The moon filtered through the laboratory’s dusty windowpanes, casting ethereal shadows across the cluttered room. Max stood frozen, staring at Jack, who was leaning against the cold lab bench, wide-eyed and slack-jawed. Jack’s body shimmered faintly, as if reality itself was still grappling with the changes that had just occurred.
“Uh… what just happened?” Jack's voice echoed in the cavernous room, tinged with confusion and a hint of panic. His reflection in an old, cracked mirror showed not a boy, but a girl — long, untamed hair falling around his shoulders and delicate features that had belong to a girl. His face was pale, disbelief etched across each of his new features.
Max's mind raced. He had intended to explore the machine's capabilities—not to actually use it. “I… we needed to see if it worked, Jack! But…” He scratched his head, overwhelmed by a rush of emotions. “What do we do now?”
Jack inhaled sharply, feeling the unfamiliar weight of his new body—curves and unfamiliar sensations. “Do you think Dad will freak out?” He took a step towards Max, hesitating as he caught a glimpse of himself again. “What if I can’t change back?”
“That’s… that’s a risk we took,” Max admitted, guilt gnawing at him. “I thought the machine would just change a toy or something. Not… you.” He looked around the lab, frantically searching for any signs of instructions or safeguards Dr. Everet may have left. “He needs to know,” he finally said, but the thought of confessing scared him.
“No way!” Jack shouted, his voice rising. “He would totally kill us! We have to figure this out ourselves first. If we can reverse it...” His voice trailed off, uncertainty settling in.
Max swallowed hard, trying to think clearly. “Okay, okay. Let’s just… look for something—something that explains how this machine works.”
As they scoured the lab, Jack’s nervousness manifested in an anxious fidget, brushing his fingers against his new hair and glancing at his reflection. “What if this is permanent?” he muttered under his breath.
“Focus, Jack,” Max replied, pulling an old notebook from a pile of dust-covered journals. “Maybe Dad wrote something down about how it operates.” He flipped through the pages, filled with technical drawings and oddly-scrawled equations.
Jack watched, pacing intently. “What if we tell him we were just playing around? Like, we didn’t mean for this to happen!”
Max shot him a skeptical look. “And when he looks at you?” He paused, finally coming across a page titled *Transformation Mechanics: A Manual for Desired Outcomes*. “Oh! Look here!”
He pointed to a passage that outlined the potential risks and side effects: *‘Subject may experience disorientation, emotional fluctuations, and—most crucially—challenges related to gender identity adjustment.’*
“Okay… so it wasn’t just cosmetic,” Jack said slowly, the weight of the words hitting him. “Max, I don’t know how to be a girl! I don’t even know what that means!”
“It means you need to figure it out,” Max said, a newfound determination sparking in his voice. “We can do this. Just give me a minute.”
As Jack’s thoughts spiraled in confusion, Max turned his focus back to the notebook. He flipped through several more pages, until he found a section containing diagrams of the machine and its alterations. There—a series of dials that could adjust the transformation based on the user’s desired gender traits.
“Look, if we can find the right settings, maybe we can reverse it!” Max exclaimed, hope glimmering in his eyes.
“But what if I like it? What if… what if I don’t want to change back?” Jack’s words surprised them both, the vulnerability layered beneath his bravado striking a chord within the small room. A silence fell between them, laden with the gravity of the choice ahead.
Max set the notebook down, realizing this was not just a scientific experiment anymore; it was a deeply personal metamorphosis. “You don’t have to decide that right now,” he said quietly. “We’ll figure this out together. We always have.”
Jack leaned against the lab bench, lost in thought as he weighed their options. “But what if Dad finds out before we do?”
Without warning, the front door creaked open, the sound echoing ominously through the lab as footsteps approached. Panic washed over the boys.
“We have to hide!” Max whispered urgently, shoving the notebook into his backpack as they scrambled for cover behind a pile of crates stacked near the wall.
As they crouched in silence, Max felt the weight of their situation bearing down on him. Whatever awaited them outside the safety of their hiding spot was outside his control. But one thing was clear—the adventure had only begun, and together, they would have to face the consequences, no matter how daunting they may be.
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