Premature Maturation - Part II

I want to thank everyone who read the first part, and especially those who commented on it.

There's one other issue I forgot to clarify in the foreword to Part I. While this story takes place in a real city, take in consideration I don't pretend this to be the real city of Las Vegas. I made it up from my narrative needs, and I'm well aware that it most likely isn't at all like the real-world place. If you read it with that in mind, you'll enjoy it better, especially if you're acquainted with the real Vegas.

Important questions are about to be answered by Part III, so share your thoughts now in the comments section. What do you think happened to these kids?

Part 1

Saturday – 10:32 am.

All of them were very self-conscious as they waited for the elevator, feeling as if everyone would see through their facades and recognize who they really were. But of course, nobody thought they were anything but a trio of young adults waking up after a wild night at Vegas, and getting ready for another round. And in a sense, they were.

“Do you think maybe we could ask the hotel people if they know something about our arrival yesterday?” proposed David indicating the front desk.

“I thought about it, but I don’t think we should do it,” declared his sister. “We don’t know how the fuck we managed to get that suite yesterday, because we obviously don’t have proper identification. So we obviously lied. We ought to stay away from them.”

“Uhm… you are swearing again,” noticed Tanya.

“Oh, fuck off. I don’t know why, but I can’t help it. They just come to me. And we’ve got more important things to do than cleaning my language.”

The walk to the store took them about fifteen minutes, which was a good thing, because they were arriving at the same time a young man with blonde dreadlocks was opening the shop.

“Uhm… hey!” said David, wondering exactly what he should ask.

“Dude!,” answered back the clerk with a glimpse of recognition. “Y’all back so soon?”

“Uhm… yeah? I take it we were here last night?” he asked trying to put on a complicit smile.

“Dude, y’all were wasted, ya know? No wonder you don’t remember a thing.”

He laughed out loud and David joined him with his coarse cackle. They had lucked out. Here was someone who had some kind of information.

“You were here a bit after 9 or so. I was about to close. And you bought a lot of stuff!”

He seemed quite pleased at that. David kept questioning him.

“Yeah, that’s weird. Did you see anything else? Anything unusual?”

“Other than you were drunker than… Well, not that it’s something unusual on this city, ya know?”

“I guess not. So?”

“No, nothing else.”

“And were we with someone else? A 16-years-old girl, maybe?”

“Dude, don’t tell me y’all were drinking with a minor!”

“No, of course not.”

“No, I’ve seen no teenager with you. But you were with a third babe, right?” added the clerk lowly. “Golden brown, wavy hair. Really hot too. Quite stacked, like those two,” he pointed at Tanya and particularly Felicia, who had remained near the door while David talked. “What do you feed them with?”

David joined him in another fake laugh.

“We don’t remember how she looked,” admitted David, then he invented a quick lie. “She… she stole from us, but we were so drunk we can’t place her face anymore.”

“Maybe I could help with that,” said the clerk.

“Security cameras?” asked David, remembering a common movie plot device.

“Nah, that shit don’t work no more,” he said. “But your babes were in a festive mood and all. They took like a dozen selfies with my phone. And I was like… I’m totally cool with that. And you didn’t mind either. I mean… I respect you, my man…”

“Yeah, I’m cool with it,” said David quickly. “So?”

The clerk looked through his phone and, sure enough, he quickly found a picture of a very cheerful Felicia in the store’s changing rooms.

“And here’s the blonde.”

David looked longingly at a selfie of Tanya in a similar jogging suit, followed by another one in a dress with a plunging neckline.

“But I can’t find the other one. Damn, I was sure I had one, but no, that girl didn’t take my phone, now that I come to think about it. I guess it makes sense if she was a lady thief and all, ya know? No evidence left nowhere.”

David groaned in disappointment. He kept trying to get more information from the clerk, but he couldn’t tell him anything useful.

“Well, so we’re back to square one,” said Tanya with some disappointment after they got away from the store.

“Not entirely. We know we were here until about 10 pm, and that Joy was with us. And by the looks of it, she’s been transformed into an adult too. We lost her at some point after that. But I agree, we don’t have much to keep going. In fact, things have turned more difficult, since we have no idea how she looks now.”

They didn’t know what to do now.

“I’m hungry as shit,” let out Felicia. “I wonder if we’ve eaten anything but booze.”

David had also noticed that his -presumably bigger- stomach had been rumbling.

“You brought that money you found at the suite, didn’t you? I saw a place over there. We should take a bite.”

It looked like a cheap, slightly greasy place with a horrible flowery wallpaper, but it would suffice to settle their appetites.

David ordered the largest steak he could. Though hungry, Tanya had the sudden urge to watch her waistline, and so she asked for a salad. She also knew she needed a strong black coffee, despite never having drunk one before. Felicia settled for a big hamburger and a beer.

“I don’t think you should drink that,” Tanya scolded her. “We don’t know what alcohol did to us.”

“You’re right, I don’t know what came over me! I just felt like drinking that. I really wanted it.” She changed her order to a Pepsi.

“How could you want something you don’t really know?” asked Tanya dumbfounded, and then she realized she had been sipping her coffee like the most normal thing in the world without even noticing. “Yuck, I actually enjoy this thing now.”

Meanwhile, David gulped down his meat like it was nothing and ordered a second serving. He was finishing that one when a ringing sound startled all of them, and it was coming from Felicia’s purse.

“That’s not my ringtone,” she said.

“You probably changed it last night. It seems like we did a lot of things.”

“Uhm… this isn’t my phone either,” noticed Felicia when she produced it.

“No, that’s Joy’s phone! I saw her using it yesterday!” remembered Tanya.

“Crap! That’s my mother’s number. She wants to check on us!”

“If we don’t answer, they’ll know something is wrong.”

Felicia put the mobile phone in Tanya’s hands.

“Why me?”

“My voice is too deep. She’ll know. Yours is a bit softer. You can manage to sound like a kid.”

Shaking, Tanya knew she couldn’t delay, so she answered.

“Hello, Mrs. Robbie!” she said maybe too eagerly, trying to pitch her voice higher, closer to Joy’s teenage one. She still sounded like an adult, but it was a passable imitation over the phone.

“Joy! Is everything all right?”

“Peachy, uhm… Quite right.”

“Nice of you to watch the kids. Sorry I called so late, we… well, we overslept.”

“Don’t worry, so did we. Are you having fun?”

“Oh, yes. Well, you know, as much as a couple old ladies can have.” She giggled gingerly. “Sorry your mother couldn’t speak with you. She’s still kind of sleepy.”

“No problem, Mrs. Robbie.”

“So everything is okay? You don’t need us earlier, or anything?”

“NO! I mean… Everything is under control. Please don’t cut short Mom’s holiday. She’s been looking forward to this.”

“As have I. See you then, girly,” and she hung.

“Girly?” asked David with a frown, as he stirred his own coffee.

“I hate it when Mom thinks she can talk like a teenager,” shrugged Felicia. “Anyway, you saved us there, Tanya.”

Now that it was over, the blonde was quivering more than ever, but she nodded.

“We can’t give up, not now,” said David. “There’s still time.”

The call had shaken them, but had given them a push to continue their search.

“Ok, I say the next logical step is Joy’s house. I mean, that’s where the actual transformation probably took place. Maybe we can find another clue there,” submitted Felicia. “Or else, if Joy is also looking for us, which is quite possible, she might also head there. There’s even an off-chance that she has been there all along, and is still sleeping. We should keep trying to call there every fifteen minutes or so, in any case.”

“Leave that to me,” volunteered Tanya.

“Okay, so to Monica’s it is!” said an enthusiastic David, but then his expression darkened. “Except… we’re in the heart of Vegas now, and the house isn’t exactly around the corner. I guess we used a taxi last night to get here.”

“We should take another one now. Or…” Felicia counted the money she still had and considered what she was about to say. “Or, we could rent a car. I have a feeling we’re going to have to move around quite a lot today. Having our own transportation could be useful.”

Tanya choked on her coffee.

“Excuse me, has any of you learned to drive yet?”

“Uhm, no, but really, how different could it be from a video game? David is quite good at those,” said Felicia looking at her brother. “And this is Vegas. I doubt we shall require that much documentation if we go to one of those shady places…”

Against his better judgment, David agreed. He was wanting to prove himself behind a real car.

“Okay, so that’s settled,” said Felicia brightly, gulping down her last big piece of hamburger.

“How can you eat that?” asked Tanya with certain disgust. “I mean, we’re older now, we can’t eat just anything. And what if we stay like this? You’re going to ruin your figure.”

Even Tanya was surprised by her sudden burst of vanity, but Felicia laughed it away.

“I don’t know why, but I’m sure my metabolism is quite good. It’s like everything I eat just goes to my tits. Look at this, it doesn’t seems like I’m getting fat anytime soon.”

Felicia raised her blouse to reveal her fit abdomen, attracting the gazes of many a customer on the place.

“Hey, there’s a car rental just down here!” said Tanya, who had been looking for one on her phone. “Honest Frank. Right… Seems just like the kind of place we need.”

She was interrupted by a slick-looking man who had approached their table. He bowed towards David.

“My respects, good sir, but I couldn’t help but admire your lovely companions.”

Tanya looked a bit scared, while Felicia smirked at the attention. The man produced a small purple card and handed it to her.

“I represent a very respectable establishment where a woman of your… attributes would feel quite at home.”

“Loaded Ladies Strip Club,” read Felicia from the card. “Sounds very respectable.”

The man smiled politely as she looked up at him from her seat.

“Just a colorful name to attract our distinguished clientele… Anyway, if you’re looking for a job, either steady or temporary, come see me later,” he turned towards Tanya. “You would be quite welcome too.”

The blonde was of course loaded enough too, and only in company of Felicia’s melon-sized ones, would her breasts fall second. Nevertheless, she also received a card.

“I’m telling you, the faster we get out of this town, the better,” said David as soon as the man was gone.

“Oh, that was just harmless fun,” said Felicia and while Tanya shredded her card and threw it into her empty cup, she placed hers into her cleavage. “Always wanted to do that.”

Saturday – 11:26 am.

The car rental was shabby-looking. Despite its Honest Frank moniker, they were sure all kinds of business went there, mostly on the illegitimate side. Which at the moment was what they needed.

“Wait outside. I’ll handle this,” said David, trusting his muscled physique would protect him.

There were four cars inside the garage, one of them crashed. There was a counter, where yet another disreputable-looking man, probably Honest Frank himself, was counting money.

“Good morning. I wonder if…” started David.

But as soon as Frank saw him, he yelled at the overgrown boy.

“YOU! Got a lot of nerve, do you? Unless you’re coming to pay?”

“Uh… Do we know each other?”

“Do we… Do we…? Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Hey, sir, I just wanted to rent a car, but if…”

“RENT A CAR! You already destroyed one,” said Honest Frank pointing at the crashed vehicle. “And you didn’t even report it. We just found it this morning, abandoned in Mason Avenue!”

“Okay, uhm… Maybe we could…”

“Stay there! I’m calling the cops and then we’ll settle this!”

But as soon as Frank turned around to pick a phone, David ran away from the garage.

He didn’t escape by the front door. Because Frank probably knew them too, David didn’t want to risk him seeing Felicia and Tanya, who were waiting for him there, so he took a mighty jump and crossed over the back fence.

He ran and ran for countless ugly alleys, and then he finally stopped, sure he had lost him. He was thankful about not having his short, weak legs any more, when he saw Frank coming to him on the other end of the alley, armed with a baseball bat. David looked around. There was no escape. He had to face the man.

Physically, he was more than a match for Frank, but inside he was just a scared 13-years-old against a street-smart man… armed with a wooden club.

But when he took a swing at him, David just stopped his arm with his big left hand, and taking a powerful right hook, he knocked him cold.

He was quite pleased about what he had accomplished, when he saw an old lady in the other end of the alley, who ran away from sight as she screamed “Attack! Police!”

And sure enough, because that was just his luck, he heard a patrol’s siren. He got away from the alley, but he knew it wouldn’t be long before they would catch him.

Saturday – 11:44 am.

“Isn’t he taking a bit too long?” asked a worried Tanya.

“Yeah, I think so. Let’s wait a bit longer.”

Felicia looked extensively at her friend.

“So… have you been feeling any different?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I think this did something to us. Beyond just our bodies, I mean,” clarified Felicia. “Something inside. It’s as if our minds have been tampered too.  Like we’ve got new… instincts.”

Tanya considered it.

“Yes… I think you’re right. I’ve noticed something. I’m just not sure what is it yet.”

Their conversation was cut short by the police car passing in front of them.

“Isn’t that… Isn’t that David?” asked Tanya looking at the man who was being taken away in the backseat.

“Damn, that’s him! We’re really fucked up this time.”

Saturday – 12:35 m.

After taking his pictures and a short statement from the officers who had caught him, David was pushed into the police station’s cell.

He sat on a corner and tried to put on a mean face, despite feeling scared beyond his wits. He had done it. His first day as an adult, and he was already in jail.

There were about fifteen more guys inside, most of whom looked very dangerous. David’s size allowed him to be left alone for a while, but this time, he wasn’t the only large man around.

Indeed, just a few minutes later, a guy who was both taller and beefier than him, had already started to taunt him.

“What’s a pretty boy like you doing in here?” He laughed out loud along with a group of friends.

David ignored him. He doubted he could win this fight, and even if he did, he didn’t want any more trouble with the authorities.

Meanwhile, Felicia and Tanya had finally arrived to the station.

“Come, Tanya,” said the brunette, pushing her friend into the bathroom.

“Are you sure this is going to work?”

“I hope so. It does in the movies,” said Felicia, taking off her blouse and swapping it with a white one she extracted from her large bag.

“I feel too exposed with this,” commented Tanya after changing her own outfit with a black dress that showed her bare legs and her cleavage. She had also painted her lips deep red. She twisted her hands timidly looking at her reflection. “I don’t know how you’ve been walking around like this all morning. Our boobs… uhm… our breasts are all exposed.”

“Yeah, that’s the idea. Don’t worry, we’re women now. And you’ve seen how people dresses in this city. Didn’t you look at those three here at the station?”

“I think those are… prostitutes,” said Tanya, blushing intensely.

“Don’t worry. You look very sexy, but you’re decent. You can’t be possibly mistaken by a hooker. Maybe I can, though,” she added with a shrug.

Felicia led the way out and after a bit of asking, they were directed to Officer Jenkins, a young, upright-looking cop. Felicia hoped he wasn’t as honest as he looked.

“I’m here about my brother. He was detained just a while ago…” she started, once they stepped into his office.

“What’s his name?” he asked, reviewing a list.

“Uhm…” Felicia knew David couldn’t have used his real name when he was detained, but she had no idea what he had told them.

“Oh, it’s Chris Larson, isn’t he?” said Officer Jenkins glancing at the names. “Just brought in. Got into a fight, apparently.”

“Yeah, that’s him,” said Felicia, hoping she wasn’t about to appeal for the wrong guy. She believed Chris Larson was a boy from David’s class, so that sounded like a name he could have made up. “You see, he wasn’t doing anything wrong, really. That guy just was… He was trying to assault me and my friend here! He just defended us.”

“Right,” said the officer, who was looking at the women’s busts with great interest, and suddenly didn’t seem like such a clean cop. “Well, it says here they never found the alleged victim, so there’s no real charges. The witness, an older woman, also bailed while our men took your brother away. Nevertheless, he failed to produce identification when he was asked for it, and that’s why they brought him here.”

“Well, it just happened that he lost his wallet yesterday. He was a bit drunk and he misplaced them. You know, it’s Vegas. I’m ready to pay for his bail.”

She laughed in an unmistakably flirty way and the officer seemed more eager than before.

“I understand lady, but you see, I can’t do a thing…”

“Oh, come on, surely you’re very important here. Otherwise they wouldn’t have directed us to you.”

She touched his hands with her nails in such a subtle way he didn’t realize it at first.

“Well, er… Yes, I’m important enough,“ he said swelling a bit. “Nevertheless, your brother should be correctly processed before… After all, he was caught and…”

“He was caught defending the honor of two young ladies,” whispered Tanya, joining in, and surprising even herself with her seductive tones. “Any real man would do that. I’m sure you’d do the same for us, right?”

“Ob-Obviously, but…”

“So, will you help us now?” pleaded Felicia. “We’d be really grateful. We could even give you a special invitation.”

She produced the Loaded Ladies Strip Club card from her chest and handed it to him.

“That’s where my friend and I work,” she lied very convincingly. “If you come later tonight, we’ll both give you a private show in appreciation.”

 Officer Jenkins stood up very quickly and pocketed the card.

“I’ll see what I can do,” he said and went away.

“That was amazing,” said Tanya.

“Thanks. I feel absolutely disgusted at myself, though.”

“Yeah, me too.”

David, in the meantime, didn’t know how much longer he would be able to withstand it in there before fists were involved. He was sure the others were about to jump him when a guard approached and everyone stepped back.

“Chris Larson! You’re in luck,” he said opening the door.

It took a moment for David to remember that this was supposed to be his name. He got up slowly.

“Someone paid for your bail,” announced the guard and he escorted him to the front desk of the station, where Officer Jenkins made him sign a release. Then he brought him before Felicia and Tanya.

“I’ll be there,” muttered the policeman before leaving, winking at the girls.

“What does he mean?” asked David as his sister hugged him.

“Nothing. Are you all right?”

David suddenly went pale and turned around. He had just seen Honest Frank strolling into the station, a great bloody bump on his head.

“What…?”

David took Felicia by her shoulders and turned her around too.

“Come on, we have to get out of here.”

He walked them in the opposite direction.

“It’s that guy from the car rental. Apparently we also rented one last night.”

“We rented a car at that very place?”

"Makes sense, doesn't it? Last night, we were at the clothing store, then we decided to get us a vehicle. And the closest place was that one. Just like today. Anyway, we kind of destroyed it. He's pissed."

"On, no!" said Tanya putting her hands over her mouth.

"He's likely here to report me. If he does, they're not going to let me leave. Or you, if he also saw you last night."

But they were able to escape from the station in time. They got into the first taxi they  found and gave the driver the address to Monica's house.

THE STORY CONTINUES IN:

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Epilogue