Chapters 3 through 5.

What happened at the assembly? Why won't anybody tell Miriam what the hypnotist did?

And why are Miriam's thoughts no longer always his own?

A quick "thank'ee" goes out to all those who read and commented on the first two chapters of "Echoes". I realize it's been a few months now since I posted it, and I intended to get the next part up much sooner, but due to issues with the internet and moving to a new city I never had the opportunity. However, the wait is now over!

Note: Any and all suggestions appreciated. This story moves rather slow, and even in this part the TG elements aren't really played upon all that much, so if you're wanting a story with a quick transformation, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. In fact, a note on my note: I'm up to Chapter 9 in writing ahead already, and the main character still hasn't so much as tried on a pair of girl's shoes. I'm trying to focus more on the mental and social elements of the change rather than do the standard "clothes make the girl" story I read so often, which may not appeal to many readers.

And now, without wasting any more wind on explanations and disclaimers, the story.

Echoes

By Melanie Ezell

Part II

Chapter 3: Sturm und Drang

For the second day running, Miriam found himself in the nurse's office, this time with a worried Lindy at his side.

"My goodness, what ever happened?"

"Prince, ma'am. He was teasing Miriam, and then punched him in the stomach."

Miriam sat on the end of the bed, trying to make sense of things. The punch had hurt, but that was nothing compared to the knockdown force of that name.

*Mary Anne. Why does that name sound so familiar?*

"Miriam, sweetie, are you with us?" The nurse gently prodded his shoulder, concerned by his continued silence.

"What? Yeah, I'm here. Just thinking." Lindy silently took his hand in an attempt to ease his obvious trembling.

Marian. Just the thought of that name brought up images, yet he had no idea where they came from. He tried to focus on the pictures and ideas flashing through his mind, but couldn't get a grip on them any better than his dreams the previous night.

"Well, I think you're good to go, young man, but try to stay away from that bully from now on, okay?"

"Yeah, sure. Hey, Lindy?"

"Miriam?"

"What was up with the names Prince kept calling me? Something about 'Mary Anne', or 'Marian' or something?" The color seemed to drain from her face at the mention of the names, and she shot a quick look towards the nurse. *Ah, so something's going on.* "Does this have anything to do with that hypnotist yesterday?"

"Now where would you get that idea? Of course not!" She answered, a bit too quickly for the truth. "I'm sure it's nothing. Come on, let's get you to the Principal's office, your mom should be here to pick you up by now."

<=====>

Besides the standard Mom questions on the ride back to the house, Miriam was free of distractions, and contemplated just where these events were leading. *Something happened back there besides just being punched. GAH! What's happening to me? Why can't I focus?* After three hours of trying to find some kind of explanation, he decided a walk was in order to help clear his head.

Donning his jacket and sneaks, he quickly made his way out the front door and down the street in the opposite direction from the school, towards the park. Spring was just starting to make itself known in their neighborhood, and Miriam couldn't help but admire the fresh buds just starting to bloom among the bushes and trees lining the footpaths and trails throughout the park. This had been his favorite retreat from his problems ever since first grade, when the first serious teasing had began. With a name like Miriam, he'd come to realize, such things were inevitable, but it wasn't really his parent's fault, after all. They'd meant to name him "Merriam", after the dictionary guy, with the idea that naming him after someone smart would somehow magically gift him with intelligence.

Ironic, that they misspelled the name on his birth certificate, all things considered. It really hadn't seemed that big a deal at first, really just an alternate spelling, and so they had let it slide. With the arrival of school, and the discovery that different means bad, that minor mistake quickly turned into a curse. He had to let out a short laugh when he thought of the fact that he really had gotten so smart due to his name. After all, he had it to thank for all the time he'd spent reading or studying instead of out playing sports with the other boys his age. Then again, his small size probably didn't help much, either. If only his talents had extended to math, he thought, he may have had the highest grades in their class. As it was, he struggled to maintain a C average in any maths that required more strenuous calculations than basic addition and subtraction, while his grammar and history scores were the envy of the rest of his year.

His recollections were momentarily interrupted by a small flock of snowbirds bursting from the holly bush just ahead of him, and he stopped to watch them energetically flap their way towards the old, gnarled willow trees overhanging the river. The river. The thought of the last time he'd been down the path that led to The Banks caused him to giggle. Him, Cary, and Jonathan had become bored with their typical activities near the end of the summer, and had decided that some swimming was in order. Miriam had invited Lindy and the girls to join them, and the entire party had headed down to the "locals only" spot, fondly called The Banks by most of the families living in the area. He remembered no one even getting into the water, but instead sitting in the sun on the gravel shores with Lindy and some of the girls and just talking about school and how their summers had gone. Cary and Jonathan had entertained themselves by skipping stones and generally horsing around, but the real show started when Cary slipped from the rocky outcropping they were using as a pier and slid into the river fully clothed. Miriam broke down laughing at the memory of how he'd ended up having to borrow a bright pink beach towel from Sarah to wrap himself in while his clothes were drying out, having planned on swimming in his boxers, and how wearing nothing but a towel he'd still managed to goof around. He'd even done a striptease for the girls when he'd first gotten out of the water. It had ended up being the highlight of their summer, and the last chance they'd had to get together prior to the start of school.

Mixed in with his memories of the river were others as well, of evenings spent sitting out on those same moss covered rocks and letting her feet soak in the icy water, her sundress scrunched up around her knees to keep it from getting wet, and that cute George from down the road holding her-

Wait a second! Where did THAT come from? Miriam shook his head briskly, trying to shake the odd feelings he was having. *Must have been something I read about. Heh, one too many romance novels, guess I'll have to stop asking Mom for book suggestions. You'd think she doesn't have a life of her own with the way she consumes those things.* Glancing down at his watch, he was shocked to find the time read half six: he'd been out nearly two hours! He made his way quickly along the foot path back out and on to the street, and managed to get home just as his Dad pulled into the driveway, the back of their old Blazer filled with grocery bags.

"Care to give me a hand, son?"

"Sure, Dad. Which one?"

"Very funny, there's more in the seats. Hop to it."

After a couple more trips each, all the packages were finally unloaded and put away safely in the cupboards. "Dinner's at seven, nothing fancy, just Alfredo tonight," Mom called from the kitchen as Miriam and his father headed out. "Miriam, get back here, you're helping."

"Mom, do you really need my help? I know that Alfredo isn't that hard."

"You're helping, and that's that, now come on."

"Dad?"

"Listen to your Mom, Miriam. Trust me, it'll make things easier on both of us."

"I heard that, buster!"

"See? I'm already in trouble."

Miriam couldn't help the laugh that escaped his lips as he headed back to his Mom. His Dad, Bill Loksley, might not be the biggest man around, but he could diffuse almost any situation with his patent humor, which was one reason he worked Public Relations for a couple of local companies, though Miriam could never remember what they were. The coke bottle glasses he needed to help correct his astigmatism often ended up being used as a prop for his jokes, even. As he said whenever Miriam came to him with a problem, "They can't make fun of something if you make fun of it first."

While his Dad may have been the typical geek, his Mom Felicity brought new meaning to the phrase "opposites attract." She wasn't much taller than Miriam, but made up for her height with her sunny disposition and 'cute' features. It was obvious which parent he took after, and much to his dismay, he often found his grandparents on his Mom's side comparing him to her at his age. At least he'd gotten his Dad's hair color- being a near perfect platinum blonde would have made things that much harder for him with the jocks at school when combined with everything else.

As he stood at the counter mixing the ingredients for the sauce, she asked him, "So, what's this I hear about you having trouble with the Prince kid?"

*Ah, that's why she wanted me to help.* "Nothing, Mom, just the usual harassment, though I'm kinda worried about yesterday."

"What happened yesterday?"

*Bum!* "Mom, it's nothing. Just a bit of fun at the assembly. I'm not really sure myself, to be honest, I was out of it at the time."

"Well, you know I worry about you, but if you don't wanna talk about it I'll leave it alone. So, what'd you think about "McGregor's Rose Garden" then?"

"It was okay, but I think I've been reading too many of your romance novels, Mom. Don't you have anything more, uh, academic?"

"Well, I have a couple of Jane Austen books, they're some of my faves. Really romantic and sweet, wanna try one?"

*Sigh.* "No, Mom, that's okay. Maybe later. I think I'll see if Cary's finished that new Tolkien book he's got yet. I've read too much 'romantic and sweet' lately, and it's starting to mess with my head."

"Oh, nonsense, you can never have too much romantic and sweet, 'Meriadoc'!"

"If it's going to get you started on THAT again, I think I'll skip the Tolkien, then." It'd taken more work to explain his Mom calling him 'Merry' than it'd taken to explain his real name the first time the kids at school had heard her use it. Sometimes having cool parents could be really embarrassing.

The noodle came out of nowhere, and from her giggling his Mom seemed rather proud of her aim: it took him three tries to finally pry the wet food from his back before attempting a return volley, but unfortunately his aim wasn't quite as good as hers, resulting in a nasty mess on the fridge.

"You're cleaning that up, you know."

"Hey! You threw it at me first!"

"And? I'm the Mom, I have special rights."

"Just get back to work on your pasta, then."

"Yessa, massa."

Miriam paused in his stirring. "Why ain't Amos cookin' tonight, anyways?"

"Who's Amos?"

"You know, that servant that's always runnin' 'round hea."

"What are you talking about? And what's with the bad southern belle accent all of a sudden?"

"What?" *Wait, what was I just talking about? We don't have a servant.*

"Come on, joke's up, get back to that sauce," his Mom smirked as she turned back around.

*Things are getting just TOO weird. I need to figure this out, and soon.*

<=====>

Cary still couldn't seem to shake the thought of Miriam as a girl from his head. He'd felt especially bad after hearing what happened in the lunchroom. If only he'd been there, he could have helped to protect him, but that's one reason he'd had to leave the room in the first place; he was getting just too attached to Miriam. He didn't want to lose his oldest friend, yet things had changed so much already he had no idea what was going to happen. *And what was I doing this morning? Jeez, I felt like I was trying to chat up a girl or something on the way to school! What am I gonna do?*

Learning what the jocks had actually done made him that much angrier. *That Gordon guy told us EXACTLY why Miriam didn't need to be messed with about the life thing. What are they getting at? Do they really want to make life that difficult for her? Him! Dammit!*

<=====>

*I'm really gonna have to start trying to get home from dance practice earlier.*

It was too late now, though. Miriam would already be in bed, and she didn't want to disturb his sleep after everything that happened today. If only those bullies weren't so stupid, maybe they'd realize exactly what they had just done. The idea that they knew exactly what they were doing was just too cruel to even consider.

*We're really going to have to keep an eye out for him now.* Gordon had given the entire audience a brief description of the reasons why Miriam didn't need to learn what had happened, but afterwards, he'd taken her off to the side to explain in more detail exactly what was going on. What Lindy heard was quite disturbing, but she promised to do her best to keep him safe, and now she'd already failed not twenty four hours after getting the warnings. *I hope he's all right. I can't imagine how hard this is going to make things for him now, but Gordon made everyone promise not to talk about it, and even if the jocks ignored his warning, I know that everyone else likes Miriam enough to keep their mouths shut. Let's hope things don't get any worse.*

<=====>

For the second night in a row, Miriam's sleep was disturbed by odd dreams, but this time there was more clarity to everything than the previous night, and he could remember parts of the dreams when he awoke. He finally recognized the school as the old high school building, but they'd stopped using it back in the 80's due to safety regulations or something like that. He didn't have any idea where that farm or whatever was, and he was certain he didn't WANT to know about the blackness. The others weren't that bad, just weird, but he shuddered when the blackness entered his thoughts.

The chill air in his room caused goose pimples to pop up all along his bare arms and legs, but he didn't notice as he curled up and wept.

Chapter 4: Revelations

The early morning sunlight penetrated the window of Miriam's bedroom, bathing everything in a muddy orange light as it filtered through the layers of curtains meant to keep it out. As he sat up and stretched, two thoughts drifted into his consciousness.

*It's Saturday.* That thought made him smile. *The Assembly.* A cold chill ran down his spine as the events of the last two days congealed.

"SHIT!"

<=====>

RINGRING! RINGRING!

RINGRING! RINGRING!

"Wha?" Cary tried to sort through the fuzz in his head to attach the sound he heard to some kind of logical interpretation.

RINGRING! RINGRING!

*Phone.*

RINGRING!

*I should answer that.*

RINGRING!

The droning of the phone was soon accompanied by the sound of his resumed snoring.

<=====>

Miriam dropped the phone back in the cradle, and tried to keep from screaming.

*What is going on! Why can't I remember what happened at the assembly, anyways? I thought you were supposed to be able to remember the things you saw, so why can't I?*

It had been a bad idea to try and phone Cary this early, he realized. After all, it's the weekend, he wouldn't be getting up until sometime around noon at the earliest. But who else was there he could talk to about this?

He picked the receiver back up, and dialed the number.

<=====>

"Hello?"

"Lindy? It's me, Miriam."

"Oh, hey!" *Finally!* "I was gonna call you last night, but I didn't get in from dance in time. Are you doing okay?"

"Yeah, I'm doing alright. Listen, I need to talk to you, and I need you to be straight with me. Where can we meet up?"

She really didn't like the way this conversation was going.

<=====>

After a quarter hour of nervous pacing, Miriam finally saw Lindy approaching The Banks from the opposite end of the trail from the side he'd come in from. "There you are!"

"Well, sorry, but I can't exactly just throw yesterday's jeans on!"

"Hey, neither did I!" He tried to calm the anxiety building up in his system before he snapped. "I, like, really don't have time to deal with this right now. I have to know just what's going on, Lindy. You and Cary know. I know you know, so there's no sense in trying to claim you don't."

He noticed her visibly cringe at his accusation, but by this point, he was over his normal aversion to making others uncomfortable. However, she was one of his best friends. "Lindy, please. I've got to know. I keep having these weird- flashbacks, I think. I'm remembering things that haven't happened to me, yesterday I even started talking like someone else! Please! Did something happen at the assembly or am I just going crazy?"

The look on her face showed the internal struggle she was going through. After what felt like an eternity, she at last seemed to come to a conclusion. "Miriam, I can't tell you. But before you blow up on me again," she said, as he started to say something rude, "I think we need to go see someone who may be able to help."

<=====>

"Dad, who called this morning?"

"I dunno." Ever since his mom left when he was six, Cary's dad had never seemed to really have any energy or interest in his son's life. It was just as well they'd moved, as with his on again off again employment there was no way Cary's father could have afforded the payments on their old house.

Without another word to his father, he went and checked the caller ID. "Crap, it was Miriam. Dad, I've gotta go."

"Later."

*Yeah, dad. Later.*

<=====>

After seeing the overacted and dramatic production that was The Amazing Gordon's stage show, Miriam had expected their destination to be some old, gaudy victorian house or an outdated warehouse filled with theatrical props or something. What he hadn't expected was the small, sterile room in an office complex they now stood in front of. His quick glance of disbelief was returned by Lindy just as the large, glass paned door swung open to reveal The Amazing Gordon himself. While not donning his stage outfit, his appearance was still suitably off kilter, with a tweed suit topped by an awful lime green bowler hat the likes of which had not been seen in many years. "Welcome, children, do come in." His slate eyes smiled at them from beneath his bushy brows and over greased hair, while his hat occupied his right hand as he bowed.

As they took in the inside of the office, they were just as surprised as they had been at its external appearance. Blank walls, with no furniture save a pair of leather chairs set in the center of the room opposite a low lounger. "Please do pardon the room, it is but a rental as I do not intend to be here long. Now, what assistance do you two require?" Miriam felt the man's gaze come to rest directly on him.

Miriam couldn't hold his fear in any more. "What happened to me Thursday! I wake up screaming, and nobody will tell me what's going on, then yesterday the stupid jocks start calling me a girl and all these names, and I keep remembering things that never happened, and all these weird dreams! What did you do to me!" He knew he was getting overexcited, but he had to get it out. The shouting helped him to feel better, and as he resumed breathing, he felt a little calmer than he had previously, though he couldn't help the tears that had begun slowly streaming down his face.

The look of pure sorrow that came over the old man's face shocked Miriam. "I was afraid this would happen. It was naive of me to believe a group of school children would be mature enough to heed my warnings. You must understand, what happened to you on stage was not planned, nor was it typical of such an act." Gordon motioned for Miriam and Lindy to take seats, as he lowered himself into one of the chairs. Miriam took the lounger, and Gordon began again. "What happened to you Thursday, Miriam, is not a common occurrence. While most people are capable of viewing events in their past lives through the eyes of their previous incarnations, you did much more than that. You absorbed the personalities and views of those you were looking through. In short, rather than merely seeing your past lives, you were truly reliving every moment you spent in any memory." He gave the two a moment to absorb this, and went on. "This caused some, well, interesting problems, because while to the inexperienced eye you were describing things that happened to others long ago, it meant I could not remove you from the hypnosis as I normally would have done."

"But, why not?"

"Because it might not have been you that I brought back to the modern day. If I were to simply bring you back, I could have permanently rewrote you as one of your pasts. I tried to take precautions, but when you started to slip, I had to act quickly, otherwise we could have lost you."

"You mean, when I woke up screaming?"

"Yes."

"What happened? I've been getting weird memories, but I don't know when or where they happened."

"I see. Because of your unique situation, I was afraid to advance you back too much at any time, so I did my best to go slow. I only let you have a glimpse at any one life, because the longer you stayed in one spot, the more problems I would have getting you out. I had gotten through two lives with very few problems, and everyone seemed to be quite enjoying your descriptions of events, but the third life I took you to was a different story." Gordon seemed to choke up at this point, and stopped talking.

"Please, go on, I need to know what happened."

"We heard you die," Lindy sighed softly from his other side, and he turned to see her near tears.

<=====>

"Yes?"

"Hey, Mrs. Loksley, is Miriam here?"

"No, sorry Cary, I think he went out to the park to talk to Lindy about something, he seemed pretty upset but he didn't want to talk to me about it."

*Dammit, I missed him! And by now I doubt they're at the park any more.* An idea struck him, and he quickly asked, "Would you mind if I borrowed your phone?"

"No, of course not!"

"Thanks!" He took the hand set she offered him, and dialed Lindy's cell number.

<=====>

Miriam stared at the girl and man sitting across from him in shock. "You can't be serious."

"I'm afraid it was all too serious. I had brought you back just as your spirit was leaving your body. You were dying of thirst and hunger, and I didn't have any choice but to pull you out as quickly as possible. I tried to take all precautions I could, but there wasn't enough time to do any foolproof permanent blocking, and after you were awake it was too late."

"So how does that explain things?"

"I managed to get you out, but I couldn't completely keep any of your older personalities and memories out. In most normal past life regressions it is for the recipient's benefit if they remember their experience, but in your case doing so would cause no end of problems, as you are beginning to realize."

"After you left, he explained to the rest of us what had happened, kinda. Everyone promised not to cause you any problems, but-" her cell phone ringing cut her off. "I've gotta get this, it's Cary."

The Amazing Gordon stood, and smiled down upon Miriam. "Well, I do believe that's quite enough excitement for one day. I've got appointments to work with now, so if you would," and he escorted both Miriam and Lindy out the door.

As Miriam walked out of the building with Lindy chattering away behind him, he remembered two important things the old man hadn't mentioned: How do I stop this, and why are all the memories as girls?

<=====>

"Yeah, I think we're gonna go eat now, it's been a long day already. Want to meet us for a quick meal at Pizza Hut about two?"

"Sure, I'll be there." Cary was just glad to get a hold of the two. From what Lindy said, Miriam was finally 'in the know' on what was going on, and could use some support now. Besides, he was starving.

Mrs. Loksley walked out of the kitchen and into the sitting room to check on him and with a worried look on her face asked him, "How are they?"

"They're fine." *Just been asking a hypnotist why Miriam's head's all messed up is all* he thought, but didn't add. "Thanks for the phone."

"Oh, you're welcome, honey. You're over here enough you don't even have to ask, you know that."

"Well, I gotta get going, we're meeting for Pizza in about half an hour, so I'll see you later. Good bye, Mrs. Loksley!"

"Goodbye, Cary, and please, how many times do I have to ask you, call me Felicity."

"All right, bye Felicity." He called back. He loved her like a mom, but appreciated that she'd never asked him to call her that. It still had too much of a sour note for him.

He began the walk towards the part of town where Pizza Hut was, the happiness to be seeing his friends outside of school counterbalanced by the thought of the talk they would probably be having when he got there.

Chapter 5: Phantoms

Their veggie pizza arrived at their booth just as Miriam and Lindy finished filling Cary in on their talk with Gordon. "And what would you like, sir?"

"Oh, uh, small meat lover's, please."

"Coming up." The waitress smiled as she turned around to get his pie.

"I don't see how you two eat that veggie junk. It isn't pizza without sausage or pepperoni."

"Yeah, well. So, what do you think I should do?" Miriam was feeling stressed out, but at least now he had the two people he trusted most in the world nearby, ready to help.

"Well," Cary began around a mouthful of stolen 'veggie junk', "the way I see it, there really isn't anything you CAN do. I'm sorry, but I think your best bet is just to ride this out."

"But," Miriam could feel the embarrassment rising to his cheeks. He didn't want to have to tell them about the memory by the river, but it seemed the only way to stress to them what was happening. "It's more than just memories coming back. I mean, I feel what I felt- the other people felt, when they happened. Like the other day by the river."

"What about the river?"

"Well," *God this is embarrassing,* "I remembered sitting on the rock pier, you know, out at The Banks? With my... my... boyfriend."

Cary's eyes widened into saucers. "Oh," he managed to squeak.

Lindy was confused. "Yeah, so? I do that all the time. It's no biggie."

"But it is to ME! I mean, I'm a boy, and here I am thinking about how much I wanted another boy to kiss me!" The restaurant went deathly quiet. *I probably shouldn't have yelled that out loud.*

<=====>

"GAHahahaha!"

"Oh, sure, ha ha. I'm glad you're finding this funny!"

"Come on, Miriam! That was CLASSIC! And when that really cute waiter grabbed your ass on the way out!" She couldn't hold it back any more, and the giggles returned. Cary was incapable of coherent speech, and merely stood off to the side, slapping his knee and trying to get his breath back between fits.

"Guys!" Miriam tried not to, but the smile appeared at the same time the blush reached his ears. At least they had managed to make it outside before starting.

<=====>

"So, where to now? I don't have to be home until nine thirty or so, which gives us a good... six hours until I need to start thinking about getting back."

"I don't really care, just as long as you don't let me do anything like THAT again."

"Can't promise that, buddy, but we'll do our best."

Miriam just sighed. "How about the shopping center?" This met with agreement from both of the other teens.

"Sounds good, I need to look for a new bag anyways, I ripped mine open on the teacher's desk the other day when I did that handstand."

"No, you ripped it yesterday when you were trying to put that blacklight bulb in the terrarium during Biology," Lindy corrected him. Miriam couldn't help but think he missed something good after going home early the day before.

"Oh, yeah." The smirk on Cary's face said it all. "I swear to you, if he'd just let me do it the snakes would have looked SO COOL."

<=====>

As usual for a Saturday afternoon, the Robins Lake Shopping Center was packed with teenagers with nothing to do and allowance to do it with. "Come on, 'Peterson's' has the backpack I need," Cary told the other two as he started off towards the store.

"Oh, come on, Cary! You can't just rush off and buy what you came here for!"

"Why not? Isn't that why we're here?"

"Well, yeah, but that isn't how you do it! You've gotta shop around, check what all the stores are carrying and-" Lindy's words were cut off by a hand across her mouth.

"And give you a chance to look at clothes, right? No way." Cary smirked, having thwarted the shopping demon's plans.

"Ooh."

"What?"

It was beautiful. It was rare that 'Greenway Fashions' had anything good in their window, but there was no denying the perfection on display. The gorgeous blue satin was perfectly offset by the lace at the hem and neckline, while the full petticoats made the skirts of the ballgown flare enticingly. Miriam's eyes were glued to the dress.

"Hmm, pretty, but I don't think it suits you."

"Wha? Oh, geez, not again!" As he jerked himself away from the window display, he felt incredibly embarrassed. First memories, and now he was wanting a dress? A nearby planter offered a moment to sit, and the tears began to flow.

"Maybe we should leave. I can get my bag another day."

"NO! We're not leaving on my account! Just hold on a moment."

"Miriam, are you okay?" Lindy asked as she sat down gingerly next to the distraught boy. "You've been really moody for the last few days, even before all this happened."

"Yeah, I mean, you're usually all quiet and like 'Oh, I'm so shy' but the last couple of weeks you've been kinda short tempered."

"I don't know, I've just been having weird mood swings lately. One moment I'll be fine, the next I'll be all wanting to cry. I just don't understand, and to top it off with all this, I mean, it's just like way too much right now."

"Hmm," Lindy grinned. "Sounds an awful lot like puberty to me."

Cary caught on quickly, and smiled as well. "Heh, yeah, I remember all too well. The getting angry all the time, the growth spurts, the weird hair and all that."

"Well, of course you do, they started when, last year for you?"

"Duh. That's why I remember them."

Even Miriam had to roll his eyes, but at least he'd stopped crying. "Thanks, guys, but I don't think I'm gonna wake up in the morning six foot tall with a goatee." He shivered at the thought.

"What?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing, just grossed out by the idea of having facial hair 's all. Sorry I've been so moody and stuff, I'll try to do better."

"No! Don't try to hide your emotions! That will just hurt you more! Just, let us try to help, okay?" Lindy's worry touched Miriam, and he felt another tear track down his already streaked face.

Cary took one of Miriam's arms while Lindy took the other, and the three sat and contemplated what to do.

"I'll be find, guys, seriously. It's just confusing, I mean, I saw that dress and the first thing I thought was 'That would look heavenly on me'. I was thinking about wearing it to a party at the plantation. But you know what's the most confusing of all? I don't even have any clue where 'the plantation' is! These memories and things are really doing a number on my head. I don't know, I have no idea what they're even about half the time, and that's the worst part. How can I handle something when not only do I not know where it comes from, but I can't even notice when it starts?"

Neither Lindy nor Cary could answer him.

<=====>

"Too bad they didn't have the blue one they had last week, but I guess gray isn't too bad either." Cary's adjusted the straps on his new pack as they began the trek back to Miriam's house.

"Like it matters what color it is, it'll be so dirty by the end of the week you won't be able to tell anyways."

"Hey, I'm not THAT bad!"

"Hyeah, right! What did you do first day with your old one?"

"That wasn't my fault! Prince ran into me and knocked it off my shoulder!"

"Maybe, but it was still covered in mud, and you could have wiped it off at some point."

"And lost the battle scars? No way!"

"You two! Can't you keep away from each other's throats for one afternoon, please?"

Miriam felt bad for yelling, like he always did. "Sorry, but I can't deal with it right now."

"Hey, man, 'zokay. Lindy, shut up."

"Cary! You little-" Cary managed to miss her strike, but his momentum sent him crashing to the ground, and his bag flying into a nearby puddle.

"Guys!"

<=====>

The rest of the journey home was uneventful, and after quick goodbyes Miriam was left alone.

*Why me? Is this some kind of karmic revenge for something I did in a past life?*

The realization of what he'd just asked himself caused him to chuckle as he weaved his way down the hall. *Surely with the way things are going I'd remember something like that.*

"Miriam, sweetie, is that you?"

*Sigh.* "Yes, Mom. I just got home."

As she looked around the door frame from his parent's room, the look of concern on her face was obvious. "Is something wrong? You seemed upset this morning, and you haven't called home all day."

"I know, Mom. Sorry about that, but I was kinda out of it all day. I'll try to be better tomorrow."

She frowned. "Honey, is there something going on? Are you in trouble?"

"No, Mom. Can we drop this, please?" He didn't like to whine, but the sooner he was in his room the better. *Just don't start crying in front of her.*

"Okay... good night, sweetheart."

" 'Night, Mom."

His door closed just as his restraint ran out. With a pillow muffling his sobs, Miriam did his best to get to sleep.

<=====>

"Bill?"

"What, honey. Is something the matter, you look upset?"

"I'm worried about Miriam. He's been acting oddly the last few days, and..."

"Oh, that. I wouldn't worry about it too much. You remember being a teenager, sometimes you feel like a completely different person that you normally are."

"I guess."

"I'm sure it's nothing. Now come on, get some sleep."

"Yeah, nothing. I love you."

"I love you too."

<=====>

Again, Miriam found himself in the gray light. *How did I get here again?*

#I have brought you here.#

*Well, I kind of figured that. What this time, trying to wreck my life more than you already have?*

#You must know who you are.#

Miriam stamped his foot in frustration. *I do know who I am! And who I am is me! Not these... these... girls you keep making me think I am!*

#They are you. You are them. One forever.#

*But why do this to me?*

#You must learn who you are. What is wrong will be made right. The new shall become the old, and the old shall make the new complete.#

*WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!*

#You will learn.#