AgeArts 3D Comics

Continued from Chapter 6.

As we ate breakfast, I started slipping into denial of the whole situation. It wasn’t too hard to mentally pretend that this was just an ordinary Sunday breakfast. The pancakes were as delicious as ever, and hearing Morgan’s voice was familiar as well. The problem was that I was hearing her voice from two places at once. It would have been three places if I had dared to open my mouth to do anything except cram food into it.

Rather than let myself become overwhelmed by it all again, I realized I would need to deal with the situation somehow. I decided to investigate this new life. I figured if I tried to examine what was going on dispassionately, I might be able to distance myself, at least mentally, from this new reality. I took note of where I was and what was going on with the family.

We appeared to be in a small apartment. There had to be only two bedrooms since my parents had three girls sharing one room. I guessed that having identical triplets probably made that choice easier for my parents. They just put all the Morgans in one place. There was no sign of other children.

Dad joined us when the smell of pancakes was too strong to ignore. He and Mom both seemed younger, which made a bit of sense. We were probably their first pregnancy. I could just picture the two of them expecting their first child only to find out that they were suddenly going to blessed with three girls at once. That surprise might explain why we were living in an apartment as well. Having to care for three babies would be three times the cost. That expense would make a house harder to afford.

“Are you going to finish that?” asked the Morgan on my left.

“I’m full,” said the other one on my right.

“Can I have it?”

“No.”

“Come on. Why?”

“If you eat too much, you’ll get fat. Do you want people calling you the fat one?”

“I don’t care what they call me. I’m hungry,” said the one on my left, who was clearly Casey. She reached across me for Morgan’s plate.

Morgan pulled her plate away and said more quietly, “If you get too fat, we won’t be able to share clothes anymore.” There was a pause and a wink from Morgan.

“Ooh,” Casey said as she settled back down in her chair. It seemed that Casey had picked up on some unspoken point that Morgan was making at last. I had no idea what that point might be, though. That would be another mystery for me to ponder. I let it go for now since I had too much to think about already.

“Aren’t you hungry, Sweetie?” Mom said to me. “You’ve barely eaten.”

As a response, I took a bite of pancake and chewed it quietly. I didn’t want to talk just then or at all anymore really. Every time I spoke I was reminded of what my body had become. Quietly observing what was happening was much easier than trying to deal with it. Still, even simply eating felt odd. In my girly hand, the fork felt different, subtly larger and heavier. Sure, being younger meant my hand was smaller, but the fingers were the wrong length and my thumb felt oddly pointy. When I had food in my mouth, my teeth felt different. They seemed to be the wrong length and joined together strangely as I chewed. Maybe my tongue was a different size too.

In fact, everything felt subtly off. Most things about my body were similar to how they had been, but the sum of all the little things that were different left me constantly uneasy, like I was wearing clothes that were a size too small. Then, there was the situation between my legs that I was actively trying to ignore.

After a few more bites, I had eaten enough to satisfy Mom. She said, “Alright, girls. Time for church. Go get cleaned up.”

I followed Morgan and Casey to the bathroom. Morgan went in first, and Casey waited for me to go ahead of her. Then, we started on what must have been a regular routine for the three of us in this reality. We cycled around step by step as we cleaned up. Morgan would do something, then it would be my turn, and finally it was Casey’s turn. In that order, we washed our faces, brushed our hair, and brushed our teeth. Morgan and Casey took turns on the toilet. I skipped that particular step. Through all of the steps, Morgan and Casey moved on automatic pilot. I just struggled to keep up.

With our hygiene sorted out, Morgan next lead us back to our bedroom. Again, Casey brought up the rear. Without a pause, Morgan stripped off her shirt and pajama pants, and I turned away from her sudden nudity only to be greeted by an identical sight on the opposite side of me. Naked Morgan’s everywhere!

“Come on, Alex,” Casey said as I closed my eyes. “Let’s get dressed.”

Keeping my eyes shut, I pulled off my shirt and dropped my pajama pants to the floor. When I opened my eyes, I looked up at the ceiling, averting my gaze as much as I could. I heard a drawer open.

“Hey, Alex,” Morgan said. “Are you just planning on standing there naked the rest of the day?”

I looked at her to see that she had on underwear now and was pulling up white tights over them. I turned to see Casey putting on the exact same outfit. I noticed the open drawer and pulled out my own underwear and tights. I stepped into the underwear and pulled them on, while some part of my mind chanted, This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening… Then, I pulled up the tights. It was a strange feeling to have my legs covered like that. None of my pants fit so tightly. Morgan opened the closet and pulled out two identical black and white floral dresses. She passed both to me. I realized what was happening and handed one dress to Casey. I watched and took mental notes as Morgan put her dress on since I couldn’t figure how to start putting on my own. Then, I followed her example. Next, Morgan passed around Alice bands and we put them on our heads. They both looked into a small mirror on the dresser to check their hair, but I avoided my reflection. Finally, Morgan handed out our shiny black leather shoes. I strapped mine on, and we were finished dressing at last.

It was only when we were heading for the apartment door that I realized that Morgan had not once asked either of us what we wanted to wear. We had just taken what she gave us. I thought back on the military precision of the routine we had just finished. It was clear who the commander had been of our little troop. Morgan was leading us in everything it seemed. Even just walking, we were following her lead everywhere.

“Why is Morgan always first?” I asked. It was still odd hearing her voice in my mouth.

“I am first,” Morgan stated, as if that were a simple truth.

“And I’m third!” said Casey with misplaced pride.

“‘First’ and ‘third’ what?” I asked.

“She’s 7 minutes older than you,” Casey explained. “And, you’re 5 minutes older than me. That’s the order, silly.”

“What is with you today?” Morgan asked me as we lined up at the door in that same order.

“Wait, that’s it?” I said, with growing outrage. “She’s a few minutes older so she gets to be first in everything? Is that why she has the top bunk too?”

“You never had a problem with it before,” Casey said. “Anyway, I like it. I don’t have to make decisions all the time. Morgan can handle them.”

I was about to explain how wrong that was, how we were still individuals even if we looked the same, but Mom met us at the door before I could respond. I let the argument drop for now as we were about to leave. “Oh, you three look lovely in that dress,” she said. Then, she adjusted my hair slightly. I smiled faintly. “Adorable,” she said.

Dad was finally ready to go as well. “I’ll get the car,” he said as he headed out the door. We followed him down several flights of stairs to wait in front of the apartment building for him to pick us up. My sisters lined up around me again. Casey stood on my left, and Morgan stood on my right, taking her privileged position by Mom’s side.

To be continued in Chapter 8