Chapter 2 - Made Anew

When Zoe awoke the next morning, instead of being welcomed by the plush hotel bed, she found herself on a creaky old mattress, surrounded by walls that were painted a faded yellow and were peeling in places. The ceiling fan above her was wobbled precariously, and the room was filled with the musty scent of dust.

Confusion swept over her as she tried to piece together how she had moved from the luxury of her hotel room into this dilapidated setting. Attempting to sit up, Zoe was immediately greeted by the weight of her transformed body, and it was only after an embarrassing degree of effort that she managed to sit upright.

Taking a moment to gather her bearings, Zoe’s eyes scanned the room when the door creaked open, and in walked the store owner, the same man she had stolen the necklace from. His face was serious, but his eyes betrayed a hint of excitement.

"You're awake," the man spoke with a deep and earthly voice.

Zoe's heart raced as she tried to cover her immense form with a small and food stained pillow sitting beside her.

"What have you done to me?" she asked weakly, her voice sounding much deeper with a husky quality to it. So lost in the moment, Zoe failed to even recognize that the words they had exchanged were in another language.

The man smiled, "Do not blame me, you did this to yourself. I placed a spell on that necklace to curse whoever dares steal it from my shop. You've been cursed because of your own actions, and now you're bound to this place… and to me."

Zoe didn’t say a word, but the tears flowing down her soft light brown skin said it all as the words registered in her head, and the round woman quietly shook her head left and right repeatedly as if she were unable to accept what she was hearing.

The man walked closer, his muscular form towering over the transformed woman. "You are now my wife,” he said while holding out a modest diamond ring. “And this store is now both of our responsibilities."

Zoe's thoughts raced as she looked upon the ring. She felt trapped as if she were caught in a web of magic and time with no way out. Deep down she understood that she looked nothing like her old self and even worse, she had completely forgotten how to speak English. Even if she could get her phone back at the hotel, how would she be able to contact her friends and family, let alone convince them that the morbidly obese mexican woman on the phone was their daughter?

Zoe watched curiously as the man lifted her plump left hand, smiling as he deftly slid the wedding ring down the woman’s plump digit. When the ring came to a rest near her palm, a surge of electricity flowed through Zoe’s plush form, and the woman shut her eyes and cooed as the magic wrapped Its tendrils around her mind. In an instant, the panic and misery flooding her brain disintegrated.

“How about this honey,” the man said while lowering himself to Zoe’s. “I will cook up some tamales and huevos rancheros and bring them to bed just for you. Take today as a cheat day. You can relax up here and eat to your hearts content and then tomorrow I’ll show you around the store. How does that sound?”

The distressed look across Zoe’s face quickly vanished as her dark brown eyes reopened, and an expression of genuine excitement took its place.

“Oh Manuel I love you so much!” The 358-pound Mexican woman exclaimed.

Before the man could react, his wife grabbed his face and pulled it towards her as she leaned back onto the old mattress. The two locked lips as the man was pulled with her, and he found himself positioned atop the obese woman as her hands explored his muscular body.

“Take me now my love,” the woman formerly known as Zoe begged as an unnatural lust erupted within. “Make me yours!”

The two spent the rest of the day consummating their marriage and eating food in bed. Nine months later, Manuel’s new wife gave birth to the first of their eight children.