Transformation of Darkness: Gage's Harrowing Encounter with Zelda's Fate

Story: When Gage Creed awoke, it was not in his own bed, but that of Zelda, his mother's sister. It was an abrupt change of scenery that left his small, three-year-old self bewildered and lost. With his cherubic face framed by a flaxen halo of soft curls, his big sapphire blue eyes wide with naive surprise, he looked as innocent as the day he was born. Dressed in tiny overalls, the colorful buttons gleamed under the dim, eerie light, his small, chubby hands reaching out to explore the unfamiliar surroundings. Suddenly, a dark, wicked form seemed to peel away from the shadows, its presence filling the space with a chill more terrifying than the dead of winter. It was the Wendigo, a monstrous entity known to inhabit the deepest corners of the Creed's cursed land. Drawn to Gage's innocence, the Wendigo encircled the boy, its ghastly aura wove a dark enchantment. Before the boy's terrified eyes, its monstrous fingers traced a sinister pattern in the air, and Gage's body convulsed spasmodically. His tiny hands and feet started to change, elongating and contorting in monstrous, gruesome shapes, twisted like the roots of ancient trees. Within moments his plump cheeked, cherubic face started to elongate; each feature warping until reflecting the visage of his deceased Aunt Zelda. His childish clothes morphed into Zelda's old, worn-out dress, the fabric clinging to his transformed figure. Gage let out a whimper, now in Zelda's voice, the once soft, high-pitched childish sound replaced with a hollow echo brimming with fear and pain. "Mommy!" he murmured in Zelda's croaky voice as he stood clumsily to his newly mangled feet and staggered towards a dusty mirror. The reflection that stared back at him was a ghastly parody of his Aunt Zelda, her cruel features looking back at him from within the mirror's cage. Shrieking in terror, he fell backwards onto the bed, pressing his face into the musty pillow. "I could've chose Rachel, but I decided on you, Gage," The Wendigo's voice, laced with glee, echoed in the room. "Your mom will never see you again. Have fun being me and feeling the pain I felt every day." The little boy, cursed to bear an adult's plight, began to weep in Zelda's voice, the sound reverberated soul-achingly in the otherwise silent room. Desperate, he opened his eyes and heaved himself up with his twisted hands, struggling with his body's hunchback form. He stared down, seeing only Zelda's disfigured hands, turned to look at his feet expecting to see his small toddler feet but saw only Zelda's mangled feet. Falling forward, he squeezed his eyes shut, whimpering pitifully, not knowing he was doomed to stay in this body, trapped within Zelda's painful existence forever. Gage Creed, the innocent toddler, was gone; in his place was the twisted specter of Zelda - a horrifying nightmare that he was sentenced to live in perpetuity.