Chapter 6

Author warning. There is some violence in this chapter.

Getting back to the ski resort was a bit of a let down. I had an underlying stress about dealing with Richard and I think Amy did too. We didn't see him until the evening meal. He hardly spoke a word to any of us and glared at me whenever he wasn't eating. When he finished he just got up and left. I wasn't wearing anything too feminine, but it clearly wasn't Richards clothing and I'm sure I saw him staring at my hands with my recently painted nails, at one point.

“I'm sorry about that.” Peter apologised.

“It's not your fault. I would have thought he would be ridiculously happy right now. All his dreams have come true.”

“He was for the first few days and even listened to us. Then he decided to go to the bar without us. I think he worried that you would take all his savings, so he was using the cash point to withdraw as much as he could as quickly as possible.” Peter responded.

“That sounds kind of ironic considering his reaction to my money.”

“Quite. Maybe it is a typical teenager thing. Everything is unfair. Legally he is allowed to drink, so apparently, we are wrong to ask him not to or to limit him in any way. I tried to go with him and then encourage him to come back to the room at a reasonable hour, but the more he drinks the more belligerent he becomes. The last couple of days have been particularly bad. He seems particularly upset that you have decided to remain female, like it is a betrayal or something. His mum spending time with you and both of you clearly enjoying yourselves is aggravating him, I think.

“When we get home, I am hoping his therapist will be able to straighten him out, because, I have to admit, I am clearly out of my depth.” Peter acknowledged.

“I suppose we have to factor in that he is still a fifteen year old mentally, unaccustomed to any level of testosterone or alcohol. I still want to steer clear of him. From my point of view, I have suddenly become significantly smaller and weaker. I used to play Rugby and we would do weight sessions regularly, so I know how strong he is. Add to that a juvenile aggressiveness and he scares me.” I explained.

“As much as I would love you to live with us, I can understand how you feel and will have to content myself with occasional visits. I hope you don't mind us becoming a part of your life.”

“Not at all. You both are lovely and Richard is lucky to have you as his parents. I really enjoyed our shopping trip and the massage was heavenly.”

When we got back to our room there was a message on the phone system. Jen had tried to call and requested a call back.

“Hi Jen, how are you?”

“I'm good Soph. How have you been?”

“I'm doing great. Amy and I went for a marathon shopping trip and I surprised myself with how much I enjoyed it.”

“That's great. Well, I had an interesting visitor today. One of the men in black. He wanted to know about our bus journey. He already knew that our journey was interrupted and we all seemed to lose about four hours. He wanted to know if anything else weird had happened. Anybody behaving differently, that kind of thing. I told him that I broke up with Dillan as he was being an idiot and that I met a new friend.”

I had known Jen so long that I had no trouble reading between the lines. The phone call was a warning. “I know we've only known each other for a week, but we got on so well, I feel like we have known each other forever and I can't wait to see you again in England.” I really wanted to ask about my parents, but couldn't think of a way to put that in the conversation without giving anything away.

She then asked me about what I had bought and suggested a modelling demonstration when we returned. We had a casual girlfriend chat and were both careful not to finish with our usual 'I love you'.

After I put the phone down I thought furiously for a few minutes. Jen clearly thought it would be a bad idea if anyone knew that I had swapped places with Richard. Truthfully there was no way to know whether hiding that fact would matter or not, but I trusted Jen's instincts. She also thought it likely that the phone conversation was being monitored. If that was the case, it was quite possible that the room had been bugged. If that had happened before our meetings then the cat would already be out of the bag, but if it had only just happened then it would be wise to be careful about what we said.

I thought about various ways to communicate without anyone hearing, from the sound of running water masking what we were saying to writing everything on my computer screen and then deleting it. Then I thought of how easy it was nowadays to hide a tiny camera, so I decided on a more straight forward approach.

I had been in the bedroom to have the illusion of privacy for our telephone conversation, so I went into the lounge where Peter and Amy were watching TV.

“Hi guys, could we turn off the TV for a second.”

“Sure.” Peter said, using the remote to switch it off.

“How's Jen?” Amy asked.

“Jen is fine. She was phoning because she was visited by a man in black.”

“An MIB? I thought that was a myth.” Amy said.

“I don't think she meant a literal MIB, more a government official investigating our unusual bus journey.” I could see them both tensing up a bit. “Apparently they already knew the story and were inquiring if anybody was behaving differently. Out of character. She likes her conspiracy theories and I think she thought the phone call was being monitored. If she is right, this suite could be bugged as well.”

“If that is the case why are we speaking out loud?” Amy asked curiously.

“Because we don't have anything to hide, and if we look like we are trying to, it will look suspicious.” I replied. “Do you think the fact that I have given up the idea of becoming a man and don't want to go back to my school where everyone knows me as a boy is going to be a problem?”

Amy and Peter shared looks for a moment. Peter turned to me. “No, I don't think that will be a problem. I mean the reason why you can't make a decision before you are sixteen is that a few people do change their minds. There is nothing unusual with that. Finding a new school and sorting out that mess is going to be a challenge, but I am sure we will come up with something. I guess we will have to do some research and see what we can come up with.”

I went to bed early. MIB turning up put a spanner in the works. If someone investigated our circumstances there were a few things that might already send up red flags and our future plans might have to be re thought. Dillan calling himself Richard and staying with a family he didn't know before this week, were questionable. Not that they knew that the Dillan body was now calling itself Richard, but if they did, it would only take visiting my friends or acquaintances to confirm that I had never used that name before the bus trip. Emptying my bank accounts and selling my business to Jen could be questioned. If I was to go back to England and immediately move into a stranger's house with Amy and Peter signing over guardianship to people they had never met before, the fact that something weird had happened would be crystal clear. Maybe we would have to come clean and tell them everything. Jen clearly thought that was a bad idea and she was really intuitive so I hated the idea of going against her gut feelings.

I tried to think of a way for me to stay with my real parents without it looking suspicious, but couldn't think of anything. Given time, something could be worked out. My friendship with Jen and so a meeting of Amy and Peter with my parents and Katie, could easily be arranged. Over time that could develop, but I couldn't just turn up at my parents house and move back into my old room. This was getting complicated and I couldn't see a solution.

I struggled to go to sleep, tossing and turning. Not really dropping into a deep sleep. I must have managed to at least get to a light sleep, because I woke abruptly when the bedroom door was opened. My room was dark and the light must have been on in the lounge as all I could see was the shadow of a man standing in my doorway looking at me. It was a large man and something about it frightened me. When he moved forward towards me suddenly, I couldn't help an involuntary scream from fear.

“Shut up bitch.” Richard growled, punching me in the chest and winding me. I tried to curl up and breathe as I felt something shoved over my face.

“You are not taking my family from me, you sissy.”

I moved my hands to my face to push what was covering it away, but Richard was too strong, holding a pillow over my face making it impossible to breathe. As I began panicking, I tried to kick my legs at him, anything to get him to let go and allow me to breathe. I could feel the strength draining from my arms as I struggled in vain to get him to release me. Just before I blacked out I thought I heard Peter.

“What are you doing!”

I felt some relief that Peter was here, but I couldn't hold onto consciousness and slipped away.