This is the longest story I have written so far. There is some dark stuff involving forced sex change and prostitution in the Matron's back story.
Thanks to Annabel for editing.

The old wind-up alarm clock woke the girls at an unfamiliar 7am. Dani arose first and made his way to the bathroom. He hiked up his babydoll, then realised it was too short to get in the way. He looked down at the sea of pink froth that was his underwear. He felt sick.

“Where am I?”
The question wasn’t to anyone, as no one was in the room with me, but there I was, standing in front of hospital bed. A teenage girl laid silent.
In fact, everything was silent.
No machines beeping
No intercom calls
No whirring from the breathing apparatus that covered her face.

Zoom Doom 2.

Beth jumped out of the chair still half asleep and nearly fell of the high wedge sandals. "Mum? What are you doing home?"

"Ben? Why are you dressed in Debbie's clothes? How long have you been doing this? Who did your makeup for you?"

Beth glanced at the clock behind her mum and realised that she had slept for nearly two hours. Her mother looked around the room trying to understand what she had just encountered.

"I'd better go and change, sorry I fell asleep."

"So I see, I take it you've been dressed like that all day?"

Little Rachel "Rae" Evans was a happy little girl. Her mother would say that when she laughed, she could make an entire room of people break out in smiles. All that changed when she was four and the laughter stopped. From then on, she withdrew into herself and hid from the world, convinced that no one, not even God, could ever truly love, or even understand her.

Eric Dunning was only twelve and in the last six months had watched his mother Erica waste away with cancer, eight years after the death of his father Jack in the early months of fighting in Afghanistan. Torn away from everything he has ever known, a happy southern California life with his mother and his best friend April, he is sent to the complete opposite side of the country to live with an aunt and cousin he has never met. Enduring one trauma after another, circumstances alter the way he sees life, God, and himself in ways he could never have imagined.

Set against the backdrop of rural northern New Hampshire in the 2010s, Lost Faith combines elements of coming-of-age, transformation, self-discovery, and romance, interwoven with a potential answer to the question, "Why does a loving God allow good people to suffer?" It is written as a companion story to the novel, Every Day is Your Last.

Then Helen explained that Christopher was coming back from the hospital and really they needed to talk as a family over what had happened. This triggered Tracy to feel uncomfortable again. Ginny's mother decided that it was time to be going and reminded Ginny not to gossip about what she had said or heard today........

A different Angel 8,

Chapter 4

Ever since Bianca inherited the mantle of the White Lady, she has learned many valuable lessons and faced numerous challenges. Now, she has to hope that she's learned enough to conquer the challenges to come.

http://whateleyacademy.net/index.php

"Tell you what," said my guy. "You charge me extra for the size of my truck, and I'll charge you the same for looking at my girlfriend."

Dave Penkula was feeling as good as a person with their first hangover. Jordan's ex was also like a person who had way too many the night before because he was the only one to blame for how he felt. Even with protesting about how Jordan should be wearing a tux to the prom, Dave knew it was his fault they were not going together. Worse, they broke up because he was too bullheaded to give in.

Helen did a double take when she heard Ginny blurt that out after the conversation she had been having with David and his breakdown, maybe this child had a better insight into her child than she did. Ginny's mother was trying to shush her daughter but David didn't seem to be reacting in a negative manner to what she had said. She looked closely and she could see the feminine in the young man and she wondered if there was something there. Helen and Richard had always seemed to be normal and when she had dealings with David he was a thug.

The tension in the car between Lori and Blake was as thick and serious as a Russian novel. Blake was too focused on getting to the final destination of the night. The intense boy was driving as fast as he could to the Lodge at Lafayette but to him it was still taking up too much time. He was so close to his goal of the night, yet he felt that he would never arrive at the destination. The night was a real time example of Zeno’s paradox. No matter how the distance was from Blake being in bed with Lori he would never get there.

When the internet goes out, leaving siblings Dennis and Kylie bored out of their skulls, Kylie comes up with a plan to share some of her favorite girly activities with her brother... whether he wants it or not.

There's something special about sharing a meal, I think it creates memories, strengths the  bonds and such. So mom and I sat there, enjoying our pizza. I could feel the ice starting to melt away. Mom had ordered a jumbo slice of cheese pizza. I had ordered a jumbo slice of pepperoni pizza. One thing I loved about Sbarro's pizza was it was the style, it was New York Style, meaning the slices were huge, like massive and thin enough for you to fold them in half like a sandwich. A gooey, greasy, cheesy, pepperoni sandwich, a tiny bite of heaven.

This Chapter deals with how Rahul will react to the news and his new Journey.