Gambler, The

“Here you are, ladies.” The waiter said, setting the food in front of the three young women. “Thank you.” Said Sara. April and Traci looked at the food laid out before them. They had come out to Chubby’s bar and grill to celebrate the three of them all having a night off. And whereas April and Traci each had very light servings, with lo-fat sides and diet drinks, Sara had a big cheeseburger, dripping with condiments, and a side of fries veritably swimming in salt and grease. She licked her lips hungrily as she stared down at it.

“Jesus Sara,” April said. “How can you eat that stuff?” Sara just stared at her blankly. “Taking the place’s name to heart, are we?” Traci added with a smirk. Sara stuck her tongue out at them. “I’ll go to the gym later.” She said. “And besides, at least I don’t have to worry about strong gusts of wind blowing me away.” April and Traci made faces at her, and the three giggled as they dug in. But a few tables over, their conversation had caught the ear of another patron.

She was a young woman of indeterminate age. She could’ve been anywhere from mid-twenties to late thirties depending on how the light hit her. She had long, raven hair, and piercing emerald eyes that glinted as she just happened to catch the three friends talking. She sipped her beer and stared at them. The one they were making fun of was a fairly average young woman, thin and healthy looking. But the two who were teasing her were veritable twigs. This piqued the interest of the mysterious listener, but she decided to let it go for now. However, as the night wore on, she couldn’t keep her ears away from the table of the three, and it was only a matter of time before the conversation caught her interest again.

Sara finished her food, well after the other two, and leaned back in her seat. “Mmm,” she said, “that was good.” April laughed under her breath, and Traci outright snickered at her. “Jeez Sara.” Traci said. “I think I can actually see you getting fatter.” That caused April to giggle louder, and Sara even grinned as she sat up to defend herself. “Oh hush.” She said. “At least I had an actual meal, you guys are probably still starving.” April and Traci made dismissive gestures, and April threw in a *pssht* noise. “We just know better than to make pigs of ourselves in public.” She said. But then her stomach grumbled loudly, and Sara grinned at her

“Well, fine, so what?” April said, backpedaling a bit. “Some of us actually believe in watching our figures.” She said, sticking her nose up. “What figure?” Sara said, laughing a little. “You guys look like stick figures. Heroin chic went out in the nineties, you know.” Traci threw an errant lo-cal french-fry at her, and Sara giggled. “We look perfectly fine.” Traci said. “We only look skinny when we’re standing next to you.” Sara’s jaw opened in mock offense. “Whatever,” she said, looking for something on her plates to throw but finding nothing, “at least I have boobs.” She said. April and Traci crossed their arms over their chests and sat backwards.

“Yeah, and you’ve got a nice little gut to match.” April said, a little more sullenly than she intended. Sara looked down at herself and shut her mouth. “That’s because I just ate.” She said, and leaned back as well, her arms folded over her stomach. “Sure it is.” Traci said. “Twig!” Sara retorted. “Fatass!” April jibed. “Excuse me.” The mysterious woman said. The three looked up at her, their friendly squabble forgotten. “Yes?” Traci asked. The woman towered over the table, making the three feel like children with their hands in the cookie jar. “Were you making fun of your friend for being fat?” The woman asked. The three smiled and laughed a little. “Well, yes, but-“ April said, sitting forward and starting to explain, but the woman cut her off.

“Well I bet that I could make you two wish you weren’t so thin.” The woman said, staring at April and Traci with her dazzling green eyes. April laughed a little, and looked over at Sara, who was also giggling with cautious worry. “What?” Traci asked. “I bet that I could make you two wish, that you weren’t so thin.” The woman said, deadly serious. “Do you accept?” April and Traci looked at each-other, then at Sara exchanging shrugs all around. “Um, yeah, sure, whatever…” April said. “Good.” The woman said, and then sauntered off.

“What the hell was that?” Sara asked. Traci shrugged at her, her face conveying utter confusion. “I don’t even fucking know.” April said, looking after the disappearing figure of the woman as she leaned back in her seat. “She must be druuuunk.” Traci said, looking after her as well. “I don’t know, she seemed pretty sober to me.” Sara said, shaking her head. “That was weird.” April said, and reached for her drink. “No kidding,” Traci agreed, “maybe we should find a new place to hang out.” The three slowly shook off the encounter, and in a short time were laughing with eachother again, the strange woman completely forgotten.

As the night wore on, Sara decided to go home early, complaining her stomach hurt. “See, you ate too much.” Traci teased her. April and Traci decided to stay, and continued drinking for another few hours. When they were finished, they staggered out of the bar together, unaware of the pair of green eyes that watched them leave. They walked along the sidewalk on their way home, their arms around each-other. They laughed and stammered and talked about how much fun they had had, and were blissfully unaware that as they walked, the streets seem to empty; until they were the only two around.

They continued walking, oblivious to the bizarre change; and then Traci tripped and stumbled outwards into the road. “Whoa, hey!” April said, stumbling after her. She caught her and they both giggled. “Be careful, you could get killed!” April said, still laughing drunkenly. “What?” Traci asked her. “We’re in the middle of the road!” April said. “Hey yeah,” Traci said, looking around, confused and suddenly worried. “Why aren’t we dead?” The two looked around, suddenly silent. And so was the street. No cars, no pedestrians, no music or TV coming out of open windows. “What’s going on?” April asked.

Before Traci could answer, a loud crash and rumbling came from up the street. The two looked, and saw a semi-trailer loose its load of giant industrial pipes down the sloping street at them. The huge pipes crashed down the street at incredible speeds, and April and Traci were too inebriated to do anything but start screaming as the pipes bore down on them. And then, they had been hit.

The pipes rumbled over them and down the empty street. The two paused for a second, both thankful to be alive. Then after a second, April said: “Traci?” Traci paused as well. “Yeah?” she said. “Are we flat?” April asked. Traci had no response. Because indeed, the two had been flattened against the pavement like cartoon characters. Their bodies didn’t protrude from the road at all, and they looked as if someone had painted two frightened girls onto the pavement as a joke.

“What are we gonna do?” Traci asked, grunting a little as she tried to move. But it was no use, she was completely plastered onto the pavement. “I think I can help.” A voice said from the darkness. The two tried to look around, but without being able to move, their line of sight was too limited. “Who’s there?” April asked. “Someone who can help you out of your current predicament.” The voice responded. “Ok fine,” Traci said. “All you have to do…” the voice said, and the sound of heeled shoes clicking across the pavement could be heard.

“Is tell me that you don’t want to be thin anymore.” The woman from the bar walked out of the darkness, and stood over the flattened forms of the two women. “You again?” April asked. “Did you do this?!” Traci said. The woman shrugged. “Even if I did, I’m the only one who can fix you.” She said, looking down at them. “Go fuck yourself.” April said angrily, and Traci added a “yeah.” The woman shrugged, “Suit yourselves.” She said, and began to walk away. April and Traci struggled to move again for a moment, and then finally called out: “Fine!”

The woman sauntered back over to them. “What exactly do we have to say?” Traci asked begrudgingly. “You just have to wish that you weren’t so thin.” The woman told them, seeming almost disinterested. Traci sighed. “Fine, I wish I wasn’t so thin.” She said. The woman looked over at April, who sighed as well. “I wish I wasn’t so fucking thin, will you help us already?” She said. The woman smiled. “Of course.” she said. Then she bent down, grabbed Traci’s feet and began rolling her up.

“Hey! What are you doing?!” Traci screamed. “I’m taking you to my place.” The woman said matter-of-factly, as she rolled Traci up like a poster. “Hey, wait, we didn’t-mmff!” Traci cried out. The woman walked over to April. “No, stop, don’t-!” April cried, but in a moment she too was rolled up like paper, and the woman took the two tube-shaped girls under her arm; and walked into the darkness again.

When she unrolled the girls, they were in a dark room that looked vaguely warehouse-like. They were laid out on steel tables that seemed like surgical tables. “I don’t like this at all.” April said as she was unrolled. “Don’t worry, you’re in no danger.” The woman said, unrolling Traci. “That doesn’t comfort me.” April said. The woman simply shrugged. “Alright, well, can you make us not-flat now?” Traci asked, doing her best to look around nervously.

“Not yet.” The woman said, and leaned her elbow on the table that had April on it. “Why not?” April asked. “Because I want to go double or nothing.” The woman said. “The hell with that.” Traci said. “You win, just fix us and we’ll pay you or whatever.” The woman shook her head sadly and moved over to Traci’s table. “Oh no, it doesn’t work that way.” She said. “I made a bet with you two. Neither of us laid out the stakes. I won, so I get to name my prize. And I say we go double-or-nothing.” April and Traci struggled to move again. “This is bullshit.” April said. “How come you get to make the rules?” Traci asked. “Because I’m the one who can walk.” The woman said, a smile on her lips.

Traci screamed. “ALRIGHT, FINE!” She yelled angrily. “What’s the fucking bet this time?!” The woman smiled at her, and calmly said: “I bet I can make you two wish you were heavier.” Traci paused, but April said: “Fine, whatever.” “April!” Traci yelled. “What?” April asked. “After she fixes us we leave and then we never see her again.” Traci sighed. “Good, then it’s on.” The woman said, and disappeared from their view. When she returned, she had a silver hose in each hand.

“What are those?” April asked. “This is how I fix you.” The woman told her, and stuck the hose in April’s mouth, pushing her lips up like silly putty to embrace it. “Mmfff!” April said. “What the-“ Traci said, but then she had a hose in her mouth as well. The woman walked out of their sight for a moment, and the two looked around nervously. Then something began forcing its way through the hose into their mouths, and a hissing sound filled the air.

First their cheeks bulged off of the table, completely obscuring their limited viewpoints. Then their noses popped up, and the rest of their heads followed suit. The gas in the hoses moved downwards, filling up their necks, then their chests; and then their small breasts popped out of their torsos. The gas worked its way down their arms section by section, and then their waists regained three dimensions as well. Their hips lifted off the table and rounded out, and the gas worked its way down their legs.

They looked like their old selves again, and they looked at eachother happily, beginning to get off the tables. But then April looked down at Traci in shock. “Mmmf!” she said through the hose, and pointed at Traci’s body. Traci looked down at herself, and saw that she was still swelling. She was beyond voluptuous now, rounding out like an overfilled love-doll. “MMPH!” she said, pushing down at her swelling body, and watching as her hands pushed in.

April looked down at herself and found she was in a similar predicament. “MMFF!” she said as well, and reached up to the hose in her mouth. She pulled on it as hard as she could, but it just made her lips hurt. It was stuck tight. Traci did the same, and put a hand to her mouth as her lips began to ache. They looked at each-other in fear; and then looked over at the woman, who stood over at the edge of the light, looking at them and grinning smugly.

April pointed to the hose in her mouth with a puffy finger and said: “MMM!!” The woman just shrugged at her. “MMMMFFMFFMMM!!” Traci screamed, gesturing wildly at the woman as she blew up like a balloon. The woman gave her a mock-sympathetic look. The two began to approach the woman, but found that as they stepped forward, they could only get their toes to touch the ground. The two looked down, then had to press their swelling bellies in to see their feet. As they watched, their feet began to leave the ground, and they realized they were floating!

“MMFFMM!!” April yelled, looking into Traci’s eyes. The two ballooning women grabbed onto each-other as they began to float into the air. They couldn’t reach very far around each-other however, because of how big they were getting. Their stomachs pressed together, and their breasts started to as well. Their whole bodies were becoming enormous. They stared fearfully into each other’s eyes, occasionally breaking their gaze to look down at how big they were getting.

Finally, the pressure became too much for April, and her arms shot out to the sides with a “fwoomp” noise. No more than a second later, Traci’s arms did the same, and the two bounced away from eachother, floating up into the air. “MMM!!!” the two screamed in unison, as the hoses in their mouths became the only thing anchoring them down. They floated there for a moment, just swelling in the air as helpless balloons, and then finally, the woman shut off the helium tank.

April and Traci bobbed there, looking like parade balloon-versions of themselves. April moaned softly in frustration. The woman walked over to them, and pushed Traci’s shoulder, causing her to drift softly away, until the hose reached its limit and she bobbed back towards the woman. “There, you’re not flat anymore.” The woman said. Rage blazed from Traci’s eyes as she stared down at her. “Now,” The woman continued. “I’ll just take these hoses out of your mouths, and you can float off back to your house.” She reached up towards the hose in Traci’s mouth, and Traci started “MMM”-ing urgently, trying her best to shake her head.

“That is, unless you have something to say to me.” The woman said, and pulled the hose easily from Traci’s mouth. Traci gasped for a breath as she began floating into the air. She wobbled her arms, trying to stop herself, but it was no use. “I WISH I WERE HEAVIER!” She screamed, and the woman easily jumped up and grabbed her by the front of her ridiculously stretched shirt. “No problem.” She said, grinning up at Traci. “You’ll pay for this.” Traci told her.

The woman just smirked at her, and leaned over to April. April closed her eyes as the woman removed the hose from her mouth, and then said tiredly: “I wish I were heavier.” The woman said nothing as she grabbed the front of April’s shirt as well, and walked her two blimps over through the warehouse. April and Traci couldn’t see anything in the darkness, but the woman seemed to have no problems.

Traci felt herself get pulled down, and then secured to what felt like a chair. April felt the same thing happen to her, and then they heard footsteps walk away from them. They sat in silence, resigned to their fate, as new lights flipped on above them. As they did, the scene illuminated before them was their two blimped bodies tied to chairs, on opposite sides of a small table; which had a large chocolate cake sitting in the center.

“How are we supposed to eat that?” April asked, not taking her eyes off the cake. “I can’t move my arms.” The mysterious woman walked back into their field of vision, and then replied. “I’ll help you get started, then you two can finish the rest.” She came up beside the table, and set a plate in front of each of them; and then laid silverware beside them. Then she picked up April’s silverware and cut a piece of cake for each of them, setting it on their plates.

“Who are you, anyway?” Traci asked. “No one special.” The woman said, cutting a piece of cake and feeding it to April. The cake was delicious, smooth and creamy and chocolatey; seeming to melt in her mouth and slide down her throat. “Mmm.” April moaned. “Just someone who can’t stand scrawny little girls pissing and moaning about their weight.” She fed the entire piece to April, who felt herself grow heavier. She found she could move her arms a little again, even if it was difficult now that gravity seemed to be reversed. The woman cut another piece and set it in front of her, motioning for her to eat. April complied, and the woman moved over to Traci, and began feeding her.

“And I especially,” the woman continued, as Traci moaned over the cake, “can’t stand it when you start to hassle a perfectly healthy young woman about being fat.” She continued to feed Traci the slice. “But we were just teasing her!” April protested through a mouthful of chocolate. “She knows we don’t mean it!” She said, swallowing her enormous bite. The woman shrugged, and cut another slice for Traci as she began to move her arms again.

As Traci began to eat the cake herself, the woman stepped back and watched them quietly, her emerald eyes gleaming. April cut herself another piece, and the two ate in silence. As they ate, they began to feel heavier and heavier. Moving became easier as their sense of gravity was returned, and then became harder as it increased. The cake was almost gone before any physical change was obvious in the two women. Finally April paused between bites and leaned back, putting a hand to her stomach. “Oooh, I feel so full!” she whined.

Then she sat up straight and looked down at herself, pushing against her stomach again. “Oh God.” She said. Her stomach no longer had any give to it. She felt herself all over her body, and although it looked the same as it had when she started eating, now the pull of gravity was evident. She no longer floated upwards like a balloon, her body sagged and folded, and she slowly realized: she had been filled with fat. “Oh my God, Traci…” she said, and looked at her friend.

Traci looked up at her, oblivious to the change, and then she too looked down at herself, and began feeling all over her body. “Oh my God.” She said. “We’re, we’re,” she looked over at the woman. “We’re fat!” The woman smiled. “Yes, yes you are.” She said. “You wished to be heavier, so there you are.” “Hey!” Traci yelled, throwing her silverware down. “We didn’t agree to this!” April yelled, still chewing a bite of cake.

“Yes you did.” The woman said, smirking again. “You lost the bet. We didn’t set the terms.” April closed her eyes and leaned back, and Traci looked down and moaned. “This is the price for losing. Now finish the cake.” Resignedly, the two girls sat up and continued eating. Now, the effects of the cake were obvious. Their stomachs bulged outwards and formed rolls. Their breasts began to sag. Their hips widened out past their shoulders, and they sat taller in their chairs as their asses grew.

The straps that had secured them down strained and then broke, and still the two grew fatter. They grew double and then triple chins, and the chairs began to creak as they grew enormous. “Oh, so fat.” April whined as she shoved another bite of cake into her mouth. “Don’t remind me.” Traci said as she choked down a mouthful herself. The woman just stood watching them, a smile on her mischievous face.

Finally, the cake was finished, and the two now-enormous women leaned back in their chairs. “We’re so big.” April said. “Yes, yes you are.” The woman said. “I bet you won’t be making fun of your friend now, will you?” The woman said, and the two just gave her a dirty look. “Thanks for a lovely evening.” The woman said, and waved to them as she walked off into the darkness. “Hey!” Traci called after her, but there was no response, and the footsteps eventually trailed off into silence.

Later, the two waddled home in dejected silence. They had grown so immensely fat that they had to walk through the halls of the apartment complex in single-file. They opened the door to April’s apartment to find Sara sitting on the couch watching television. “Where were you guys? I was worried sick.” Sara said, before she looked up. When she did, she gasped. “Oh my God. What happened to you two?” She asked. “Don’t ask.” Traci told her, waddling in, with April right behind her. Sara jumped up and ran over to them. “You guys are huge!” She said. “Thank you Sara, we know that already.” April responded grouchily. “Heh heh.” Sara giggled, poking Traci’s fat tummy. “I guess you won’t be making fun of me anymore, huh?”

Traci and April stared at her angrily. “You know what?” April asked, her blue eyes glinting dangerously. “I bet we can make you say you wish you looked like us.”