Transformation's Echo: Gage's Haunting Awakening in Zelda's Bed

Once upon a time, in the sleepy town of Ludlow, Maine—a place where the pallor of forgotten tragedies could almost be touched in the cool air—Gage Creed found himself waking up in an unfamiliar room. That place was a haunting reminder of the past: Zelda's room. Gage, no more than three years old, was a picture of pristine angelic innocence with his crystal blue eyes and cherubic cheeks. His strawberry-blond curls framed his face perfectly, adding to his gleeful demeanor. The innocence in his face was as enticing as it was heartbreaking, contrasted by his oversized dress shirt that acted as his temporary nightgown. The shirt was white, almost too bright to look at against the ominous, shadow-drenched room, draping over his tiny form like a silk curtain. Suddenly, the room began to swirl in an inexplicable fog. Out of the mist lurked the dreadful silhouette of Wendigo. Its shape morphed, and its terrifying aura filled the room. The Wendigo towered over Gage; its grotesquely elongated arms bristled with matted hair and its ominous eyes held a hypnotic allure. Gage watched as Wendigo, in its husky voice that sounded like a thousand dry leaves rustling in the wind, whispered ancient incantations. The room instantly radiated an oppressive energy that made the boy's spine tingle. In the blink of an eye, Gage's body began going through changes. His precious toddler's clothes began to evolve, molding and morphing into Zelda's infamous lavender dress. A sickly, pale color seemed to overtake the pure white of the gown he wore—it was a horrible sight to imagine. His miniature hand, once delicate and brimming with innocence, morphed into a bony claw similar to the exquisitely terrifying figure of Zelda herself. His feet, formerly small and fragile, swelled and hardened into Zelda's gnarled and twisted feet. As these startling changes neared completion, Gage's voice, which was squeaky and filled wonderment, had now transformed into Zelda's distinctive voice, a voice that echoed with insidious laughter in the dark recesses of Rachel's mind. The once giggling childlike vocalizations of Gage were replaced with a voice that wheezed and rasped, oozing a disturbing aura identical to Zelda's. Horrified at the transformation, Gage—now Zelda—started crying. Yet the cry was not of a young boy's confusion and fear. It was an awful sound, resonating with an anguish that was tragically adult and grotesquely feminine. His metamorphosis complete, the little boy disappeared, swallowed whole by the nightmare figure of Zelda. The ordeal seemed to be a bizarre nightmare but Gage Creed—the innocent, joyous child from Ludlow, Maine—was now a haunting memory, replaced by the haunting rendition of his mother's tormented sister 'Zelda', trapped in the sinister cycle spun by the abhorrent Wendigo.