Reversals Ch. 14

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The Appointment

"This is the place," Julia said enthusiastically as she turned off the highway. They passed onto a private road and headed towards a large corporate estate with a tall, looming brick wall surrounding it.

Erica didn't want to be there. He felt lightheaded and nauseous, desperately worried about where Julia was taking him. She, on the other hand, looked serene, smiling as they passed through the large iron wrought gate guarding the estate. When the road ended, they found themselves in a large, empty, parking lot.

Julia quickly parked the car and turned towards Erica, displaying a confident smugness that made his queasy stomach churn. Her smile seemed oddly cold. It made him even more ill at ease. This was truly the last place he wanted to be, especially for a medical appointment.

"Our future is here, Erica," Julia said reassuringly. "Be proud of how far you've come."

The estate looked like a business park of some sort, everything clean and professional, with well tailored landscaping and a tightly nipped lawn. A tall, sleek, glass and steel framed building dominated the area with a broad, inviting sidewalk leading to its mouth. Everything looked peaceful enough. There wasn't anybody nearby to be concerned about, not a soul in sight. Still, his senses told him something was deeply wrong with this place.

Julia looked at Erica, practically quivering in his seat, with sublime satisfaction. Every day she shaped him more to her liking, pushed him into further service. Today was special though. If everything went as planned, his life would be irreversibly changed. She squeezed her thighs together thinking about how permanent things would become soon. Right now, he could take off the cute little outfits she was making him wear, scrub off his nail polish, and go back to 'boy mode'. But once his breasts had fully developed that would be virtually impossible. If things went as planned, he would be forced into a bra for the rest of his life. Unless he wanted to jiggle about, she mused. What fun that would be, watching him cringe and cry with every jiggly step.

"Time to go, Erica," Julia said with a lilt. She got out of the car and starting walking slowly towards the building, gesturing with her finger for him to follow.

Erica swallowed hard, opening the door with a sweaty palm, teetering briefly on the heels Julia made him wear as he closed the door behind him. Looking down, he winced seeing the four-inch, block-heeled pumps strapped to his feet. He could barely stand in the things let alone walk properly.

"Come on, Erica, we don't want to be late," Julia yelled over her shoulder.

Erica pushed away from the car and hurried to catch up to Julia on the sidewalk, stumbling a couple times along the way.

"Take smaller steps for goodness sakes. You're in pumps, not sneakers. Remember, heel-toe, heel-toe."

He slowed down and did what she said, concentrating on the stride, glancing down at his feet. She had him in a pair of black denim jeans with a cuff that came just a little below the ankle straps on his pumps. The jeans were too tight on him but infinitely preferable to the capris she threatened to make him wear. She had wanted to shave his legs for the capris but, thankfully, they had run short on time so she abandoned them for the longer jeans. He wasn't as fortunate with the top of his outfit though. His blouse was as red as his nails, with short puff sleeves and little white buttons for accents. It looked ridiculously feminine and made him extremely self-conscious, screaming 'sissy' at anybody who got near enough to see him.

"Where's your purse, Erica?"

Erica felt the blood rush to his cheeks, stopping just a few feet from Julia. She stood there, hands on hips, clearly annoyed at his forgetfulness.

"Well?! You need to get used to carrying a purse. Go get it!"

He rushed back to the car, stumbling along the way, and retrieved the old black leather shoulder bag Julia had given him earlier. He felt like he might die from embarrassment as he threw the bag's long strap over his shoulder. He hurriedly started back towards Julia, stumbling forward, as the purse swayed at his side.

"Smaller steps. More lady like, Erica. Heel-toe, heel-toe," she instructed.

Erica grimaced in frustration then slowed down and acted like a good sissy, doing as he was told, doing his best to walk more like Julia did. She turned back around as he reached her and they began walking towards the building together, like two women might, side by side, walking in their pumps together as his purse swung about on his shoulder. He felt so embarrassed and emasculated he wanted to cry but gritted his teeth instead, pushing the feelings back down. Crying was something a girl wound do. It was the last thing he needed. But, it didn't stop him from complaining.

"They hurt me feet," he said.

Julia abruptly stopped and they faced each other. "You have the nerve to complain to me about wearing heels?!"

"I... I'm sorry... I just-"

"Do you have any idea how much womyn have suffered for beauty?! Suffered for men?! Any idea at all?!"

Erica slowly shook his head, hoping to placate her, realizing he had foolishly stumbled into a mine field.

"Of course, you don't. You don't have a clue," she said. "Maybe we can fix that, give you an opportunity to develop a sense of empathy," she added. "From now on, you wear heels every day, all day long, morning to night." She poked him in the chest just enough to make him teeter. "You need the practice."

"But-"

"You can take them off when you go to bed and when you shower, otherwise I want to see you in heels," she said sharply.

He stared at her, stunned.

"You'll master stilettos in no time at all this way," Julia quipped with a smile. She began walking towards the building again. Erica stumbled forward to join her.

"I'm sorry I said anything," he said sincerely.

"I bet you are," she replied as both their heels clicked away on the sidewalk, Erica feeling more anxious with every step.

As they got closer to the entrance, Erica began to panic. Just past the revolving door, through the tinted glass of the building, he could see a security desk with a woman behind it. She was staring directly at him! He suddenly stumbled on an uneven bit of sidewalk, pitched forward, and almost flew into the door, staggering as he regained his balance. Julia stopped, looking at him like he was the village idiot.

"Pick up your purse, Erica," she said caustically.

Cheeks burning with shame, having made a spectacle of himself, he retrieved the purse from the ground, brushed it off, and pulled it back up to his shoulder where it belonged. "I'm fine," he said crisply, lying, while trying to hide behind Julia from the woman inside. She had to be laughing at him, he decided. What type of pathetic man tripped over his heels and dropped his purse?

"Don't embarrass me, Erica," Julia said. "I'm warning you."

"Sorry."

Julia pushed through the revolving doors. Erica followed. The woman behind the desk focused entirely on Erica with a humor filled smirk, enough to make his cheeks flush a rosy red from embarrassment. She knew exactly what a pathetic sissy he had become, he was sure of it. Did she know Julia was planning to put breasts on him too?!

"Seventh floor," the woman said with a broad smile, pointing to a bank of elevators to her right.

"Thank you," Julia said graciously as they began walking towards the elevators.

Erica was certain the woman would bust out laughing at him at any moment but she didn't. Instead, the only sound was the distinctive click-clack of their heels striking the tiles as they walked away. It made him recall all the times that very sound had caused him to search around for a woman in heels, hoping she was attractive and wearing a pretty dress or short skirt. Now, being the source of the sound, the very notion was disturbing. He didn't want anybody looking around to see him, other men least of all. He was actually grateful when they stopped walking to stand by the elevators.

When they reached the seventh floor, Erica was surprised to see nothing but a simple, solid white, steel door opposite the elevator. There was no name on the door, nor around it, only a design stamped onto its surface in bold black ink - a thick trunked, gnarled tree, filled with leaves. Julia recognized it immediately as the same logo she had seen when she spoke with Dr. Joyce.

"This is the place," Julia said succinctly as she walked over to the door.

Erica's legs suddenly felt rubbery but he followed Julia anyway, struggling forward on his high heels and into the office behind the white door.

The room they entered wasn't what Erica expected at all. There was no receptionist, no furnishings, nothing like that. The room was small, sterile looking, and all white, almost like a clean room. The only things in the room were a large mirror on the opposite wall and another door that looked even sturdier than the one they had come through. The strange room made Erica all the more uneasy about his appointment. If anything, this was a security check point, he reasoned. Why did they need that? What were they protecting?

"Hello?" Julia said.

Erica stood a few paces behind her, wishing they could just leave.

Tentatively, Julia tried the inner door and, as Erica suspected, it was solidly locked. She moved over to the mirror, approaching it slowly, when a voice suddenly rang out from above, startling both of them.

"Welcome, Ms. Grant," the voice said loudly. "Please, come in, make yourself comfortable in the waiting room. I'll be with you shortly." A loud buzz at the inner door followed, releasing a thick bolt. Julia opened it and stepped through. Erica followed.

The emptiness and chill of the white room immediately ended, giving way to something entirely different, a colorful room filled with furnishings and comfort. The room was done in warm earth tones with indirect lighting filtering in from above that created an inviting and cozy space. Comfortable seating was scattered about with side tables, for every seat, which had computer tablets resting on them instead of the customary stacks of magazines. The center piece of the room was a large, bright, flat panel display on the opposite wall. It was projecting the same tree logo they had seen earlier, this one in rich greens and browns, spinning around the screen in an almost hypnotic dance. As they wandered further in, a couple of oversized love seats beckoned to them.

"Take a seat, Erica," Julia said, pointing to one of the love seats.

He sat down, trying to calm himself, still terribly upset at being there while Julia took the seat on the other side, facing him. They were several feet apart, with plenty of open space between them, but Erica began feeling strangely claustrophobic when he noticed Julia leering at his chest. It felt creepy. He wasn't accustomed to that type of attention at all. When she began grinning, it chilled him inside. She was imagining what he would look like with boobs! Maybe huge ones! Probably even filling out his red blouse to the point where the little white buttons were ready to tear off! It was almost too much to think about. That she could maybe really do that to him...

He fumbled the computer tablet off the table next to him with his pretty fingers, almost dropping it to the floor. It turned itself on and presented him with a myriad number of digital magazines and articles. It was something else to focus on, to get away from her intrusive stares. He was immediately thrilled by the large selection of reading material it offered until he realized that every single item was either a woman's magazine or something related to female empowerment. He groaned in frustration. There wasn't a single thing he wanted to read but, with Julia still leering at him, anything to help escape her penetrating eyes was a welcome diversion.

Quickly tapping at the tablet he settled on a current fashion magazine and, after a few more taps of his pretty fingers, began reading about some new nail polish and the different colors it was offered in. Halfway through the article, he laid his fingers flat against the tablet to compare how one of the new colors might look on his own nails. His shinny red nails were right next to a pool of new nail color on the screen when suddenly everything felt very awkward. After days of having them polished, of doing and redoing his nails so often, they were actually beginning to look normal to him! He abruptly tossed the tablet back on the table next to the love seat and folded his arms, keeping his hands tucked out of sight.

"Problem?" Julia asked.

Erica shook his head, lying. It was then that he realized the large display in the room had changed. The logo was gone. There was an image of a couple of women enjoying a sunset on a beach. It was replaced by a larger group of women enjoying the same sunset and laughing. A similar one came next. It was a rolling slideshow depicting inviting, vibrant, happy women. It was so vivid it drew him in, like he was actually there, smiling and laughing with the women. They seemed so free and alive. It was relaxing, tranquil, his arms and hands slowly going limp as he kept watching. New images kept coming, new places, new women, new contexts, each on the screen for only a few seconds before another came into view -- a young girl nurturing her doll as her mother looked on adoringly, a woman joyously holding her child proudly in the air, a baby suckling at her mother's breast getting life sustaining nourishment. There was something mesmerizing about them, powerful, a type of connectedness, a oneness so beautiful he wanted to... cry.

"Erica... Erica!?" Julia shouted at him.

He jerked his head towards her, startled, like he had been suddenly yanked out of a dream.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah... um... sure," he said, feeling deeply relaxed and drowsy, his limbs oddly heavy. He took a deep breath and blinked a few times. It had to be the stress, he decided. Julia wanted to ruin him as a man. Wasn't that enough to stress out anybody? And then there was Julia humiliating him in public, dressing him like a girl!

He thought back to yesterday, to the shopping trip she had ordered him on. She made him get groceries right after dropping her off at work. It was still fresh in his mind, the shame and panic he had experienced still very real. He could hardly believe he had actually done it, had gone out in public dressed in women's clothing, sissified, wearing nail polish no less. He only hoped nobody he knew saw him. There was no way to know. He had kept his head down the entire time, in a panic, teetering through the isles in high heels, doing his best to keep away from people. He hadn't looked anybody in the eyes. The floor and people's legs were mostly what he remembered looking at. He just knew people had been staring at him though, looking at the sissified male running around the store, snickering, probably hiding their children, maybe even snapping pictures!

"You've looked better," Julia chimed in.

"Just feeling a little tired. All the stress," he said in a monotone.

Julia watched him with curiosity. Something was clearly off. His eyes drifted over to the display in the room and a soft smile slowly spread over his face. He looked transfixed, like he was drugged or something but she had no idea how it was done or why. She felt fine. Nothing different at all that she could tell. Whatever it was seemed to only be effecting him.

She looked towards the slideshow cautiously, more out of the corner of her eye. It was an all female presentation, not a male anywhere, not even in the backgrounds. Boobs, boobs and more boobs, everywhere, in almost all the images. It was little wonder why Erica bore a witless, vacant smile, she mused.

After a time, a door on the far wall opened. Erica seemed oblivious, completely absorbed in the slideshow. Behind the door, was a young woman wearing a simple, pastel-rose colored uniform. Julia recognized the smiling, blond haired, blue eyed woman immediately - it was Pamala. She motioned for Julia to quietly join her. Julia got up and crossed over into a hallway. Pamala deftly closed the door behind her, leaving Erica alone in the waiting room with the mesmerizing slideshow.

"Julia Grant," Pamala began, extending a hand with a smile, "Welcome."

"Pamala, how nice to meet you in person," she said genuinely, shaking her hand. "I can't tell you how pleased I am to be here."

"We're very pleased to have you," she responded.

"Um... I was just a little confused about something," Julia said, pointing back towards the waiting room. "Do you know what's going on with Erica? He's acting... stranger than usual."

Pamala smiled pleasantly. "Of course. Nothing to worry about," she said assuringly. "It's a new introduction protocol we've been experimenting with to help our subjects... feel more comfortable. Think of it like a mild sedative if you'd like. The intent is to lower distress, help them understand what's going to happen to them... They can even embrace it to a degree."

"Really?" Julia asked surprised.

"Uh-huh," Pamala said, nodding. "Don't expect miracles though, we're not that far yet. Think of it more like... helping him to develop a deeper tolerance and acceptance for a more feminine perspective. Temporarily, at least."

"Not sure I understand," Julia said

"Well, technically, we've induced him into an altered state of consciousness, made him more susceptible to suggestion," Pamala said. "Right now, we're imprinting images and messages... ways for him to think and feel. For a time, his subconscious will be embracing the images we're imprinting there. It's a form of hypnotherapy with subliminal messaging. Instead of some... unpleasant reaction to feminization therapy, the idea of being more female will feel okay, normal, even feel good," she explained.

Julia started smiling. "You don't have a take-home kit do you?" she asked.

Pamala returned the smile. "No home kit yet but we do have a lot of technology to help re-educate and control males," she said. "AGen is just one branch of our research and development tree."

Julia's smile broadened. These women seemed to be just what the world needed. "How about chastity devices?" she asked excitedly.

"Of course," Pamala responded enthusiastically, "considerably advanced models in fact."

"Really?! That's fantastic. Do you think I could get one for Erica?" Julia asked.

"Of course," Pamala said. "We have a lot of things to discuss regarding Erica's future." Pamala gestured down the corridor to a small conference room near them. "Actually, you have a lot of decisions to make."

Julia's smile twisted into something wicked as she considered what she wanted to do to Erica.

They walked over to the conference room and sat down. Julia was immediately impressed. The room was sleek, modern, and very high-tech. Tempered glass and gleaming brushed aluminum were everywhere from the walls and door that led into the room to the table they sat at. The back wall was comprised entirely of large computer displays, racked ceiling to floor. The very table they sat at was a large display too, the entire surface functioning like a true virtual desktop with documents and images moveable by touch. Pamala tapped a few icons and an agenda appeared. She peeled off a digital copy with a slide of her hand, and pushed it to Julia.

They began discussing the events for the day, plans for Erica, possible outcomes, and on the role they expected Julia to play. Pamala reviewed the AGen technology in greater detail with her, using the back wall to display various images and animations of the process. Julia smiled through all of it and began squirming in her chair looking at photos of men with breasts that looked perfectly natural and normal. There were numerous images of men suckling infants too, cradling them like a woman would with the babies tugging away on large, milk laden, nipples. Most of the men had a distant look on their faces, appearing distraught at what had happened to them. A few looked so feminine Julia felt compelled to ask if they truly were men - they were. Pamala explained those men had optional procedures performed in addition to AGen. The same treatments were available for Erica too. Julia only needed to ask.