Chad was new to New York City, he came with three other guys from college, but he had separated from them for a while and now needed to get back to where they were meeting. He was on the wrong side of Central Park from where he wanted to be. Despite it being dusk he decides to run through the Central Park, instead of going around, hoping to come out near to where he should be. He’s a Midwest guy and a bit naïve about city life.

That night some six women had staked out in the park to nab a would-be rapist to make an example out of him. They each had communication devices and no one would be more than forty feet away from another. Armed with mace as well, nothing could go wrong.

He’s jogging through the park at a good pace on one of the secondary paths and not sure where he’s at or if he’s still going in toward their hotel. Chad hears a woman begin to yell. She sounded close but her voice went silent. Chad runs through a hedge and over a slight hill. There’s a guy on top of a woman squirming and fighting against him. The man just slugged her terribly hard and pushed himself into her. Chad yells and runs at the guy, the guy was in when he realized Chad had yelled. Chad runs and tackles him. The guy is bigger and prepared to fight. He bites Chad to get him to let go. He shoves and kicks to get away. He stands up and as he is running over the woman, and he kicks her head as he does.

Chad stays to help her, though she’s now struggling against Chad, thinking her attacker still has a hold of her. Soon five women are holding Chad down. Another seeks to comfort Kim. The women are holding Chad saying many disparaging things to him. No one’s listening to him and Kimberly has fainted.

Before Chad goes unconscious one of the statements he hears is, “You’re going to get what you deserve.” When he wakes Chad is hurting and he’s strapped down like a patient in a hospital.

He asks, “What happened is she alright?” Chad had awakened an hour earlier but just stared and did not respond to the women.

Addie asks, “Aren’t you going to ask about yourself?” She turns to another person, “He's trying to deny what he did to her.”

Chad asks, “Did I get to her in time? Did you catch the guy who raped her?”

Stephanie angrily says, “We didn’t see anyone else, but you’ll never rape any woman ever again.”

Addie says, “But you never know, maybe the next time someone is raped it might be you.”

Chad says, “It sounds like you got it all wrong. I stopped the guy. Untie me and let me sit up, and I’ll explain.”

A woman in a hospital garment comes to the table, she’s taking off surgical gloves, “You probably would like to run or make excuses. That is until you try to run and find out how much it hurts after surgery.”

Chad panics, “What happened, did I get hurt?” He tries to sit up but he hurts down by his legs, ‘You didn’t do that did you?” One of the women holds up a jar of flesh he doesn’t recognize.

“This is what should happen to every rapist. We intended to get to you before you got the dastardly deed done but something happened to Kim’s iPhone. Even if you might not have been the one who raped her, you deserve the same fate for helping.”

Chad says, “Ask this Kim, she’ll tell you.”

Steph says, “And I suspect it was the other guy who kicked her in the head as well. She’s in the hospital. If and when she wakes up; she might or might not want to see you, she might or might not even remember. You’ve raped one too many of our sisters.”

“We were out to stop you guys before another woman got hurt. I guess it isn’t as easy as we planned, but we got you. Now at least you’ll see life from the other side.”

Chad fades out from the surgery and it is another two hours before he wakes up again. He awakes, left in a basement, as he hears people coming down the stairs. “Don’t hurt me. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

It is not the women as he feared, but the police responding to a 911 call. The police officers try to act professionally and not laugh. One asks, “We’ve been told you were the man who raped Kim Hopkins.”

Chad says, “They got the wrong man, I stopped the rapist. Some women jumped me thinking I was the man. They beat me into submission and I fainted. When I woke I was like this.” Chad begins to cry like a scared boy. “Can a doctor put me back together? I shouldn’t be like this; I’m innocent of anything.”

There’s the sound of ambulance blaring outside as some others are coming into the house. A woman medic says, “Is this the one the vigilantes did a sex change on? ...It’s wrong but it's poetic justice.”

She hears Chad whimpering, “Darling, you might want to learn and change the pitch of your whimpering. I don’t have much time for a guy who whimpers when he’s caught.”

“You don’t understand, I’m innocent, I attacked and stopped the real rapist… Won’t anyone listen to me, Kim can tell you.”

One officer says, “You know the name of your victim. Did you know it before you attacked her?”

“She was on her back when she was slugged and then raped. I was too far away to help her. I was there next and I tried to get her to stop crying. I guess she thought I was the rapist. I knocked him off by tackling him, but he was bigger. We struggled and he bit me. It was as he ran away that he kicked her in the head.”

The woman paramedic said, “Why didn’t you stop him or go after him if that’s what you said happened?”

“I thought she needed me more.”

A police officer lifts a pair of jeans, “Are these yours?”

Chad says, “Yes, you’ll be able to tell from them I didn’t rape her.”

The officer turns the jeans around to show blood and the pants open at the zipper area. Chad yells, “That must be from when I held her. She had been hurt and must have been bleeding.”

Officer O'Toole asks, “You acknowledge that you were there when Kim was raped and you acknowledge these are your jeans?”

“Yes, but you have the wrong idea. Don’t you think I would have gotten away if I was guilty?”

“The caller says you did try to get her again or tried to get away. But…”

Chad says, “Those women stopped me and jumped to the wrong conclusion.”

O'Toole says, “Chad, you are under arrest for the rape of Kim Hopkins. You have the right to remain silent and anything you say can and will be used against you. Do you understand your rights…” Chad interrupts, professing his innocence.

O'Toole asks, “Can you identify the people who did this to you?”

“Yes, they were women. They said they were working together to catch rapists like me. They said, "I got what I deserved. The surgeon took off her gloves after she checked where I was hurt.”

“Was that before or after the surgery?”

Chad says, “It had to be afterward, ‘cause I wasn’t hurt down there when the rape happened.”

Another policeman says, “So you were there when she was raped?”

“Yes, but I wasn’t the one who raped her. I tried to stop him.”

“But you wanted to rape her that’s why your pants were open and had blood on them. You did want to rape her, didn’t you? Did you think she was attractive?”

“I wasn’t worried about how she looked, I just ran to find her.”

Chad was soon lifted onto a gurney and taken by the ambulance to a hospital. A woman doctor looked at him saying, “Other than giving her a regiment of antibiotics to make sure she has no infections; the surgery was well done.”

Chad says, “But can you reverse the surgery?”

She says, “I would not recommend anyone try that at this point. You need to heal from this surgery and allow the various tissue heal. If you do anything now; it is quite likely you would damage things beyond repair for now or in the future.”

“The surgery seemed very good, do you like how you look?”

Chad says, “My name is Chad, does my body look like someone who should be named Chad?”

Dr. Campbell says, “Would you want me to request one of our patient representatives look into how to change your name to reflect your present gender? Personally, I think you should take your time to heal. If you give yourself a chance, you will likely come to like the new you.”

“Nurse Denise, you have a good bedside manner with patients. I want you to stay with… Chad. ...is there a name you’d be more comfortable being called?”

“Cynthia, Cynthia Brock,” Chad says. Chad surprised himself in saying that, despite having thought about it.

Dr. Campbell says, “Denise please stay with Cynthia Brock and care for her today. If you’re up to it, make it a twelve hour or double shift. She is quite vulnerable at this time. Remember you are a medical nurse and that her wellbeing is your primary duty. Your responsibility is not to help the police or other law officials. We are not judging her to be guilty that will be for others to decide.”

Chad’s face softens, “Thanks, it will be a welcome change to have someone to care about me. Would it be possible to get something to eat?”

Dr. Campbell says, “Denise will help you to order. There are a few things on the menu you might not want to put through your urinary tract quite yet. Would you be open to wearing a nightshirt or nightgown? They would be easier in keeping any modesty as you get up and move around. I strongly recommend you be sitting up and then walking around. You do not want adhesions to be setting in around your surgery area.”

Denise speaks up, “I would suspect you’re about a size 12 and could easily work your way down to a size 10, even an eight.”

Chad began to say, “Why would I want to do that? …Sorry, I know you’re only trying to help me, but I never thought I’d get to see me as a girl, let alone a smaller clothes size.”

Denise waits until others are all gone, with the exception that there is a police officer outside my door. She says, “The way you spoke before. It made me think you’ve imagined yourself some time to be a woman, am I correct?”

Cynthia says, “When we’re younger doesn’t everyone at some time imagine they’re a person of the opposite sex. My mother told me it was normal but that I’d grow out of it. She did get worried because she said I wasn’t trying hard enough to be me.

“I liked baseball and swimming but not the rougher sports.”

Denise and Cynthia get into conversations and it becomes known that Cynthia is who Chad imagined as his female self. It was after Denise’s extended shift that she asked. “Would you like me to paint your fingernails and toenails?” Denise signed out as a nurse and came back to do Cynthia’s nails. It was now into the second day that Cyndi was in the hospital and four days since the incident.

Dr. Campbell came in the next day to check in on Cynthia, “It looks like you have relaxed and become comfortable with being a woman for now. How was your night and having Nurse Denise?”

“It was surprisingly good and having Denise helped me to relax and become comfortable. I had not planned on talking about being a woman, but we did. It made it easier to consider that I may never be able to be a man again. That is for the immediate future at least…”

To be continued…