I fell to my knees. Absolutely helpless. Like there was a truck on my back. But not just my back; my entire body was weighed down with this invisible force. I couldn’t move an inch even if I wanted to. My classmates around me froze. Well, what do you expect? It’s a normal lunch period on a normal day, and everyone normal is going about their normal business and hanging out with normal friends. And then one student, probably the most un-normal in the class by the way, drops to the floor. Which is quite obviously NOT normal.
I tried to say something, who knows what, but my mouth wouldn’t move either. I wished I could explain what was going on. That this was actually quite normal. That I had been lucky enough for it to never happen at school or in public. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t do a thing.
A couple of my friends came up to me. I wanted to scream at them to go, to run away! To not look back! They kept coming closer, saying things like “Ather, you okay?” and “Can you hear me Ather?” The normal things to say to a hurt person I guess. But I wasn’t just hurt.
It was then that the pains started. I let out a loud cry, and all the people who had started to gather around me moved away again. There were looks of confusion, fear, and nervousness on every face in the room. My friends, Jennell and Toby, were the only ones who didn’t back off. Instead they moved quickly forward. A searing pain went through my entire body. I would try to explain this pain if I could, but no one would be able to compare to it. All I can say is that it hurts way more than a paper cut, a broken bone, probably more than being crushed by a heavy object. It’s worse than every horrible thing in the world put together.
They got to my side just as my muscles were able to move again. Jennell looked really concerned, but Toby looked more shocked. I didn’t realize until later what exactly he had been shocked about.
I put out a hand and tried to use my voice.
“No…” I croaked, “Stop. Please.” I tried to say something else, but my voice gave out. I raised myself to a sitting position and started to take deep breaths.
“Ather?” Jennell asked in a tentative voice, “What’s going on? Are you sick or something?”
I shook my head. The next stage was going to start in approximately five minutes. I had to get out of here as fast as possible.
“No! It’s just a really bad headache!” I said, with an extremely fake giggle, “It just hurt so much that I couldn’t think properly for a moment! Ha ha!”
‘This sounds so fake.’ I thought to myself with a scowl. But apparently it did the trick. A nervous laugh went around the classroom. Everyone started to get chatty again. I heard things such as “Wow, I was really scared there for a minute!” and “Ha ha! I can’t believe I was so worried and all it was was a headache!”, and other such phrases. I let out a huge sigh of relief, and shakily stood up.
“I’m gonna head to the nurse’s office” I said with a fake smile. “I’ll see you guys later!”
Without waiting for an answer or any acknowledgement I started to speed out of the classroom as fast as possible. But Toby caught my eye before I left. I raised an eyebrow at him, trying to look calm, but I was really worried that he thought something was up. Toby was shy, and often seemed more like a girl than a guy, but he was smart. And extremely observant. He gave me a weird look, then shook his head and turned away.
The hallway was blissfully quiet. I turned left from my classroom and walked as fast as possible to the nurse’s office. The transformation would start any minute. I walked into the office, slamming the door behind me and locking it.
“Mrs. Bell!!!” I yelled, “It’s Ather! The change has started!!”
I heard something move suddenly and then a loud crash.
“Mrs. Bell??”
“I’m alright!” She called, “just one second Ather!”
The older woman bustled out of the back room of the office. Her long black hair was, as usual, tied up in a bun, and her nurse’s uniform was messy and wrinkled. Also as usual. But Mrs. Bell’s face was cheerful and she was always glad to help. These two traits were why my family trusted her with the knowledge of my disease.
“You surprised me!” she said with a grin, “I dropped all my supplies!” She smiled at me again and then motioned for me to move to the little curtained off area in the corner off the office.
“You’re sure you won’t be surprised when it happens?” I asked with a worried look at her.
“Not at all!” said Mrs.Bell, her green eyes sparkling, “Actually, I didn’t want to tell your parents, but you’re not the only child with the “Smarties” in this school.”
I turned my head sharply, hurting my neck, “What?!”
“It’s true!” She said cheerfully.
I started to say ‘Who is it?’, but my skin started tingling. The five minute time limit I had before transformation was up.
“Crap, it’s starting!” I said frantically. Even now, I couldn’t grow used to the transformation. It was just too weird.
Mrs Bell pulled me close. “It’ll be fine” she said in a calm voice.
I started to calm down, but I was still slightly agitated. I could feel my body beginning to bubble and change. When the process was finished, I would no longer be Ather the girl, but Ather the very masculine boy.
You’re probably confused. Many questions such as “What is the “Smarties” disease? Isn’t that candy?!” and “Why the hell are you turning into a guy??” are running through your head(I can read minds :p). I’ll pause my story for a minute while I quickly explain the circumstances.
There is a new disease that is spreading throughout the world. No one knows where it came from, and so far, no one knows how to control it. This disease has some really weird circumstances.
First, only 8 people can be affected at one time. So finding someone with the same disease is extremely difficult. Second, the disease only affects a person when they see a certain colour. No, you’re not gonna break out in hives if you see someone wearing a yellow shirt. The colour is actually quite specific. The shade has to be perfect, or it won’t affect you. Third, when you see the colour, you immediately start to go through the first of three stages. You first are paralyzed. The stage involves a searing pain in the areas that are involved with the disease. “Areas?” you ask? That brings us to the fourth point. The symptoms of the disease are different for each person and it affects a different part of the body for each person.
However, all the effects seem to be physical, and not mental. Though some people may have a personality change. The symptoms of the disease can last from half an hour to days; it depends on the colour that affects you. And so, as you’ve probably guessed, I am one of these 8 with the “Smarties” disease, nicknamed as such, because the 8 colours of the candy are the same as the 8 colours that affect the people with the disease.
The colour that affects myself is the colour blue. It is a light, baby blue, which is unfortunate, for that colour seems to be worn quite often. And when I see this colour, my gender changes. Now that you all have a thorough understanding of the Smarties disease (or maybe you don’t, but you’ll understand as we progress), we will now continue the story.
I felt my body finish its transformation, and I started to faint. This was normal for me. My body used a lot of energy when I transformed, and I was now thoroughly worn out. My disease tends to last for about an hour and a half before it wears off, which is absolutely horrible; I hate walking around as a guy. The only good thing is that I sleep for about half an hour before I can actually move. The last thing I said as I started to fall asleep was “I hate this.”