31 Tales (Volume II) - Powers Unlocked

The Pink Room

"Ok and that is a wrap" she wasted no time getting out of the searing light. Her cheap makeup clung to her face. Glued by the sweat from the heat. "Did it go ok?" She asked the camera operator who just shrugged her off. "Go clean up and head home. The ghosts come out tonight, woooo" he laughed as he removed the card from the camera. She rolled her eyes and left the studio and headed down the hall to the bathroom in order to freshen herself up and to get this awful makeup off of her face. "Why does it always have to be sexy witches? Why can't I just be a normal everyday witch. Just a witch?" Creak. The cubicle behind her opened to reveal another model. "That" the woman headed to the sink and turned on the tap "would be appropriating a community" she washed her hands under the warm water. "Would It heck?" the woman dressed as a witch scoffed. "My Nan was a witch" the woman washing her hands claimed before pulling out a paper towel. "Oh, really?" She nodded in reply "yep, she had a Coven and everything. Always reading tea leaves and stuff" the witch watched sceptically. "Why won't this darn gunk come off?" She threw her make-up wipe into the sink. "Let me help." The other woman stepped closer and gently patted the makeup. As she did she looked deeply, lustfully into the witches eyes. "You have beautiful eyes" she bit her lip. "Thank you" the witch said in a monotone voice. "You know the bathroom will be empty for a while?" The witch didn't take the hint which is good for it isn't the most appropriate of things to state in a bathroom. "Where are you going?" The woman called over. "Home?" "Come back let's have some fun" she looked over nervously. " I'm not really looking for fun..." the woman approached closer. "You just haven't found the right girl she smiled coyly. Now the witch was extremely uncomfortable and backed away closer to the door. "I said no" she pushed walked backwards into the door frame and reached for the handle. "Sometimes no means yes" the woman was right in her face now. Her pink lipstick right up close to her mouth just inches away.

The witch woke up in a cubicle. Had she blacked out? Everything was fuzzy. She tried adjusting the static in her head but nothing. No memory of anything. Slowly she pushed she door of the cubicle open and screamed at the sight before her. The room was covered in thick fur. It looked like the cover of a diary a teenage girl from the nighties would have. Deep within this for lay the other woman. Right by the door. No. On the door, in the door? All that could be seen was her face. "Let me go, please" she pleased but the witch was having none of it. "No" she shrugged "maybe this will teach you a lesson not to try and creep on women in the bathroom" she went to open the door but the fur was too thick. "It's ok" she turned around quickly seeing another woman before her. "It's that man. The one who did this to me" the witch looked at the woman before her confused and then turned her head back to the woman in the door. "What are you talking about? That's not a man" the woman in the door snarled in response to the witch's statement causing both the free women to step further back from the door. "He did this to me. He's a wielder. A freak" the woman glared looking almost comical with the thick pink bushy eyebrows occupying her forehead. "That's Snow. She's another model. I've worked with her for years." Snow smiled warmly at her old friend. "She's right though. I am a wielder." Snow rolled back her sleeve to reveal a thin layer of the same fuzzy pink fur dawning the walls. "I can somehow command it but when I do it knocks people out. I think it was formed to protect you from her" she pointed at the woman's face. "I saw what she was planning to do and I just... it just happened on instinct." The witch walked closer to Snow but maintained her distance. Good friends kept their distance in times like this. "Thank you. Please ignore what she has to say. She's nothing but a pervert" the woman in the door protested but a think layer of fur closed off her mouth. The witch went fuzzy again as she fell to the ground.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry" she looked up from the floor. "I was aiming it at her not you" the witch looked around realising she was stuck in the floor. "It's ok, don't panic" she made it seem like she was aiming it at Snow but it was more to convince herself. "I swear I didn't mean to" Snow's arm was now completely covered in the fuzz. Seeing her so distressed broke the witches heart. "Snow it's not your fault maybe you can undo it. Try thinking of it going away." Snow closed her eyes and nodded but the fur just grew ever more over the witches body. "Stop! Stop!" She cried which Snow did immediately. She gasped in horror and what she'd done. "Where is the other woman?" The witch tried distracting herself. Snow looked over at the door "I think the wall ate her" she grimaced at the thought. The fur continued to crawl over the cheap Halloween costume. She would die on this the eve before Halloween in a witches costume. Why did she take the job? Surely she could have done better. What was the purpose of creating an ad campaign for a holiday which was in less than a day. All these thoughts rushed through her head as she felt the final embrace of the pink fuzz steal the breath from her lungs. "I didn't mean too Snow cried as the pink fur travelled further up her arm.

The woman burst through the wall. Well, not so much burst as parted the wall to make way for her. "Do you know how hard it is to breath in that?" She pointed to a shocked Snow. "I don't understand..." the woman laughed at Snow as she looked down at the ground where there was no indication a person had ever been there. "Look what you did" Snow buried her face in her hands. "See, this is why you don't belong in toilets you only cause harm" Snow glared at the woman who just stood there smugly. She wanted her gone but as she thought of the fuzz growing around her nothing happened. "Oh yeah, sorry I forgot to mention" the woman traced her hand through the air as fuzz began growing up Snow's arm. "The power was mine all along." Snow couldn't believe it. How could this be? How could she have thought it was hers? How had she been so foolish? "You're screwed either way Snow. If I win, which I will. I run outside and tell everyone you used your power to kill a poor defenceless woman. If you win, which you won't. You'll have a body count of two." Snow struggled to assess the situation. She had done nothing wrong yet she would get the blame. "I'm not going to kill you" she scoffed realising the implication of a body count of two. "Oh, you don't have to. I'm more than capable of doing it myself if it comes to it" Snow gasped in disgust. "You are willing to kill yourself just to paint me as a villain?" The woman narrowed her eyes in anger "I WILL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO PROTECT WOMEN" it was a difficult thing to hear. "How could you let yourself be so engulfed with hatred that you would go so far to kill yourself just to vilify an innocent person?" The woman was disgusted "innocent? You're the one preying on people in a bathroom you don't belong in" Snow shook her head "I was using the toilet, you were the one trying to assault Jade." The woman shook her head "Ohhh, was that her name? Didn't know that. I wasn't going to assault her I could tell she wanted it. You could see she loved being chased." Snow refrained from lashing out "no she wouldn't have wanted it. Firstly she's Ace she has little to no interest in sexual activity with anyone. Sometimes she does but certainly not when someone is trying to force it upon her" Snow balled her fist. "Like I said. She was a challenge. We both would have enjoyed it" she shrugged. "You disgusting transphobic-aphobic cow" Snow could no longer refrain her anger and lunged for the woman who just laughed her off. "You're forgetting something" the woman pushed the fuzz further across Snow's body completely immobilising her arm. Snow assessed the situation carefully and realised something odd. She wasn't being knocked out. When she had thought it was her power the woman and Jade had both fell unconscious. Did she? "You seem to be forgetting something too" Snow used her free hand to push air towards the woman causing her to fall off balance and start fighting to stay awake. "It's fine. If you kill me it just further illustrates my point." Snow stopped she tried thinking of a way out. There had to be a way. In movies the hero always escaped. The fuzz grew tighter around her arm restricting it like a snake had itself curled around it. "You'll never escape" Snow used her power to knock the woman fully unconscious. "I'm willing to die to protect women as well" Snow looked for something to do the job when the cleaner burst through the door. To his horror he saw a room covered in pink fur and a woman laying unconscious as another woman stood above her with tears in her eyes and fuzz up her arm. "What have you done?" He muttered in disgust. "No, no it wasn't me it was her" Snow pointed desperately to the woman on the floor. The cleaner stepped back pretending to nod in understanding. "Please" Snow cried as she used her free hand to knock him unconscious as well. There was only one way to escape. She would just live in the bathroom. She would just stay there until she died. She would die surrounded by fuzz and two unconscious bodies and a witches hat from her old friend Jade sitting next to the sink. She walked over to pick up the hat and carried it to the pile of fur which covered her body. A grave marker. The fuzz began to dissolve under it. Jade flickered her eyes open in confusion as she looked up to see Snow crying with joy. "Where is she?" Jade bolted upright causing the hat to fly off her stomach. She turned to see her laying unconscious on the floor feet away from the cleaner. "Of course shes unconscious she can't control her power" Snow finally twigged as she noticed the rest of the room slowly fade back to normality. "We need to leave" Jade shot up grabbing Snow's free arm as her other one slowly returned to normality as well. "I'm sorry" Snow stated as the pair left the room. "You have nothing to be sorry for. If you hadn't have been in that bathroom who knows what would have happened to me." Both women smiled as they headed down the hall.

It was well into evening now and the light of the cold blue moon outside spread its sea of light everywhere it saw. "It's cold tonight" Jade shuddered as she stepped out of the building. "It's Halloween in like five hours" Snow laughed as the tiny snap of a twig could be heard behind them.