TF Virus 3

 

Continued from Part 2

Evelyn should have been getting ready for school pictures that day, a proud 6th grader entering the big middle school for her first time.  Instead, her family gathered around her bedroom door, waiting for the bed-ridden girl to wake up and reveal her new life to the world.  If she was lucky, she could have ended up like me - still human, possibly even still a girl - but we all knew that I had gotten extremely lucky.  80% of the TF Virus victims had ended up inanimate like Dad, and chances were that Evelyn would fare no better.

After about an hour of being huddled around my big sister's door, we finally heard Evelyn's voice.  "Come in."  It was quiet, the once energetic girl now sounding timid and scared.  She had been the pillar that helped me adapt to my own transformation, and now she sounded helpless.  With a nod from Mom, I took the initiative to open the door.  Evelyn had chosen to sleep without her blankets the night before, just in case it would make it easier for us to find her.  Her decision proved useful as her fate became clear to us.  

Laying neatly on top of my sister's purple bedsheet was a swimsuit.  The green and blue leaf patterns spread across its fabric, along with the bright orange lining almost out of view, contrasted against the sheet below.  It looked like it would fit me perfectly, with a little bit of stretch for growth as I aged, although probably only for less than a year.  Contained within the nylon and spandex of that swimsuit was the consciousness of Evelyn, my little-turned-big sister.  She was staying oddly quiet given her circumstances as Mom, William and I gathered in a circle around her.  I had slipped into the cute pink shorts that used to be my father for the occasion as well, so the whole family was there.

"Evelyn, honey?" Mom asked, her voice shaking in an attempt to not burst out in tears at the sight of the swimsuit that used to be her daughter.  "Do you know what happened to you?"

"Yes, mom," Evelyn's voice rang out from the swimsuit, suddenly almost sounding annoyed.  "I know that I'm a swimsuit.  Am I at least small enough to fit Wren?"  Her question was incredibly direct, like it was the only thing she was truly worried about.  Was this what the virus' mental effects could do to someone younger than me or Dad?  Just how much of the old Evelyn was even left in those nylon fibers?

Mom seemed relieved that Evelyn was handling her transformation well.  The girl wasn't sobbing, or screaming in frustration or anger, or anything like that.  "Well, we'll just have to find out, won't we?"  Was she seriously - "Wren, go in the bathroom and try her on."  William and I looked at her incredulously, then she started, "One..."

I quickly grabbed Evelyn by the shoulder strap, whispering a quick "Sorry..." as I went just in case I hurt her with my panic-induced roughness.  Scampering through the halls, I entered the bathroom and closed the door behind me.

"Just get it over with," Evelyn said, sounding a bit more gentle now.  "I'm not your sister anymore, I'm your swimsuit.  The sooner you accept that, the better you'll feel about wearing me."

"But, I..." I stammered, still unsure about the situation.

"You're wearing Dad right now, right Wrenni?" she said.  "How will wearing me be any different?"

"She's right, Wren," Dad piped up from his position wrapped around my hips.  "As transformed clothing, we only really want to be used for our purpose, which is being worn by our owner.  You wouldn't want to make Evelyn feel sad, would you?"

It took about ten minutes before I finally caved in, eventually walking back to Evelyn's now-former bedroom with my sister wrapped tightly around my torso.  Her straps clung to my shoulders, the green and blue of her fabric contrasting pleasantly with my dark brown skin, with her lower portion wrapped comfortingly around my pelvic region.  Even Dad would never be in direct contact like Evelyn, something he took great comfort in as he laid on the bathroom floor, having been left behind with my thankfully non-transformed tank top and underwear.

"She fits you so well, Wrenni!" Mom cried out, and I could practically feel Evelyn's pride swelling within her threads.  "We should go to the pool so you can try her out!  Would you be okay with that, Evelyn?"  She must have decided to leave my opinion out of that decision, seeing as I was already uncomfortable with the idea of wearing my own sister as a swimsuit, let alone actually swimming in her.  I had gotten lucky with my own human transformation, so I couldn't imagine what having your entire body waterlogged would feel like, not to mention having every little movement controlled by the person wearing you.  It was something Dad was undoubtedly familiar with, having been the cute pair of pink shorts for a few years, but Evelyn had just transformed the previous night.

"Sounds good to me," Evelyn replied from my torso.  "If I'm gonna be a swimsuit, I want to start getting used to it as soon as possible."  How was she handling her transformation so well?  She seemed so calm, so comfortable with being a piece of clothing instead of a human.  Would I have felt the same if I had been less lucky and ended up as an object as well?

Any complaints I had were ignored, and I soon found myself in the changing room of our local pool.  I was still wearing Evelyn as a base layer, with Dad and a lavender t-shirt covering her for the trip.  They were staying quiet, and I had been ordered by Mom not to talk to them in public, or even treat them as anything more than the pieces of clothing they appeared to be.

Stripping out of the outer layer of clothing, the shirt and Dad-shorts were folded neatly and placed into a bag, and they were placed with my sandals in a basket with my name on it.  They were then placed in a locker by a worker, and I was forced to leave my former father in the hands of a complete stranger as I walked with Mom out to the pool, meeting William in his trunks next to the water.

William grabbed my hand, his pale white skin contrasting with my own dark brown.  Looking down at our intertwined hands, , I marveled at the fact that I used to be his teenage biological sister.  Now he was a couple inches taller than me, even though he was a year younger, and my little brother's presence was a comfort to me.  "Want to get this over with, sis?" he asked gently, gesturing to the water.  I looked down at my own body, clad tightly in the forest-print swimsuit that used to be my sister.  Was she as nervous as I was?  Swimming was something I enjoyed doing, but I was worried about Evelyn's experience.  She would be completely soaked in chlorinated water and totally submerged, all while being at the whim of her wearer's movements.

I finally looked back up to William.  He had been lucky thus far, still being his old self and free of transformation.  I knew that luck would have to run out eventually; he had been infected with the TF Virus as well, and it was only a matter of time before my younger-but-larger brother succumbed to his inevitable fate.  For now, he was doing his best to help me have fun in the summer heat, despite the bizarre circumstances that led to me wearing my own sister.  Letting go of my reservations, I returned his smile.  "We jump in three..." I started.

"Two," William continued, his smile growing into a wide grin.  "One!"  And with that, we jumped in unison, plunging into the pool.  Just three siblings having fun.

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The memory of that day is still rich in my mind years later.  As it turned out, it would be less than a year before William started forming rashes.  He was pulled out of school at the beginning of spring, and he would slowly lose his energy over the course of two weeks.  The sight of the caring little brother - who had five inches on me by now thanks to a rabid growth spurt - laying helpless and mostly motionless in his bed was hard on me.  His transformation would likely leave me as an only child, to be raised by a single mother who was due her own transformation at some point.

By now, there weren't many non-transformed victims left.  As transformed clothing was outgrown by their wearers, they commonly found themselves being sold at yard sales or donated to charities and consignment shops.  Those who turned into food had long since been consumed, animals released into the wild, and newly-made orphans adopted by new families with no clue who they used to be.  There was even one case of a pair of twin girls who got sick at the same time and somehow combined into a pair of boys' shorts, owned (and later sold) by an 8-year-old boy who used to be their pet cat - the only known non-human victim of the virus.

Mom and I shared a bed that night, while the outgrown forms of Dad and Evelyn rested folded in their respective drawers.  We could never have predicted what would become of William, but as he fell asleep in his bed for what would likely be the last time, Mom and I resolved to help him accept his transformation, no matter what.