Potion

"Don't worry, it's only temporary," she said, her mouth twitching.

Why do those words always make me nervous?

Several hundred tiny pockets of air bumped around my stomach, as though Gen had put tadpoles in the drink and they'd launched revenge, and a large swarm forced their way back up my esophagus, less than delicately through my lips.  I looked around to make sure no one was coming into the girls' bathroom.

The bubbles spread through my bloodstream, tickling.  They gave me a strange high, and I forgot about anyone else seeing.  I held my breath to feel the fizz, all through my body.  Maybe her drink was healthy.

And then my jaw opened wide as they swarmed up into my skin.  The bubbles gathered and rose into quarter-sized knobs along my arm, along both arms and my neck and legs.  The bumps expanded, swelled until pinholes opened at each center, smoking tiny, noxious flumes that made me gag, then depressed again into craters.  My body burned with the sharp, mutilating, hot punctures.  Skin wasn't supposed to move like this, like I was boiling.

Heat rose into my throat.  "Gen," I croaked.  She was smiling now.  "What... what's happening to me?"

"Shh," she soothed.  "It's almost over.  You should see your hair."

I tried to reach up and touch it, but I couldn't quite get my arm up.  I couldn't think, I couldn't see, I couldn't hear anything but the sizzling of my flesh, from my guts all the way outward.

At the moment I died, a sweet smell filled my nose, nicer than the smell from the freshener sprayer, much nicer than anything that belonged in a girls' bathroom.

I opened my eyes despite myself.  No roses.  Only Gen, holding the jar in a greenish haze, her grin triumphant.

"Look in the mirror," she said.

I looked.

"That is what you should have looked like, if you hadn't eaten Pete's cooking."

___

This piece is in honor of both Halloween (which is my favorite holiday ever because acting like a witch is suddenly sanctioned), and the bottle of Mean Green drink my husband gives me most days.  The recipe is from Joe Cross' Reboot, and you should totally look him up here if you want delicious fresh juices.  (You can pay for a guided reboot, or download a free reboot pdf, which we have really loved.) 

It always gives me a good kick, and I swear it's helped me to get over my dear, friendly Lymes infestation.  More energy than ever.  I'm both envious and glad that the transformation isn't quite as quick or intense as the main character's, but if you try it, you might become a believer like her :).