Previously…

‘I just want to be treated as an ordinary girl.’

Marcia laughed.

‘Ordinary, you will never be. You are the heir to a fortune, you have changed into a very pretty girl and that is just for starters. When you are a bit older, you will constantly in the news and everything that you do and say and wear will be scrutinised. Do you think that you will be able to cope?’

I looked at her and then at Daddy and Auntie.

‘I will just have to won’t I.’

‘Way to go girl; that told her!’

I just wished that I was actually as confident as I sounded.

And now the story concludes…

The interview wasn’t that bad really; Marcia was quite nice and she didn’t ask me any awkward questions. I don’t think that Daddy or Auntie would have let her put me on the spot anyway.

As agreed, there were no pictures taken of me. The last thing I wanted was for pictures of me floating around. Privacy was important to me as well as my father. He was in the public eye too much as it was, but that’s the price you pay when you are as rich and powerful as he was.

The reaction to the interview was interesting. My school were somewhat surprised at my almost miraculous gender change. The few boys that were my friends (although the term friend could be stretching it a bit) emailed me to say that they were cool about it, which kind of surprised me, but there you go.

In the media, rumours spread like wildfire about what I looked like and there was speculation as to whether I was going to be as my beautiful as my mother. They dug up a few old photos of when Hannah and I were small but they looked nothing like I was now.

We had to be careful about where I could go. When out, I used a different name, Emily and my mother’s surname, Clarke. Also, I tended to wear a baseball cap that hid my features a bit. I think that it helped because no one caught on as to who I was. Julia was my constant shadow and I had other people who were neither seen nor heard, looking after me and it was some comfort that I had that sort of protection, even though it was at the expense of my privacy.

A few weeks passed. Daddy had to go off to several countries on a whistle-stop tour to promote his latest and greatest tablet and smart watch combo. From what I heard, it was a game changer and it put Daddy’s company right up there with the biggest IT players. Nice for Daddy, but to me, it meant that he would spend even more time away from me.

I wasn’t one to dwell on things though and I was reasonably happy as I now had Hannah with me permanently, all be it inside my head, and both she and I grew even closer to Auntie Brenda, who knew all about us and supported us as much as she could.

We had all decided that when my father came home from his latest trip, we or rather I, would talk to him about what had happened and the fact that Hannah wasn’t really dead but living inside me and sharing my body. I had no idea how that would go, and I just hoped that he didn’t think that I had flipped or something.

Auntie said that she would be there for me and support me in anything I said and that was a great comfort and helped reduce the possibility of too many sleepless nights.

In the mean time I got on with my life and so did Hannah. I went for many bike rides (despite Hannah’s strenuous objections) and improved my times over various distances. Sometimes I went out with the cycling club as Emily Tilney, cousin to George, who just happened to have moved away to London. All these different names could get a bit confusing, but somehow I managed and I was accepted at face value as being a lot prettier than George. I wasn’t sure if I was being insulted!

It was coming to the time when a school was to be chosen for me. I could have gone away to boarding school like Hannah had, but I wanted to live at home. There was a nice private school about twenty-five miles away known as St Swithin’s Girls School. It had a good name and in fact that was one of the schools that my parents looked at for Hannah before it was decided that she should go to the school in Switzerland where she could go skiing. There wasn’t much skiing in Cornwall!

Daddy came home for just one day and we went to the school to see the head mistress. As I didn’t have two heads and was quite clever, I had no problems about being enrolled. From what I saw of the school, it was nice and the girls seemed at least more human than not! The school had all the facilities expected of a very expensive and exclusive school and Hannah seemed to think that it wasn’t a bad dump!

I was due to join the school at the beginning of the new term which started in just two weeks. To be honest, I was looking forward to it, as I was getting a bit bored being at home, even though I had the company of Hannah and we lived in such a wonderful place. I had always liked studying, boring as that may sound; I had a thirst for knowledge that I must have got from my parents.

Daddy came home from his trip just three days before I was due to start school. I had been sort of dreading it. I was pleased that he had come home, of course, but I had made a promise to Auntie that I would speak to him when he arrived home and I always kept my promises.

‘Don’t worry,’ said Hannah, ‘I’ll be there and so will Auntie,’

‘It’s still me that has to do the talking. I can just imagine it, “Oh, Daddy, by the way, funny thing, but Hannah’s here inside me, so don’t worry. Also I think that the reason I changed into a girl was because of my friendship necklace”, he’s going to think that I’m as nutty as a fruitcake.’

‘Not all fruitcakes are nutty,’ said Hannah unhelpfully.

_*_

As I sat with Daddy that evening eating dinner, I wondered how I could broach the subject. I was convinced that he would think that all the pressure had got to me and that he should call in a team of shrinks. I wasn’t very hungry, even though dinner was my favourite, bangers (sausages) and mash with onion gravy.

Daddy, who ate anything that wasn’t actually wriggling on the plate, soon finished his meal and sat back with satisfaction on his face.

‘That was nice. You don’t know what it’s like to come back and eat some good, old fashioned English grub after living off some of the foreign muck I have had to over the past month or so. Not hungry Sophie?’

I looked up at him. It was now or never. Before I was able to say anything, Auntie came into the room to clear off the plates. How did she do that; not come into the room, but know that I was going to tell my father about what had happened?

I took a deep breath.

‘Daddy, can we talk?’

‘Of course honey. Do you want to wait until Brenda goes?’

‘No, she knows what I’m going to say.’

‘This all sounds a bit mysterious; you aren’t in trouble, are you?’

‘No, of course not...’

‘Come on sis, spill the beans.’

‘Quiet Hannah, let me do this my way.’ I said in my head.

Looking at the expression on Auntie’s face, she had tuned into our conversation.

‘Well, what’s up?’ said Daddy.

I looked at him and my resolve nearly faltered and then somehow I got some strength and I carried on.

I looked around. This wasn’t the right place to spill the beans.

‘Daddy, can we go up to my room, I want to show you something.’

‘Of course; do you want Brenda to come too?’

‘Yes please.’

Nothing much was said as we walked up to my room. I think that Daddy and Brenda discussed the weather for some reason, but that was it.

When we finally arrived, we all sat down. Daddy in an armchair, Brenda on the sofa and I sat on my bed.

‘Right Sophie, what’s all this about? If you have done something wrong or you are worried about something, don’t concern yourself, we can always sort it out.’

I looked at Auntie, who gave me look of encouragement.

‘Go for it sis!’

‘Daddy, what I’m going to tell you is unbelievable and could upset you. Auntie knows all about this and I swear to you that what I am about to say is absolutely true.’

I didn’t look at him but just played with the hem of my skirt as I started to explain what had happened.

‘You know that I have a pendant, a friendship one?’

‘Yes, one half was yours and the other part was Hannah’s. Marie and I had one each too.’

He fingered his t-shirt and I could see the outline of his pendant. He, like I, obviously wore it all the time. For some reason, that made me feel emotional for a moment.

I cleared my throat and continued.

‘I always wore mine and after the crash, as you know, Hannah’s pendant was found in the wreckage and then given to me. It was strange; it was unmarked and looked as good as new. Mind you, I never looked at it after that one time, it was too upsetting.

‘Anyway, on my birthday I somehow felt the need to look at it a few times; probably because I was missing Hannah, especially on the special day of our birthday. It was all that I could to put it away in its box again and leave it.

Occasionally that day, I fingered my pendant around my neck and I found that it was strangely warm, warmer than my skin, I mean. I thought nothing more of it and spent the rest of the day doing the usual things, but I did notice that my pendant appeared to continue getting warmer, not uncomfortably so, but I could definitely feel it.

‘After dinner, I went back into my room and changed into a, erm, nightie; sorry Daddy, I always wore girlie clothes when I was alone and knew that I wouldn’t be disturbed.’

He smiled.

‘That’s okay; I kind of guessed that you would. Remember, we had known about your dressing habits for years.’

I smiled ruefully but carried on. Now I had started I just wanted to get it over and done with.

‘After changing, I stood by the window and looked at the sunset and I was deep in thought, thinking of you, the boat for some reason, our family and things like that. Once again my fingers went to my pendant and necklace. I must admit that I was getting a bit tearful by now; not a nice thing on my birthday. Anyway, I had the sudden urge to go over to the drawer and look at Hannah’s pendant yet again. Taking it out of the box, I felt that strange warmth that shouldn’t be there and here’s the weird thing, it seemed to glow slightly.

‘I felt the overpowering need to put it around my neck along with my one I had and I did it without thinking. As soon as I put it on, the pendants seemed to come together like magnets. There was a flash of blinding light and a huge gust of wind coming from God knows where. I was nearly thrown off my feet and I was beginning to feel very strange and not in a good way. I felt that I had to sleep, and so, shivering, I lay down on the bed and was asleep in seconds. Don’t look at me that way Daddy, I’m telling the truth.’

‘Are you sure that you didn’t dream all this, being upset about your mum and sister not being there for you on your birthday and you missing them?’

‘No, what happened did happen. Look at this.’

I showed him the locket with both halves now as one. He said nothing but handed it back to me.

‘Please let me keep on with my story,’ I said, ‘it gets even weirder. As I slept, I kept having funny dreams or I thought there were dreams. It was about Hannah and the crash, I felt like I was somehow with Mummy in the plane just before the crash then everything went black and after that, Hannah seemed to be trying to talk to me but she was a long way away. It was very confusing but felt so real at the time. Eventually I woke up but was still feeling very strange. Then I heard a voice from a long way off coming nearer and nearer. I recognised the voice it was Hannah...’

‘What do you mean, it was Hannah; were you still dreaming or something?’

I looked at him and the doubts and confusion was etched on his face. I could almost hear the gears in his brain working overtime; thinking maybe that his daughter might have a screw loose, lost her marbles or something?

‘I wasn’t dreaming Daddy, I was awake. It was Hannah and she was inside my head. No, don’t say anything let me finish.’

‘Yes Robert,’ said Auntie, ‘let her finish and for goodness sake stop interrupting. You aren’t at a board meeting now, you know.’

I don’t think that Daddy would except that sort of criticism from anyone else, but Auntie Brenda was a one off and you didn’t mess with her, if you knew what was good for you!

‘Yea, go Auntie!’ exclaimed Hannah in my head.

Daddy smiled ruefully, put his hands up in surrender and mouthed sorry.

I wanted to get over this before I broke down, so I hurried on before he could say anything else and while I had the courage to tell him.

‘Where was I? Oh yes, I could hear Hannah inside my head and she was real. I don’t know how it happened but it did. She been inside my head ever since. On top of that, my body started changing into a girl the day after all this happened and you know that the doctors have no idea how this happened, but I know, it was because my body was changing into the person I would have been if I had been born a girl.’

‘So you’re telling me that Hannah is inside you now?’

‘Yes.’

‘I don’t believe it, your imagination...’

‘Robert, she is telling the truth.’

‘How do you know Brenda, oh yes, your silly ideas about life after death, séances and nonsense like that.’

‘Daddy please listen to me.’ I cried.

He turned me with a look I couldn’t fathom.

‘Sophie, you have been under a lot of strain at the moment...’

‘I know I have but I’m telling you the truth, just ask me something, anything that Hannah knows but I don’t.’

He was breathing heavily, obviously upset about what we were talking about.

‘Right, you persist in this nonsense so I will ask Hannah this. A few minutes before...before the final flight that killed her; she rang me from the departure lounge. What did she say to me?’

‘I’ll let Hannah take over my voice...yes Daddy she can do that and a lot more besides. Hannah, do your stuff.’

I relaxed and Hannah started speaking.

‘Hi Daddy, this is strange talking to you like this, but the answer to your question is easy. You said that you loved me and you were looking forward to seeing me again and you said that I wasn’t to tell George, but as a surprise, you were going to arrange glider lessons for us both and if we liked it, you would buy one for each for us. And you also said that as I knew that Mummy hated flying, I was to look after her and hold her hand when we took off and landed and I did that Daddy when we took off, but as...as...we c...c...crashed we were hugging each other as much as we could wearing seat belts. Oh t...take over Sophie.’

I was crying too now and it took a moment to gather myself. Brenda had come over and was hugging me. She was saying something to Daddy, but I didn’t catch it.

Something of what Daddy was saying got through to me as he spoke to Auntie.

‘I don’t understand. It’s impossible, No-one except Hannah and I knew about the gliders; I never even told Marie, as she had a thing about flying and only ever flew when she had to. I never told George...Sophie and didn’t bring it up after the funeral; it was too upsetting, especially after the way Marie and Hannah died.’

‘There more in heaven and on Earth than we will ever know about Robert. I have the gift, something that you never believed in, but I knew that something wasn’t quite right even after I knew of the crash and all those poor people that perished. Sophie and yes Hannah came to me and I was able to tap into their consciousness and although what you have heard is hard to believe, it’s all true. Didn’t you think it strange that almost overnight, George changed from a boy to a girl? There have been cases like this in the past, but nothing like this over such a short space of time.

‘When George was born, there was no doubt in anyone mind that he was a boy, just as there was no mistake that Hannah was a girl. You had a medical staff at the top of their profession looking after Marie during the pregnancy and then at and after the birth of the twins. No mistake was made then. George turning into Sophie, a real one hundred percent girl, was no accident. I’m sure that it’s all connected with the crash and Hannah coming back and living inside Sophie was no strange coincidence but part of everything that has happened. ‘I don’t profess to know why it has happened, but both you and have to accept it and move on, just like Sophie and Hannah have.’

Auntie, with one final fierce hug, let me go and moved back to the settee. I wiped my eyes with a tissue. I knew that Hannah was still there and hadn’t just gone off somewhere, but I also knew that she was too upset to speak.

Daddy looked as white as a sheet, as if everything that he believed in had been turned upside down. He went over to the window and looked out onto the garden and the sea beyond. After a moment he seemed to stiffen a bit and then turned back to us.

‘I...I...I have been having some dreams lately about Marie and Hannah too. I can’t remember much, but it was as if they were talking to me from afar and just couldn’t reach me or come nearer so that I could understand what they were saying.’

I went over and gave him a hug.

He took out the necklace and pendant from under his t-shirt and I could see that it was almost identical to the ones that Hannah and I had except I saw that they said toge fore.

‘When combined with Marie’s pendant they say together forever. They sent Marie’s one back and I have looked at it several times. It’s always bright and clean and doesn’t look like it has been in a crash. Funny this feels quite hot.’

Auntie got up and walked over to us. She touched the pendant and then let go quickly.

‘It does feel hot and there’s something else...I feel a presence. Robert, where is the other pendant?’

‘In my room.’

‘Can you go and get it...no let’s go together. The sooner this is sorted out the better.’

‘You mean...’ I asked.

‘I don’t know what I mean, all I do know is that this business isn’t finished yet and we need to see that pendant...now!’

We left my room, went up the flight of stairs that led to the penthouse, where my parents rooms were. Daddy was strangely quiet but kept holding his pendant. He seemed to be in almost dreamlike state similar to the one I felt before all this happened. Almost as if he wasn’t in control any more. It was a bit frightening to see as Daddy was always in control.

‘What’s going on?’ asked Hannah, sounding a bit frightened.

‘I don’t know.’ I replied, as much in the dark as anyone else.

We followed Daddy into the bedroom. It was a vast one with floor to ceiling windows and an even better view of the garden and the coast beyond than Hannah and I had in our rooms.

Daddy went over to his bedside table and pulled a box out. I immediately recognised it as being identical to the box that I had kept Hannah’s pendant in before it had become fused with mine.

With shaking hands, he pulled the necklace and pendant out of the box.

‘It’s warm and glowing, l...look.’

He held it out and we could all see that he was telling the truth.

He took off his necklace and was about to join it with Mummy’s when Auntie shouted, ‘NO!’

We all jumped at the sound of her voice that sounded upset.

‘You must not do that. There’s something else you must do.’

‘What?’ asked Daddy, ‘If there’s any chance that I can get my Marie back, I want to try it.’

Auntie closed her eyes for a moment.

‘Sophie,’ said Hannah, ‘I’m scared, what if I go away when Daddy joins the pendants?’

‘It won’t happen. You were brought back to me for a reason. I don’t know why, but I’m sure that something good is going to happen. Trust Auntie, she’s never let us down.’

Auntie suddenly opened her eyes and looked at me.

‘Sophie, take your necklace off, quickly; we need to get this done soon.’

‘What?’ I asked.

‘Never mind, just trust me,’ she said almost echoing the words I had just said to Hannah.

I did as she asked. Daddy was holding the two halves of his and Mummy’s pendant and I could see that he was struggling with himself and that he couldn’t understand what was going on; that made two of us.

‘Sophie, Robert, what I want you to do is join all the pieces of the pendants together. Do it now, before it’s too late. You only have a moment. DO IT NOW!’

‘SOPHIE!’ screamed my sister

‘Hannah,’ I screamed at the same time, as the hand holding my pendant was invisibly pulled towards Daddy’s hands. All parts of the pendant were joined as his hands came into contact with mine.

There was a loud clap of thunder and it felt like I had been struck by lightning as a shock went through my body and I blacked out to the sound of Hannah and my screams.

I awoke to the sound of an alarm. My eyes tried to focus but everything was blurry for a moment.

Then I could see clearly. I was in a plane and it was bucking about all over the place.

I was sitting next to my father and he looked a bit scared. Beyond Daddy, sat dressed in school uniform was my sister Hannah and there, by the window was Mummy looming more scared than I had ever seen her. What was happening; was this some sort of awful nightmare? Looking down, I could see that I was wearing the same uniform as Hannah. I was still a girl. This didn’t seem like a dream, it all looked and felt real but even in my confused state, I knew that dreams can seem very real...

BING BONG

‘Ladies and gentlemen, we are experiencing a little turbulence at the moment, but it’s nothing to be concerned about. There is some heavy weather to the east and we are re-routing to avoid the worst of it. Please do not your seat for any reason and keep your seat belts fastened. There are bags in the pouch in front of you if you need them. If you have any questions, please ask an attendant. Thank you.’

‘This is unreal,’ I thought, ‘What am I doing here. Am I dreaming?’

Suddenly I remembered what had occurred in Daddy’s bedroom when we joined hands and the pendants came together...

I pinched myself and I could feel the pain. Did you feel pain when dreaming? Daddy was sitting beside me and there was Hannah and Mummy. Why was I wearing the school uniform; what was going on and why was the plane bucking about across the sky like that?

‘Don’t worry Sophie, I’ve been through turbulence before and it’s harmless,’ said Daddy with a strained smile. Being a pilot he knew about these things and it gave me some comfort but still didn’t make me feel much better because I still wasn’t sure what the hell was happening.

It didn’t help much that both Hannah and Mummy were using the sick bags and suddenly, I felt the need too!

After heaving up whatever I had eaten at breakfast, my new reality kicked in. I just knew that this wasn’t a dream, it was all too real.

Glancing out of the window, I could see the white craggy peaks of mountains, jumping about all over the place. An optical illusion, as I knew that it was the plane and not the mountains that were jumping about.

I wanted to dwell on the fact that somehow Mummy and Hannah were actually alive, but it was all I could do to worry about the way the plane was acting, rather than going into the deep meaning of all that was happening and why I and Daddy were actually on the plane.

Suddenly the plane dropped like stone and there were screams coming from around the plane as everyone reacted to what was happening. The mountains seemed to be coming awfully close. Hannah was terrified; Mummy looked beyond that, almost in a shocked state. Daddy looked grim, but he smiled when I looked at him.

‘Don’t worry everyone, it’s just turbulence. The crew are trained for this.’

The plane righted itself and everyone gave a collective sigh of relief.

BING BONG

‘Sorry about that,’ said the captain in a calm, reassuring voice, ‘I hope that some of you have been able to keep your lunch down. We will now be climbing and banking to get out of the way of the storm, which developed quickly and was unexpected; but happens, sometimes over the mountains. As soon as its safe, we’ll let you get up and have a stretch, in the mean time...’

There was a noise from the left outside like something hitting the wing and then the plane dropped like a stone again and this time it was worse. The plane went into a dive. Everyone started screaming again as the angle got steeper and steeper. Air masks suddenly dropped out from above and we could hear the screaming of the engines as the pilots tried to get control of the stricken aircraft.

With horror, I realised that I was experiencing what Mummy and Hannah had.

We were going to crash.

All of us.

‘Put your heads down and cover them with your arms,’ shouted Daddy to all of us.

We did as he said and I started wondering why all this had happened. What was the point of it all?

The engines were screeching. Something was being said over the loud speaker but I couldn’t hear what was being said. The screams were horendous. Our angle steepened if anything and I just waited for the end. Daddy’s hand felt for mine and I grabbed it and I felt that he was holding Hannah’s who in turn was holding Mummy’s. It gave me a bit of comfort to know that at least we were all together.

The plane bucked and threw us to the left and right. The angle of the plane grew steeper still and it was just a matter of time before the end. I just hoped that when the end did come, we wouldn’t feel anything and maybe, just maybe, we would end up in a better place, together...

Suddenly, the plane stopped dropping and we seemed to fly level for a few moments and then with the engines still screaming, we gradually, but with increasing speed, started to climb again. We all looked out of the windows and saw, just beneath us, the jagged peaks of the mountains, seemingly so close that we could almost touch them.

We all looked at each other and wondered if it was over...

BING BONG

‘Ladies and gentlemen, sorry that you have all had a rough experience just now. We thought that we were through the worst of it, but it appears that a bird flew into one of the port engines at the same time as we hit more turbulence. Let me assure you that this is an extremely rare occurrence, in fact in all the years that I have been flying this is the first time that this particular set of circumstance has happened to me. We are now flying at reduced engine capacity but this aircraft is designed to fly with two engines and it should not cause us a problem. It might still be a bit rough for a while, due to residue turbulence, but it’s nothing we can’t handle. We will now proceed to land at the nearest suitable airport, which is Lyon for an aircraft inspection. We request that you keep your seatbelts on until we land. Thank you for your patience.’

It was a bit rough for a while with the turbulence but it was a picnic compared to what had happened before.

‘Well,’ said Daddy, ‘that was fun.’

‘That was not fun Robert,’ said Mummy crossly, ‘the girls were terrified and so was I.’

I looked at Hannah, who still looked a bit green about the gills as no doubt, I did too. I wanted to talk to her but it was difficult. I wondered what had happened and how Daddy and I found ourselves on the plane with Mummy and her, but I didn’t have the opportunity to say anything. Daddy did not seem at all phased by the fact that we were on the plane it suddenly dawned on me that he had no remembrance of what had happened in his bedroom. I wondered if Hannah was aware too. Looking at her, I was sure that she had no idea.

I had a thought.

‘Daddy,’ I asked.

‘Yes honey?’

‘What date is it?’

‘The second of July.’

‘What year.’

‘Are you alright Sophie?’

‘Yes, but please Daddy, what’s the year?’

He smiled and shook his head.

‘Two thousand and twelve, of course.’

I was stunned.

I had gone back into the past!

It took a moment to take in that information.

‘Are you sure that you are okay Sophie, you look very pale?’

‘No Daddy, I’m fine, honest.’

He smiled, seemingly reassured and then turned to Hannah and spoke to her, as I attempted to get myself back together again after shocking news.

I had gone back in time

Whilst no-one was looking, I touched down below.

No tell-tale penis or scrotum.

I scratched my breast; it was smaller than before, just little nubs really and they were rather itchy and tender.

I was a girl, no doubt about it.

This was beyond strange.

We landed at Lyon. There were countless fire engines, ambulances and other rescue vehicles on the side of the runway, but they weren’t needed as the pilots landed the plane very carefully and extremely gently.

Everyone on board clapped with relief and to give thanks to the crew who had managed to get us back onto the ground without anything untoward happening.

Another flight was being arranged for the passengers as our plane was now not usable. Two hours later we were on another plane bound for England, first class this time. I had much more room and spent the time looking out of the window and watching the clouds go by.

You may be wondering what my thoughts were, now that I had more time to think about what had occurred.

I suppose that up until then, I had just accepted things without thinking too much. I had been in shock because of the trauma of the near plane crash and the thoughts of my circumstances had been put on hold. One crisis at a time, I suppose. I remembered what had happened to Mummy and Hannah and I had assumed, when I found myself on their plane with Daddy, that for some unknown quirk of fate, Daddy and I were going to crash with Hannah and Mummy. But it didn’t happen like that.

We survived with everyone else and the crash never happened.

After the shock came the delirious happiness that my family were back together again. I got tearful and hugged everyone. My parents thought that it was just shock, but it wasn’t that, I had been given another chance of having my whole family together again and wanted to make the most of it. The fact that I was now a girl, made it all the stranger, but the weird thing was, I didn’t feel strange about that. It was almost as if George was the dream and Sophie was the reality.

We landed at Heathrow and then flew to Newquay Airport. Our car was waiting for us and we just drove home, tired but looking forward to arriving.

I sat in the back of the Jag with Hannah.

‘It’s good that we are off school for six weeks.’ said Hannah enthusiastically.

‘Is it...oh yea, it is.’ I replied.

‘Are you okay Soph, you’ve been a bit strange?’

‘Strange, what do you mean?’

‘Well, at school you were all bubbly about getting home and on that flipping bike of yours, but you haven’t said a word since we got back.’

‘I don’t know. Still about upset about nearly crashing, I suppose?’

‘Daddy said that there wasn’t any real danger. Funny, you are normally fine about flying. Anyway I can’t wait to taste Margaret’s yummy cooking.’

‘Margaret? You mean Brenda, don’t you?’

‘Who’s Brenda?’

Nearly two years passed and I was no nearer to understanding what happened. I was the only one who remembered that I had ever been George; everyone else thought and believed that I had always been Sophie, identical twin to Hannah.

It’s funny, I sometimes had recollections of growing up as Sophie; children’s parties and wearing little girl dresses, stuff like that, but I still recall being George and pretending to be a girl and playing dressing up games with Hannah. I also remembered Auntie Brenda, although nobody else did.

I should have been more upset about my parents and sister not remembering George, but somehow it didn’t seem to matter as we were all together again and for that, I was thankful.

I have grown a bit now and Hannah and I have lost much of our puppy fat as Daddy used to annoyingly call it. My breasts and body shape are that of a normal, early teenage girl. I and Hannah still look like two peas in a pod and no-one except Mummy and Daddy can tell us apart if we wear the same clothes.

One day, I was on my bike and going quite well. Hannah was, as usual doing her million laps of the pool and declined to join me.

‘Too sweaty by half,’ she said disdainfully as she pulled on her cozzy.

Julia, my bodyguard who was a rider like me was up ahead. We were doing one of those ‘chase me’ type of rides where we took turns to see if we could catch the other.

At discrete distance behind, I knew that there was a Range Rover, with other members of my protection team in it, making sure that I was safe from possible harm. I had grown up with this type of thing and it no longer bothered me.

Up ahead was a junction and we had the right of way. Julia had just crossed it. It was a downhill section and I knew that it was a little used road. I increased my speed and was doing close to forty miles an hour. Approaching the junction, I should have slowed down, even though I had right of way, but6 I was caught up in the fun of the chase and I was my fathers’ daughter, I hated to lose. Anyway, there I was, about a hundred yards from the junction, head down to get that extra bit of speed. I looked down at my Garmin and saw that I was now doing 43 and I was well pleased. Then I glanced up and a figure was in the road, just in front of the junction.

A woman.

She was holding her up hand.

It was Auntie Brenda!

I pulled on my brakes as if my life depended upon it; which come to think of it, it did.

My bike slewed around and was facing the other way and I could see the long skid marks where I had done my emergency braking. I could see the Range Rover coming up swiftly and stopping about thirty yards away. My heart was racing and I was short of breath. I turned my bike around just in time to see a lorry rush across the junction right about the time I was going to be there if I hadn’t have stopped.

Auntie Brenda was nowhere to be seen.

Was it just luck that made me stop in time?

I didn’t think so.

I appeared to have a guardian angel and she was called Auntie Brenda.