Cherry Challenge 1000.30

Cherry set her feet on the nightstand with the pillows at the foot of her bunk, nestled in on the mattress, and got ready for bed.  She was wondering about that weird encounter at the cafe with that fat man Jimmy and his writing.  And she wondered how, where, and when the heck they'd meet up again.

It was beyond her control, anyway.  If he was going to do something truly rotten to her, odds were he'd have done it there and then.  He didn't seem like a nasty guy, but then again...

Again, she recalled there were two problems:  those where she could do something about them, and those where she couldn't.  No point on worrying on either.

And with that, she lay in her bed and looked up at the underneath of Jackie's bunk, and waited for the Sandman to club her unconscious.

***

“Cherry...”

She looked around.  She was back to her normal small, thin, short self again.  She was wearing neat blue jean shorts, a white t-shirt, and pink hi-top sneakers.  And she was back in the bleak, gray, dark featureless town.  The one she dreamed about.

And she saw all the people in it, crying sorrowfully.

And she heard all the miserable weeping from not just everyone in it, but from everyone else beyond it.  And it was so widespread then, it seemed like a droning, constant noise, like it was part of the world like the wind's rush or the waves washing.  So much so, that hugging someone, or anyone, would be like draining a polluted ocean with a single teacup.

But over the tears and wails, she heard a voice. Whispering.  It was Jimmy's.  

“...Cherry.  Follow the street you're on out of town.  You'll meet me down the road.”

With nowhere else to go, and no other ideas on what to do, Cherry put one foot in front of the other.  Following the street, she passed by more weeping people, and a number of clocks.  A digital one for a bank's sign read 11:59.  She kept on walking briskly, and spotted a gas station's sign.  Below the gas prices, the time was 11:59.   Further down the road, she saw a pharmacy's clock also set at 11:59.   And way off to the side a number of blocks away, she beheld a clock tower:  its hands also rested on one minute before midnight.  As she kept trudging down the sidewalk, she deliberately counted sixty seconds, and the time didn't change.  It stayed stuck at 11:59 PM.  

Finally, the sidewalk ran out, and so did the buildings and people.  The sound crying stayed constant and with her, though.  Cherry kept walking onward on the small road's shoulder.

The road led into a wooded area with lots of pine trees.  No chirping crickets or frogs or other wildlfe, though.  Just everyone crying.  It started to wear on her.  She wanted to cry herself, but didn't.

Finally, she saw a small clearing.  And in the hazy moonlight, she saw a fat man waiting by a highway road sign.  She broke into a light jog, and as she drew nearer, she saw the sign read, “Entering TOMORROW Time Zone.”  And she recognized the man:  Jimmy.

Just as she arrived, he nodded and put reassuring hands on her shoulders.  “Glad you're here,” he said.  “I thought this talk was best done in private, and your dreams are about as private as you can get.”

Cherry didn't know whether to hug him or slap him.  “Why are you doing this to me?  Am I going to die from this?  I don't want to be a big, fat, constantly growing monster anymore!”  

“Monster?  You're not a monster.  Who's calling you that anyway?”

Before she could reply, another voice rang in her ears.  A low, hissing one.  He's making you a monster.  A freak.  An un-human.

Cherry stopped.  “W-wh-wha...?”

The voice went on.  He's got the hots for big, heavy, plus-sized females, and so do a lot of other creepos.  He's just doing it for views and his own amusement and gratification.  And for their enjoyment and praise.

She peered at Jimmy.  “Is this true?”

He took a breath.  “I repeat, you're not a mon--”

“That's not it!  Are you making me bigger and bigger just for your cheap thrills?”

He is!  Don't have anything to do with him!  Turn away and head back to town!

Jimmy took a breath.  “I do have a thing for larger, more powerful girls, yes.  But I'm not out to degrade you or treat you badly.  I'm not going to make you anything you weren't meant to be.”  

“Meant to be? Meant to be?!  You're the writer!  How would I know any differently?  How do I even know what I'm thinking is really what I want and you're not controlling it?”

Jimmy peered at her for a long moment.  And he shook his head with a bemused smile.  “Maybe I can show you.”  He pulled out his smart phone and started tapping on it.  And a standing mirror rolled out from behind the sign.  “Here's an example.  What if instead of the way you are now... I made you like this?”

Her hair changed so it was straight and long and black.  Her blue jean shorts turned into a black, purple, and poison green plaid skirt.  Her light skin paled even further, and showed some skull, thorn, and broken heart tattoos on her upper arms and thighs.  Her pink sneakers turned into black platform boots, her white socks unraveled and went up her legs to form fishnet stockings, and her t-shirt transformed into a purple halter top covered with a black leather vest with studs.  And her breath had a tobacco smoke odor that wasn't there before.

Cherry turned away from the reflection, scowled at Jimmy and turned her lips in disgust.  “This isn't me!”

“See?  Of course not that's not you.  Never was, never will be.  The instant I try to make you something that's not you, that's not nice, that's just not Cherry, you do push back.  Might not seem like it, but you do.  You won't allow bad to take control or run rampant.”  And he swiped a finger across his screen, and Cherry's ugly look wiped away and went back to her own original duds and features.    

The accusing voice came back:  Can't you see you're his puppet?  He's trying to manipulate you!  Don't be stupid!  Don't listen to him!  Break your strings, your chains!  Think for yourself!  Run away!

Cherry arched an eyebrow.  “Think for myself, huh?” she muttered to herself in retort.  “As long as you manipulate me instead?”  Then she looked up to Jimmy.  “Sorry.  Someone else was talking.”

Jimmy nodded, like he knew and understood.  “I do have plans for you,” he reassured.  “Plans for your good.  For your betterment.  For your joy, not for your harm.  Plans where you come out the winner.   It won't be smooth sailing or painless or tearless, though.  Won't say it'll be better right away, but it WILL be worth it when it's over.  And you'll be more than rewarded for your troubles.”

He stepped back a little to allow her space to come forward.  “But you've got to show up for it.  You've got to face tomorrow.  Don't end the story with everyone sad.”

And it was silent, except for the drone of the world weeping in the background.

Cherry looked down at the road, at where Today's pavement stopped, and where Tomorrow's began.  She closed her eyes, and prayed wordlessly.  

And she opened them, stepped across the line with one foot, and  before the other voice could say anything, she crossed it with the other.

And automatically, she brought her arms up to form a T.  She felt warmth inside her being's core, starting from the heart, and flowing to her head, toes, and fingertips.

And the world felt like it was an elevator car, and she was going up.  And up.  And up.  

You stupid sow!  You're going to end up fat!  County fair blue ribbon size!  A giant blob!  Immobile!  Housebound!  Jack's going to dump you like the ton of slop you are!  You're going to die from a heart attack before you ever see twenty-nine!  The jokes and insults will never stop!  Your life's only worth will be a warning to everyone else!

And that voice kept ranting, screaming, shrieking, and raising its shrill pitch until it sounded like a small child having a tantrum.  

Cherry didn't look for where that noise came from, or even at herself.  She already felt her chest jutting out, her hips flaring, her arms, legs, and torso thickening.  She could already tell by the lowering tree line and horizon sprawling out under her that she was growing taller and bigger than she'd ever been before, even in the nightmare in her castle when she was sixty feet tall.

And yet... she was at peace.  Not quite happy, but serene without despair.  

She looked up at the night sky, the moon, and the clouds.  The clouds seemed to draw closer to her as she towered and rocketed up.  They seemed to descend and lower until her head was in them.  And true to form, it was dark, misty, foggy, and more than a bit moist.  That didn't bother her; she simply waited to break through.  

And she did.  Her head and shoulders broke through the cloud cover, which looked like a soft, spread fluffy comforter all around her at armpit level.  The midnight blue overhead was even darker, and the moon and stars shone even brighter.    Cherry reached up for a second, though she couldn't touch those heavenly bodies.  Yet.  

The cloud canopy seemed to slide down her chest and just below it.  She shivered a little from the cold, and wondered why she could still breathe with the air so thin.  She also wondered how large her feet down below had expanded, and whether they'd shoved the town's buildings out of the way, or simply crushed everything and everyone underfoot.

The crying and weeping stayed with her.  She didn't hear any screams of people being flattened or harmed... just crying.  She sure hoped it wasn't because they were too depressed or miserable to run for their lives and just let themselves be squashed.

Cherry could now see the horizon start to bend and curve a little.  It wasn't a simple flat expanse anymore.  She could tell she was on a round ball.  And she saw something like the Northern Lights and an odd green glow.  Soon her head would be in true outer space.

She knew she was no expert at aerospace science or the weather.  And the numbers started to gel in her mind, and caused her eyes to glaze when she tried to do the math on how tall and massive she was.  But she knew there wasn't anything to breath this high up.  And the rules of science were being broken left and right as her height racked up the miles like they were inches.  She wondered when she'd be huge enough to be a planetoid herself.

Not wanting to take any chances, she bent at the knees to squat down.  And lowering herself made the sky stand still... but only because her body grew taller and squatting just made her height break even.  

And hoping the action and reaction wouldn't knock the Earth off its orbit or rotation, she sprang up and away.  Lo and behold, she was floating in space!  She turned around in place and looked down at the Earth.  It seemed to shrink below her as she expanded.  And yet, as she hovered in orbit like a titanic satellite, she could still hear the whole world population crying miserably.

And in that moment, Cherry instantly knew what to do.

And curled up into a ball for a second, and she counted to three.  Then she flung out her arms and legs, and let her body go spreadeagle.  And she let herself expand, inflate, broaden, grow, and increase.  And as she made herself get bigger, and bigger, and bigger, the earth below seemed to shrink smaller, and smaller, and smaller.  It seemed no larger than a big weather balloon to her...  Then it was no taller than her.  Then it contracted to a big beach ball up to her chest... then up to her waist... then between her knees and waist... and then it seemed no larger than a playground ball.  A blue, sad, miserable, weeping playground ball.

And that was when Cherry reached around, wrapped her arms around the Earth, pulled herself close, and hugged the whole thing and everyone in it at once.

And with that, the crying softened, eased down to sniffles and sighs, and finally quieted itself out.

And she kept embracing the Earth snugly, tightly and warmly...

***

...until she finally woke up.

She looked up again at the bottom of Jackie's bunk, and nodded.  And she knew though it was past high time, she'd completed a major challenge in her soul.

And she relaxed, and thought of plans for the next day once the sun came up.