Chapter #5Both Sides by: BeeJay   It was the morning of June 28. My birthday. My 14th birthday, to be precise.
School was out, so I was back in the habit of letting the morning sun wake me up. The brightening sky was much more pleasant than my alarm clock. I slowly opened my eyes, looking forward to my party.
And then I opened my eyes wide in shock.
When I went to bed, my room had beige walls. This morning, the walls were pink. Aggressively pink.
I had had posters of my favorite movies and sports teams on my walls. Now, the posters were of k-pop bands and teen boy actors. And there was a table with a mirror behind it.
Then, I looked at my sheets. They, too, had changed, gone from solid blue to a floral pattern.
But the biggest shock was when I threw the sheet off of my body. My hair now came down over my shoulders. The pajamas I had put on had been replaced with more pink, a T-shirt and panties. The T-shirt was tight enough to cling to my body,... including the mounds that were on my chest. The panties were tight enough to show that a certain important part of my anatomy... wasn't there.
Naturally, I screamed. My voice was higher than I was used to; at that moment, though, it was the least of my concerns.
Mom came in response to my scream. As she looked at me and my room, I would have expected her to be as freaked out as I was. Instead, she just took a deep breath, and said, "It's alright, Melissa."
"Nothing's alright, Mom!" I replied. "Look at me! Look at my room!" Then, it hit me. "Why did you call me Melissa? My name's Miles!"
"Right now," she answered, "your name is Melissa. As I said before, it's alright. Go get yourself cleaned up and dressed. Your father will explain everything over breakfast." With that, she closed the door.
Realizing that I wasn't going to get any answers by sitting in my pink room, I got up to take a shower. In my private bathroom, I found an array of products I had never seen before, both on the sink and in the shower caddy. Letting myself go through the motions, though, I was able to take a shower, shave my pits and legs, and wash all this hair.
As for the stuff on the sink, most of it was things I was used to using, just pink. The stuff I didn't recognize, I just let myself start using it, as if it had been there all along.
Back in my room, I went on autopilot while putting on a bra and panties. Then, looking over the array of girl's clothes in my closet, I picked out a pink T-shirt with butterflies on it, and a pair of white shorts. Then, I went downstairs.
As I sat down at the kitchen table, Mom put a plate filled with blueberry pancakes and bacon in front of me. Then, Dad spoke. "You've probably got a million questions right now."
"Gee, ya think?"
"Unfortunately, the answers to some of your questions have been lost in time. What I know for sure is, you're a gendermorph; you'll be Melissa for the next month, and then you'll wake up as Miles again."
"Well," I said, "at least it'll be over then."
"Not so fast. A month after that, you'll be Melissa again; and so on, and so on."
"How long do I have to deal with this?"
"When you turn 15, after you've experienced life as both a boy and a girl, your heart will decide which is right for you; and then, you'll wake up, and you'll be in that body for as long as you live."
"How do you know all this?"
"I went through the same thing, when I turned 14."
"Why didn't you tell me before this?"
"For one thing, you wouldn't have believed me, and you know it."
True enough; if I hadn't woken up like this, I wouldn't have believed it.
"For another, you would have told your friends, and you want to keep this a secret."
"So how do I explain to my friends why I look like this now?"
"There's no need. As far as the world outside this house is concerned, you've always been Melissa. Just like your room changed; just like you'll see that all your pictures are of Melissa; just like your social media all say Melissa."
"How did this get started?"
"Not a clue. What we do know is passed down from one generation to the next. My mom told me; I'm telling you; and, one day, you'll tell your child." He got up. "I've got to go to work; happy birthday, Melissa." | Members who added to this interactive story also contributed to these: |
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