Eden's Reality

A small 14 year old boy plans on escaping his abusive father and the house where he grew up in by moving to a boarding school with his two best friends, but on the night before he leaves something unexpected happens, and he wakes up the next day as a girl. The woman who he thinks responsible appears, but she's not as helpful as he'd expected, and he's now left to go to his new school

All feedback is very, very much appreciated :)

Chapter 9

I looked down at the spider necklace in my hands and wondered how I was going to keep it on my person while at school. Boys weren’t allowed to wear any form of jewellery and I didn’t want to keep it in one of my pockets, not something as important as this. Even if I couldn’t use it to contact Yani I still wanted to keep it safe. It looked expensive, and besides that, it was super cute! I wasn’t likely to wear it because, well…it was a necklace and a very feminine one at that, but it’d be nice to have it around anyway!

‘Can I see that?’ Alexis asked and I nodded, handing it to her. She looked at it with narrowed eyes for a moment before smiling. ‘It’s quite cute, isn’t it?’

‘It is! I…do you think that Yani…she was…’ I scratched the back of my head, trying to figure out what I was trying to say.

‘She was kind of a dick.’ Alexis finished for me and I giggled, not used to her being so crude. ‘But I think she was telling the truth, and…even if she wasn’t, we’re going to Sanders anyway so we might as well talk to Julia.’

I clutched at the sides of my shirt. ‘Do you think that I was too mean to her? I called her a stupid…a stupid…person.’

I flushed, unable to even swear now that I wasn’t angry. It was scary how much I changed when I got mad, and even scarier when I thought about how much I resembled dad in those moments. I really wish Alexis hadn’t of pointed that out…

She patted me gently on the shoulder and smiled. ‘Don’t worry about it. You were just upset and didn’t mean what you said. She understood. I doubt she’d have given you this necklace if you pissed her off.’

‘That’s true.’ I said and took the necklace back off of her, wrapping it around my arm to keep it safe for the moment.

‘How are you feeling now?’ she asked. ‘You don’t seem to be upset anymore.’

‘I’m not!’ I said and shook my head for emphasis. ‘I know why I’m like this now, kind of, and I know what I have to do to be a boy again!’
‘Yani said she wasn’t sure if Julia co-’

‘She has to be able to!’ I cut in. ‘If I was turned into a girl then I have to be able to be turned back into a boy! It’s like, like…if a cute kitten gets muddy then you can wash it and it’ll be fluffy and huggable again!’

Alexis stared silently at me for a moment. ‘Are you saying that you being turned into a girl is like a kitten getting muddy?’

I blushed. ‘It…sounded better in my head…’

‘It probably should have stayed in there then.’ Alexis said and then laughed in delight. ‘You’re a muddy little kitten!’

‘Meow!’ I beamed, putting my hands on the sides of my heads and flapping them like cat ears. ‘I’m a clean kitten, not a muddy one!’

Alexis stared at me with wide eyes for a moment before blushing and clapping her hands together. ‘Oh my god! That was so cute!’

‘Mew!’ I giggled and continued flapping my hands. ‘Mrow! Meow! Nyaa! Ny-ah!’

I squeaked in surprise as Alexis swept me up into a tight hug. The change in my size was abruptly hammered into me, as I just barely came up to her chest and her waist was almost as wide as my shoulders. My breasts hurt as well, squashed up against her stomach, and I tried to pull away but her hands wrapped around my back and held me there. She looked down at me through a blanket of falling black hair, her expression unreadable. ‘Eden…’

‘What?’ I asked awkwardly when she didn’t continue. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Are you sure you want to be a boy?’ she asked after a while and I gaped at her.

‘What! Yes! Why would you even ask me that?’ I demanded and slipped out of her grasp. ‘I don’t want to be a girl!’

‘You used to though…’ she said softly and my stomach clenched. ‘Do you remem-’

‘I remember!’ I snapped and took a step away from her, out into the middle of the hallway. ‘But that was years ago, I don’t want to anymore!’

‘Are you sure?’ she walked forward and I backed away again.

‘Yes!’ I scratched my arm shakily and looked up at her. ‘Why are you asking me this? You’ve never brought it up before!’

‘I…seeing you like this…’ she trailed off and rubbed her face with both her hands, then let out a heavy sigh. ‘I know you won’t like me saying this, but I’ve always kind of seen you as a girl. You love cute things and you’re really excitable and playful and really girly and…just, you’re like Nyoko! Except that you’re not Nyoko, you’re fourteen and my best friend and…I feel so comfortable around you and…shit! Look at you Eden! You look right!’

‘I don’t understand what you’re saying.’ I said, very uncomfortable now.

‘You look like you act, you know? Like a cute girl. But you’re more than cute, you’re…beautiful. Really beautiful, like your mum.’

‘I don’t want to look like this!’

Alexis actually looked surprised. ‘Why not? Do you know how many girls would kill to look like you do right now?’

‘I don’t care! I’m not a girl!’ I was annoyed I even had to be saying this to her! ‘I don’t want this! I hate looking like this!’

‘Why?’ she asked quietly. ‘Because of Jon did to you?’

I flinched and jerked backwards, slamming into Nyoko’s bedroom door. ‘Wh-don’t!’

‘I…I know we’ve never talked about what he did to you, but my parents told me what happened. How he kept…dressing you up and...’ she swallowed and looked sadly at me. ‘If you’re scared of someone else hurting you because you’re a girl then I can protect you, Eden. I c-’

‘We’re not talking about this.’ I said shakily. ‘Please, Alexis.’

‘Eden, w-’

‘Shut up!’ I screamed and shoved my hands into her, attempting to push her away. She didn’t budge but it made me feel better, at least. ‘You’re being weird! We never talk about this stuff! Stop it! I don’t like this Alexis!’

She stared at me in shock and then shame flooded her face. ‘Oh my god! I’m so sorry Eden! I didn’t mean to upset you, I was trying to help!’

‘Help? How!?’

‘W-well, because heaps of people would kill to be in your position! Like, transsexuals and stuff, boys who want to be girls. Th-’

‘I don’t care!’ I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself down. The fear from before was digging into the edges of my mind and my legs were shaking badly enough to make it hard to stand upright. ‘I…I did want to be a girl but not anymore! I don’t feel safe like this! I couldn’t protect myself before and there’s no way I can now, and Jon…people like him will hurt me! J-J-you don’t understand!’ I grabbed her arms to keep me stable and looked up at her, tears leaking from my eyes. ‘I only ever felt safe before because Jon was gone! He was the only person who wanted to…to do those things to me when I was a boy, but now that I’m a girl heaps of other people will, and I won’t be able to stop them!’

‘The world isn’t full of people like Jon, Eden.’ Alexis said gently. ‘There are some people like him, but I can protect you from them. So can Reece, and your mum and-’

It’s your fault. You did this to me!

‘You can’t protect me from myself.’ I cut in harshly.

‘What do you mean?’

I shook my head and pulled away from her, wiping the tears from my eyes. ‘I’d rather die than stay like this. Being dead is better than what Jon did to me, what people like him will do to me! I’m not staying like this!’

‘Eden…’

‘I’m not talking about this anymore!’ I snapped and padded down the hallway. ‘I’m going to have breakfast!’

‘Oh. I can heat up your mums roast chicken if you want.’

‘No! I want to be alone for a bit!’ I heard her walking after me and spun around. ‘I said I want to be alone!’

She stopped and stared at me with a pained expression. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes!’

‘O-okay then. I’ll go and find some clothes for you to wear to Sanders then.’

‘Thanks.’ I muttered and turned away, trying to ignore the hurt look on her face. I’d never made her look like that before.

God damn it!

I really was an asshole, wasn’t I?

I wasn’t hungry in the slightest, so when I reached the kitchen I just sat down on one of the wooden stools in front of the bench and slumped over. The kitchen was large and neat, with a long grey bench curving around in a loose “L” shape and a walk-in pantry that was always fully stocked, unlike my own. There was a large window above the sink that looked out into the green backyard and sunlight was flooding through it, lighting up the area and letting me know that today was going to be unpleasantly hot. The silver fridge was gently humming across from me and I could smell the soapy scent of freshly-cleaned dishes emanating from the dishwasher, mixed in with the gentle aroma of freshly-cut grass.

It was unbelievably relaxing and I found myself calming down after a few seconds, the fear and anger slowly ebbing out of me. As much as I wished Alexis hadn’t brought up me wanting to be a girl, I guess I couldn’t blame her. Our whole relationship back in kindergarten had been based around me dressing in her clothes and us pretending to be sisters, and I knew that I acted more like a girl than a boy. But if she knew what Jon had done to me then she’d have to know that there was no way I wanted to be a girl anymore! Wouldn’t she? He’d forced me to dress as a girl, like his daughter, for years…constantly f…

I groaned and sat up, resting my head in my hands. I didn’t need to be thinking about that right now. Alexis couldn’t know all the details of what he’d done to me so there was no reason to get angry at her. I should talk to her about it one day, so she didn’t get any wrong ideas. Mum did seem to think that it might be helpful, talking to someone about what happened.

That wasn’t going to happen any time soon though. I needed to put it out of my head and focus on today, on avoiding Reece and Alexis’s parents and finding Julia. She was going to turn me into a boy and everything was going to be okay. In a years’ time I’d probably forget this had even happened and it’d just be a fuzzy, weird memory along with everything else.

I looked at the microwave clock and saw that it was nearly eleven thirty, half an hour until mum said she’d call. What the hell was I supposed to say to her now? I was more dreading going to Sanders than looking forward to it, and I was honestly relieved that I didn’t have to see her today. I was going to have to pretend that everything was fine and deepen my voice somehow so she couldn’t tell it was different. Maybe I could pretend I was tired, or sick, and wasn’t able to talk for very long. Ugh. I didn’t want to lie to her! But I had to, there was no way she’d believe me if I told her the truth. And she might tell dad, which would end really badly for both of us.

The suns warmth was making me drowsy and I slumped down again, wishing I could go back to bed. I felt like I’d been awake for hours, not just one. What a horrible morning it’d been…

‘Eden?’

I started awake as someone tapped me on the arm, not even realising that I’d fallen asleep. Alexis was standing on the other side of the bench with a can of coke in her hands.

‘Oh…I fell asleep…’ I murmured and rubbed my eyes.

‘Yeah, you did.’ She smiled. ‘I was going to let you rest until you woke up, but it’s nearly twelve s-’

‘Oh god!’ I gasped and carefully slipped off the stool. My body was just small enough now to make the distance from the stool to the ground not as easy to traverse as it’d used to be. ‘Mum’s going to call soon!’

‘That’s why I woke you.’ Alexis said, putting the coke down and coming around the bench. She looked down at me for a moment before blushing and awkwardly putting her hair behind her ears. ‘I’m really sorry about before! I didn’t mean to upset you, I knew I shouldn’t have brought up you wanting to be a girl and what Jon had done but…I don’t know. I was in a weird mood. I wasn’t thinking properly.’

‘It’s okay.’ I said uncomfortably. ‘I’m sorry too, I was really mean…’

‘No, you weren’t. I was the one who was out of line.’ She said and gently grabbed my upper arm. ‘Are we okay?’

‘Yeah!’ I beamed as she squeezed my hands. It felt so nice when she did that! ‘We’re okay! You were just trying to help me!’

‘I…I don’t know if I was…’ she said awkwardly and put her hands on my shoulders.

I blinked. ‘What?’

‘Eden, I think I need to tell y-’

She was cut off by the phone next to the fridge, which abruptly started ringing. I gasped and ran over to it, but just as I was about to answer I abruptly remembered that this wasn’t my home. I looked at Alexis, who nodded, and I smiled gratefully.

‘Thankyou!’ I grabbed the phone and tried my best to deepen my voice. ‘Mum! Hi!’

There was a pause on the line and then a horrible voice spoke. ‘Hello Eden.’

‘D-dad!?’ The last of the warmth inside of me immediately died, and an unpleasant iciness grew in its place. With all that had happened today I’d barely even thought about last night, but hearing dad’s voice brought it all back to me in painfully vivid detail. ‘What do you want? Where’s mum!?’

‘She’s resting.’ His voice was flat and emotionless. ‘She’s not feeling too well at the moment and I didn’t want to wake her just to call you.’

‘She said she’d call me though!’

‘I know. Which is why I’m calling you now, in her place.’

‘I don’t want to talk to you!’

‘Eden.’ he said in a pained voice. ‘I’m sorry about last night. I’d had a bit too much to drink and wasn’t thinking clearly. I already-’

‘Shut up!’ I slammed the phone onto the receiver, unable to handle hearing his voice anymore. I couldn’t get the image of mum’s face covered in blood out of my head and anger was pulsating through my head. Dad usually didn’t come back home for a couple of days after an incident like last night, and Mum had told me he was staying with friends or something! What was he doing home now?

‘That was your dad?’ Alexis asked from behind me and I nodded. ‘What did he want?’

‘I don’t know.’ I said shakily and picked up the phone. ‘I’m going t-’

The phone started ringing again and I almost answered it, but it had to be dad again, probably furious that I’d hung up on him. I hung it up again and then quickly dialed mum’s mobile.

‘What’s going on?’ Alexis asked nervously.

‘I’m calling mum.’ I said just as the call was answered. ‘Mum?’

‘Eden?’ Mum’s tired voice answered and I leant against the fridge in relief.

‘Mum! You’re okay!’

‘Of course I am! What’s wrong? Is everything okay?’

‘No! Dad called me!’ I cried. ‘He said you weren’t feeling well!’

‘Oh. No, I’m still a bit sore from yesterday.’ She said and I heard her rubbing her forehead. ‘My head is killing me and…yeah.’

‘Has he hurt you again?’ I asked fearfully and she didn’t answer for a worrying amount of time.

‘No. Everything’s fine, Eden. Don’t worry about me.’

‘B-’

‘Is that him!?’ my dad’s voice shouted from the other end of the line. ‘Are you talking to him?’

‘He called me.’ Mum said patiently.

‘He fucking hung up on me, the little cunt! Twice!’

‘Can you blame him?’

‘I’m his father! He should show me some fucking respect!’

‘Mum!’ I said and she muttered something I didn’t hear. ‘Mum?’

‘Eden, now’s not a good time to talk.’ She said after dad said something I couldn’t hear. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘Are you going to be okay?’

‘I’ll be fine. I told you not to worry about me.’

‘But I made dad angry! He’s going to hurt you, isn’t he?’

‘Eden! Stop worrying.’ Mum said loudly and I heard dad say something again. ‘Look, I have to go but everything’s fine. You need to be focusing on Sanders now, not me.’

‘Are you still going to come on Friday?’

‘Yes. That’s a promise that I’m going to keep.’ She said confidently.

‘Can I call you again?’

‘…maybe not until I see you on Friday.’ She said heavily.

‘Why not?’

‘It’s complicated.’

‘Why?’ I asked and she didn’t answer. ‘Is dad still going to move out? With his friends? Why is he even there?’

‘Eden, I have to go. I’ll talk to you on Friday, okay?’ mum said sadly. ‘I really hope everything at Sanders goes well.’

‘It’s going to be horrible! Everything’s horrible!’ I cried.

‘Don’t say that! It’ll be fi-’

‘Hurry up! You need to be resting!’ Dad said loud enough for me to hear him.

‘Okay! Fuck!’ mum growled and then softened her voice. ‘You’re going to have a great day today, Eden. And a great week. Trust me. Sanders is going to be great for you.’

‘Mum…’

‘See you on Friday!’

‘Bu-I-okay…’

‘I love you.’ She said and then hung up. I looked down at the phone for a moment and then dropped it onto the bench, feeling empty. I wasn’t an idiot. Something was wrong with mum, but…I couldn’t do anything about it and I’d just made things worse by calling her! I’d pissed off dad and he was definitely going to take it out on mum. It was my fault, again! Fuck! Why did I always make things worse?

‘What’s going on?’ Alexis asked and I almost screamed, having completely forgotten that she was there. ‘Is your mum okay?’

‘I don’t know.’ I tugged on the shirt and looked up at her. ‘When you see your parents today can you ask them to check on mum? Tonight?’

‘I can call dad about it right now if you want.’

‘Ah! Yes! Please do that!’

‘I’ll go get my phone. I think I left it on the pool table last night.’ She began walking off but stopped to turn around ‘Oh! You need to get changed! We have to leave for Sanders in about an hour!’

‘That soon?’ I looked down at the shirt and uneasiness washed over me. I really did want to put something else on, but I didn’t like the prospect of undressing and wearing new clothes. Not with this body…

‘Yeah. I picked out a bunch of stuff for you to look through, so you should be able to find something that works. They’re on my bed!’ she said and disappeared into the living room, seeming to be in a hurry. Did we really need to get moving soon?

Crap. I’d been all ready to storm off to Sanders and find Julia an hour ago, but now that I’d calmed down I wasn’t so eager to leave the safety of Alexis’s home. Especially after speaking to mum. That had made me feel even worse, not better like it should have.

I needed to take her advice though. Focus on Sanders! If mum was in trouble then Alexis’s parents would be able to help her. And I’d see her on Friday so everything was going to be fine!

I’d be back to being a boy by then too!

Everything was going to be fine.

End of Chapter 9

Thankyou for reading!
This chapter...I'm not too sure about it. A lot of things were cut and it doesn't feel right, I don't know. But it's a stepping stone to more interesting things so it's all good ^_^ And when i finally finish this story I'll go back and smooth everything out to my liking as well