Eden's Reality

A small 14 year old boy plans on escaping his abusive father and the house where he grew up in by moving to a boarding school with his two best friends, but on the night before he leaves something unexpected happens, and he wakes up the next day as a girl. The woman who he thinks responsible appears, but she's not as helpful as he'd expected

All feedback is very, very much appreciated :)

I am sorry for how long this took to get out. I've had a horrible couple of weeks and it's December so everything's been busy in good and bad ways. Plus this chapter was really frustrating to get right in my head and it took me ages for it to flow properly. I re-wrote it about five times before being happy with it and I'm so glad it's over and I can move on! Wah!

Chapter 8

It took a moment for Yani’s presence to fully sink in through my tired mind, but once it did I gasped and jumped to my feet.

‘Oh my god! You!’ I said stupidly and stared down at her as she slowly looked me over, her eyes dark and tired. ‘You’re real!’

‘I am. Unfortunately.’ she muttered and wiped some drops of sweat from her forehead. She was so tall that even kneeling down I was just barely taller than her, which I think was part of why she’d seemed so unearthly before. Now that we were face-to-face I could see that she was exhausted, with dark bags under her eyes and sweat littered along her face and chest. She was breathing as if she’d just finished running a marathon and smelt quite strongly of sweat and some kind of flowery deodorant that was so sharp it made me almost sneeze.

‘Uhm…’ I backed away from her. ‘Are you going to kill me.’

‘Don’t be stupid.’ she said and got to her feet with a wince. ‘Last night was a bloody shit-show and I have no desire to repeat it.’

I blinked. ‘A shit-show? What d-’

‘I don’t have much time so just shut up and listen, yeah?’ she said and then turned to Alexis, who was tensed up behind her. ‘And you too. I know I just barged in here but I’m not going to hurt either of you, so stop lurking behind me like some kind of bloody cat.’

Alexis relaxed slightly but an unpleasant expression appeared on her face. She came over and stood next to me, placing a protective hand on my shoulder. ‘Who are you? What’s going on?’

‘I’m about to explain that.’ Yani sighed and tiredly rubbed her face. ‘Fuck me. I feel like a sack of shit.’

‘…are you okay?’ I asked after almost a minute passed with her just rubbing her face and muttering.

‘I’m good. Just knackered.’ She sniffed and finally stopped rubbing herself. ‘Right. So, I can’t tell you much about who I am and what I do, but basically, I work for a private organization set up by a special individual, who gave me and my co-workers powers for…various reasons, and we help people. I guess you could see us as a kind of private military, if that works for you. One that works outside the government for the sole purpose of helping people.’

She stopped talking and Alexis and I looked at her expectantly. After she didn’t continue speaking Alexis decided to. ‘Could you explain that a bit more.’

‘No.’ She held up a hand as Alexis began to speak again. ‘I know how frustrating this must be, but just deal with it. I’m already on the verge of being fired for what happened last night and telling you two about our organization will just make things worse for all of us. Right now, nobody knows who you are or what happened, but if they do find out then it’s best if you remain as ignorant as possible so they have no reason to...do anything to you.’

‘What do you mean?’ I asked uncomfortably but she shook her head.

‘Don’t worry about that. I’m going to make sure that they don’t find out what’s happened, for both our sakes.’

‘I don’t understand.’ Alexis said and I nodded.

Yani frowned and rubbed the bags underneath her eyes. ‘Shit. Okay, look. Yesterday morning I got a direct order on my phone from my boss to kill you, without making any verbal or physical contact until your death was assured. So I did, because a direct order from my boss is pretty bloody serious. But an hour after you absorbed my flesh creation, my spider, the order was rescinded and when I asked my boss about it she had no idea what I was talking about.’

‘What does that mean?’ I asked.

‘It means someone set me up.’ she said, her expression darkening. ‘And I have no bloody idea who, or why. My phone disappeared just as I was about to ask my boss about the orders I received so I have no proof of what happened and she thinks I just randomly attacked you for no reason. They don’t know you somehow turned into a girl though, they just think I messed up the attack and you’re going about your life blissfully ignorant of what almost happened. Which, as I said, is good for both of us. They’re ignoring you and focusing on me, hence why I don’t have much time. I’m on probation, I’m supposed to be in the Mansion all day under doing fucking paperwork for god’s sake! If they find out I’m here then we’re both fucked, which is why I need to get this over with as quickly as possible.’

My heart leapt at that. ‘You’re going to turn me back into a boy then?’

She looked at me silently for a moment before gritting her teeth and turning away. ‘No.’

‘What! Why not?’ I gasped and grabbed her arms. ‘You did this to me! You have to undo it!’

She tore her hands out of my grasp and narrowed her eyes at me. ‘I don’t know how to undo it! I don’t even know how this happened! You should be dead, not a bloody girl! It’s impossible!’

‘How is it impossible! You can make spiders with your blood! That’s impossible!’

‘No, it’s possible because I have Ye-I have my bosses blood in me! You don’t. You’re just a human kid!’ Her cheeks turned slightly red. ‘And I make those spiders with my flesh, not my blood. They’re flesh golems. That’s not really im-’

‘I don’t care what they are!’ I cried, my throat tightening. ‘I need to be a boy again! I can’t live like this! My dad’s going to kill me when he sees me! He won’t believe that this was just an accident, he already thinks I want to be a girl! And I start school today! I’m go-’

‘I know!’ Yani cut in angrily. ‘And if you’d have let me finish before, then I’d have been able to tell you that there’s someone there that can help you!’

‘Who?’ I snapped.

‘Julia!’ Yani also snapped and then let out a breath, calming herself down. ‘She used to work with us but quit a couple of years ago, right when I joined. She hasn’t been in contact with the organization since she left but knows far more about…certain things…than I ever could.’

‘How do you know even know what school I’m going to?’ I asked.

‘I looked into you before I tried to…kill you.’ Yani said awkwardly. ‘We have access to a lot of me-’

‘Wait.’ Alexis said slowly. ‘Are you talking about Julia Waters? One of the girls dorm heads?’

‘Yeah, that’s her.’ Yani said and shared Alexis’s disbelieving look. ‘I know, it’s a bloody huge coincidence, huh?’

‘Yeah, it is! Should we even talk to her then?’ Alexis asked. ‘What if she’s the one who planned all of this?’

Yani shook her head. ‘She didn’t. I’d trust Julia with my life, so you can as well. She’s a good person a-’

‘Can she turn me back into a boy?’ I cut in desperately.

‘I’m not sure. If anyone can though, it’s her.’ Yani said and a small ray of hope broke through the cloud despair hanging over me.

‘Okay then! We have to see her! She’s at school, right?’ I grabbed Alexis’s arm and began pulling her to the doorway.

‘Wait! We can’t go now, the school doesn’t open until two!’ she said and looked up at Yani. ‘Have you even spoken to her about this?’

‘I have, and she said she’s happy to see you tomorrow at lunch. She’ll probably t-’

‘No! We have to see her today!’ I cried. ‘I can’t spend the night like this!’

‘You’re going to have to.’ Yani said flatly. ‘She only agreed to help you so long as it doesn’t interfere with her dorm work.’

‘Bu-’

‘I…think it could be fine, Eden.’ Alexis said and I looked at her incredulously. ‘We should be able to make you look more like a boy for the rest of the day, and you can just hide out in your dorm room for the rest of the night and to-’

‘That won’t help! Reece will know I’m a girl as soon as he sees me!’

‘We can talk to him, explain what happened.’

‘He won’t believe us!’

‘Well…’ Alexis trailed off and shrugged. ‘He’ll have to.’

‘No! This is stupid!’ I snapped and glared at Yani. ‘You have to help me!’

‘I have helped!’ she said and gritted her teeth. ‘I know it’s not much but it’s better than nothing, yeah? I’m risking my job by coming here! You should be bloody thankful!’

‘Thankful?’ A burning rage tore through me and my hands clenched into fists. ‘You tried to kill me!’

‘Not on purpose! I was set up! It wasn’t my fault!’

‘How isn’t it your fault? You didn’t even question your boss’s orders and were horrible enough to try and kill me! I’m only fourteen, what the fuck have I done to deserve to die?’ I was shaking now and my breathing was ragged and uneven. ‘Why did you try to kill me!? What did I ever do to you?’

‘I was just doing my job.’ Yani said, avoiding my eyes. ‘You don’t understand w-’

‘I don’t understand because you won’t tell me anything!’ I stamped my foot on the ground, barely thinking straight anymore. ‘You stupid fucking bitch! What the f-’

‘Eden, calm down!’ Alexis cried and stepped in front of me. ‘This isn’t helping anything!’

‘She’s the one who’s not helping!’ I snarled and pointed at Yani. ‘That fucking cun-’

‘You’re acting like your dad.’ Alexis said softly and I flinched, her words hitting me like a punch in the stomach.

‘I-what?’ I gaped at her and stepped away, disgust and shame filling me. ‘N-no! Don’t say that! I’m not!’

‘You are.’ She grabbed my hands and squeezed them. ‘You need to calm down. Getting angry never helps anything, you know that.’

I swallowed and pulled my hands out of hers, knowing she was right. Whenever I got angry I acted like dad and it was disgusting, I needed to calm down. I wanted to be a man again but I didn’t want to be that kind of man. But Yani was pissing me off so much! She was so rude and frustrating, constantly saying it wasn’t her fault and barely answering anything. What if she was just lying about being set up and was just trying to cover up her mistake by hiding me from her organization, when they could actually help? She seemed to be so terrified of losing her job that I could imagine her lying to me to protect herself.

But she said coming here could have gotten her fired, so why would she unless it really was to help? Maybe she just wanted to make sure I didn’t go looking for her myself and end up finding the organization, which would get her in trouble. She’d probably come here so I wouldn’t look for her, was sending me to Julia so she’d be able to keep an eye of me. I bet that was it! That made sense! That selfish jerk!

The anger got worse and my throat tightened again, making me gasp slightly. I felt like was on the verge of tears again and took a shaky breath. I needed to calm down. I did not want to cry in front of Yani.

‘Do you have anything else to tell us?’ Alexis asked Yani as I took a shaky breath in an attempt to calm myself down. ‘If not, then…you should probably leave.’

Yani frowned at me for a moment and then looked at Alexis. ‘Yes, that would probably be for the best. One last thing though, you can’t tell anyone that I was here, or what I told you. You mentioned telling your friend Reece about it, but don’t.’

‘What? How else am I supposed to explain this then?’ I gestured angrily at my body.

‘I don’t know.’ Yani shrugged. ‘Maybe tell him you were bitten by a spider or something and you just woke up like this. It’s almost the truth.’
‘No one would believe that!’

‘Then think of something else. Julia should be able to help with that.’

‘B-’

I was cut off by a sharp beeping coming from Yani’s pocket. She blinked and then pulled out a phone from her jacket. ‘Bloody hell! I need to get going.’

‘Wait!’ I ran after her as she went to the door. ‘Please don’t go! I can’t go to school like this!’

‘I’m sorry, but I have to leave.’ she said and looked at me almost pityingly. ‘Look, I know I’m not the nicest person and I understand if you hate me, yeah? But I am trying to help you, whether you believe it or not. Just find Julia, okay? I don’t know if she can turn you back but she’ll make things better. I promise.’

I looked at her in silence, scared that if I opened my mouth again I’d say something disgusting.

‘We’ll talk to Julia.’ Alexis said in my silence and Yani nodded her dark head one last time.

‘Good. Well then…hopefully we never see each other again.’ she said with a crooked smile. ‘I doubt either of us will be that lucky though. Oh! Which reminds me!’ She pulled a small leather pouch out of her jacket and handed it to me. ‘If someone from my organization makes contact with you then use this, yeah?’

I stared at her and then opened the pouch, which had a silver necklace in it. I slowly pulled it out and to my surprise found that it had a small engraved spider at the end, meticulously painted to make it seem almost life-like. The spider was an adorably cute jumping spider, my favourite kind! It had two huge black eyes at the front and a round, squishy-looking grey body at the back, with eight squat legs spreading out between then. The chain was coming out of its butt and made it look like its web, and the other six black eyes were evenly set around the main two. If I hadn’t been in such a bad mood I’d have probably squealed with excitement just at the sight of it. ‘W-what? What’s this?’

‘I bought that on the way here. I think we have some kind of really small connection, because I saw you last night. Only for a second though, but I think you saw me too.’

‘I did.’ I said slowly. ‘How come?’

‘I’m guessing it’s because you absorbed my blood. Julia will know more, but I can’t imagine it’s anything else.’ She gestured at the necklace. ‘Wear that and if you need me then squeeze the spider and think as hard as you can about me. Hopefully I’ll hear you or see you or something, and be able to find my way over and help.’

I stared at her in surprise, guilt defusing the anger from before. She…did want to help me? Oh god! I was an asshole! I’d been so mean to her! ‘I’m sorry! T-thank-you! I love jumping spiders!’

‘I thought you might.’ she said and then actually smiled. It lit up her face, making her seem years younger and the unearthly beauty from before reappeared. ‘And I…like spiders quite a bit, which probably isn’t bloody surprising, considering. When I was looking for something that’d make you think of me I saw this and thought it’d be perfect, so bought it.’

I grabbed her arm and looked up at her, feeling like I was about to cry. ‘I’m really sorry I yelled at you! I w-’

‘Don’t.’ she said and shook her head. ‘Like I said before, I know I’m not the nicest person, and I completely understand why’d you be so upset. But I am honestly trying to help you. You know that, right?’

‘I do.’ I nodded.

‘Good.’ She smiled again. ‘I really do hope Julia can turn you back.’

‘I do too!’ I let go of her arm and stepped back. ‘I hope that uhm…you don’t get fired? Or found out? I don’t know what probation is but I hope you get out of it soon!’

‘Thank-you!’ She nodded and lifted her hand in a wave. ‘I’ll see you around. Or maybe not.’

‘Goodbye.’ I said and she nodded, then turned and walked off down the hallway. Alexis came over and said goodbye too, and we watched as Yani vanished down the hallway and out of sight. When we heard the front door open and close I relaxed slightly, as even though I didn’t think Yani was all that bad of a person after all, she was definitely stressful to be around.

For better or for worse though, something inside me knew that this wasn’t the last time I’d see her.

End of chapter 8!

Thank you for reading! Sorry this chapter was short-ish, but it's primarily all exposition and I didn't want to drag it on too long and make it boring, or uncharacteristic for Yani.
Also I know some of this makes Eden look bad, but...for better or for worse (mainly worse) he is his father's son and he's got some work to do when it comes to controlling his anger and swearing.