Chapter 10 part 2 Gem's POV

No Fricken Way! I thought for probably the hundredth time. I started reading the last entry but that made no sense, so I went back a few days and that confused me more. I ended up flicking back to find something that I could comprehend. That turned out to be a week before the holiday. There, Richard was Richard and behaved exactly how Amy had told me. Then there was the bus journey and everything changed.

I doubted it and didn't at the same time. It fitted and couldn't be true. When I read it through the second time, I did so with the attitude of reading a novel. Suspended disbelief. The third time I just accepted it was true. I was reading it now for the forth time trying to piece it together. Amy didn't write in her diary as a way to explain anything to anyone. She wrote how she always had. Writing to the diary as if the diary was a person, bouncing her thoughts off someone who never judges. Unfortunately, that meant I had to work out what had happened from her discussions with herself.

So something happened on the bus journey in. Everyone was affected but only Richard and Dillan swapped bodies. The first few days after that were of a joyful Richard. Then they had a big argument about drinking alcohol. Richard thought that since his body was eighteen, he should be able to drink. Peter and Amy thought differently, but now their usual methods of parental authority failed them and he walked out on them. Peter tried to follow him, but didn't manage to convince him to return. Amy stayed awake that night waiting for Richard to return. He did so in the early morning hours so drunk that Amy had to leave him to it.

The next morning Richard was unrepentant and spent less and less time with Amy. Amy was never that fond of skiing anyway, so it was left up to Peter to try and keep an eye on him. In the meantime, Dillan, who was now in Sophia's body was struggling to come to terms with what had happened to him/her. To be fair, he had it a lot harder than Richard. He was literally a man in a girls body. He came to the surprising decision to let nature take its course and become the woman his body biologically wanted to become.

Amy then got a bit emotional about having a second chance to have a daughter and pondered grandchildren, shopping trips and generally spending quality mother daughter time. She realised that Dillan, now taking Richards original name Sophia, was not really her daughter, and had other parents, but she was hoping to at least have some time with her. So she organised a shopping trip and had a wonderful time. She admitted to the diary that she was already feeling attached to her 'new' daughter and was not looking forward to signing over guardianship to Dillan's parents. Something must have happened between Richard and Sophia since she mentioned that the main reason Sophia didn't want to stay with them was Richard.

Then Sophia had a talk with Jen, who for some reason was now back in England. Some kind of government official was looking into the bus event and now Sophia was probably not going to be signed over to Dillan's parents. Amy was really happy about that, but felt really sorry for Dillan's parents. There was a possibility that their room had been bugged so they had to be careful what they said and working out a plan was going to be difficult. And that was where it ended.

Richard attacked Sophia, not quite killing her and Peter intervened. What did Sophia do to get Richard so angry? Or was it just that he could sense Amy's growing affection and was jealous. Then I can only guess that it was the drugs in his system that caused him to go crazy. I sort of wanted to blame Sophia out of family loyalty to Richard, but I am a strong believer in judging people by their actions, not their words. Sophia was behaving like a confused individual, courageously forging her own path with maturity and Richard behaved like an angry teenager given too much freedom to misbehave.

It was sad and knowing this just made it all the more tragic. Richard killed his own parents and then couldn't live with himself. It did feel a bit better than thinking a random stranger that Amy and Peter had let stay with them decided to go crazy.

The next question was, did this change anything? It was very unlikely that this room was being bugged so we could have a frank discussion, but had my responsibilities changed? My life had already changed when I ignored my boss who said if I left I would be fired. Was Sophia still my responsibility? Biologically she was still my niece. She just had a different soul or mind inhabiting it. That left an interesting philosophical question. What exactly is family? There is the biological aspect where she qualifies, but adopted kids can still be family and they have no biological connection. I supposed it was the relationship that you form with the person that inhabits the body and I had no previous interaction with either Richard or Sophia. So I think the answer is no, my responsibilities hadn't changed.

We had much to discuss tomorrow and I had been awake far too long. There were elements from the diary that I needed clarifying as well as a bit of honesty from both of us. I turned the light off and tried to slip quietly back into the bed.

Suddenly Sophia sat up straight in bed and screamed such a terrified scream that I immediately looked around for her attacker, before realising we were alone. I hurried to her arms trying to calm her down. Stroking her gently and saying calmly. “You're safe, there is no one here, Shhh, I am here, you are alright.” She was hyperventilating and looking around anxiously, but at least she didn't scream again. When I could see reason in her eyes, I hugged her and then we lay down spooning. I could feel her shaking for some time, trying to control her breathing. I fell asleep holding her, glad no one had come to investigate her scream.