HALLOWEEN FABLE

[Matt L.]

HALLOWEEN FABLE

I always wanted to write a Halloween story, this is a free writing quickie.

_____________________________________________________

“I don’t know if I envy her more than I hate her”, Sarah Lincoln caustically confided to a friend in the Hubbard High School cafeteria.

Naturally Sarah was speaking of Jennifer Remure, among the senior class’s snottiest elitist.
It wasn’t so absurd to admire or even be a little jealous of Jennifer. Radiant golden blond locks which highlighted her dazzling face which still looked amazing even without cosmetics.
Athletically perfect, svelte and amply-endowed, rumor had it said Jennifer was a double - D but in reality she was an upper C.

Top grades in every subject, popular with only the most worthwhile guys, other male students even on the fringe of the popular circle Jennifer opted to ignore until they improved in looks or grew up.

What frazzled Sarah and quite a few others was Jennifer’s pompous attitude, and if that wasn’t awful enough, she couldn’t resist commenting, sometimes cruelly, on another student’s bad hair day, dowdy attire or lack of prominent status, Sarah had been Jennifer’s target a little more frequently than some of the other so called nerdy or chubby girls.

Sarah was a bit on the well-fed side. Curly blond hair, glasses, and a pretty face although spotted with a mild case of acne.

Jennifer parted from her crew and walked her standard sultry strut toward the exit but like a magnet changing her course, she shifted her direction and walked over to where Sarah was sitting with her close friend Madison James. Madison was pretty but quite chunky, her stringy brown hair in a lopsided ponytail, her attire hardly fashionable, a black hooded sweatshirt and checkered sweatpants.

Jennifer addressed Madison promptly, “I hope that’s diet cola you’re drinking.”
Madison cringed, wanting to tell Jennifer to bite her ass but those on the lowest rung of the social ladder never spoke out of turn, it would only encourage more teasing and criticism.

Jennifer cattily smiled as she addressed Sarah.

“The Halloween bash, I’ve a sexy Catwoman costume, I’ll knock Ryan’s socks off!”

Ryan was Jennifer’s main squeeze, actually a nice guy and a family friend of Sarah’s who had a huge crush on for years.

“I think Ryan will like it fine”, Sarah replied, trying hard not to give Jennifer ammunition to criticize her. All for not.

“I think you’d look nice as a maid, not a French maid, you don’t have the body for it but like a milkmaid, a dairy woman.”

Sarah groaned, “You really have to insult me, really? I don’t even go to your stupid school events.”

Jennifer nodded, “Right, you think they’re stupid because you know you don’t belong. Have fun taking the little kids trick or treating!”

“Why you have to be so mean to me?” Sarah whined.

Jennifer rolled her eyes and sighed, “Why do you have to be such a big nerd. Oh, and the whining, that’s really cool!” she then sarcastically lobbed at Sarah.

Elevating her chin, Jennifer turned around and walked away, strolling toward a group of guys who opened the cafeteria door for her, and then trailed out of the cafeteria behind her.

Madison leaned forward, sipping her cola, “Does she really give a shit this ain’t diet.”

“I hope someday fate evens the score and she gets an idea how bad she makes me feel”, Sarah angrily uttered.

Madison slipped her hand under the fabric of her sweatshirt, scratching her doughy stomach, a force of habit whenever she felt uncomfortable.

“I wish Ms. Nightmare would pay Jennifer a little visit”, Madison snorted.

“Ms. Nightmare?” Sarah inquired.

Madison chuckled, “You never heard of Ms. Nightmare?”

Sarah eagerly listened as Madison expounded the legend.

“As the fable goes, there was once a woman, unhappy about another woman giving her shit about something or another. Well, she used a spell to make this woman’s worse vision of herself come true. Alright it worked but somehow this woman who used the spell was absorbed into another dimension or alternate universe or something and forever more is doomed to help others who have been emotionally hurt or ridiculed, stuff like that.”

Madison tethered on her chair as she wrapped the story up, “I know you can find out more about the legend on line.”

“You think it’s true?” Sarah asked bluntly, causing Madison to laugh, “No but if it was, the next time my older sister calls me a fatty I’d make the connection and hopefully she’d be heavier than me!”


____

The thought of the Ms. Nightmare fable played on Sarah’s mind the remainder of the afternoon and into the evening. She couldn’t resist looking up the legend on the net but what she discovered was just a rather tepid composition about the legend. However, there was indeed a book written about odd tales of folklore, the author Ellen Pamela Sill residing in a old folks home in a suburb not so far from Sarah’s home.


Sarah skipped class the very next day and paid Ms. Sill a visit.


For a women well into her 80’s, the author was full of vim and vinegar, thin and her gray hair in a receding hairline, she was quite pleased with company and ever so more that somebody was interested in her writing.

“I won’t say the Ms. Nightmare story is true but I won’t say it isn’t. The subject, according to the tale is forever changed into what she dreads most. She’ll notice it but everyone else, including family members will be under the notion she had never been any different.
One story I heard and its feature in my book is about a woman pestered by a rival at where she worked. After a visit by Ms. Nightmare she was no longer the strong minded executive but a mousy office girl.”

Sarah told Ms. Sill all about Jennifer, and then inquired about contacting Ms. Nightmare.

“This Jennifer sound like a proper candidate, being so callous. Well, grab my note pad and you write down what you need to do.”

Sarah did just that and afterward thanked Ms. Sills for her time.


_____________

The night before Halloween Sarah complied with the instructions.
Four candles in a semi-circle, a picture of Jennifer, which she cut out of the previous year’s yearbook, and a mirror. Sarah dropped off her clothes and spun around four times, uttering a weird pronouncement which included calling Jennifer by name.

“Jennifer Remure, cute and classy, such a waste, specifically in what you loathe and fear revise promptly the actuality of your history, cute and classy but a hopeful dream never coming into fruition!”

It happened swiftly, the candles going out, the mirror cracking and Jennifer’s photograph burning up, reduced to ashes.

Sarah loudly giggled.

____________

Jennifer woke up that morning feeling irregular, her mouth felt funny, and while she was still in bed she ran her fingers through her lips.

“Braces?” She crinkled her nose, “How the fuck?”

Jennifer stripped off her Kim Possible blanket, sluggishly removing herself out of bed, her vision a tiny bit fuzzy but she could make out her room had taken a major overhaul. No longer plush and delicately fashioned for a woman ready for adulthood but, besides being a mess, a room better suited for a dreamy eyed immature teenage girl. Posters of popular boy bands and cartoon characters over the bright pink colored walls. A pink vanity table with a computer and several empty cans of cola and bags of M&M’s. A My Little Mermaid lamp and a Supergirl nightstand.

Jennifer rubbed her nose, coughing herself into full consciousness. The high pitch tone of her snorting caused shivers up and down her spine.

Jennifer noticed a pair of dorky looking brown frame glasses on her nightstand, instantly but confusingly she recognized the glasses as hers, and she instinctively put them on.

Jennifer leaned in toward the mirror, shock causing her mouth to open wide, exposing the thick metal braces upon her teeth. Jennifer’s golden blond hair was now a murky dishwater blond, her face sort of cute but unadulterated timid in looks while a splatter of acne covered her forehead and puffy cheeks. A cotton nightgown with short ruffled sleeves sporting a cartoon with Hannah Montana and the caption ’Number One Fan!’.

Jennifer stood frozen, trying to make sense of what happened to her appearance when her mother peered at her from her bedroom doorway. “Get snappy, Jenny, wash up and then have breakfast!”

Jenny! It was never Jenny; it was either Jennifer or on occasion Jen.

Jennifer swerved at her hips, “Mom, do I look any different?”

Mrs. Remure softly gazed at her eldest daughter, the moderately pudgy woman with auburn hair which curled at her shoulders, modestly smiled, “You’re 18, you’re blossoming into a young woman, hormones do funny things, of course you’ll look different one day from the next.”

Jennifer nasally wheezed while grumbling, “Thanks for the generic answer, mom.”

Mrs. Remure sighed in frustration, “Oh dear, we both know your weight does fluctuate, if you put back on some weight you’ll lose it.”

Jennifer gaped at her mom who smiled in a dramatic fashion, “Now get a move on and be quick about it.”

Jennifer wheezed again, this time it ended with a gawky snort.

On impulse Jennifer made a dash to her computer and brought up her Facebook page.

Lots of photographs of family members and a couple of friends, girls she routinely ignored.
Scrolling down the page Jennifer blinked at the sight of a few of her earlier junior year photos revealing her figure as somewhat chunky and worst of all no cleavage to speak of.

Jennifer promptly stood up and removed her nightgown, slowly and somewhat fearfully she walked to the mirror. Jennifer’s squeaky tone ricocheting through her room, “No, no, no, no!”

Jennifer’s spectacular rack had been reduced to a meager 32-A!

Instantly Jennifer cupped her breasts, the tissue quite spongy, her vision surveying the rest of her figure in equal shock.

Thin, including her weedy looking arms, until reaching her midsection. Jennifer had a marginally plump belly, not large enough to be considered a full fledged potbelly but bigger than a pouch. The fattiness of her tummy sticking outward stretching the fabric of her white cotton panties adorned with small multi-colored bubbles. Jennifer’s once shapely posterior was slightly roomier and her thighs were a smidgen thicker but completely flabby with saddle bags in the early stages of development. Jennifer’s skin was practically milky white, and she had the faintest muffin tops.

Jennifer felt dizzy for a brief second as her skill in such things as fashion and cosmetics were removed and her personality became rather subdued and immature.

“This is beyond totally weird!” Jennifer peeped, unaware that her vocabulary now reflected her geeky eccentricity and appearance. Jennifer rubbed her face and chin, “I better get dressed lickety-split before mom gets furious at me!”

Thus Jennifer ignored taking her usual shower and looked through her clothes trying to figure out what to wear. Needless to say Jennifer hated her clothes, cheap knock offs of trendy fashion, ugly blouses and other items only a dork would wear.

After 15 minutes but seemed longer to Jennifer, she decided on a tepid blue top which she covered with a brown sweater and black sweatpants decorated with mathematical symbols. Somehow totally unaware of her the slacks exaggerated the size and roundness of her swollen tummy.

Combing her locks, she discovered just how limp and oily her mane had become, she tucked a thick quantity behind her ears, the remaining tresses wilting unto her shoulders.

Jennifer finally made it into the kitchen where she exchanged glances with her mother. Mrs. Demure’s lack of acknowledgment over the changes to Jennifer’s appearance confounded her all the more.

Lackluster in motion and complying with an arcane inner thought, Jennifer went about making her own breakfast. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich on toast both pieces of bread heavily buttered, a few donuts and a small bag of M&M’s along with a glass of milk. Somehow her appetite needed more than her usual plain cereal and orange juice.

“I can’t be going to that stupid Halloween bash at school, I look super crazy ridiculous!” Jennifer squeaked, “Ryan will probably bail the moment he sees me.”
“Who’s Ryan?” Mrs. Demure asked.

Mrs. Demure’s question caught Jennifer by surprise; her mother had met Ryan several times.

Moving in closer to her daughter, Mrs. Demure warmly smiled, “I’m glad you’ve finally met a boy, is he nice?”

Jennifer sighed; no sense bringing up Ryan’s strong points and appearance, her mom wouldn’t believe she was dating such a popular guy. However she did manage to utterly, “Yeah, mom. We were supposed to go to this Halloween bash but I ain’t so sure I wanna go now.”

The surprises kept continuing for Jennifer as her mom insisted, “Well, going to this Halloween party is okay with me but remember you’re taking the kids trick or treating. Afterward you can go to the party, it’s about time you start attending social events.”

Jennifer submissively nodded.

“I got you a cute costume for you to wear”, said Mrs. Demure, “A bunny costume.”

Jennifer cringed, her cheeks stuffed with a huge bite of the sandwich, “…bunny costume…I can’t go as a playboy bunny, I’d look stupid!”

Mrs. Demure laughed, “Playboy Bunny! Where did you get such an idea! It’s a cute pink suit with big floppy ears and tail.”

“Oh great!” Jennifer thought to herself, “Now I’ll look like an even bigger dork!”

________

Jennifer skipped school that day; she was far too embarrassed by the changes to her appearance to be seen in class and especially by her preppy - elitist friends.

Thus Jennifer first went to the library, there she read through magazines and books that previously left her cold. Teen Digest, Tiger Beat, Mad Magazine, and a sappy romance novel.

Jennifer eventually left the library for lunch, going straight to Burger King.
Comfort food made sense at the moment and she treated her appetite to a couple Whoppers, fries and milkshake.

On her trek back home Jennifer stopped off at 31 Flavors, reasoning that getting chunky was no big deal anymore, all the worthwhile guys would ignore her anyway.


_____________

Halloween evening Jennifer put on the bunny costume, and for some strange reason she thought it looked sort of cute on her despite the material making her look roomier at the hips and bigger in the butt. She took the little ones trick and treating, once again she was surprised, she was essentially enjoying looking after the kids.

Eventually Jennifer and the kids landed up at Ryan’s home, she felt quite nervous and hopped she wouldn’t see him. As it happened, just as Ryan’s mom finished doling out the candy, Ryan walked out the door in his General Douglas McArthur custom.

Regrettably for Jennifer their eyes met, Ryan cheekily grinning, “I know you? Jenny, right?”

“Cute bunny costume!” Ryan laughed, and Jennifer’s heart sank deep in her chest.
To Ryan she was just another geeky social reject.


__________


Sarah was anxious to see the results and she wasn’t disappointed when that afternoon she discovered Jenny sitting alone at table for lunch.

Sarah giggled as she addressed Madison, “Wow! Isn’t that something, not so cool is she now.”

Madison turned to Sarah, “You talking about Jenny Demure? Did I miss something? When was she ever cool?”

“I’m going to invite her over to join us”, Sarah said, quickly climbing to her feet.

Madison stared in disbelief, “You’re kidding? I mean I don’t have anything against Jenny but she’s a pariah, we’ll be pariahs by association if she sits with us.”

“Handle it sister”, Sarah sarcastically giggled, “Isn’t like our date book is full anyway!”

Jenny sat nourishing her appetite on food she once rarely dined on.
Chicken nuggets, fries, and an individual size pizza with an ice cream sandwich, in addition to a large non diet cola.

Jenny’s hair still rumpled and oily, wearing a size too large navy blue turtle neck sweater with a tacky cartoon rainbow circled by stars, and black spandex slacks on loan from her mom.


“You shouldn’t be sitting by yourself”, Sarah sweetly smiled, “Join me and Madison, won’t you?”
Sarah was taken back by the nasally sound of Jenny’s voice. “You… you sure?”

Sarah nodded, Jenny wiped her bulbous nose with her sleeve, “I guess.”

Jenny joined Sarah and Madison, after an awkward moment of silence, Jenny came clean, “Thanks for being so nice to me, my old …I mean, Stacy and Candace, they like were totally rude to me. Teasing me and stuff.”

Sarah cracked an eye, “That’s awful, Jenny.”

Jenny’s voice breaking into a shrill of a whine as she gobbled up the ice cream sandwich, a steady stream of melted ice cream leaving her lips, trickling down her chin.
“Golly, you won’t believe um, it’s fantastic but what’s the point. I’m a dork; somehow it’s a foreign like feeling but almost feels normal.”

“And you wonder why kids pick on you?” Madison snickered.

Sarah rolled her eyes to her friend, “Let’s be supportive, okay. Jenny has few friends, right?”

“Apparently!” Jenny snorted, “I mean, Priscilla Gold and Kimmy Longshanks were sort of nice to me, I suppose they’re my friends.”

In Jennifer’s previous reality she never said a word to Priscilla and only spoke to Kimberly to make derogatory remarks. A pair of chubby girls who likewise were on the bottom of the social ladder.

“Well count us as your friends too!” Sarah said with sparkling eyes and wide smile.

Just then Ryan approached the table, his eyes squarely on Sarah, “Hey, Sarah. Nice French maid outfit you wore at the Halloween bash! You looked amazing!”

Sarah tilted her head and blushed, “Aw, you’re sweet but don’t you think I looked a little chubby in it. Just a little?”

Jenny felt jealous, obviously, and thus anxiety influencing her to eat faster.

Ryan’s broad smile adding a charming element to his handsome face, “Nah, only a little but you still looked hot!”

Ryan began backing away, “I’ll call you, okay.”

Sarah nodded, “Sure.”

Finally just before turning around to join his friends, Ryan acknowledged the other girls, “Hey Madison, Jen.”

“Ryan is so cute, isn’t he!” Sarah boasted just to rattle Jenny’s nerves.

“I hope he asks me out”, Sarah added with a bold smirk.

Madison nodded, “That be cool, see if he has a friend for …us”, Madison adding Jenny into the equation at the very last moment.

Jenny lowered her body downward in her seat, her posture like rubber, and she flatly grunted before greedily devouring her meal.

Sarah watched as Jenny grabbed her soft drink, telling her cordially, “I hope that’s diet. You really ought to watch your figure.”

Jenny shook her head, sighing out loud in defeat, “Like who really cares if I get fat…?”


_______

As it went Sarah did befriend Jenny after all and so did Madison, and of course a real friendship developed with Priscilla and Kimberly. Sarah managed to lose some weight, her and Ryan becoming an item. Jenny spent more time with Priscilla and Kimberly then Sarah and Madison, the heavier girls undisciplined appetites having an influence on Jenny who became a rather chunky dork by graduation, at nearly 190-pounds.

A while after their first year college semester Sarah lost contact with Jenny but one thing was certain, she wouldn’t be rude or mean to any one again. Occasionally however…..

FINIS

[Junketh71]

This was a very fun story. Festive, too!

[Matt L.]

Hello Junketh71,

I'm very pleased you enjoyed the story. Thank you for reading.

Cheers, Matt

[Chopchop37920]

Hope we get a good story from you Matt during this getting season. ☺

[Matt L.]

Hello Chopchop37920,

Thank you for reading my stories. I have an acorn of an idea for a New Years story, so we'll see.

Cheers, Matt