Contaminated desires Ch. 02

I had no idea how, but my accidental concoction had somehow made its way into the water. Was that why my family was acting... weird? Was there anything in my mixture that had triggered this? But.... what? Right now, I had no idea. But I also couldn't ignore the evidence I had just found.

OK, keep it together....

There must be a logical explanation for this. For all of this.

I walked back to the pool's edge, my mind racing. When I looked up, I froze up. My sister was now standing in front of me, far too close for comfort. Sneakily I tried to put the stirring rods in my pocket. If she caught me holding them, surely she would ask questions. And right now, I had too many questions of my own. I did not need her to question me, challenge me, or worse, tell mom and dad... She looked... well, different. Her smile was more mischievous than ever, and there was a certain gleam in her eyes I hadn't seen before.

"Everything okay?" she asked, almost too innocently, but she had a mischievous smile on her face. Like... she knew, and... enjoyed it. I could feel my heart thudding in my chest. It was hard to focus, especially when my sister was standing there, looking at me with that look. Something was definitely off. I took a deep breath, trying to gather my thoughts. "Uh, yeah. I just... I think I need to go inside for a minute."

My sister's expression faltered for a brief second, but she quickly recovered. "Sure, no problem."

I rushed inside to my den. After I closed the door, I just stood there for a few moments, gripping the stirring rods like they were some kind of damning evidence. My mind was spinning, trying to process the fact that my concoction, the very thing I'd been toiling over for months, had somehow ended up in the pool. That pool. The one my family had been happily using. The one I had been swimming in, too.

OK, think... think...

I closed my eyes, wondering how I could find the answers to the questions I had. Well, I had a million questions, how would I know I had answered them? I'll make a list. A list of my questions. Start with the burning ones, and just... start finding answers, one by one. Yeah, that sounded like a solid approach.

I started to write down my list. Was my mixture actually mixed with the pool water? And at what concentration? How did it get there, instead of down the drain? What did my mixture actually do in detail? Which ingredients would do what exactly? Is there anything known how (some of) these ingredients cause side-effects? And if so, which ones? Was my family's behavior changed by it? Assuming they would, would these side effects be permanent or only temporary? What options would I have to do damage control? What's the worst case scenario I'm looking at? Should I tell anyone?

That last question made me stop and think. Fuck, should I tell anyone? The fall-out could be bad, really bad... OK, answers first. If I know more, then I can decide. And... I can't let anyone notice anything until that moment. Act normal. Yes, that did mean spending time in the pool too. I hoped that wasn't a bad idea, but if I deemed it safe enough for them, it was safe enough for me.

I looked at the first question -- was the pool contaminated? That was easy enough, just take a sample of the water and test it. I would just take a vial, get some water -- without anyone getting suspicious. Easy, just put a vial in my swimming trunks, hit the water, and bring a little cap to close it off.

I returned to the pool area, lazed a bit poolside, then executed my plan. And sure, a minute later I had my sample, and no-one would be any wiser.

Back in my little lab, I ran the test,. Shit, it's positive. I ran it two more times, until I was absolutely certain. A part of me wanted to throw up. This wasn't just a small mistake. This wasn't a harmless slip-up. My "fat-burning potion," had found its way into the water, and had been simmering for months, absorbing each and every drop of what I had flushed down the drain. Who knew how concentrated it had been in there? Well, I did, after the test, and -- yeah, the concentration was pretty high. The water was definitely contaminated.

I looked at the next question on my list -- how did it get there? How indeed...

I couldn't get over how the water from my basement lab had somehow connected to the pool's filtration system. Why on earth would someone design it that way? Who built this house? I never really thought much about the infrastructure before, but now it seemed like a glaring mistake. I could only assume it was some weird, cost-cutting measure, but whoever did it was clearly out of their mind, or knew shit-all about plumbing. I tried to follow the piping, but it went into the wall and from there underground, so no way to check. Well, as I couldn't change anything about it anyway, I decided not to bother more about it.

Time to look into the mixture in detail. I listed all the ingredients I had used -- all of them. And started to investigate.

• Capsaicin extracts -- side effects were things like nausea, stomach cramps, diarrhea, acid reflux, a burning feeling, sweating. None of the things I could find were slightly related to what I saw happening here.

• Methylxanthines (like caffeine and theobromine) -- caffeine can make someone restless, increased heart rate, also some upset intestines, blood pressure, headache, irritability. Irritability? We were experiencing the opposite... Anyway, not anything obvious there either.

• L-carnitine esters -- nausea, upset stomach, diarrhea, restlessness... Again, how were we not sick and shitting all over the place while staying awake 24/7? But nothing linked to a higher libido or anything.

• Transdermal carriers like ethanol and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) -- Well, ethanol is alcohol. Could be addictive with chronic use, upset intestines, sleep disruption, dry skin. DMSO can give a garlic-like body odor -- yuck -- skin irritation, headaches. Again, nothing that tied to what was happening...

• Plant extracts (such as maca root, muira puama, and ginger) -- can often fix some digestion (which explained why we didn't all have an explosive diarrhea?) but may cause an upset stomach, and in really high doses could cause a headache or blood thinning effect.

• Propylene Glycol -- used so commonly and only for people with very sensitive skin could cause some irritation

• Some thickening agents like carbomer, xanthan gum and lecithin -- upset intestines, gas, bloating.

• Aloe vera and glycerin -- nothing of interest

I was baffled. None of these things mentioned any side effect that would cause -- whatever I saw happening to my family. Was it actually my mixture causing this? It seemed less and less likely... Yet at the same time, the more I thought about it, the more I realized just how much my family had changed in the last few weeks. The flirting, the giggling, the awkward behavior between my sister and me - hell, even between my parents - wasn't just some weird coincidence. I was sure it was the potion, my potion.

I wasn't a fool, I knew what I had intended the substance to do. It was supposed to increase body temperature and promote fat-burning. Period. And on its own, all the ingredients checked out.

OK, if it's not any ingredient on its own, is there anything known about the combination of these ingredients? I searched any database I had access to, combinations of all the ingredients I had used, but came up empty. I started to doubt it was my mixture more and more... Was I trying to find a solution for "my" problem, even though there was no problem to solve in the first place? My parents had been in love for decades. Maybe I just had never registered how affectionate they had been towards each other? My sister was a young girl, and surely she had.... urges too. Maybe us moving house had caused a distance between her and her friends, and therefore her social life? Or maybe I was seeing things? Was it my hormones playing tricks on me? After all, I hadn't been with a girl in far too long...

Thinking about the consequences, I wondered if it really had been so bad, I mean, no one had gotten seriously hurt, right? They were acting... well, maybe overly happy, but they weren't hurting anyone. And sure, my sister seemed a bit.... flirty. But was that really bad? She wasn't hitting on me or my parents or anything. And, the atmosphere in the house had been... positive. Very positive even. No arguments, no fights, no stress.... I kind of enjoyed that. So, was this really bad?

Besides, hypothetically, if I wouldn't "fix" this...? Would that be bad? Mom and dad being close together? My sister dressed in skimpy outfits around the house? It's not like she was actively trying to get me into bed with her or anything. Surely, she had other.... outlets.

I thought about mentioned outlets - like toys or other boys. Funny enough, I wasn't grossed out as much as I should have been. I wasn't getting hard or anything, just.... thought she would probably enjoy it? After all, who doesn't enjoy a good orgasm?

Look, I was sure some of my mixture had gotten into the pool. After all, the stirring rods were proof of that. And I knew the pool was contaminated. I had ran the test over and over, and it was clear as day. But did it do anything? I was not convinced, not convinced at all. Sure, I felt a little... uncomfortable. Morally uncomfortable. The idea that I might have, in some way, triggered this bizarre shift in my family's behavior was a little frightening. Yet at the same time, I was in the pool too. I had swum in the same water. Hadn't I started to feel a little... off? I hadn't noticed anything within me, that's for sure.

OK, let's consider options. What was I supposed to do now?

First idea: drain the pool. Get rid of this contaminated water. Wash away the remaining evidence. But, if I would do that, in this blazing heat, and I would have no good excuse for it.... I was sure there would be hell to pay. Well, there was a good excuse for it, but not one I would want to share. 'Oh sorry all, by accident I may or may not have filled the pool with a lust potion that makes all of you horny....' They would either laugh at me for something as dumb as that, and at the same time scold at me for taking away our best cooling effect in the blazing heat.

OK, besides me getting scolded at and become the laughing stock of the family, what was the worst-case scenario? My family would be stuck in this weird, uncomfortable, flirty state for who knows how long. Maybe the effects would wear off in time. But what if they didn't? What if something permanent happened and I couldn't reverse it? Yet, they seemed happy... right?

I looked at the stirring rods laying on my counter top. They were the physical evidence of my possible screw-up, but no-one but me had any knowledge about it. What was the right decision? Should I be a responsible adult, fix my mistake, and just drain the pool already? Or should I let it ride, see how things unfold, and figure it out as I went?

I kept coming back to that question: What if I didn't do anything? What's the worst that could happen? I felt my stomach tighten. I wasn't ready for this. I didn't know what the right answer was. So, I did what any confused, overwhelmed person would do in my situation. I delayed it. I would observe, see if it got any better or worse.

While I had been focusing on my investigation which was going nowhere, things got... I didn't even know how to say it, describe it. Better? Worse? Let's go with 'more intense'.

The flirting? It was escalating. My parents - my parents - were now all but throwing themselves at each other. I had walked in one morning to find my dad pressed up against mom in the kitchen, kissing her neck while she stirred the coffee. Not in a normal, everyday way either. He was caressing her hips, and she wasn't exactly backing off. My stomach twisted in a mix of confusion and disgust, but what struck me most was how normal they both seemed about it. They weren't even pretending like it was unusual.

Then there was my sister. I'm not sure when it started, but I could tell she was getting bolder. Her flirtation had shifted from playful to... well, disturbing. She wasn't just joking around anymore; she was touching me. Bumping into me, brushing up against me in ways that didn't make sense. Sometimes it seemed accidental, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized it wasn't. I should have been grossed out by it, but.... it was also flattering. Someone feeling affected to you is nice.

First, there was the 'yoghurt incident' as I dubbed it. We had had a family dinner, like so many. Nothing fancy, just some steak, potato wedges and veggies. After dinner, my sister took a desert - a bowl of yoghurt with some raspberry syrup. Not something I would normally eat, as I'm unlucky to be lactose intolerant. She sat down at the table, dad on my left, mom on my right, and my sister opposite of me. Each time the little spoon entered her mouth, she found another seductive way to lick it clean. She took a few more bites, and the only time she didn't lick it clean, she 'accidentally' spilled some, right down her cleavage, a gob of yoghurt slightly dripping down over the curve of her breast. She let out a little shriek to get all eyes on her, leaned forward, and with her index finger scooped part of it right up. She then unbuttoned one button to show off her already impressive cleavage, her braless breasts nearly popping out of her shirt. She pulled her shirt wide, her areolas only barely covered, before she removed the remaining yoghurt. Then, she looked at me as she licked her finger clean. And no, she didn't close the button again.

Mom and dad? They didn't say a word about it, they just.... smiled.

A few days later in the evening, I was lounging on the couch watching a movie. About halfway in the film, my sister sat down a couple of feet away from me, in one of the replica Barcelona chairs my parents had. She didn't say a word just sat there -- in her booty shorts and a spaghetti top. The outline of her shirt made it obvious she wasn't wearing a bra, and her legs were bare from her foot all the way to the curves of her butt. She would just sit there, sometimes glancing over at me, but one of her hands always touching her body in one way. Her hand resting on her thigh, her hand running over her legs, pushing her long hair behind her ears, her hand running over her collar bone, her hand running over the patch of skin right above her breasts. She had a few times that a shoulder strap slipped off her arm, and she would fix it with slow seductive motions. And all the while, she kept glancing, sometimes I thought I could see a hint of her trying to hide her mischievous smile.

You may think this was nothing, as she showed nothing, but to me it was one of the most tantalizing things I had ever seen, maybe only topped by the yoghurt incident.

And a few days after that, we had the incident I called 'morning wood'. It was a Saturday morning. Mom and I were in the kitchen eating breakfast, dad had left early and was out golfing with some friends, when my sister entered the kitchen. She didn't say a thing, just walked to the coffee machine, poured in a jug, and leaned against the counter. It wasn't her walking in that got my morning wood raging. No, she was wearing a bright blue lacy thong with matching bra, slightly see-through in some 'strategic places'. I had thought her bikini the other day was leaving little to the imagination, this got my imagination running in overdrive. And she just stood there, a slight smirk on her face as she sipped from her coffee, looking at me over the edge of her coffee cup. After she had finished her coffee, she walked past me, let her hand briefly slide over my chest as she did, then she sashayed to her room. I looked, of course I looked....

I could feel the resistance in me waver. I wanted to push her away. I knew it was wrong. But there was this part of me that couldn't entirely ignore the growing attraction, a warmth that made me question what was happening. My thoughts became confused, a swirling mix of moral judgment and physical reaction. And I couldn't tell if I was repulsed, intrigued, or both. Every time I tried to push those feelings down, I was faced with more of the same: my sister getting closer, more insistent, and my own resistance slipping just a little further.

It was late one night, in my mind the house was quieter than usual, when I heard it--my sister's moaning. It wasn't loud at first, but unmistakable once I realized what it was. My heart started beating in my throat as I realized she was in her room, touching herself. I felt like my body froze, the air in the house heavy with tension. I didn't know what to do. Part of me wanted to ignore it, pretend I hadn't heard anything. But the other part - god, it turned me on. And I hated myself for it.

Everything in the house was shifting. Every interaction seemed charged with this weird energy, this almost magnetic pull that I couldn't escape. My parents were practically glowing with joy, always wrapped up in each other. Even my sister, despite her increasingly forward behavior, seemed genuinely happy, carefree in a way I'd never seen before. How could I deny that? Sure, it made me uncomfortable, but they seemed so much better than before. Happier. More at ease. And wasn't that what I had wanted for them all along?

It made me reflect on my previous decisions, about how to deal with the situation. So, what was I supposed to do? Should I intervene and try to stop it? Should I drain the pool, get rid of the potion and try to undo the damage? But what if doing that ruined everything? What if the happiness they were feeling was real? What if my sister really was happier this way, and not just under the influence of something I'd created? What if 'fixing' it would end their happiness, and make them depressed instead, as if.... it was a drug, dopamine. And what if they thought I did this on purpose? That my mistake would anger them, kick me out.... lose my family? I wasn't prepared for that.

In the end, I didn't know what to think anymore. The lines between right and wrong were so blurred now that I couldn't even trust my own judgment. All I could do was watch, feel the heat, the confusion, and the weight of my own choices. And as the days passed, the longer I delayed doing something, the more I wondered: if I just let it be, would things work out on their own? Or would I be setting my family up for disaster?

I couldn't decide. And maybe, just maybe, that was the most terrifying part.

And that's when it all escalated...