Last time...
After drying myself off I put on the panties, which were surprisingly comfortable. I threw on the robe and stepped out into the bedroom to find that Aunt Karen had apparently been down here again because...

I trailed off when I heard the door open. Marcie and I turned to look at the door and found her mother standing there, looking very angry. "What is going on here, Marcie?! I told you not to open the door for anybody!"

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"I had to Mom, he was practically breaking the door down he was so desperate!" Marcie said.

Most of the anger disappeared from her mother's face as she looked quizzically at me. "Why were you so desperate John?" she asked.

I glanced at Marcie and she nodded her head in encouragement. Shrugging my shoulders I said, "I was afraid my aunt would find me."

Marcie's mom looked confused at that and Marcie said, "John's aunt was forcing him to dress and act like a girl. She even hit him when he didn't cooperate!"

"What?! She didn't, did she?" Marcie's mom asked in shock.

"Sure, though she often said I wasn't cooperating when I just was having trouble doing whatever she wanted me to do. It's not like I already knew how to use makeup, after all!" I grumbled.

Marcie's mom looked closely at me and her eyes widened in surprise, "You're wearing makeup right now, aren't you?"

"What? I thought I washed it off!" I said. I hadn't noticed anything in the mirror after I changed.

"It doesn't come off that easily without makeup remover. You can use mine if you want." Marcie offered. I nodded and followed her back up to her room. "You want me to do it? I can see what I'm doing better than you could." Marcie said. I nodded and she started cleaning off the makeup I'd missed. It took longer than I would have thought, I must have missed a lot!

"Thanks, I didn't realize the makeup remover made so much difference." I said when she was done. My aunt had me use the remover every time I took off my makeup, but I'd figured soap and water would do the job just as well.

"No problem." Marcie said. We went down to the living room and sat back down on the couch. Marcie's mom had taken a seat in a recliner facing the couch.

"What exactly has your aunt been doing John?" she asked once we'd gotten settled again.

"She kept me locked up in her basement and replaced all my clothes with girl's clothes. She made me wear them and makeup and was teaching me to walk and sit and everything else like a girl." I said.

"And what did she do when you didn't cooperate?" she asked.

I shrugged, "She yelled a lot. And she'd slap me sometimes. But if she got really mad she'd pull out this collapsible club thing and hit me with it."

"John, quit acting like it's no big deal!" Marcie said. She sounded kind of annoyed.

"Well, it's not like it was a huge surprise or anything. I mean, she's always hated me. And it's not like she was beating me unconscious or anything." I said.

"Marcie's right John, it is a very big deal!" Marcie's mom said. She looked pretty annoyed, too, but not just at me. "I'm going to call the police right now." I got a little nervous when she said that, but I didn't argue. I wasn't looking forward to dealing with the police; I was sure they'd take my aunt's side. And I had hit her with a chair...

"Are you okay John?" Marcie asked. I looked up and saw that her mom had her phone out and was dialing. Marcie was looking at me with this worried expression on her face.

I started to shrug my shoulders but stopped with a wince. "Yeah, I'm okay." I said, trying to sound normal. I'm not sure why I was trying so hard to shrug this stuff off. I guess I just didn't want to think about it right now.

"No you're not, you winced! How badly did she beat you?!" Marcie said. This caught her mom's attention, who closed up her phone before the call went through to see what was going on.

"Are you hurt John?" she asked.

"My chest is just a bit sore." I said. Really, it hurt all the time. But I wasn't going to say that. And it wasn't really all that bad except when I moved wrong.

"Maybe we'd better start with the hospital." Marcie's mom said worriedly.

"I'm fine! Really!" I protested. Neither of them looked convinced, though.

"I'm not arguing with you about this John, we're going! Marcie, tell your father where I am when he gets home, okay?" Marcie's mom said.

"Can't I come with you Mom?" Marcie asked.

"I don't want you getting involved in this Marcie!" her mom said.

"But he's my best friend!" she protested. She was starting to get a little teary eyed, which surprised me. I guess there was a lot about my best friend I didn't know. I hoped when all this was over I'd get a chance to learn.

"We've had this discussion young man!" Marcie's mom said sternly. Then she realized what she'd said and said, "Sorry, young lady. Your father and I don't want you mixing with too many people until you've had more time to get used to your new role."

"Mom! You and Dad are the only ones having trouble with my 'new role'!" Marcie said. I think the 'young man' slip really upset her because tears were streaming down her face now. I reached over and hugged her, which seemed to help. Her mom's eyes went kind of wide at that, though.

"Mrs. Donner, I think Marcie's right. She's totally natural as a girl, she doesn't need to be hidden away." I said. Marcie gave me a weak smile and then looked hopefully at her mother.

Mrs. Donner sighed and looked down for a moment before looking back up at us. "I know you're right, but I worry about my little girl. This world isn't very kind to people who are...different." she said.

"People are going to find out about me eventually, Mom. You can't keep me out of sight forever!" Marcie said. I got the impression this was an argument they'd had before, but it looked like Mrs. Donner was losing.

"I won't let anybody hurt her Mrs. Donner." I said, trying to strengthen Marcie's case. It seemed to be pretty important to Marcie to come along and, well, I kind of wanted her to come too.

Marcie and her mom both smiled at me at that, and Mrs. Donner laughed a little. "I think it's more likely to be Marcie protecting you right now." she said. I couldn't really argue with that, as Marcie did seem kind of protective right now. And I wasn't exactly at my best, either. Marcie blushed a little and glanced nervously at me for some reason. "Okay, we'll all go." Mrs. Donner said. "Why don't you and I help John up Marcie?"

I tried to protest that I could get up fine on my own, but they weren't hearing it. Getting up did tend to make my chest hurt more, though. And it was kind of nice the way they were helping me; it made me feel good that they cared. That was a real switch from the way I'd been treated for the last couple of months!

Marcie helped me into the front seat of her mom's car and then got in the back. Once we were all settled Mrs. Donner got the car started and pulled out of the driveway. I was just starting to really relax, because I knew I was safe from my aunt now that we were on the move, but tensed up in an instant when I saw my aunt's car drive up!

"GO!!" I yelled. Mrs. Donner and Marcie both jumped and looked at me in surprise. "Aunt Karen is here!" I explained, pointing out her car. She parked blocking the driveway, but Mrs. Donner was quick to react and went over the lawn to get around her. She had been getting out of the car, but jumped back in as Mrs. Donner switched gears and slammed her foot on the gas.

Mrs. Donner was driving faster than usual, but aunt Karen quickly caught up. "Here Marcie," she said, pulling her cell phone out of her purse, "call the police." Marcie nodded and dialed 911. She was running her words together at first when she started explaining what was going on, but she calmed down a bit and started speaking more clearly.

"Mom, she says to go to St. Patrick's Hospital and the police will be waiting there for us." Marcie said after a while. St. Patrick's was on the other side of town; a lot farther away than the Kaiser hospital we usually went to. I guessed they wanted us to go farther so they'd have more time to get somebody there. Mrs. Donner turned down the next street to get us going the right way, with aunt Karen right behind us.

The drive to the hospital seemed to take forever, but really it couldn't have been more than ten minutes. I was in a lot of pain by the time we got there, as I was shaking like a leaf and it was making my chest hurt more. Well, that, and the vibrations from the car didn't help any, either.

Aunt Karen followed us the whole way, but peeled off when she saw the police cars waiting with their lights flashing. Two cars took off after her, while two policemen got out of the third and waited for us at the entrance to the emergency room.

Mrs. Donner started talking to the policemen when she got out of the car, but I tuned it out. I was sweating really bad, I guess because of the pain in my chest. Marcie looked pretty scared, but she got out and opened my door for me. After getting my seat belt off she tried to help me up, but the movement hurt so much a yelp of pain got out before I could stop it. "Mom, John's looks really bad!" Marcie said fearfully. Her mom and one of the policemen hurried over to see how I was, while the other went inside.

"Where are you hurt?" the policeman asked. He was a really big guy with a gruff voice. I tried to speak, but that hurt, too, so I just pointed at my chest. He was about to ask something else when the other policeman returned with a couple of nurses and a stretcher. With some direction from the nurses the two policemen managed to get me out of the car without causing me too much pain and laid me down on the stretcher. The big guy stayed with me as the nurses wheeled me into the emergency room.

After that I was poked and prodded and asked lots of questions that I couldn't answer very well because I could hardly breath! They ended up putting one of those oxygen things in my nose, which helped a little. Smelled kind of weird, though. X-rays weren't fun, because they had to keep moving me around in different positions and it hurt! Somewhere along the line I guess I fell asleep, as the next thing I knew I was waking up in a bed. There was a curtain blocking off one side, where I guessed there was probably another bed. I had all kinds of things hooked up to me, but I felt a bit better.

"John?" I heard Marcie's voice say. She sounded worried, and I quickly looked around the room to find she was sitting right next to me on the opposite side from the curtain. She looked worried, too, so I tried to smile.

"Hey Marcie. When did I get here?" I said.

"You've only been here a few hours. How do you feel?" she asked.

I remembered not to shrug this time. "Better, actually. My chest still hurts a little, but nothing like on the drive over here!" I said. But that reminded me of the crazy drive. "Aunt Karen! What happened with her?!"

"Whoa, calm down! The police have her, she didn't get far." Marcie said. She grabbed my hand, to get my attention, I guess. I was getting a little frantic. Knowing the police had her calmed me down pretty quickly, though.

"So they've arrested her?" I asked hopefully.

Marcie nodded, "Yeah, that's what Mom says. So relax, okay? She can't hurt you anymore." She squeezed my hand to emphasize her point, so I tried to calm my breathing. It was only then that I realized that I was breathing almost normally again. There was still some tightness in my chest, but not bad. Taking a deep breath still hurt, though.

"Okay." I said. "So where's your mom?"

"She went home to get some rest. Dad's coming later to pick me up." Marcie replied.

"But you said I've only been here a few hours?" I said.

"In this bed, yeah, but they had to do surgery to get your ribs back in the right place." Marcie said.

"Huh?!" I said. Sure, my chest had hurt, but surgery?!

Marcie looked concerned, but also kind of angry with me, "John, your aunt broke three of your ribs! One of them was in such bad shape that the drive over here caused it to shift and press against your lungs. They had to tack it together with a metal plate and screws so it could heal properly and get the pressure off of your lungs. You're lucky your lungs weren't punctured!"

I just blinked stupidly at her for a moment as what she'd said sunk in. "Really?! I didn't think she'd done that much damage." I finally said.

Marcie shook her head in exasperation, "John, you need to stop shrugging off pain like that. The doctor said you had to have been in constant pain even before the car ride! She said you must be extremely stubborn, and have a high pain tolerance besides!"

"Well, it's not like I could do anything about it! I was locked up, remember?" I grumbled. I couldn't figure out why she was mad at me. It's not like I did it to myself!

Marcie nodded, "I know, but you should have said something right away. Please, promise me you won't do anything like that again, okay? If you're in pain, tell someone!" Marcie seemed really upset about it, so I nodded that I would.

Just then Marcie's dad came in. After hugging Marcie he looked over at me. "Hey John, how are you feeling?" he asked.

I never realized how often I shrugged until I couldn't do it anymore without pain! "Okay, I guess. Better than when we got here, anyway." I said.

"I should hope so!" he said. "Visiting hours are going to be over pretty soon, so I'll have to take Marcie home. Is there anything we can get you before we go?"

"I don't know what. What time is it, anyway?" I asked.

"It's almost nine." he said after glancing at his watch.

"Are you going to be okay here all by yourself?" Marcie asked.

"So long as aunt Karen is locked up, I'll be fine." I replied.

"Don't worry, after seeing how badly you were hurt, they won't be letting her anywhere near you for a long time! You just relax and rest, and we'll see you in the morning, okay?" Mr. Donner said.

"Okay. See you later." I replied. Marcie gave me a careful hug and she and her dad waved on their way out. I waved back and then settled back in the bed with a sigh. I was surprised how tired and achy I was feeling. But then, if I'd had surgery, that makes sense, right?

My eyes were drooping and I was just about asleep when I heard someone call my name. It didn't really register at first, but then I heard it again. I recognized the voice and my eyes snapped open. I'd almost forgotten that there was one other person involved in this who the police didn't have, and she was walking right towards me! "Mom?!" I gasped.

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To Be Continued…