The 4 B’s

Emily was sitting on a bench in the centre of the big shopping mall. She’d had a fun day spending money that she’d received from Christmas and her birthday which were only 2 weeks apart and she was taking a breather because she had no fewer than 5 bags in her hands. Some of them contained clothes and others had video games in which were two or Emily’s biggest passions.

Emily wasn’t a very tall woman at the height of just 5 foot 3 and the thing she didn’t like about that was the stumps she had for legs and feet. They were so short that Emily often got tired from walking after 10 minutes if that. She also had to put up with the usual short girl problems such as being unable to reach high cupboards. People someone jokingly rested their elbows on top of Emily’s head which annoyed her greatly. Now Normally people in this situation would wish that they could be taller but Emily wanted something more than that. She wanted to have ways to move around where she didn’t have to use her legs at all though deep down she knew she’d probably be like this for the rest of her life

As Emily set off for home she decided to head around the back of the mall which was an area she never usually went to. It was there that she discovered a small purple building simply tilted “Martha’s Magics”. What caught Emily’s eye was that most of the products seemed to be moving by themselves and that was enough to get her interest and make her head inside.

There was no one at the counter when she walked in so Emily stared at what was around. There was a jack in the box that contained a hand instead of a man, a painting that changed every 30 seconds and a mirror that saw the reflection melt and change into a scary version of the person staring at it. Emily started to wonder if this was really a basic magic shop.

Suddenly she got a fright by a silky female voice.

“I see you look quite intrigued by my products”.

Emily turned around and saw a pink haired woman who’s arms were covered in tattoos and her nose and exposed bellybutton with a few piercings.

“I’m Martha the owner of this magic shop, I don’t get many visitors around here and I wouldn’t have expected someone of your type to be exploring here by which I mean a clothes shopper” she said pointing at the clothes bags in Emily’s hands.

“Just proves that you don’t know what to expect” was Emily’s reply “Can I ask why do your products look so realistic? You must have good special effects”

Martha let out a laugh “these are all real effects because I have magic in my blood or should I say fingertips, I can make any dream of any customer come true so please tell me what your dream is”.

Hearing this Emily’s eyes lit up. “Do you have anything that can help with moving around?, my legs and feet are too short but I don’t just want the old way of being made taller, I want it to be unique”.

Martha mused and then her eyes lit up. “I think I have just the thing” she replied.

She dug under the counter and pulled out a small red box which had the label “The 4 B’s” written in big black letters.

“I’m not going to spoil this for you but let’s just say that what’s inside might just contain some cool new ways for you to get around.

“Give all 4 a try on 4 different days when your free and see if you like them. I say this because once you’ve activated a form you’ll stay like that for 24 hours so you don’t want to use it on a day of importance”.

“Once you’ve tried all 4 come back here and if you like them I might have a way to let you have them permanently”

Emily’s heart was racing with every word Martha said. She was getting quite excited at the prospect of not having aching feet anymore and it was a chance too good to pass up.

“How much for it”? she asked. Martha replied “just £5 for this trial, obviously it will be more if you want it permanently”.

“I’ll take it” Emily said excitedly. “I am so going to enjoy this” Then the 2 women said their goodbyes and Emily rushed home excited with her new buy.

When Emily got home she firstly sorted out all the shopping she had bought before turning her attention to the magic box that Martha had given her. She’d been dying to know just what the 4 B’s actually were and when she opened the box she was quite surprised.

Inside there were 4 circular tablets, A red one marked “balloon”, a blue one marked “ball”, a green one marked “blob” and a yellow one marked “big”. Emily was starting to piece it all together now. She assumed that she would become whatever form she chose and this quite excited her already even without actually taking the tablets. She read the instructions scribbled on the side of the box which explained how to correctly take the tablets and she also remembered Martha’s advice to take them when she had nothing to do. Well she wasn’t doing anything tomorrow and it was starting to go dark tonight so she decided to get started with “balloon”.

Emily noticed each tablet had it’s own paragraph on the back of the box. She read the balloon which said “Ever wanted to float around a room? Now’s your chance with the new balloon tablet”. “Consumption of this tablet will see you inflate into a human balloon for 24 hours where you can have fun bouncing off the ceiling”. “CAUTION: highly recommend only for indoor use so make sure all windows and doors are closed”.

Emily was really excited by this, she’d always wanted to be able to float off the ground. So after closing all windows, doors and curtains she sat down on a chair and put the tablet onto her tongue. She had to wait for it to fully dissolve and then the remains would get inside her system. After 5 minutes this was precisely what happened and Emily felt a tingling sensation throughout her body

Suddenly she felt her face stretching and expanding wider which caused her eyes to bulge and rendered her mouth unable to speak. She felt this swelling feeling spread throughout her whole body next so now she couldn’t move out of the chair. Before she knew it Emily’s stomach started to swell bigger and rounder as if she was filling up with air. And then came the best part, Emily felt herself lifting off the ground all while still stuck to the chair which eventually broke off due to her expanding bottom. And there it was: Emily was now the human balloon.

“Wow this feels amazing” Emily thought to herself “I’m flying all by myself and I’m not dreaming, I’m already convinced to have this installed permanently”.

Emily also discovered that she hadn’t lost complete mobility as she could still move her fattened arms and legs. This was to allow her to have some control on where she moved so Emily practiced swimming in the air which would allow her to reach items such as the fridge in her kitchen. And that’s basically what happened for the 24 hours. Emily floated and bounced from room to room and she particularly enjoyed turning around in circles upside down even if did sometimes feel dizzy. and she slept on the ceiling When the time was up she deflated back into her normal form at a fast speed and crash landed onto her sofa.

“That was so enjoyable” Emily cried as she gathered herself together. “I can’t wait to try the next one soon”...

(To be continued)