Josh Mitchell stared at the row of amber glass jars on the shelf, eyes narrowing at the handwritten labels. Lavender buds, Sodium Hydroxide, Sunflower oil, Bentonite clay. "This place looks like a mad scientists store room." He complained trying to decipher all of the different chemicals and what they do. "I'm really starting to regret helping you out." Josh picked up a 50 lb bag of calendula flower to get it ready for one of the orders that the Thompsons had recently received. The other day, he was dropping of one of Mia's stuffed animals that she'd left the other day when Courtney was watching her and heard that they needed some help getting a couple pallets ready for an order coming that weekend. If he had known that it was going to require lifting entire bags and putting them properly on a pallet, he would have requested to get paid in cash rather than pizza.
Kelly Thompson glanced up from the order form that she'd printed off and smirked. "Awe, don't be that way, besides that’s half the fun, right? Welcome to real-world alchemy, Josh." She brought her hands up as if she was Willy Wonka and the kids had just entered his world.
He offered a weak smile, scratching the back of his neck. "Thanks, I guess." He replied as he looked around for the next item which was a gallon of Neem Oil. He found a bottle of a green looking liquid sitting near by. "Alrighty, is that all?" Josh asked looking back over at Kelly.
"Thats all for this order. Let me check to see if there's anything else I need you to help me with." Kelly declared, walking past him with a purposeful stride. Her blonde hair swayed across her shoulders, and she wore her usual laid-back outfit: soft leggings and a loose shirt, the kind of comfortable, but, presentable look that came with stay-at-home-mom territory. As she passed, Josh couldn't help but smell the pleasant scent of daisies as she passed. Josh went over to the nearby water dispenser and poured himself a glass. As he waited at the counter, drumming his fingers on the polished wood, glancing at the wall of DIY products. The store smelled like lavender, eucalyptus, and something earthy he couldn’t quite place. "You're in luck." She replied coming back around the corner. "We're done for the day and you're good to leave. Here's that gift card that we promised you." She told him handing over a small card for the local pizzeria.
Josh nodded and took the card. "Thanks, Mrs. Thompson."
"You can drop the ‘Mrs.’ You’ve known us long enough that you can at least call me Kelly." Kelly replied with a half-smile.
As Josh turned to leave, something caught his eye on the end-cap display; a strange, brass-colored amulet, partially tucked behind a stack of dried herbs. It had an intricate sun and moon design with a stone that shimmered oddly even in the fluorescent lighting. "What’s that?" He asked gesturing towards the end-cap.
Kelly followed his gaze and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, that?" She replied with a chuckle. "Darren bought it from some old estate sale. I think it came with a bunch of old witchcraft books. Probably nothing."
Josh nodded his head, remembering what Kelly had said about Darren looking to diversify their income with other things. “Is he thinking about opening an occult store too?" He asked with a grin. "Can I look at it?"
"Sure, just don’t blame me if you wake up speaking Latin or floating off the ground." She replied with a flourish of her hand.
Josh chuckled and picked it up. It was surprisingly warm and cool at the same time. The side with the sun was warm, while the moon was cool to the touch. He turned it over in his hands and noticed faint engravings around the edge. "Kind of cool. Gives me a retro kind of vibe, you know."
Kelly shrugged. "Take it if you want, count it as an extra payment for the work that you put in today. Darren was going to toss it."
Josh pocketed it and left the store, unaware that Kelly kept staring after him, a thoughtful look creeping across her face. That night, Kelly couldn’t sleep. Mia had gone down easily, Megan was curled up with a tablet, and the house was quiet, a little too quiet. Something about the amulet lingered in her mind. She fished the duplicate that came with it out of the drawer where she’d put it and turned it over in her hands. The engravings almost seemed to pulse.
She should have left it alone. However, curiosity got the better of her. She whispered a phrase from the back of the old book it had come with, a rough phonetic translation of some archaic Latin. There was a brief flash of light. And then... Nothing. Nothing except a wave of nausea and vertigo that knocked her to her knees.
The next morning, Josh woke up in a panic. Everything felt wrong. It was too soft, too tight, and overall wrong. He sat up in a strange bed, a strange room, and the moment he looked down, he screamed. A high pitch scream that would never be at home with a college male. Looking down again, he saw small hands, painted nails, a shirt that clung in all the wrong places (for a male, anyway), hair in his face, and oh, the breasts. "What the..." He started to say, but it sounded familiar. "Kelly?
At that same moment, he heard Kelly's voice in his head.
"Josh? Josh can you hear me?"
His heart started to beat faster and he thought it would explode. "Oh no, Kelly?!" He asked a loud, not sure what was going on. But he knew one thing for sure, they were both in Kelly's body and his body was nowhere to be found.
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