Accidental Life                                         by: Rachel Ann Cooper          © 1997

 

"Doctor, she’s awake!" "Thank you nurse." "Well, young lady, you’ve given us quite a time. You’ve been in a coma for over two months. How do you feel?" "Weak and a little groggy, doctor. I don’t remember what happened. Why am I here?" "You were in a motorcycle accident. Perhaps it will come back to you but I’ll tell you what happened to ease your mind. You swerved to avoid hitting a dog crossing the highway. You were doing about 60MPH as near as they could tell and went straight into the armco divider. The first thing to go through the windshield was your helmet, which is why you are still alive but the shards of the shield tore you up rather severely. We thought we were going to lose you to blood loss. The emergency team got you into surgery and were able to stop the bleeding but you ended up taking six units." "You broke an arm, but that cast has been off for a week now."

"Gee, I guess I am lucky to be alive." "Yes you are Julie. I’ll call your guardian right away and let her know you are awake." "Is that my Aunt Jenny?" "Yes, I believe so." "You called me Julie. I...don’t remember...!" "There will be time enough for full explanations later. Right now, you need to get your strength back and gain some weight and you are going to be in therapy for a while getting your legs to work properly. There’s no need to be anxious. Everything in due time." And the doctor left. "Julie! Why is that name not familiar? They’ve got my hair up in a pony tail. I wonder if I’m bandaged anywhere still?" She then explored her body. No bandages. Her generous bosom and vagina were still intact, thank heaven.

Aunt Jenny got the word, left work and rushed right over to the hospital. "Oh, Julie, I’m so glad to see you awake. You are going to be just fine now," she said as she reached down and gave her a kiss and a hug. "Jenny, I feel a little strange and I can’t really remember my name." "Don’t you worry honey, you have had the best of care with the very latest techniques. They can do absolutely marvelous things with surgery and psychology now. You have never been alone. They have had tapes playing for you ever since you got out of surgery the second time." "The second time?"

"Why, yes. Didn’t the doctor tell you?" "No Aunt Jen, just that I was going to need some physical therapy." "Oh, I see. They left it up to me. Well, perhaps in a few days when you are stronger, we will talk. In the meantime, you just be a good girl and do what they tell you and get stronger so we can go home, alright?" "OK, I promise."

After Julie got her appetite back and got on solid food, they put her in therapy twice a day for as long as she could stand it, which wasn’t long at first. But, after a couple weeks, she was walking well enough to go home. But Aunt Jen still hadn’t explained the problem she was having with her memory. On discharge day, she got her clothes out of the closet, gave herself a manicure and put on her lipstick. Aunt Jen had brought her purse, lingerie, a blouse, skirt and flats. The orderly wheeled her out to the car and she and Aunt Jen went home after stopping at the market.

Julie really wasn’t up to much activity and decided to just sit in the recliner in her bedroom and read or watch TV. While she was away, the room had been completely redone in all white. There was a vanity, chest of drawers, nightstands and canopy bed, all matching. Julie was very pleasantly surprised and told her aunt, "Oh Jen, it’s beautiful. Thank you." "You’re welcome honey. I wanted your homecoming to be special" and she went down to do some housework and then make lunch.

Julie took off her clothes and went into the closet and got out a long gown and a robe and her slippers and sank into the chair with a sigh of relief. She’d have to look around later and see where Aunt Jen had put everything else. She had noticed the shoe rack on the back of the door was full but that was all she did before she crashed. Aunt Jenny came up at noon and woke her for lunch. "Aunt Jen, you’ve never told me why my name seems unfamiliar and it still is." "Alright honey, I guess it is time." "You were in aural therapy during your entire stay in the hospital, even after you woke up." "What’s that?" "Subliminal education." "Why did I need that, she asked?" "Because dear, it was Jason who had the accident. It was he who almost died." "I still don’t understand!" "When you went through that windshield, it tore up everything that constituted Jason. He could no longer be a man and, as your guardian, I had to make the decision. Everything that made Jason a boy was gone, destroyed."

"My god, Jen! Are you saying that I was Jason?" "I’m afraid so honey." "But how...? My body looks and feels perfectly normal." "It is dear, for the most part, and when you get older and get married, your relations will be perfectly normal with your husband but if you want to have children, you’ll have to adopt." "You’ve had small breast implants because we don’t know how big you are really going to get with your new hormones and they gave you a perfect vagina using a piece of your lower intestine. It will all seem perfectly normal. Have you taken any note of the fact that you put on nail polish and lipstick, how you carry yourself, walk, sit and gesture." "Well, I suppose I have but that all seems perfectly natural to me. I don’t have a boyish thought in my head." "That was the subliminal education. Jason’s thought patterns are gone, replaced by Julie’s. You aren’t capable of thinking or speaking like him anymore. Your education is intact but your orientation is now completely female, just as if you had been born that way. It was the only way to give you a life worth living. I hope it doesn’t upset you too much. It was a difficult decision and, had I not felt you would have chosen the same one, I would not have made it. We could have let you die.

"Since it was the result of an accident, my health insurance paid for the whole thing and now I have a lovely live niece instead of a dead or suicidal nephew. Even Jason would have had to sit down to pee and I just couldn’t bear the thought of him going through the rest of his life with that kind of disability. Could you?" "No, I guess not Aunt Jen. At least now I can have a life, even if it is trimmed in lace, cosmetics and high heels. I wonder how I’m going to feel about boys?" "It may take you a little while to figure that out dear, but it was in the tapes and your hormones, the new ones, that is, will tell you how to respond. You are just as smart as you ever were and I’m sure you will feel just fine about it." "I suppose I have a closet full of surprises that I’m getting anxious to see, don’t I?" "Yes, although I thought that you’d probably want to make most of your own choices, so I’m just going to let you use my charge card and see what you come home with. Try not to be too trendy, dear."

"What about school and my friends?" "Quite a few of your friends were in to see you while you were in a coma and they all know what happened and who you are now. The records, all of them, have been changed including your birth certificate and social security. You will have to go in and get a new driver’s license since it requires a picture. One thing I am definitely going to have to do myself is give you some makeup lessons before we set you loose on the town. They gave you a rhinoplasty and shaved the Adams apple and the rest is just cosmetics. Oh, and I’m sure you will want to get your ears pierced which is just fine and recommended. They can do that at the salon where you have an appointment tomorrow, my treat. They have instructions to give you ‘the works’ including makeup and then you’ll know just how cute you are. You’ll do fine."

"I’m sure they will all be happy to see you back at school. You’ll get a few stares at first which you will ignore and you’ll make new friends, girls this time. I think I’d wait to go shopping until you’ve decided who you trust. Girls are more complex than boys and you can’t just act on what you see or hear. You’ll catch on to getting a ‘feel’ for who is true or false. Your real friends will surface in a short while. Just be patient and be friendly with everyone except the boys your girlfriends warn you away from. They know about the boys and since Jason’s sexual memories are gone, you will have to relearn about them from your new perspective." "This is beginning to sound like fun, Aunt Jen. I can hardly wait to get started. I think I’ll go back upstairs and explore my new world. Will you help me with my hair?" "Sure, honey, but you already know how to style it." "Oh, for heaven’s sake. Yes, I do. Amazing! The tapes again, huh?" "Yes. They covered just about everything, even hygiene. You’ll find the bag hanging in the bathroom closet." "Thank heaven Jason’s beard hadn’t gotten started. Now it never will."

To be continued?

 

© 2000
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