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When Natalie, Brandon, and Elizabeth awoke the next morning, they were all three lying on an overgrown lot. The entire block of housing was gone, replaced with scattered remains of old businesses. Except for a couple black feathers and a broken staff, there was no sign of either Cori or David. The three of them had transformed back into humans... but not entirely back.

Natalie had gained a couple hundred pounds with prominent whiskers on her face. Brandon's hair had turned blue like a gecko's scales, with several discolored patches on his skin where his spots had been. And Elizabeth seemed to have lost her hair, with big black freckles over her skin except for her back, which was a covered in a large brown patch. In front of her were three eggs, still wet to the touch.

"What the--- did you all see what happened?" Natalie said, feeling the clothes that had stretched over her whole body.

"Where is she?" Elizabeth stammered, covering her breasts with only slight regard for her semi-nudity. "That voice..."

"Are we alive?" Brandon said, feeling his clammy skin and his matted hair. "Is this reality? What happened to us?"

"To you? Look at me!" Natalie struggled to her feet. Her muscles were strong enough to lift her, but her fat limbs felt long and stiff. Her fingers were too fat for her hand! What kind of humiliation had been done to her?

"Why is my skin so..." Brandon stopped in mid-sentence as an ant skittered past his field of view. Any train of thought came to a halt as he stalked the insect, before suddenly bumping into the staff.

"This staff... why is... where did those other two guys go?" Brandon stumbled to his feet.

"And where are we?" Elizabeth said, looking around at the run-down lot they were sitting. "Where's the apartment? What happened?"

----

Brandon was able to lend Elizabeth his torn pants while Natalie flagged down someone to lend their jacket for her. Together, they managed to piece together some information about what happened last night.

There had indeed been a series of apartments on this block, though it had been torn down decades ago. A few stores had popped up here and there, though many of them were dilapidated and only used for storage. No one had heard anything of any party that night.

Natalie remembered she had talked to a friend about the party. But not only did her friend not remember the earlier conversation, she had always known Natalie to be large and have a mustache. She thought it was a medical condition and a fashion statement on Natalie's part. She was still known for her drinking, though.

Similar stories came out for Brandon and Elizabeth. Both had clear medical histories of having colored spots, clammy skin, and trouble with their hair condition. Brandon even discovered some hair cream he never bought. It was like all three of them had been dropped back into a life they'd never lived, yet suited them perfectly.

And for Natalie and Brandon, that was what happened. Natalie went back to her job at a call center, speaking and dealing with customers, thinking quietly to herself that they were judging her. Every day she would come home, fill a small pool, and lay in it as she sipped her wine.

Brandon went back to being an assistant coach, filling water jugs and sorting equipment as he watched the soccer ball like an insect. And after work, not satisfied with the tasteless burgers or pizzas he usually ate, he would sneak into a pet store and steal a few handfuls of crickets.

As for Cori and David, no one had ever heard of them or seen them. Presumably, they were still off in that other world that the three of them briefly glimpsed, before their memory of that night went blank.

The hardest hit of them was Elizabeth. That bewitching voice was still in her head, telling her that she was a good hawksbill turtle. It felt right and meaningful to her, like it was meant to be. It didn't help that, a few days afterwards, her eggs hatched.

There was nothing she could do but box them up and ride to the beach, where she released the baby turtles to the sea. A few days later, she was hit with some painful cramps. She laid even more eggs, a clutch of five this time. She rode back to the beach to bury them, so they could hatch properly this time. But she just couldn't leave them on their own. Within a few days, she left the campus for good and took up her own residence by the sea.

The voice would not abandon her, every day and night. She built a new shell for herself and dug up new pits in the sand every time she felt another cramp. Week upon week she would stare at the sand, swimming off into the sea to snack on raw fish. And every night she would sleep on the sand. The ocean in her dreams calmed her and soothed her. She knew someday, somehow, she would find a way there.