Stuck in a Rut.
By Rosalie Redd

Casey Church is a normal 13 year old girl, But in a world where there hasn’t been a girl born in over 100 years, Casey adjusts to her new life as a girl. Can Casey cope with everything that comes with being a girl, or will others conspire to ruin her life?

Chapter 29.

I arrived at home, having been dropped off by Janie’s Mom. Janie was feeling a little better, having gotten the sutures out, but she still was depressed. I had offered for her to come over and stay for dinner, but she had sadly declined. That left me at home all alone. DeShaun was still at practice.
Mom had an away game with the volleyball team. Dad was in trial mode, and would be working late hours.

I puttered around the house, but there was nothing to do. I called Luna, but it went to voicemail. Sighing, I went up to my room and did what small amount of homework I had. I put on my lightest jacket and headed out. It was late September, and the weather was starting to cool down.

I still had some minor muscle aches, but the deep pain in my joints and bones were gone. It was time to get back to walking and stretching out this new body of mine. After hitting Subway for dinner, I decided to head down to the park trails. I spent a good half hour walking and getting limber. I was on my way back when I first heard the sound.

Someone was groaning. At first I thought that a couple boys had come out to rut, but after hearing it again, it was just one person. I left the path and examined the underbrush. Laying there naked was a boy about my age. I rushed over and looked at him, he was covered in scrapes and there were bruises already forming on his body. Upon closer inspection, I recognized him. It was George Whitley, one of my classmates in my art class.

“George, are you alright? “, I asked urgently.

George looked up at me, there was blood on his face, and tears streaming down his cheeks. “He took it… he… he..” George squeaked out those words, then he lapsed into all-out sobbing and crying.

I knelt down and held George, as I called for an ambulance and police.

About 15 minutes later a squad car and ambulance rolled up to the trail parking lot. I had managed to cover George up some with my jacket and hoodie, and had helped him to the trail entry. The police officers questioned me, and I relayed all I knew. I walked them back along the trail to where I had found George.

The officers took my name and contact info, and led me back up the trail. The ambulance had left, with George inside. I walked back home somberly and entered the house and sat there in silence.

DeShaun was the first person to arrive back home. I explained what happened, and he sat beside me silent, his arm around me.
When Mom came home, DeShaun headed to the kitchen, making the pretense of fixing himself some dinner. I told Mom what had happened, and I sat there as she hugged me.

Mom spoke up. “Casey, I know this might be hard to hear, but you need to be more careful now. You need to realize your new reality. In this case, you were lucky, and you helped your classmate. But you were reckless. You need to stop thinking like a boy. You are an attractive young lady now, and there are people that will prey upon that. You went out alone to an area that had lots of places you could have been attacked and raped, yourself. I don’t mean to sound alarmist, but you need to think of these things from now on.”

Mom hugged me tight, and I started to cry. She was right, I was in denial about it, but she was right. I was a girl now, and even if I didn’t have my girl parts yet… men would see me as vulnerable.

After a while, Mom headed to her office to work. DeShaun joined me on the couch, and I snuggled in against him for security. He kissed my cheek, and I flinched. He looked at me, and I could see there was hurt in his eyes, though he didn’t say anything.

“DeShaun, I… I’m sorry. Just…. Give me some time, okay? I need to think.”, I said apologetically.

I headed upstairs and laid down on the bed. I sobbed myself to sleep.

I woke up in my rumpled clothes, and headed to take a shower. It was 6 AM, and I had managed to somehow sleep through the night. I got undressed and looked at myself I the mirror. All I saw was a flat-chested girl. Nothing remained of my old self. Even my dick had surrendered. I looked at it, now an over-sized clit. I sighed and climbed into the shower.

Breakfast was eaten in silence. Mom offered us a ride, but DeShaun and I opted to walk to school. We did so in more awkwardness. I arrived in class, and saw Amy and May grinning like the cats that had swallowed the canary. Luna wasn’t there. I pondered that, and sent a quick text to her before class started.

When I saw Janie, I told her about the previous evening, and she bit her lip and trembled. DeShaun and I were book-ending her on either side, and we both put our arms around her shoulders. She sighed and perked up a little.

“Thanks you two, I needed that.”, she said. “I don’t know him that well, but when I see him, I’ll try to have a word with him, one survivor to another.”

We both hugged our brave girl. The topic of conversation then turned to Luna.

Neither Janie nor DeShaun had seen her at all today. I was worried, and send another text. When there was no reply, I got worried. We all discussed it, and Janie and I had decided to head over to her house after school. DeShaun had a walk-through for the game tomorrow, so he couldn’t join us.

Janie met me out front of my house, she was on a new bike, while I had my old one. I had quickly adjusted the seat and everything as best as I could, but with my smaller size, and new center of balance, it was difficult to ride at first. We still made good time though over to Luna’s house. I knocked on the door, and Luna’s Mother came to the door. She had a bruised lip, and the beginnings of a black eye. She timidly showed us in.
The living room was a mess, furniture was tipped over, and there were broken items strewn about. Luma’s Mom appeared to be in the midst of cleaning them up. She went back to work, and left us to go upstairs alone.

When we reached Luna’s room, Janie knocked on the door quietly.

“Not now Mom, I don’t feel like coming out.”, she stated in a quiet voice.

“Luna, it’s Janie and Casey, can we come in?”, Jamie asked gently.

We heard a sigh, and then in her soft voice, Luna said “Come in.”

Luna was laying on the bed, her back was bare and exposed. She had several bleeding lash-marks on it. Her lip was also split, and she had a small cut on her right cheek that had dried blood on it. Her room was similarly trashed. Her old desktop was laying on the floor against the wall. Her drawers were open and clothing was scattered about. Luna’s sewing machine was on the floor, and looked smashed.

“I hid the laptop and my phone. They weren’t damaged. There is a floorboard under the rug that can be lifted out of place. They are under there.”, she said. She grimaced as she moved and it looked like she was having difficulty breathing.

Janie sat down beside her, and carefully combed her hair from her face.

“What happened?”, I asked.

“Daddy… well, Daddy gets mad sometimes. Mad at Mom, mad at me, mad at work. It’s nothing.”

“Nothing? NOTHING?”, Janie said in a fit of rage. “He beat the crap out of your mother, out of you, he trashed the house, from what I can see. It’s not nothing!”

I looked at Luna. “Does this happen often?”, I inquired. Her inability to look at me was all the answer I needed.

“We need to get you and your Mom out of this situation.”, I said. Janie nodded her agreement.

“Daddy doesn’t mean to hurt us, he’s just under a lot of stress. It’s not easy to take care of Mom and I. We are weak and useless.”, Luna rationalized.

“Weak and useless?”, I said laughing. “You willingly investigated a sociopathic monster that tried to murder someone and you stayed around them even after learning how scary they were. You, Luna, are the bravest girl I’ve met.”

Janie looked at me and cuffed me gently on the back of the head.

“Err… one of the bravest”, I corrected.

Luna laughed briefly, then winced.

We gently helped Luna up, and then dressed her. With one of us on either side, we helped her down the stairs. Luna gasped at the state of the living room. Her mother was diligently working on cleaning up.

Luna shed a tear and spoke up. “Mom, stop. We need to leave things as they are, so the police can document them.”

Luna’s Mother looked at her. “It’s nothing. He told me he was sorry. That he’ll try to improve.”

Luna pushed away from Janie and I. She looked at her mother with a look I could only describe as pity. “Mom! He will NEVER change! In all these years, he has promised that over and over! Then he’ll go out and get smashed, and come back and beat you up. Then when that’s not enough, he turns on me! I’ve kept it from you, but he does!”

Luna’s mother looked at her, then her brow furrowed. “Liar! You are just saying that. He wouldn’t do that!”

“Oh Mom, how could you be so blind? How do you think I got this cut? Or these bruises? Or the belt lashes on my back? You are in denial. He makes you feel worthless, so that you will stay! I even fell for it! I knew that this was a common tool of abusers, but I denied it. NO MORE! If you won’t do something, I will!”

With that, Luna called the police. Very soon, a squad car rolled up. When the officers entered, they photographed the house, making notes about the damages. Luna very bravely allowed her injuries to be photographed. Mrs. Day was more reluctant, but she finally allowed it as well. After all the pictures, our statements were taken, and the police escorted Luna and her mother to the hospital. Janie’s Dad came and picked us up and took us there as well.

Mrs. Day couldn’t drive, as her husband had convinced her that she was worthless, and would never be able. When the police asked if there was somewhere they could go that would be safe, Luna mentioned that her uncle, that is to say, her mother’s brother lived nearby, and that he would take them in.

She made the call, and he arrived not long after. With all the excitement and the turmoil of the past two days, I was emotionally beat. On the ride home, Janie sat in the back seat with me, and we held hands, hopig that things would turn out to be better for our little kitten from now on. When I got home, Dad was sitting at the dinner table, looking over some papers. I walked over to him and gave him the biggest hug I could.

“What was that for, Casey?”, He asked confused.

I smiled and hugged him tighter. “For being a decent and kind man, and the best father a girl could ever want.”, I said, before kissing his cheek.