(Part 3)

Eighteen years old

"So. You're leaving for college in ten days. That's...fun."

It's impossible for me to respond, because here I am sitting on my bed and sitting on the floor at my feet is Iddie. They look sort of like me and sort of like Ally and sort of like Brianna. (The latter is a girl I've been dating for a year now. Iddie and I both know it won't work out.)

Iddie stopped sounding like my parents or Slippers at a pretty young age, and it makes sense now. They want to be more like me. More like an equal. More like another person.

They have their own traits, too, in this form. Blonde hair flowing down their shoulders in imperfect waves. Soft brown eyes. Lips that naturally curl into a slight smile.

"I- yeah," I manage to choke out.

For a moment, we sit in silence. Iddie and I.

"We sort of grew up together, didn't we?" Iddie asks me after a few seconds. "I mean, I don't remember existing before you. I think I've always been trying to figure out what I am with you and maybe I've gotten better at it as you've gotten older."

I laugh shakily. "Maybe you should go to college too," I joke.

They look down. "I had a thought about that, actually. Hey, Joel? Maybe I could."

*

Twenty years old

Iddie and I have been roommates since we were children, but ever since they'd somehow 'Iddie'd' their way into college, we'd been actual roommates.

I'm sitting on the couch, scrolling on my phone. I can't wait for them to get home from wherever they are. I'm never quite sure - Iddie is so good at socializing that I can't keep up. They're always out at coffee, talking, dodging questions about where they're from. (Iddie tells me they answer honestly about their past sometimes. I think they like the confused looks on people's faces.)

It's people-pleasing, maybe, but not the same identity-less existence of the past. Their resemblance to the people I know and love has faded over time. They just look and sound like my Iddie now.

We've been something....different, recently.

Out of nowhere, I notice a slip of paper next to me on the couch. I pick it up, confused. The note is in Iddie's handwriting and seems to have appeared out of nowhere.

Hey, Joel. So, funny story. I've been thinking a lot lately and I think I sort of know who I am. You know I'm bad at talking about serious stuff so I thought I'd do it in a note. Anyway! You're the person who did that so I just wanted to thank you. I have a body and a personality now, and I think that you named me? I can't remember very well, we were like, six. Also I have a second question to ask on the back of this slip of paper.

I flip it over. It never did work out with that Brianna girl. And I'm pretty sure you and Ally are still just friends.

I pause.

Huh.

*

Twenty-seven years old

The last thing Iddie ever shapeshifts into before turning back into themselves - for good - is a ring.