Chapter 3
I started to wake up, a little twitchy. I felt no pain anymore, in fact, I felt ticklish. I sat up slowly, my eyes adjusting. I knew I was defiantly different, but I couldn't tell what.
"D..Dont push yourself" I heard a nervous yet
soothing voice say.
"H..Hi mommy" I said, lifting my
head up, a small smile on my face.
"Are you alright" Jess said, still sounding worried.
"Yeah, I feel great, so, what's new" I said, giggling.
"Um...well..." jess said, not knowing what to say so motioning towards my own body.
I looked downwards, seeing 2 breasts on my chest, that I was pretty sure wasn't there before.
"So..."I said, and putting my hand down, and
feeling the absence of something else.
"I'm a Girl" I
said, giggling.
"Urh, your taking this surprisingly well" Jess said, a little more relaxed. "But is that normal?" She asked, turning towards the school nurse.
"It depends; a lot can change through bursting. It puts strain on your mind as well as your body. Then again, this might just be temporary, from the adrenalin rush that comes with bursting" she explained.
Whiles they were talking, I walked towards the mirror, loosing my balance a couple times.
"Wow" I said, looking at myself in the mirror.
My hair seemed about a foot and a half longer, and it was blond, and my eyes were a sparkling blue colour.
"Okay, that's enough mirror time" Jess said, moving me back to the bed.
"Awwwrr" I complained, sticking my bottom lip out, which made Jess nearly fall over with laughter.
"Wait...If I'm a girl, I need a new name, Tyler isn't girly enough" I said, thinking.
"Just leave that a while, there's other things you need to worry about first" The nurse said.
"Oh, like what?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.
"The aftershocks" She said, turning to
Jess.
"Yeah, I forgot about that then" Jess said,
sounding worried again.
"His...Her body's been through a lot, so had her mind probably. The aftershocks are going to be bad, I think it might be wise to be prepared to call a doctor if things get too bad" The nurse said.
"There really going to be that bad...I knew...When I saw her...They would be bad, but that bad" Jess said, sounding more nervous.
I jumped off the bed again and hugged Jess
"I'm sure its going to be alright, look, there's
a butterfly" I said, smiling and looking out the window which
made Jess giggle lightly.
"I think its time you went home.
We've got a spare school uniform for cases of Bursting, the box is
under the bed, find your size and feel free to keep it" The
nurse said smiling.
"Thank you" I beamed delightly.
I reached under and started looking through for my size. I found it and started getting dressed.
The school uniform was a white blouse, with a blue blazer and a blue pleated skirt. I got dressed and looked in the mirror as well.
"Kawaii" I said grinning, looking at myself.
"Ka-what?" Jess said, looking at me weird.
"Kawaii, it's Japanese for cute" I said twirling around in front of the mirror.
Jess smiled and shook her head.
"Alright, lets go" she said, taking my hand and walking me out of the door.
"Thanks" I said to the nurse before leaving.
"The school phoned me up after you burst. I was going to tell you to stay home today, cause I was afraid that you would burst today, I noticed the symptoms earlier" Jess explained as we got into the car, though it was noticeable my mind was elsewhere.
"Okay, what's up now?" She said, looking at me oddly.
"Everything looks bigger...DID EVERYTHING GROW!" I said, looking around.
"No, you shrunk" Jess said, sighing.
We entered the car and jess started driving, I sat there, unusually (for the new me) quiet.
"As time goes on
We all change
But like the sun shine
Were always the same
And like the sunshine
We can be full of fun
Even when the sun goes down
Cause the moon reflects the sun" I said, looking out the window.
Jess looked over at me, and smiled.
"Same old artistic instincts" She said smiling.
"Yeah, that's what I was saying, we change, but a part of us will always be the same" I explained, smiling.
Chapter 4
I was laid in my bed. My body was sweating and my breathing was stiff and hard.
"Arrrrh" I cried in pain and another pain shot through me.
Jessica was next to me, cooling my head with a wet cloth.
I had begun the Aftershocks, and it was not nice. Pain kept shooting through me, and I could not pass out. After you burst you get aftershocks, but you are not able to pass out from it, so you have to be awake to the pain throughout the process. People haven't figured out why we have these, but they were called aftershocks because they seemed similar to the ones like earthquakes.
"I'm...Okay" I said smiling slightly, and then wincing.
"I...I" I said, and then felt something different. Pain shot through me, but I felt something else with it, I felt...fuzzy. It left within 30 seconds, but I felt different. I felt vulnerable, self conscious; my hand was shaking with fear and another pain stroke through me. I screamed even louder, tears coming out my eyes.
"Oh god, I'm getting a doctor" Jess said and
stood up,
"NO!" I screamed, grabbing hold of her
shirt.
"Don't leave me..Please" I said, still shaking,
as another pain shot through me as I screamed again.
"Okay" Jess said, seeing me in a totally different light, but that's not else she saw different in me.
"You're...your hair" she said, grabbing a few stands and showing me.
My hair was a dark grey colour now.
"And your eyes...There the same" she said, wondering how this happened.
"Wha...Why" I said, but then screamed in pain again.
"Shhhh..." Jess soothed, wetting the cloth and putting it on my head again.
The aftershocks continued through the night, up until the early hours of the morning, when they finally weakened enough that I could pass out and go to sleep.
I awoke in the morning still feeling shoots of pain, but these were only enough to make me flinch now. I curled up in a ball and shut my eyes.
"This is just a horrible dream" I said to myself, not wanting to face the truth.
I heard a knock on the door and heard it open.
"Are
you awake?" Jess said quietly.
"Yea.." I said from beneath the sheets.
"Come up...I need to see you" She said,
walking over and sitting on the side of my bed.
"No...I don't
want to" I said in a whisper.
"Please, I just want to see if your...still the same" she said, and I slowly came out from beneath the covers.
"Yeah...Still the same" She said, seeing my hair and eyes.
She looked at me, sensing that I was upset.
"Don't you want to have a look?" She said,
gesturing towards the mirror.
"No.." I said, not wanting
to face anything.
"You're going to have to face yourself sometime, you seemed alright with everything yesterday" She said, as I looked away.
I said nothing; I reached over and brought my pillow to me, hugging it tightly.
"I'll made breakfast, please, just take a look"
Jess said, as she stood up and walked towards the door.
"You
still look beautiful...my daughter" she said, shutting the door
behind her.
I saw there hugging my pillow, and stood up.
"I owe her so much, she really looked after me last night...I'm going to do it for her" I said to myself, dropping the pillow and walking towards the mirror.
I closed my eyes as I approached the mirror. When I thought I was standing in front of it, I opened it, and looked at the reflection looking back.
"Is this me, this is me, not what I use to be, but what I am now, what was I, who was I" I said, looking at myself.
I stayed there for 15 minutes, not saying anything, just looking at myself. But not like yesterday, I saw every imperfection, everything that wasn't right, and everything that I didn't like.
"Breakfasts ready" Jess called me.
I turned away from the mirror and put my dressing gown on, seeing as I had nothing else to wear. I walked into the kitchen, and sat down at the table.
"I looked" I said, as Jess put my breakfast in
front of me. She smiled and then saw what I was wearing.
"Were
going to have to buy you new clothes soon, all your old clothes will
be too big on you now" Jess said.
"But...not today...not that as well" I said, referring to the appointment she got me at the clinic.
Most of the time, you'd wait around a week for yourself to get use to the new you, but in some more important cases, you would have to go next day. Jess was afraid my body was unstable, and that's why I switched hair and eye colours, and my sudden mood swing.
"Not if you don't feel upto it, i'm sure it won't hurt to leave it another day" Jess said, as we started to eat breakfast.
After breakfast, I got changed into the school uniform again, it being my only piece of clothing. Then we got back in the car, and started driving to the clinic.
"Even though the suns ever shining
Dark clouds cover up that sunshine
And create saddening rain
The darker world, where you see
The imperfections of yourself
and
it hurts all the more" I said, absent mind idly, as Jess looked
over to me.
"Another poem...A Darker one" she said, her
voice sounding nervous once again
