I helped her stand and we walked as close as two people can without sharing a body. She didn't' want to let go, she held onto my hand with a ferocity that was new, not unwelcome, but not entirely welcome either. It made me wonder if she was truly alright, or not.
"Let's go back to the mansion." She said finally looking up at me, she looked drained and tired like her features were watered down. I squeezed her hand and led her to the van, helped her inside, and we drove to Starlight Mansion
XXXX
"There you are Jerrica!" Kimber said as she approached my van. Kimber was running along side of the van, her features were pinched, she must have been worried.
"We've been worried." Shana added coming to stand behind Jerrica's sister.
"What happened?" Aja asked.
Jerrica smiled a sad sweet smile and said, "Let's go inside, we have a lot to talk about." And we all hurried into Starlight Mansion, which for once was quiet, all of the girls were in bed, and it was just the six of us in the living room.
"Rio knows." Jerrica said finally. Everyone's eyes swiveled to mine.
"You know?" Aja said. "Like know know?"
"Yeah, that she's Jem?" I said filling in their blanks. It was almost comical to see these normally direct and forthright women dance around a subject. It was like watching ballerinas trip while walking down the street. "I figured it out a couple of months ago." I added. And it was sort of awesome to see the normally unflappable Aja's eyes widen.
"Why didn't you say anything?" Aja asked.
"I could ask you girls why you never said anything to me." I said as I sat down on the ledge in front of the fire place. All of the girls averted their eyes, because they, like Jerrica, were ashamed that they hadn't said something to me, hadn't tried harder, or whatever, but the truth of the matter is, it wasn't their secret to tell. "But both answers are the same." I said and looked down at my clasped hands. I forced myself to look at the women before me.
"I didn't know how to tell you guys any more than you knew how to tell me. None of us wanted to hurt each other, and we thought we were doing what was best." Silence greeted me. I hate when they all get quiet, it usually means something bad has happened or will happen. "Now, I'd like to see how exactly this Jem Jerrica switch happens." Jerrica stood up quickly.
"Let me show you." She reached a hand towards me and I took it and allowed her to pull me onto my feet. She practically drug me up the stairs, and I found it curious as we were trotting up to the second floor that the others didn't follow. We walked through the mansion and finally entered a spare bedroom that for as long as they'd lived here I couldn't recall anyone actually going inside. She opened the door, and everything looked plain and unlived in. There was nothing special, nothing to note, nothing out of the ordinary. She led me towards the wall and kept walking and it looked as if she was going to walk us straight into the wall.
"Woah sweetie. That's a wall."
She looked down and then back to me. Her face was painted with worry, and she was fighting with herself before she said, "Trust me. I know after everything…but trust me?" her voice was small and she was scared, and I did trust her. Pink hair, blond hair, blue eyes, purple eyes, I trusted this woman in front of me, and if she said to walk into a wall, I suppose I'm dumb enough, or trusting enough to do just so.
She walked me right through the wall, and it took me a second to catch my breath, I guess I had been holding it. Inside was a huge machine, sleek in design and enough lights and buttons make an engineer, like myself, giddy at the prospect of finding out what each of them did. In the center of all of this engineering delight was a face, a face that reminded me of Jerrica's late mother, except in hues of purples. Jerrica let go of my hand and stood in front of the engineering marvel and took a deep calming breath and said;
"Rio, this is Synergy. Synergy this is Rio."
"It is a pleasure to finally meet you Rio." Synergy said slowly to me.
"Nice to meet you as well." Silence befell all of us and I realized that I was the one who was expected to break the silence. "What do you have to do with making Jerrica into Jem?"
"I create holographic projections. I create the Jem hologram." I felt my eyebrows furrow. While that made superficial sense, it didn't explain why I could feel long teased pink hair while my Jerrica had short blond hair that I think I have only seen teased once and that didn't last a whole long time. I said as much to the computer before me. Jerrica and Synergy looked at one another and then back to me.
"Because…because Jem is real. We call it a hologram but really, it isn't. Synergy changes my body, my features, my everything to create Jem. She's like a mask I put on, she has to be in order to fool everyone so completely."
"I rearrange some of the superfluous materials surrounding Jerrica, her clothes, her hair, her jewelry, and mold and stretch it until it covers her in the Jem façade. Jem is really Jerrica, and Jerrica is truly Jem." Synergy said in her cool computerized voice. It was really sort of creepy to have a computer talk and explain things to me. I think out of everything that was going on, that might be the most difficult to accept.
"So, you rearrange Jerrica's DNA, her cells, her physical body to create Jem?" I asked incredulously.
"Yes."
"That's why you can touch Jem's hair—down to the tip. That's why your hand doesn't go right through it, or the clothes that she wears, or…" Jerrica paused trying to come up with a better example, a better explanation for this whole situation. "Remember when we were doing that photo shoot on the beach and they insisted that a wind machine was needed."
"Yes."
"Remember when Jem got sand in her eyes."
"A lot of sand in her eyes."
"Yes. And remember you flushed my…" she shook her head and put her hands on her hips and sighed. "Flushed her eyes out?"
"Yes, I remember the very real tears and red eyes."
"That's because those were my eyes. I couldn't have had you flush out her eyes if they were holograms, the water would have gone through her eyes, and it would have revealed who she is. Synergy has to change everything about me, down to my eye color. When I'm Jem, what you see is real. It has to be real, or I couldn't do it."
"Isn't that dangerous?"
"It can be." Jerrica nodded. "When she has a glitch it almost knocks me on my ass, it hurts when she rearranges me too fast and too often. I've gotten used to it, but it doesn't hurt any less."
"What do you mean you've gotten used to it? How often does she glitch?"
"About three or four times a year."
"So, when you change on your own volition it doesn't hurt?" She shook her head. "You aren't lying to me are you?"
"No. No. Rio. I promise you, it doesn't hurt all of the time, just when she glitches. Watch. Show time Synergy." She morphed into Jem. "See, it's all fine. It doesn't hurt." Jem came up to me and put a hand on my arm. I only felt comfort in that touch. Normally there was always a thrill of excitement, of titillation, of danger about the woman in front of me, but now that I knew, now that I knew for sure, now that I understood, her touch was simply warm, comforting, and welcome—it was the touch of Jerrica Benton, my lover, my friend, the woman that one day I hoped to marry.
"Do the others know how "permanent" this is?" I asked using air quotes. She shook her head, hair swirling around her face.
"No. I didn't tell them about this part. I don't want Aja to go all bad ass on Synergy, and I didn't want Kimber or Shana to worry, and Raya, god bless her heart, is so new to this that she doesn't need to know more beyond the basics."
"So, if you were to get stuck like this." I gestured to Jem. "No one would know what went wrong?"
She froze and there was a tinge of panic in her violet eyes. "I had never thought of that. I never thought I could get stuck being Jem for the rest of my life." She spun on her heel to Synergy. "Could that happen Synergy?"
"Anything is possible Jem." I put a hand on her shoulder. She turned to me.
"I didn't think…oh god what if that happens? What will happen to the starlight girls? What will happen to my friends, my life…"
"Woah woah! Slow down!" I said and grabbed her upper arms and forced her to look at me.
"I won't let that happen. I'm an engineer remember? I can fix Synergy if something like that happens." I said with a whole hell of a lot more confidence than I felt. "I know about this now. I can be your wing man. I can be the one to help if something goes wrong. You shouldn't worry Jem, I'll do that worrying for you." Relief flooded over her and she hugged me tightly.
"I knew I loved you for a reason Rio." I held onto her with all of my strength.
"And I'd know you no matter what mask you wore." She hugged me tighter. Things weren't perfect, but at least now, I knew the truth, and I could truly be by her side and keep her safe.
The End
Author's Note: I have other ideas that go along with this story, but I think they should be in a separate story. What do you guys think? You up for more?
