The next day

I hear a loud, screeching, “AAAAAAAAAAH” enough to make anyone jump up off the couch and see what’s going on. I turn and see Charlie, or at least I think it’s Charlie, on his butt at the bottom of the stairs. I run to him and crouch down.

“Are you alright, Charlie?”

He turns and stares at me wide-eyed, “So, what Carmilla was telling me was true. You did take me home.”

I smile at him, “Of course, how are you feeling?” He talks to his second self? Interesting.

“Alright, I don’t walk up and downstairs often. Maybe it would’ve been a better idea to turn on the lights.”

I chuckle and ruffle his hair, “Go take a shower. You can use what I have for now.” He looks around trying to find it. “It’s upstairs, right next to my bedroom. I’m going for my run. I’ll be back probably by the time you get done.” He nods and scampers off.

I go for my morning run. When I come back, I see a girl with her hair in one of those towel turbines and dress. I look closer and it was Charlie, this time not so dirty. He’s so cute. I shake my head to snap out of my trance.

“Oops, Charlie, I forgot clothes. They’re in the basement. I’ll go get them.” He nods and gets my old clothes. I turn around and Charlie was there. “Charlie, don’t be down here when it’s wet, you’ll catch a cold or worse.” He smiles broadly at that. I hand him the clothes. “Go get dress.” He scampers off to the downstairs bathroom and I take my shower.

When I come downstairs I see Charlie. I clean Charlie. His hair isn’t the dirty brown color, but a beautiful copper color.

I smile, “You look really cute cleaned up.”

He blushes and says softly, “Thank you.”

“Ready to get some breakfast?” he nods. I whip up some pancakes and we have breakfast.

Charlie takes a bite and his expression changes to satisfied making me smile. Each bite he takes, he savors. When he finishes, he looks disappointed. I quickly give him more and refill his juice.

“thank you.” He says softly.

“Anytime.”

After breakfast, we walked to school. Everyone was surprised that Charlie came to school and this time cleaned up. After school, we walk back home. We get in the car and drive off. The mall wasn’t too far away, but it was far enough to need to drive.

“Soooo, can you tell me about Carmilla. I already know she is your second personality, but I wanna know who she is to you.”

The car was quiet for several seconds, Charlie nervously says, “She protects me from my memories. She is also the reason why I haven’t killed myself yet.”

“What do you mean?”

“My best and closest friend. She knows things about me that I haven’t admitted to anyone. She also helps me put everything into perspective. Though, sometimes she likes to cause mischief.”

“She seems like a fun person to be around when I was with her.”

Charlie smiles, “She is. One time,” he giggles. The first time I’ve heard him giggle. It’s way too cute. “One time, when one of my bullies were picking on me. She told me to kiss him. I thought she was crazy, but when I did it. He blushed crazy hard and ran away calling me all sorts of names. She said that he was attracted to me and didn’t know how to express it.”

I giggle thinking about the shy Charlie kissing someone, “I didn’t know you were into boys.”

Charlie blushes a cute red, “I um I-“

“It’s ok, you know Jessie’s and James’s moms? They’re my friends.” Charlie sighs in relief. “In my opinion, it shouldn’t matter who you love are as long as you’re happy and it’s legal.”

“Thanks, Mr. Blue.”

“Please, call me Brent.” Charlie nods as we pull into a parking spot. We head into to the mall. “Alright, Charlie, you pick the stores and the stuff you want. Don’t worry about money, just pick what you want and as much as you want.”

“You sure, I don’t want to make you spend so much money on me.”

I chuckle, “Don’t worry, I’ll tell you a secret.” I get next to his ear and whisper, “I’ actually a multimillionaire. Can you keep that a secret?”

Charlie gasps as his eyes went wide and nod, “You can buy a lot of chocolate with that much money.”

I chuckle again, “You can buy a chocolate castle if you wanted. I’m guessing you like chocolate?”

“I love chocolate.” Charlie’s face down castes, “I never get to eat it anymore.”

An idea pops into my head, “Hold on Charlie, wait here.” I run and got a snickers bar. I run back, “I hope you like snickers.” I hold him out the bar.

He looks at the bar then at me. “You sure I can have it?”

“Of course! I can get you more for later if you want, but not too many. I don’t want you to get a stomach ache.”

Charlie grabs the bar and rips open the wrap. He takes a single bite and savors it. Tears roll down his cheek. He hugs me tightly, repeating “thank you”.

I crouch down to him, “It’s no big deal. All kids need to eat candy.”

“I’m sorry, it’s just… It’s just the next time I thought I would eat chocolate was going to be when I die.”

I cry, “Oh, Charlie,” giving him a hug then chuckling “I’ll buy you a hundred chocolate bars if you want.”

Charlie giggles, “I think I’ll stick to the one now. As Carmilla says, ‘A girl has to watch her weight.’” I move back and stare at him with my eyebrow arced. He stammers, “I mean, she says that to me anytime I eat too much candy. I mean, we do share the same body and all.” He gives me a sheepish smile. How could he eat too much candy if he was barely fed normal food?

“Alright, let’s go get clothes.”

“Ok.”

We walked into the first store and down the boy’s aisle. We stopped several times, but Charlie never picks any clothes.

I ask, “Decide on anything?”

“No, all the clothes are boring.”

“What clothes do you want?” Charlie walks to the girl’s aisle and I follow. He looks back at me, nervously shaking. He picks up a cute skirt and mumbles, “This.”

Oh, oh, oooooh. That’s what Carmilla meant. Why didn’t I realize it before? I look at Charlie and she is about to burst into tears. I crouch down to her and embrace her tightly.

“It’s ok. Be yourself, and if yourself is a girl. Then, by all means, be a girl. I’ll be right here for you.” Charlie bawls on my shoulder. I just hold her until she stops. “You should go to the bathroom and clean yourself up.” Charlie nods and heads to the bathroom in the store. “Oh, by the way Charlie,” Charlie stops and turns to me. “You make a beautiful girl.” She blushes and walks to the bathroom.

When she came back, shopping was a lot easier for Charlie. She practically was glowing when picking out everything. Her style seems to be skirts, stockings, tights/pantyhose, graphic tees, and cute hoodies or hooded jackets. She also picked some panties along with training bras from Victoria Secret. Yes, I went in there with her. What does it matter? It’s not like I’m some pervert. I’m just there to help Charlie. Her shoes were either flats or sneakers. When we were done, we had a whole wardrobe. We went back home to my mother who was cooking dinner. We got all the stuff and brought it in.

Mom comes to greet us, but when she sees the clothes, she asks, “What’s all this stuff?”

“My clothes!” Charlie practically bubbly and energetic from the shopping trip.

Mom looks to me, “Why are all of this stuff girl clothes?”

“Well, mom, Charlie here,” I grab Charlie and put my hand on her shoulder. “Isn’t a boy…”

“WAIT!” Charlie bubbly interrupts. She grabs an outfit and runs to the bathroom to change.

“Charlie changed so much in just a day. What caused him going from a quiet and solemn to bubbly and lighthearted?”

“Well, some chocolate and retail therapy. Also a few good cries.”

“Chocolate therapy?”

“She loves, and I mean LOVES Chocolate.”

“She?”

“I think you’ll see in a second.”

Right on cue, Charlie comes out of the bathroom bubbly and twirling in a graphic tee and a plaid skirt.

Mom claps and appraises, “Beautiful,” in response, Charlie does a curtsy. Mom turns to me, “I see what you mean, she isn’t a boy. I should’ve seen it sooner.”

“I was thinking the same.”

“Come on, Charlie. You can help me cook.”

Charlie bubbles, “Okey-dokey.” Giving her a left-handed salute. I just chuckle at her antics, she reminds me a lot of Sara. She skips into the kitchen with Mom.

I called the hospital and made an appointment. I need to make sure Charlie is healthy. I also looked up a therapist that also deals with gender for her. She already needed a therapist before, but now she needs a therapist even more.