuck toward the swinging doorway and peeked in. “Go check the bathroom,” Gretchen ordered Marilyn.

  “Idis.” Gretchen threw open the doors, with the sisters close behind.

  Idis turned around and her eyes now literally glowed. “What?! What is this?!”

  As Marilyn walked to the bathroom, he heard clanking of pots, shattering of glass, and shrieking coming from the kitchen. He turned the bathroom’s doorknob and it unlocked. Inside, he saw Surla under water, weakly struggling. Slowly, he walked over to get a better look. Surla’s eyes were pleading. Air escaped her mouth, making little bubbles surface, and her hair waved like silk.

  Emotionless, Marilyn said, “Let her go.” With that order, the shower-curtain released and water stopped rushing.

  Surla sat up, choking for air. Before she could speak, he was out the door, heading to the kitchen. She squinted her eyes in thought.

  Cathy and Pussface leaped from the upstairs to the green couch downstairs. They soon saw Surla dripping wet, ringing out her fake tail, exiting the bathroom.

  “Hey!” Surla rushed over to them. “What’s going on in the kitchen?”

  “We called Gretchen up for help,” Cathy said.

  Inside the warzone, Idis seethed with evil. Her hair twirled around like snakes. She stood on a counter throwing anything not attached to the ground by her magical powers. The witches danced around, arms waving, collecting their own magical powers together.

  Gretchen, prancing on her fat feet, noticed Marilyn studying a jar of goop. “Hey!” she said breathy. “Whose side are you on? Help us!”

  He looked up momentarily, then continued, studying another jar. The air had a magnetized feel. Their skin was tingling with the sensation. Gretchen, Saffron, and all the other witches knew what that meant. It was the feeling of evil powers fighting good. Idis’s Black Magic was just as strong as the eleven witches all together. With every step-ball-change they danced, they felt weaker, until most hunched from over-exertion. Evil was now overcoming good.

  From between the floorboards, Idis summoned black demons, which looked like nothing more than shadows with red eyes. Eleven demons seeped in to overtake eleven witches.

  Surla peeked into the kitchen long enough to behold a demon slither through Saffron’s lips. Her back arched, lunging her chest forward while her neck rolled. Her once violet eyes were now red and the color beamed out like lasers.

  “It’s terrible.” Surla shut the door and ran to her friends. “What can I do? I can’t use my magic unless I’m back inside my body.”

  “Oh my gosh!” Cathy gasped. “Is that the Spellbook?” Her paw pointed to the fireplace mantle.

  Surla jumped, overcome with joy. “I can’t believe she left it out here!”

  “We’ll finally be switched back!” Cathy saw some dust fly when the heavy book was set on the couch next to her.

  Surla flipped through as fast as she could, ruffling and ripping pages as she went. “Hurry,” she told herself. “You’d think it would have an index.” More and more ruffling. “Ah! I think I found it! Here it is. Okay.”

  Cathy and Pussface leaned over the page. Its title read, “BeSwitched Back.” Their hearts pounded with excitement. Once again, Surla was short of breath. “Cathy,” she wheezed, “do you have asthma?”

  “No.” Cathy twitched her right ear. “Just calm down.”

  “Relax,” Pussface interjected. “Take deep breaths.”

  Surla closed her eyes, tilting her head back. “Okay.” She looked back down to the spell and began reading. “If you did not take heed to the Black Cats’ Rule, events have taken speed to pay your toll. So you say you are ready to be once again thee…”

  Just then, the doors of the kitchen flew open, interrupting the magic. Idis glided on a foot of air, leading twelve possessed witches, and three demons without a body.

  Panicked, Surla looked down to the spell, trying to find where she had left off, when suddenly, from out of the fireplace, Idis conjured a massive fire. Its red and blue flames grew and flailed out, giving off tremendous heat. Idis laughed hysterically and the witches echoed her cackle in deep voices.

  “The Spellbook please.” Idis smiled and automatically the old cover slammed shut on Surla’s fingers and was pulled by an unseen force to the fire. “Now that I have this incredible power, I don’t need that old junk anymore. And you know what that means, Surla; I won’t be needing you anymore either.” She turned, facing her back to them, as she enjoyed watching the hungry flames eat at the spells.

  “Get out of here Surla and Cathy,” Pussface said quietly. “The front door is right there. Run away as fast as you can.”

  Surla turned to Cathy and then back to Pussface. “But… but now what?”

  “Listen, I have a plan. A really good one. Now if you don’t want to be overtaken by one of those demons, you better get the heck outta here,” Pussface continued.

  Quickly, Surla grasped Cathy in her arms and quietly exited through the front door. The crackling and popping of the fire made it impossible for Idis to notice.

  As Surla ran down the dark, wet streets, she cried, holding Cathy tight. She thought of the couple of weeks before, when she had first jumped through Idis’s window and over a hydrangea bush, calling out, FREEDOM… FREEDOM AT LAST, in her head. Cathy mewed sorrowfully, bumping and shaking, with every step.

  Energy disappeared without notice, making
Surla stumble on a sidewalk and fall to the concrete. She wasn’t hurt and neither was Cathy. They just laid back together against a stone wall. Finally finding time to wipe away tears, Surla used both of her forearms. “I want to be me again,” she whimpered.

  “So do I.” Cathy’s yellow eyes were moist. “I don’t care how boring my life is, just as long as I have my life.”

  “I agree. And I don’t like human boys.”

  “But I do.”

  “And I hate that stuff called pizza, although the anchovies weren’t bad.”

  “My favorite food.”

  “What about driving. I would much rather roam and wander on my paws.”

  “I’m supposed to be getting my license soon.”

  The longer they disagreed on likes and dislikes, the dryer their tears were, while their faces became long with the realization that they were never going to be back to themselves.

  Soon they heard loud music. The sadness had drowned out any sound earlier. “You hear that?” Surla sat up and straightened her cat-ear headband.

  “Yeah. It’s called The Monster Mash.” Cathy’s tail stood up. “Oh, how I wish I could dance right now.”

  Surla picked up Cathy and stood to see. They were actually next to the small, segmented stone wall, which wrapped around Revere Park. Guys and girls, dressed scary or exotic, filled the park. A set-up stage was placed at one corner and a banner read over it—Washington and Jefferson High’s Halloween Bash.

  “Cathy!” they heard someone call. It was Todd, walking over to them from a refreshment stand. “Hey, I was hoping you would come.” He leaned in and gave her a warm hug, then scratched under Cathy’s chin. “Hey, it’s Psycho Kitty.” He smiled, showing off his cute dimples.

  “I thought you weren’t able to make it.” Surla worked on fixing her hair as she spoke. All that fighting made her look pretty messy.

  “My sister went trick-or-treating with her friends.” His green eyes looked over her now holey stockings, to the tight black body suit, and landed on her sparkling eyes, which now had mascara runs. “Are you alright?”

  “Uh, not really,” she admitted. “But where’s your costume?” She eyed his black T-shirt, which fit tight around his chest and upper arms.

  “Oh, I didn’t have one, so I just came as myself.” Todd said, as he watched Surla’s eyes widen with sadness. “Do you… wanna dance?”

  “No… not really.”

  At Idis’s, Pussface was sitting at the kitchen’s open window, meowing an alarm to all the other black cats in the town. “Rrrreeeooow! Rrrreeeoooooow!”

  The witches and demons were still standing in the living room, as a vortex sucked from the center of the floor. It looked like a black whirlpool of gases and tar.

  As the vortex bubbled and grew, dozens of black cats were scurrying through the kitchen window and cat door. Even Lenny showed. “I’m here to help, too,” he said to Pussface. “That fight I had with you over Diamond was stupid. I’m sorry it had to happen, man, cuz I know she doesn’t like me anyway.”

  “Hey, it’s okay.” A crooked fang poked out when he grinned. “Help me siren.”

  Soon the kitchen became so full and black with cats, that many were balancing on hanging pots. Pussface said, “I think we’re ready.”

  When they entered the living room, three possessed witches had already stepped into the vortex, disappearing. Gretchen, still possessed, almost stepped in, but stopped when Idis finally noticed all the cats surrounding her and the demons. “Ha, now what’s this?”

  All the felines hissed at once, showing their sharp teeth.

  “You think you all could defeat me?!” She cackled.

  Hooking tails, they were involved in a choreographed spell. The circle, first going clockwise, turned suddenly, hooking tails with the partner to the right of them, continuing counterclockwise, rolling their heads and sticking paws in and out of the circle.

  “Get these foolish cats out of here!” Idis ordered the demons. The witches mechanically spread out, and their laser-red eyes didn’t blink once.

  Gretchen’s overtaken body was heading to Pussface and Lenny, when suddenly, all the cats clustered together. Their fur combined, along with their tails and eyes, into one giant black cat! “You are going to need a bigger demon, to possess this body.” Pussface’s voice came through two foot-long fangs.

  Chapter 16

  Tiffany walked by Surla, pulling Craig’s hand. She was dressed as a mermaid in a long, green and sparkly dress. “Oh my gosh. Look at Cathy. What happened to her?” She laughed and continued on her way.

  “I think I’m gonna go home now,” Surla said to Todd, turning to walk away.

  “Wait.” He put a hand on her shoulder, but she didn’t stop. He kept by her side at the same pace. “Come on, Cathy. Don’t go yet. I want to talk to you. I don’t like to see you so upset.”

  “Listen.” Surla’s feet stopped. “I-I just wish I could have my problems go away. But, now, no matter how hard I try, they won’t go. I’m going to stay like this forever.

  “Stay like what?” His eyebrows raised.

  “This is who I am for the rest of my life.”

  Cathy buried her head in Surla’s arms after hearing that.

  “What’s wrong with that? I like who you are.” His eyes were filled with concern.

  Surla’s eyes started to tear up again. “This isn’t who I am.”

  “Cathy.” He reached an arm around her shoulders. “Come sit over here.”

  He led her to an open bench, which was far from the whole party-scene and underneath a maple tree. Cathy sat on the other side of Surla. “I want to tell you, that I think you are the most beautiful girl, even with runs in your stockings and your hair messy.” He smiled. “Tiffany isn’t half as beautiful as you—that’s why she’s so jealous. And Craig—he’s just a jerk who was stupid enough to let you go.”

  Cathy’s ears were straight up, focusing on every word. Surla just sat there, being polite, her eyes sometimes wandering up to the starry sky.

  “Even before this change you’ve had the last couple of weeks,” he continued, “I saw something inside you—so special, so sweet.”

  Cathy felt something inside she never felt before; she felt special and wanted. The feeling of loneliness escaped her and just at that moment she saw something in the sky, which Surla noticed, too. “A shooting star.” Surla smiled at it briefly.

  “I wish… I could make you feel better.” Todd said softly. And right when the star landed, he kissed her.

  Surla felt a tingling, supernatural sensation—and so did Cathy. Then suddenly Cathy felt a warm set of lips on hers and she opened her eyes instantly, seeing Todd’s eyes closed in pleasure. She was involved in a kiss with Todd!

  As they continued to kiss, memories embedded in Cathy’s mind, from Surla’s experiences in her body, flooded in like a stormy ocean: visions of bumping into him in the hall; smelling his cologne; receiving help in the library after school; riding home with him and first realizing how strikingly good looking he was, with his perfect dark hair and beautiful cheekbones, with those lips and eyes. With every memory, the kiss became more passionate. Cathy felt his smooth face with her hands. Then the horrific night at the lake surged in: lightning and thunder and the feeling of being stranded in the cold, rainy night—only to wake up in Todd’s arms helping her inside his truck.

  When their kiss parted, Cathy held him close, in awe and utter amazement. “Wow, I’m me again.”

  Todd laughed, taking that as a huge compliment. “That was magical.”

  Surla was busy rolling in the cool grass in pure joy.

  The melody of a slow song floated to their ears. “Shall we have that dance now?” Todd asked.

  Cathy wrapped her arm around his and held hands as they approached a small clearing between many other couples.

  Surla trotted around in happy circles, then jumped onto a chair near the refreshment table. She watched Cathy with her head on Todd’s shoulder, smiling with c
losed eyes as they danced. Once in a while he would lean in and kiss the top of her head or say something in her ear; then she would either smile or laugh and look into his eyes.

  Tiffany soon came over to the table. Craig was by her side, dressed as a pirate, covering the black eye with an eye-patch. Surla laughed inside. What a dumb costume. She eyed the striped pants with disgust.

  “Are you sure you don’t want any more?” Craig asked Tiffany, filling his plate with many snacks.

  “Yes.” Tiffany’s blond tendrils sparkled with hair spray glitter.

  Hey, I have the use of my magic back, Surla thought, curling her tail in delight. “This spell is directed to Tiffany,” she whispered. “You will dread tomorrow and today, because the opposite will be said, for what you really wanted to say.”

  “All you had was a cookie.” Craig was persistent. “Do you want some punch?”

  “If I had anything else…,” Tiffany said defiantly, “then I would be fatter than a whale. I am on a diet.” Her eyebrows quirked. “Er!” She fought what she was saying. “I mean…, why do you think I wore this long dress anyway? It’s covering up my… Uh! My fat legs.”

  “Sorry, I was just asking.” Craig set down his plate. “Let’s dance instead.” He walked her to a spot right next to Cathy and Todd.

  Tiffany stared hard at the two. Finally she uttered, “Cathy is so pretty… and look at what a cute couple she and Todd make.”

  “What?” Craig loosened up his hold around her waist.

  “Did I just say that?” Tiffany looked up at him in disbelief.

  “Uh, yeah.”

  “What I meant to say was, I wish you danced like him. You are a terrible dancer.”

  “No I’m not.” Craig let go of her completely.

  “I-I really mean it. No! I mean, um, you just can’t dance!”

  People looked at her, having heard the last loud comment, including Cathy. “Dance alone then.” Craig walked to the closest available girl. “Would you like to dance?”