"The Witch" by Eric
J Wheaton and Warner Brothers own the characters I am just playing with
them. No infrigment intended.
Prelude
I wish I were dead! God I hate my life! I hate it, hate it, hate it! Mother's screech came from the other room.
"Amy get your lard butt in here right now!"
I try and fight back tears. I know, I just know, the bitch takes pleasure in making me cry. OH, Dad, dad why don't you come and take me away?
"Amy I am not going to tell you again!"
Awkwardly I move to the living room. Mom had returned from the health club. She is very pretty for her age or would be if she smiled. Her auburn hair is prefect. Her make up is perfect. Her figure is perfect. She could capture another man--that is if she would just smile and not be such a bitch! Since poor daddy had enough and cleared out the men she's dated could only put up with her a few weeks. She is such a witch she drives men away. She blames everybody but herself--she blames me most of all! She is mean to me as usual.
"I have to work like a demon to keep my weight stable because I'm 37 and you--you lazy cow are 16 and don't take advantage of your youth! You let yourself get fat when a little effort would give you a great figure! How do you expect to make cheerleader next semester?"
She treats every ounce of fat like it is a mortal enemy. She's obsessed with being prefect. I can't help myself from answering back even though I know it will get me in big trouble with the bitch. "But mom, I don't want to be a cheerleader! "
She slaps me. I start crying and she slaps me again. "These are the best years of your life and you go and piss them away!"
I knew what was coming now and so I put my brain on hold as she rants on and no how she was the best cheerleader in the history of Sunnydale and how she went to the state championships--the Legend of Catherine the Great! God, I've been hearing about it all my life. What's so great about being a stupid cheerleader? I want to study chemistry! Being a scientist is a lot more important then being a bubble header cheerleader. What do they have when you get out of high school--nothing but bitterness! My cheeks are still stinging
when she winds down for the night. She looks at me oddly--
"OH, just get to your room. You stupid girl--you don't have a clue what's its like to be me--abandoned by your husband and having to work for a living and raise an ungrateful child."
I can't stop myself from saying, "I could live with dad?" I say hopefully. I get rewarded with another slap.
"You'd like that wouldn't you, you lazy bitch? He'd let you quit your
training, not get you on the squad. Never! You're going to be like me."
That makes me shudder. I am crying as I lay down in my bed.
I can't believe it! Mom won the lottery. We have money!
Part One
Things have gotten worse. I thought it might improve when Mom won that big prize in the state lottery and didn't have to work in a beauty parlor anymore.
She bought this big fancy house and I thought she might be happier and easier on me, but things got worse--she had plenty of time to try and turn me into a clone of herself. Well I am not Catherine the Great! And I don't want to be thank you. She is a bitter old bitch and so mean! I remember when I said how lucky she was to win, but she only smiled strangely and said "Yes 'lucky'" her smile was not very nice. I hear footsteps going up to the attic. What does she do up there? I know she has told me never to go in the attic, but--I creep up the stairs. I near her contralto voice -. It sounds like she chanting.
Weirdsville. I stumble a little trying to get closer and the door flies open like a bat out of hell. Mom's staring at me with hate filled eyes and I shuddered. Her jaws work as if she was trying to keep herself from tearing my throat out.
When she spoke her voice was low and cold and with infinite menace.
"Amy, if I ever catch you up here again I will kill you! Am I making myself understood you worthless child."
She scarred the shit out of me. I think she means it!
The next few days were weird. Neither one of us refereed to my visit to the attic. What was up there anyway? The school semester was almost over and mom got better in one way--she loosened up and stopped talking about me being a cheerleader and even let me visit my friends, but she talked more and more of what she said was so unfair for her to raise an ungrateful child and how hard it was on her and how she had lost her youth in raising me.
One night she looked at me bitterly and says " You are really wasting your youth, Amy, You don't deserve it."
I didn't dare answer her back and tell her I was wasting my youth listening to crab like her! I go over to Willow's house. I always enjoy it--we pigged out on brownies and talked. She was, as usual heartsick over Xander; she's always been heartsick over Xander.
"Why don't you tell him?"
She got really tongue tied and nervous! "Oh, I--what if he laughed at me--or worse didn't want to see me any more?"
Then she looked hard at my face. "Has your mother been hitting you again?"
I shrugged, bitter. "When has she not? She won't let me Amy--she want me to be Catherine the Great!"
Willow shook her long red hair. "Poor Amy! And she still wont let you live with your dad? Is she still obsessed with getting old?"
"More than ever!"
School year finally ended and I guess I (and few brainy kids like Willow) am the only ones not glad! It meant spending more time with my mother!
On getting home I am surprised as Mom is all smiles and take me out for a Pizza and a movie! Wow! Who was this clumsy impostor?
The next day she insisted on cutting my hair and even gave me my first
manicure. I felt so grown up. She kissed me tenderly that night and smiled.
"Sleep well, Amy--pleasant dreams. "
Her voice was kind enough, but something in the way she said it somehow gave me chills.
Part Two
I sleep soundly that night; I have strange dreams of something looking at me like a vulture or something. When I wake up that morning I am very tired. I blink and blink again. I am in my mom's room! How did I get here? I ease out of bed and look around--my mom's not here. Where is she? I wonder if I look as weird as I feel. I walk to the dresser mirror and scream. My mom is in the glass. I see her mouth opening to my scream. I look down at myself. It is no trick of the mirror. I am in my mom's body! I touch it and open my mouth to
scream again when the door opens and a very pretty blond girl enters with a smug, evil, gloating smile. It is me--my body--dressed in my cutest teen outfit--mini skirt and all.
"Good Morning, 'Mom' it looks like you're having a bad body day!" this Amy says in my warm young voice. Then she laughs- a cruel laugh. "Now you'll get to see how hard it is to be me! You were wasting your youth anyway. I will make far better use of it!"
It's a nightmare! I pinch myself and she laughs again. She grabs me and
thrusts me cruelly towards the mirror. I stare wide-eyed with horror at my mother's body that I am trapped in.
She puts a gloating note into my old voice. "Get used to it, Amy--or should I
say Catherine. You will be in that body as long as you live! And if you give me any lip or any trouble at all--it will not be long!" She puts my lips into a sneer. "That's it cry! Now you are the abandoned 37-year-old woman and I am the teenage girl with my whole life in front of me. This body is mine forever and there's nothing you can do about it! Nothing! If you try and tell anyone what has happened they will lock you up! Nobody would believe you! Then you would spend your miserable life in an insane asylum." She laughed like a happy
teenage. She ran a hand over my former body "God, does it feel good to be young. " She looked at me and flushed seeing my tears. "I deserve your body you know--I bore you with pain and raised you with the sweat of my brow. Besides you were just wasting your youth--so I took it!"
"Please, mother give me back my body!" I beg.
She slapped me. Slapped me hard. "If you ever call me mom again you are dead meat--call me Amy! Call me Amy!" she screamed.
Terrified I say " Yes, Amy."
She calmed down and smiled." That's better--do what you are told and it won't be so bad for you. You'll enjoy being a middle-aged woman, trust me. Perhaps you would like to get back together with your father--I mean your husband of course. Would you like that--Catherine!?" She laughed cruelly.
She must have read my horrified expression. I was now dad's WIFE! But there was a part of me I am honest enough to admit was tempted by the thought of daddy for my husband! But that was sick! But was it?--I am not in my own body--I am in Catherine's. My head swam--it is crazy, just crazy. The world swam and the floor hit me.
A bucket of water woke me up! It was me with a nasty smile standing over me.
"Get up you lazy buttisky and cook me breakfast you're the slave mother now!"
Terrified, I nod and stagger to the kitchen. It was so weird. I look down at my blood red nails and the older, slightly wrinkled hands. My former body sat smiling smugly and with contempt at me.
After breakfast she started working out." Got to get MY BODY ready for
cheerleader tryouts, 'Mom'" she said and laughed." I want to be just like my beloved mother--Catherine the Great. Maybe they will call me Amy the great! If you behave yourself--maybe I can find you a nice middle age man to marry. Would you like that, MOM? As for me--only young studs for me!"
"You're not going out with my boyfriends?" I ask disgusted and angry.
She waved a hand at me and I felt iron, unseen fingers at my throat and I was gasping for my life.
"There my boyfriends now, MOM! And you better not forget yourself again. Now who are you?"
I collapse on the floor. She'll kill me I think. "I am your mother Catherine Mason." I stammer.
She smiles a smile my former lips never smiled before. "And who I am I?"
"My daughter Amy."
She nodded my--now her blond head with satisfaction.
"See that you don't forget. Here are the rules, you stupid cow, and you better not forget them! You will do as I say! That's number one. Two, you will not let any people into the house without my permission. Three--if you go up into the attic I will kill you! It might be fun to live with 'my daddy' who loves me so much--not knowing that his little baby girl is the wife he abandoned and betrayed! I might even slip a little something into his drink one day!"
She would kill daddy--I just knew it! And he would die thinking I did it! She was a real monster. Rumors had been around as long as I could remember that Sunndale had vampires--well my mom had them beat big time!
The evil little smile broadened "Now make yourself useful and clean the house! I will be in the exercise room trying to lose the weight you burdened this body with. "
Later she returned sweating and hot. She looked at the clean house and said "Thanks MOM. Well back to exercising MY body. It really feels great to be a teenage girl with my whole life in front of me. Soon I will be a star cheerleader! How does it feel to be an abandoned middle age woman, MOM?" She chuckles at my tears and dances out of the room.
I sit down and cried. I am stuck I would be her the rest of my life! My youth was stolen, my life was stolen. Who would marry me now--maybe some old guy?
The days go by and mom treated me with contempt--sometimes affectionate, mostly not. One night she came in wearing my sexiest outfit and with a really cute guy.
She smiled in my manner and said " Mom, I would like you to meet, Bob. Bob is this is my mother, Mrs. Mason. Bob is taking me to the movies. What time do we need to be home?"
God did she ever enjoy rubbing my face in the fact that she was young and I was old! I felt tears forming in my eyes, but I dared not cry! I was terrified--one word, or hysterics from me from me and she would kill me--I just knew it! So I made myself dissemble. I must play the mom for all I was worth! It looked like I would have a lifetime of practice!
"12, Amy--the usual weekend curfew--now have a good time, kids" I say smiling my best loving mom smile.
She pouted with an ironic gleam in her eye. "Awe mom, couldn't we make it 12:30?"
"I guess so," I said.
I heard Bob say to her when they left "Gosh your mom is really sweet!"
"Isn't she!" answered 'Amy', brightly.
I cried bitterly as the door closed. I knew I had better wait up for them pretending to be her or she would be furious. I smile at them when they came in.
"Oh mom you didn't need to wait up! I am not a little girl any more!" she whined. She was really working on adopting the persona of a teenage girl!
I make myself smile "You will always be my little girl" I said with forced fondness.
When Bob left She turned to me with a nasty smile." You played your new role well--keep it up and you may see 40 yet! " She hugged herself. "What a great night--we had pizza, saw a move and made out! Bob is so sexy--not like men of YOUR age. It's so great being a teenager!" She danced upstairs and I cried myself to sleep.
Part Three
That Sunday she made me call up dad.
"Lets see how you feel when he yells at you. Here is your script and you better follow it it, you stupid cow!"
"Hello, Jake" I said forcefully into the phone, my secret hope he would know who I was and somehow force the witch to swap back!
"Catherine, quit stalking me! You know I have an injunction against you! Unless you are willing to let Amy stay with me just get the fuck away from me!"
I started to sob! Mom grinned like a shark and took the phone away and cooed:
"Hi, 'daddy!'" she held the phone up so I could hear.
"Hello, pumpkin! I miss you so much! Don't ever forget daddy loves you!"
Mom said in my fearful voice." Mom, is so mean, she won't let me talk any more!" Then she hung up.
I start wailing. She laughs triumphantly. "Now you see how it feels to be shoved aside and have your love spurned! "She smiles a nasty smile and said" Maybe I should go live with 'my daddy'--what do you think, 'MOM'? Wouldn't that be a hoot and a holler!" She laughed a gloating laugh.
I did all the housework and cooking--just as a mom should--while she exercised my body trying to get it into shape. When things went well she would be almost pleasant, but if things went badly I would get slapped and she would scream out things like:
"This stupid cow like body--you neglected it--I can't make it do things like my old body!"
Once I ventured to say "If you don't like my body, why don't we trade back?"
Her eyes glowed like a demon's and I shrunk back. Mom gestured and closed her hand. Suddenly I feel unseen hands around my throat and I gasp for air. The world swims around and I collapse on the floor. Then I can breath again. I hear my former voice say coolly:
"Any more remarks like that and I will kill you! Do you understand?"
I nod gasping for life.
She nods my--her head. "Good! Remember, this body is mine, MINE!"
Occasionally she would go out with Bob or some other cute guy and come back in gloating how great it was to be a YOUNG girl with her whole life in front of her!
One day the phone rang and she answered as usual. I wasn't supposed to answer it if she wasn't home. She listened for a moment and grinned and said.
"Hold on I will get MY mom!"
What was she up to now? She walked over with a nasty grin on what had been my own face. God I miss my body!
"'Mom' its your boyfriend Tom. Talk to him and accept a date. Understand?"
"But, -"
She slapped me viciously. "Listen up you stupid cow. You're me now! Get use to it. You will go out on a date with him and keep your mouth shut! Understand? "
Trembling I nodded. Shaking I picked up the phone. "Hello, Tom " I said with my mother's voice.
"Catherine, the Great! I'm back in town for few days and wondered if you would like to out to dinner?"
I forced my answer "I'd love to Tom!"
God I was going to have to go out with this old guy--he was forty-five with a potbelly! I remembered him coming over few times. He left town before he found out what a bitch Mom really was. He hung up. Mom was grinning at me--well like a teenager who had pulled a fast one.
"I know he's not much, but older women like you have to take whatever they get" laughed Mom.
God did I Hate her!
"Come on lets get you ready for Your Boyfriend! Older women like you take longer to get ready. "
She applied make-up to my new face and dressed this old body in her clothes. I admit I looked damn sexy in the mirror. She made me wear four inches spikers. God were they uncomfortable. When I was finished she called Bob and made me listen.
"Bob, Mom's going out on a hot date--can you believe it--some guy actually wants to date someone old like her. Yeah, listen she won't be home until late--if at all. Why don't you come over at eight and we can party. Great! I'll see you then."
I fought back tears. I wouldn't give her the satisfaction! She was having fun with a young hunk and I was left with her dregs!
Tom showed up--more pot bellied than ever. Mom played being me--a shy
16-year-old girl! Tom kissed me lightly and said "lets go, Catherine."
I forced a smile and tried to ignore the triumphant gleam in what had been my own blue eyes! It was a terrible evening--here I was dating a fat, drunken old guy and I was trapped in mom's middle aged bod while she was partying with my young one! I drank too much and he tried to force me back to his hotel room. I had to claw his face to get him to stop. He refused to drive me home--so I had to call a taxi.
Mom laughs like a hyena when I tell her what happens and then she tells me what a great time she had with Bob and now I see how hard it is to be her!
Part Four
The weeks drag endlessly by. She spends all her time now exercising--I have to clean the house, do the shopping and cooking. Teenage boys ignore me! Only really old guys in their 40s seem interested in me now. Mom's really exited and is almost nice to me--tomorrow is the first day of school! It breaks my heart--she will live my life and I am stuck in hers!
It's just adds insult to injury when find out I will even have to do her homework. God I would love to run away, but I am afraid she would kill me with her witchcraft. Besides, where could I go--what could I do?
Now she makes sure I call her Amy all the time! Today she is going to try out for cheerleader. She's bubbling with excitement when she comes home.
"I met this really cool girl in school today-- Buffy Summers from LA and I know we're going to be best buddies! She's trying out for the squad, too. I ran into your own friend Willow and she thinks that I am Amy! I have fooled all your buddies, though I find it more and more upchuck to pretend to meek and mild Amy! Well it will be worth it. "Then she smiles and it chills my blood. "The best cheerleader on the squad had a terrible accident today! IT was just TERRRIBLE! She caught on fire. I wonder how that could have happened." Her laugh is evil as hell. "Too bad I couldn't have switched bodies with her--hers is a lot better than this one! "
The next day she comes storming in. "That bitch Cordelia Chase actually
threatened me today. This clumsy body may have knocked me off the squad--I bumped her today. Well the bitch won't get away with threatening me. My new friend Buffy envies me my relationship with my mother! Isn't that a hoot! Now what shall I do to the Cordelia bitch? Humm--there are none so blind as those who can not see. "
She comes home livid. "I didn't make the squad! This stupid body is too
clumsy! But I'll get on it no matter what I have to do. It's my destiny! Buffy didn't make it either. But I'll get her on it with me. Cordelia will be the first to have an 'accident'. "
The next day she comes home in a good mood. "Poor Cordelia, she had a terrible accident today and another girl somehow she lost her voice--well--her mouth really. What tragedy, what heart break, what sorrow!" She laughs the most evil laugh. It chills my blood.
But the next day is another story! Mom comes home in a very nasty mood.
"Another productive day in front of the TV? " she sneers, as if I hadn't cleaned house all day!
It seems her friend Buffy suspects her of witchcraft! I wonder what she will do to the poor girl. Again she gives me her homework. God I want to scratch her eyes out! She has Buffy's bracelet and gone up to her lair in the attic. I would love to see what she has up there, but she has told me she'll kill me if I look!
Part Five
She leaves that morning with a smug smile on her face. Oh no, its getting creepy I am starting to think of her in my body as natural! I am really depressed and make some brownies. There's a knock on the door. I look out at a tweedy, handsome older guy and a beautiful Petite Blond. They force their way in. I am pretending to be my mom. I try and make them leave. God knows what will happen to me if Mom finds them here! I even say to them "Kids today!" I find out Buffy is dying. I feel awful, but what can I do? Buffy looks at the Brownies than at me when I tell them "I don't care about cheer leading."
I can't believe it! Buffy has guessed. Guessed I am my mom.
"She switched you didn't she--you're Amy."
I find tears in my eyes. "Yes, she said I was wasting my youth and so she took it."
I tell them what happened--it's so GREAT to be able to tell someone! That wonderful Mr. Giles (He's cute for an older guy!) thinks he can get me my body back! We go up to my mother's lair. It is so creepy! Dolls are hanging and some with blinded eyes and mouths. I carry them to Giles's car while he carries the dying Buffy.
"How long does Buffy have?!" I ask anxiously. She looks like death warmed over!
" Minutes!" He says. He must really love her--like a dad. I think of my own dad and I sniffle little.
We rush to the Science Lab. Yucky! I have to cut up a frog! Major Grossville. Giles is casting a spell. Suddenly I am in the gym looking at the crowd and doing cheers. I can see and feel my own body! I am so excited and I almost pee in my pants! Then I am back in the lab.
"It's working!" I cry. Giles keeps chanting. Suddenly I am on top of a girl pyramid. I fall and cause others to fall. I feel mom's demonic fury. Then I am back in mom's body.
"She's coming!" I tell them, terrified.
An ax crashes against a door. Again and again it strikes until the door
splinters! Mom comes in like an avenging devil, ax in hand! Her eyes are blood red with fury! Strangely, she doesn't attack me, but heads towards Buffy and raises the ax high over her head. I close my eyes I can't watch! Then suddenly I AM HOLDING THE AX! I am back in my own body! It worked. I smile. Then I hear my mother snarl behind me and Giles goes flying into the wall.
I turn and shakily hold out the ax to protect myself. My mother looks like a wild beast.
"How dare you threaten your mother! " The ax flies out of my hands into hers. "Ungrateful child! I will put you where you will never cause any more trouble!"
Buffy says, "I'm back!"
My mouth drops! Buffy clobbers my mother and she goes flying. Buffy hit her harder than a pro football player could!
"That body was mine, mine!" spits my mother at us.
"Grow up! " says Buffy.
My mother starts to chant. OH NO! we're doomed! Light flashes towards Buffy. And she drops a mirror down. It hits my mom and she screams--then there's no sign of her.
Epilogue
I am living with my dad and its great! He fusses over me, doesn't let me out of his sight. We do everything together. He loves me so much! God it's so great to be me again! To have my own body back. It's what I tell Buffy as we walk down the hall together. That bitch Cordelia walks up behind us and gloats that she's on the team and we're off. Man, is she obnoxious! I can't blame my mother for casting a spell on her. I feel like doing it myself.
Buffy and I come to the trophy case and stare at my mother's trophy. I smile inside. I hear my mother's screams for help, her spirit is inside the tiny plastic figure. Screaming pleading unceasingly for release. Roast in hell mom! I think. Of course no one can hear her but me. I guess its because I am the only witch in school.
The End
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Buffy and the Slayerettes are Property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and the
WB. No Copyright Infringement is Intended.
J Wheaton and Warner Brothers own the characters I am just playing with
them. No infrigment intended.
Prelude
I wish I were dead! God I hate my life! I hate it, hate it, hate it! Mother's screech came from the other room.
"Amy get your lard butt in here right now!"
I try and fight back tears. I know, I just know, the bitch takes pleasure in making me cry. OH, Dad, dad why don't you come and take me away?
"Amy I am not going to tell you again!"
Awkwardly I move to the living room. Mom had returned from the health club. She is very pretty for her age or would be if she smiled. Her auburn hair is prefect. Her make up is perfect. Her figure is perfect. She could capture another man--that is if she would just smile and not be such a bitch! Since poor daddy had enough and cleared out the men she's dated could only put up with her a few weeks. She is such a witch she drives men away. She blames everybody but herself--she blames me most of all! She is mean to me as usual.
"I have to work like a demon to keep my weight stable because I'm 37 and you--you lazy cow are 16 and don't take advantage of your youth! You let yourself get fat when a little effort would give you a great figure! How do you expect to make cheerleader next semester?"
She treats every ounce of fat like it is a mortal enemy. She's obsessed with being prefect. I can't help myself from answering back even though I know it will get me in big trouble with the bitch. "But mom, I don't want to be a cheerleader! "
She slaps me. I start crying and she slaps me again. "These are the best years of your life and you go and piss them away!"
I knew what was coming now and so I put my brain on hold as she rants on and no how she was the best cheerleader in the history of Sunnydale and how she went to the state championships--the Legend of Catherine the Great! God, I've been hearing about it all my life. What's so great about being a stupid cheerleader? I want to study chemistry! Being a scientist is a lot more important then being a bubble header cheerleader. What do they have when you get out of high school--nothing but bitterness! My cheeks are still stinging
when she winds down for the night. She looks at me oddly--
"OH, just get to your room. You stupid girl--you don't have a clue what's its like to be me--abandoned by your husband and having to work for a living and raise an ungrateful child."
I can't stop myself from saying, "I could live with dad?" I say hopefully. I get rewarded with another slap.
"You'd like that wouldn't you, you lazy bitch? He'd let you quit your
training, not get you on the squad. Never! You're going to be like me."
That makes me shudder. I am crying as I lay down in my bed.
I can't believe it! Mom won the lottery. We have money!
Part One
Things have gotten worse. I thought it might improve when Mom won that big prize in the state lottery and didn't have to work in a beauty parlor anymore.
She bought this big fancy house and I thought she might be happier and easier on me, but things got worse--she had plenty of time to try and turn me into a clone of herself. Well I am not Catherine the Great! And I don't want to be thank you. She is a bitter old bitch and so mean! I remember when I said how lucky she was to win, but she only smiled strangely and said "Yes 'lucky'" her smile was not very nice. I hear footsteps going up to the attic. What does she do up there? I know she has told me never to go in the attic, but--I creep up the stairs. I near her contralto voice -. It sounds like she chanting.
Weirdsville. I stumble a little trying to get closer and the door flies open like a bat out of hell. Mom's staring at me with hate filled eyes and I shuddered. Her jaws work as if she was trying to keep herself from tearing my throat out.
When she spoke her voice was low and cold and with infinite menace.
"Amy, if I ever catch you up here again I will kill you! Am I making myself understood you worthless child."
She scarred the shit out of me. I think she means it!
The next few days were weird. Neither one of us refereed to my visit to the attic. What was up there anyway? The school semester was almost over and mom got better in one way--she loosened up and stopped talking about me being a cheerleader and even let me visit my friends, but she talked more and more of what she said was so unfair for her to raise an ungrateful child and how hard it was on her and how she had lost her youth in raising me.
One night she looked at me bitterly and says " You are really wasting your youth, Amy, You don't deserve it."
I didn't dare answer her back and tell her I was wasting my youth listening to crab like her! I go over to Willow's house. I always enjoy it--we pigged out on brownies and talked. She was, as usual heartsick over Xander; she's always been heartsick over Xander.
"Why don't you tell him?"
She got really tongue tied and nervous! "Oh, I--what if he laughed at me--or worse didn't want to see me any more?"
Then she looked hard at my face. "Has your mother been hitting you again?"
I shrugged, bitter. "When has she not? She won't let me Amy--she want me to be Catherine the Great!"
Willow shook her long red hair. "Poor Amy! And she still wont let you live with your dad? Is she still obsessed with getting old?"
"More than ever!"
School year finally ended and I guess I (and few brainy kids like Willow) am the only ones not glad! It meant spending more time with my mother!
On getting home I am surprised as Mom is all smiles and take me out for a Pizza and a movie! Wow! Who was this clumsy impostor?
The next day she insisted on cutting my hair and even gave me my first
manicure. I felt so grown up. She kissed me tenderly that night and smiled.
"Sleep well, Amy--pleasant dreams. "
Her voice was kind enough, but something in the way she said it somehow gave me chills.
Part Two
I sleep soundly that night; I have strange dreams of something looking at me like a vulture or something. When I wake up that morning I am very tired. I blink and blink again. I am in my mom's room! How did I get here? I ease out of bed and look around--my mom's not here. Where is she? I wonder if I look as weird as I feel. I walk to the dresser mirror and scream. My mom is in the glass. I see her mouth opening to my scream. I look down at myself. It is no trick of the mirror. I am in my mom's body! I touch it and open my mouth to
scream again when the door opens and a very pretty blond girl enters with a smug, evil, gloating smile. It is me--my body--dressed in my cutest teen outfit--mini skirt and all.
"Good Morning, 'Mom' it looks like you're having a bad body day!" this Amy says in my warm young voice. Then she laughs- a cruel laugh. "Now you'll get to see how hard it is to be me! You were wasting your youth anyway. I will make far better use of it!"
It's a nightmare! I pinch myself and she laughs again. She grabs me and
thrusts me cruelly towards the mirror. I stare wide-eyed with horror at my mother's body that I am trapped in.
She puts a gloating note into my old voice. "Get used to it, Amy--or should I
say Catherine. You will be in that body as long as you live! And if you give me any lip or any trouble at all--it will not be long!" She puts my lips into a sneer. "That's it cry! Now you are the abandoned 37-year-old woman and I am the teenage girl with my whole life in front of me. This body is mine forever and there's nothing you can do about it! Nothing! If you try and tell anyone what has happened they will lock you up! Nobody would believe you! Then you would spend your miserable life in an insane asylum." She laughed like a happy
teenage. She ran a hand over my former body "God, does it feel good to be young. " She looked at me and flushed seeing my tears. "I deserve your body you know--I bore you with pain and raised you with the sweat of my brow. Besides you were just wasting your youth--so I took it!"
"Please, mother give me back my body!" I beg.
She slapped me. Slapped me hard. "If you ever call me mom again you are dead meat--call me Amy! Call me Amy!" she screamed.
Terrified I say " Yes, Amy."
She calmed down and smiled." That's better--do what you are told and it won't be so bad for you. You'll enjoy being a middle-aged woman, trust me. Perhaps you would like to get back together with your father--I mean your husband of course. Would you like that--Catherine!?" She laughed cruelly.
She must have read my horrified expression. I was now dad's WIFE! But there was a part of me I am honest enough to admit was tempted by the thought of daddy for my husband! But that was sick! But was it?--I am not in my own body--I am in Catherine's. My head swam--it is crazy, just crazy. The world swam and the floor hit me.
A bucket of water woke me up! It was me with a nasty smile standing over me.
"Get up you lazy buttisky and cook me breakfast you're the slave mother now!"
Terrified, I nod and stagger to the kitchen. It was so weird. I look down at my blood red nails and the older, slightly wrinkled hands. My former body sat smiling smugly and with contempt at me.
After breakfast she started working out." Got to get MY BODY ready for
cheerleader tryouts, 'Mom'" she said and laughed." I want to be just like my beloved mother--Catherine the Great. Maybe they will call me Amy the great! If you behave yourself--maybe I can find you a nice middle age man to marry. Would you like that, MOM? As for me--only young studs for me!"
"You're not going out with my boyfriends?" I ask disgusted and angry.
She waved a hand at me and I felt iron, unseen fingers at my throat and I was gasping for my life.
"There my boyfriends now, MOM! And you better not forget yourself again. Now who are you?"
I collapse on the floor. She'll kill me I think. "I am your mother Catherine Mason." I stammer.
She smiles a smile my former lips never smiled before. "And who I am I?"
"My daughter Amy."
She nodded my--now her blond head with satisfaction.
"See that you don't forget. Here are the rules, you stupid cow, and you better not forget them! You will do as I say! That's number one. Two, you will not let any people into the house without my permission. Three--if you go up into the attic I will kill you! It might be fun to live with 'my daddy' who loves me so much--not knowing that his little baby girl is the wife he abandoned and betrayed! I might even slip a little something into his drink one day!"
She would kill daddy--I just knew it! And he would die thinking I did it! She was a real monster. Rumors had been around as long as I could remember that Sunndale had vampires--well my mom had them beat big time!
The evil little smile broadened "Now make yourself useful and clean the house! I will be in the exercise room trying to lose the weight you burdened this body with. "
Later she returned sweating and hot. She looked at the clean house and said "Thanks MOM. Well back to exercising MY body. It really feels great to be a teenage girl with my whole life in front of me. Soon I will be a star cheerleader! How does it feel to be an abandoned middle age woman, MOM?" She chuckles at my tears and dances out of the room.
I sit down and cried. I am stuck I would be her the rest of my life! My youth was stolen, my life was stolen. Who would marry me now--maybe some old guy?
The days go by and mom treated me with contempt--sometimes affectionate, mostly not. One night she came in wearing my sexiest outfit and with a really cute guy.
She smiled in my manner and said " Mom, I would like you to meet, Bob. Bob is this is my mother, Mrs. Mason. Bob is taking me to the movies. What time do we need to be home?"
God did she ever enjoy rubbing my face in the fact that she was young and I was old! I felt tears forming in my eyes, but I dared not cry! I was terrified--one word, or hysterics from me from me and she would kill me--I just knew it! So I made myself dissemble. I must play the mom for all I was worth! It looked like I would have a lifetime of practice!
"12, Amy--the usual weekend curfew--now have a good time, kids" I say smiling my best loving mom smile.
She pouted with an ironic gleam in her eye. "Awe mom, couldn't we make it 12:30?"
"I guess so," I said.
I heard Bob say to her when they left "Gosh your mom is really sweet!"
"Isn't she!" answered 'Amy', brightly.
I cried bitterly as the door closed. I knew I had better wait up for them pretending to be her or she would be furious. I smile at them when they came in.
"Oh mom you didn't need to wait up! I am not a little girl any more!" she whined. She was really working on adopting the persona of a teenage girl!
I make myself smile "You will always be my little girl" I said with forced fondness.
When Bob left She turned to me with a nasty smile." You played your new role well--keep it up and you may see 40 yet! " She hugged herself. "What a great night--we had pizza, saw a move and made out! Bob is so sexy--not like men of YOUR age. It's so great being a teenager!" She danced upstairs and I cried myself to sleep.
Part Three
That Sunday she made me call up dad.
"Lets see how you feel when he yells at you. Here is your script and you better follow it it, you stupid cow!"
"Hello, Jake" I said forcefully into the phone, my secret hope he would know who I was and somehow force the witch to swap back!
"Catherine, quit stalking me! You know I have an injunction against you! Unless you are willing to let Amy stay with me just get the fuck away from me!"
I started to sob! Mom grinned like a shark and took the phone away and cooed:
"Hi, 'daddy!'" she held the phone up so I could hear.
"Hello, pumpkin! I miss you so much! Don't ever forget daddy loves you!"
Mom said in my fearful voice." Mom, is so mean, she won't let me talk any more!" Then she hung up.
I start wailing. She laughs triumphantly. "Now you see how it feels to be shoved aside and have your love spurned! "She smiles a nasty smile and said" Maybe I should go live with 'my daddy'--what do you think, 'MOM'? Wouldn't that be a hoot and a holler!" She laughed a gloating laugh.
I did all the housework and cooking--just as a mom should--while she exercised my body trying to get it into shape. When things went well she would be almost pleasant, but if things went badly I would get slapped and she would scream out things like:
"This stupid cow like body--you neglected it--I can't make it do things like my old body!"
Once I ventured to say "If you don't like my body, why don't we trade back?"
Her eyes glowed like a demon's and I shrunk back. Mom gestured and closed her hand. Suddenly I feel unseen hands around my throat and I gasp for air. The world swims around and I collapse on the floor. Then I can breath again. I hear my former voice say coolly:
"Any more remarks like that and I will kill you! Do you understand?"
I nod gasping for life.
She nods my--her head. "Good! Remember, this body is mine, MINE!"
Occasionally she would go out with Bob or some other cute guy and come back in gloating how great it was to be a YOUNG girl with her whole life in front of her!
One day the phone rang and she answered as usual. I wasn't supposed to answer it if she wasn't home. She listened for a moment and grinned and said.
"Hold on I will get MY mom!"
What was she up to now? She walked over with a nasty grin on what had been my own face. God I miss my body!
"'Mom' its your boyfriend Tom. Talk to him and accept a date. Understand?"
"But, -"
She slapped me viciously. "Listen up you stupid cow. You're me now! Get use to it. You will go out on a date with him and keep your mouth shut! Understand? "
Trembling I nodded. Shaking I picked up the phone. "Hello, Tom " I said with my mother's voice.
"Catherine, the Great! I'm back in town for few days and wondered if you would like to out to dinner?"
I forced my answer "I'd love to Tom!"
God I was going to have to go out with this old guy--he was forty-five with a potbelly! I remembered him coming over few times. He left town before he found out what a bitch Mom really was. He hung up. Mom was grinning at me--well like a teenager who had pulled a fast one.
"I know he's not much, but older women like you have to take whatever they get" laughed Mom.
God did I Hate her!
"Come on lets get you ready for Your Boyfriend! Older women like you take longer to get ready. "
She applied make-up to my new face and dressed this old body in her clothes. I admit I looked damn sexy in the mirror. She made me wear four inches spikers. God were they uncomfortable. When I was finished she called Bob and made me listen.
"Bob, Mom's going out on a hot date--can you believe it--some guy actually wants to date someone old like her. Yeah, listen she won't be home until late--if at all. Why don't you come over at eight and we can party. Great! I'll see you then."
I fought back tears. I wouldn't give her the satisfaction! She was having fun with a young hunk and I was left with her dregs!
Tom showed up--more pot bellied than ever. Mom played being me--a shy
16-year-old girl! Tom kissed me lightly and said "lets go, Catherine."
I forced a smile and tried to ignore the triumphant gleam in what had been my own blue eyes! It was a terrible evening--here I was dating a fat, drunken old guy and I was trapped in mom's middle aged bod while she was partying with my young one! I drank too much and he tried to force me back to his hotel room. I had to claw his face to get him to stop. He refused to drive me home--so I had to call a taxi.
Mom laughs like a hyena when I tell her what happens and then she tells me what a great time she had with Bob and now I see how hard it is to be her!
Part Four
The weeks drag endlessly by. She spends all her time now exercising--I have to clean the house, do the shopping and cooking. Teenage boys ignore me! Only really old guys in their 40s seem interested in me now. Mom's really exited and is almost nice to me--tomorrow is the first day of school! It breaks my heart--she will live my life and I am stuck in hers!
It's just adds insult to injury when find out I will even have to do her homework. God I would love to run away, but I am afraid she would kill me with her witchcraft. Besides, where could I go--what could I do?
Now she makes sure I call her Amy all the time! Today she is going to try out for cheerleader. She's bubbling with excitement when she comes home.
"I met this really cool girl in school today-- Buffy Summers from LA and I know we're going to be best buddies! She's trying out for the squad, too. I ran into your own friend Willow and she thinks that I am Amy! I have fooled all your buddies, though I find it more and more upchuck to pretend to meek and mild Amy! Well it will be worth it. "Then she smiles and it chills my blood. "The best cheerleader on the squad had a terrible accident today! IT was just TERRRIBLE! She caught on fire. I wonder how that could have happened." Her laugh is evil as hell. "Too bad I couldn't have switched bodies with her--hers is a lot better than this one! "
The next day she comes storming in. "That bitch Cordelia Chase actually
threatened me today. This clumsy body may have knocked me off the squad--I bumped her today. Well the bitch won't get away with threatening me. My new friend Buffy envies me my relationship with my mother! Isn't that a hoot! Now what shall I do to the Cordelia bitch? Humm--there are none so blind as those who can not see. "
She comes home livid. "I didn't make the squad! This stupid body is too
clumsy! But I'll get on it no matter what I have to do. It's my destiny! Buffy didn't make it either. But I'll get her on it with me. Cordelia will be the first to have an 'accident'. "
The next day she comes home in a good mood. "Poor Cordelia, she had a terrible accident today and another girl somehow she lost her voice--well--her mouth really. What tragedy, what heart break, what sorrow!" She laughs the most evil laugh. It chills my blood.
But the next day is another story! Mom comes home in a very nasty mood.
"Another productive day in front of the TV? " she sneers, as if I hadn't cleaned house all day!
It seems her friend Buffy suspects her of witchcraft! I wonder what she will do to the poor girl. Again she gives me her homework. God I want to scratch her eyes out! She has Buffy's bracelet and gone up to her lair in the attic. I would love to see what she has up there, but she has told me she'll kill me if I look!
Part Five
She leaves that morning with a smug smile on her face. Oh no, its getting creepy I am starting to think of her in my body as natural! I am really depressed and make some brownies. There's a knock on the door. I look out at a tweedy, handsome older guy and a beautiful Petite Blond. They force their way in. I am pretending to be my mom. I try and make them leave. God knows what will happen to me if Mom finds them here! I even say to them "Kids today!" I find out Buffy is dying. I feel awful, but what can I do? Buffy looks at the Brownies than at me when I tell them "I don't care about cheer leading."
I can't believe it! Buffy has guessed. Guessed I am my mom.
"She switched you didn't she--you're Amy."
I find tears in my eyes. "Yes, she said I was wasting my youth and so she took it."
I tell them what happened--it's so GREAT to be able to tell someone! That wonderful Mr. Giles (He's cute for an older guy!) thinks he can get me my body back! We go up to my mother's lair. It is so creepy! Dolls are hanging and some with blinded eyes and mouths. I carry them to Giles's car while he carries the dying Buffy.
"How long does Buffy have?!" I ask anxiously. She looks like death warmed over!
" Minutes!" He says. He must really love her--like a dad. I think of my own dad and I sniffle little.
We rush to the Science Lab. Yucky! I have to cut up a frog! Major Grossville. Giles is casting a spell. Suddenly I am in the gym looking at the crowd and doing cheers. I can see and feel my own body! I am so excited and I almost pee in my pants! Then I am back in the lab.
"It's working!" I cry. Giles keeps chanting. Suddenly I am on top of a girl pyramid. I fall and cause others to fall. I feel mom's demonic fury. Then I am back in mom's body.
"She's coming!" I tell them, terrified.
An ax crashes against a door. Again and again it strikes until the door
splinters! Mom comes in like an avenging devil, ax in hand! Her eyes are blood red with fury! Strangely, she doesn't attack me, but heads towards Buffy and raises the ax high over her head. I close my eyes I can't watch! Then suddenly I AM HOLDING THE AX! I am back in my own body! It worked. I smile. Then I hear my mother snarl behind me and Giles goes flying into the wall.
I turn and shakily hold out the ax to protect myself. My mother looks like a wild beast.
"How dare you threaten your mother! " The ax flies out of my hands into hers. "Ungrateful child! I will put you where you will never cause any more trouble!"
Buffy says, "I'm back!"
My mouth drops! Buffy clobbers my mother and she goes flying. Buffy hit her harder than a pro football player could!
"That body was mine, mine!" spits my mother at us.
"Grow up! " says Buffy.
My mother starts to chant. OH NO! we're doomed! Light flashes towards Buffy. And she drops a mirror down. It hits my mom and she screams--then there's no sign of her.
Epilogue
I am living with my dad and its great! He fusses over me, doesn't let me out of his sight. We do everything together. He loves me so much! God it's so great to be me again! To have my own body back. It's what I tell Buffy as we walk down the hall together. That bitch Cordelia walks up behind us and gloats that she's on the team and we're off. Man, is she obnoxious! I can't blame my mother for casting a spell on her. I feel like doing it myself.
Buffy and I come to the trophy case and stare at my mother's trophy. I smile inside. I hear my mother's screams for help, her spirit is inside the tiny plastic figure. Screaming pleading unceasingly for release. Roast in hell mom! I think. Of course no one can hear her but me. I guess its because I am the only witch in school.
The End
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