Galaxy Zoo

Did you ever have a bad day at school? When you came home, you just wanted to hide in your bed and forget all about life. That’s the way I felt one day. I mean it was not the teacher’s fault, which is a change, but it was the other boys in my class. Why can’t they just be normal?
My name is Jade. Don’t ask me why my parents called me that. I think it’s a girl’s name. But that was the only weird thing about me. I was normal in every way. I loved sports. I loved watching them on TV and playing them. I loved getting dirty and fighting. When things came down to it, I liked everything that a boy did. I didn’t want a girlfriend yet, but I was only 10 years old. Maybe that would change when I was older.

The other boys in my class were weird.

Declan was one of them. He dyed his hair black. I am not sure why he did that. He only ever wore black clothes all the time. He was so sad. Mum said that is was so sad that a 10-year-old wants to be depressed so early in their life. It made me sad just looking at him.

Then there was George. He was the bully of the class. He wore clothes that were dirty and denim coats. He was always mad at someone, and that he was always punching someone. He hated everyone else. I think that’s worse than being sad all the time because it takes a lot of energy to hate someone.

Then there was Andrew. He was like a flower. Everyone called him a sissy because he wore strange clothes. I mean they would look good on a girl, but not a boy. He cried when other people called him names, which was a shame. I mean maybe his family didn’t have enough money and he had to use his sister’s clothes.

I could go on and on about the different people in my class. Like Gerald, who was a mummy’s boy! His Mum walked him to school and gave him a hug and all. This was a bit extreme. It made him look like a baby and a mother’s baby at that.

How did anyone expect us all to get along?

It was just one of those days when we could not get on. It was a day where everyone teased each other. The atmosphere was strange. I was just happy to get home and hide in my room.

That night, I couldn’t sleep. I put my Pj’s on and was in my bed. I couldn’t sleep at all. I opened the curtains to look at the stars hoping that they would make me sleepy. I don’t know if you ever looked at the stars. It’s a shame if you have not. I mean they are like Gods angels shining in the sky, taking care of us when we sleep. They are like thousands of angels protecting us. I could look at stars forever and think of how better life could be if we all were a light for each other. Imagine a world where people smiled at each other, helped each other and didn’t judge. Stars could teach us a lot.

As I looked there was a shooting star. It was not that often that I saw a shooting star. It looked like the star was heading towards the earth. I looked at it as it became bigger and bigger. I should have been in a panic and hide in the basement or something, but the light was so strange. I could not move my bones. The only thing I could do was staring at the star becoming brighter and brighter. It should have hurt my eyes, but it didn’t. I should have been screaming with fear, but I wasn’t. I just looked at the star as it came closer and closer.

After a few minutes, it was outside my window. I was just staring at it as it was hovering outside my house. Then something that looked like fog came through the window and slowly the window was opening. The fog was on the floor. It actually looked like cotton. I was still in a daze when a few minutes later, I found myself walking on the cotton-like a cloud. It was so soft that it sent thrills through my body. I felt tired and fell asleep on the cotton cloud.

I woke up, thinking that the shooting star and cloud was a strange dream. I felt a bit cold and looked around. Where was I? I was on a huge bed. I looked around and seen a dollhouse and a thing where dresses were hanging down. There was also a dresser and a riding horse. The floor was pink. In fact, everything looked so girlish. Even the bed sheets felt so soft but it was obvious that they were girls. What was I doing in a girl’s bedroom, and why was I naked on her bed.

I stood up and walked around the room. The floor was so nice and soft, just like the cloud. But I still was confused, why was I here? How did I get here? I opened the dresser. It was only girl’s clothes. It had panties, and tights and tops. On top of the dresser, there were some things that you put in the girl's hair.

The question was going through me again and again. How did I get here and where was I?

I started looking for the door. I couldn’t find any door. In fact, the walls were clear. I looked around one more time and noticed that I was in a glass box.

There were creatures staring through the glass.

Some looked like they were monkeys or apes. I saw the planet of the Apes and suddenly became afraid, because I thought I was on the planet of the Apes. They wore some strange clothes and tried to get me to put my hand on the glass where they could touch it. Of course, I was not going to do this, I was afraid.

I saw some small green people. They had small bodies and big heads. The fact that they were green was confusing. They also had these eyes that were frog-like eyes and tongues like snakes. It looked like they wore clothes, but it was hard to see as these clothes as they were also green.

I started moving back from the glass as I looked at the others that were staring. It was like a Star Trek movie. These aliens looked so scary. Some were big, and some were the size of little mice. Some stood on two legs, while others stood on 4 or 6. Some had normal ears. Some had rabbit like ears or ears like frying pans.

It was their hands that made me afraid. Some had two fingers, others 3, others 5 and some 7 on each hand. Some had huge fingernails that looked like claws.

It was these claws that made me afraid. I hid under a cover.

If you were suddenly in a glass dome with all these weird and scary aliens looking through it, you would be just as confused and afraid as I was.

It must have been hours as I seen aliens come and go, and pointed at me and talked. Some would take pictures. I felt so alone, yet everyone was looking at me like I was strange. They should look in the mirror. They are the ones that are aliens. They are the ones that should be in cages.

A strange thing came into the cage; it was just a small bit bigger than me and looked like it was a skeleton. He came towards me and went by. I kept on muttering not to hurt me. He just put some breakfast on a small table.

“It’s time to eat,” he said

“You can speak English.”

“Of course I can that is why I am taking care of you. Now I made you some breakfast. Come and eat it”

“I can’t. I am hiding under this sheet. There is nothing to wear.”

“Well then put something on. The wardrobes are full of clothes”

“But they are girl clothes. I am a boy. I am not going to wear girl clothes.”

“It looks like our studies about your species were not that good. These are the only clothes you have, so you might as well get used to them.”

I rose up and tried not to look at the creatures that were looking through my window. I found some panties and some tights. I never put girl panties or tights on. The tights looked so thin that I thought they would tear when I put them on. When I had the tights and panties on, I looked at them. It looked like my legs were painted with the softest material. The panties seemed to fit much better than any briefs I ever wore. They were far prettier than I ever seen. As I was feeling the soft material on my legs, I noticed some aliens were taking some pictures. I quickly found a denim dress and struggled to step into it. This must have been a comedy act for the spectators. At last, I found that it was easier to put the dress on over my shoulder.

I looked in a mirror, and besides that my hair could have been a bit longer; I did look like a girl. If my friends could see me now, they would laugh. They would most likely call me a sissy and everything.

While I was eating breakfast, the caretaker explained to me that I was now in a zoo. It was a zoo of primitive creatures from primitive planets. He said the aliens travelled from all over the galaxy to look at us. There were also other creatures from Earth, such as tigers and elephants. He admitted with pride that I was the main attraction. Then he apologized for the clothes and said that it would take a few weeks to get some boy clothes. He told me that there were a lot of toys here and so forth, so I would never get bored. He also said that I would just have to get used to aliens walking past my glass cage, and staring at me and taking pictures.

I could feel tears in my eyes. I was kidnapped and was now in some zoo. I would be here for the rest of my life. I would never see my mum or dad or friends or family again.

It was like he could read my thoughts. He said after a while, I would be permitted to go home and if I wanted to stay, I could.

So my life as a zoo exhibition started. I remembered the times when I visited the zoo and could see the monkeys or elephants and the other animals. I never thought about them being locked up. I just stared at them thinking that they were cute or scary. I never thought if they were happy or angry that they were in a cage. I doubt whether now that the strange aliens that walked past my cage thought of what was going through my mind.

At the start, I used to pretend that they were the ones locked up in a cage. They looked just as funny to me as I did to them. I used to draw pictures of them and then walk towards the glass. At the beginning it was funny, they all stepped back thinking that I would break through the glass and eat them. They did not know that I was more afraid than they were. I would show them the picture of them that I drew. This caused a lot of excitement. I was allowed to hang the pictures up. So after a while, I had a lot of drawings with the aliens that visited me. The caretaker also told me that copies of my drawings could be bought in the zoo shop. I was so proud.

Every day I would get up when the lights were turned on. I had a little time to brush my teeth and take a shower. Taking a shower was nice. They had this shampoo and soap that smelled like flowers. Maybe the light smell of flowers reminded me of Earth, or maybe it just made me feel good. At any rate, I am sure that I smelled good. Then I would put on some girl clothes. By now, I loved them. It was hard wearing a dress at the start, as it felt that I was still half naked. You could feel the air going up the dress.

After a while, I loved wearing dresses. When the caretaker came in with something to eat or something, I would ask him did he like my clothes and if he thought I looked pretty enough? The first time I said this, I think I went red. I just asked this skeleton if I was pretty. Only girls would say this!

Weeks after I have been in the Milky Way Zoo, I thought that I was now a girl. I loved drawing and playing with the dolls and using the rocking horse. If there were boy toys there, I would probably have ignored them. Not only was I a girl on the outside, I was also a girl on the inside. I knew this, because when the caretaker said “good girl”, I became excited and loved hearing it.

I felt safe in the zoo. It was hard to see what the alien visitors were thinking. I knew that some came every day. I learned that they were students and their job was to observe my species. This was a bit of a waste of time, as the human species were so diverse. Remember when I started this story, I told you about the boys in my class. They were so different. Some were bullies, other mummy’s boys. There is nothing normal on earth.

After a few weeks, I thought I was a girl. Is this because I started to wear girl clothes and started doing girl things? Is it because this is the way I always was? Being in the zoo was secure. I didn’t think if the visitors that saw me thought I was a sissy or not. But I knew that if I were with my family or friends, I would never have tried to put any girl clothes on and that I would never have experienced a side of me that I did here.

Now I knew that I was either a sissy or a girl trapped in a boy’s body. Being locked in a cage was secure. I was secure from people teasing me and people saying what I was doing were wrong.

So here I was after a few months. I got used to my glass cage. I also got used to the aliens always staring at me. I was happy living the life as a girl. The problem was that I was lonely. I missed my Mum and Dad. I missed school. I missed other humans. I knew if I met them that would cause problems. They would tease and all that. So you could imagine the way I was. I was lonely but afraid that the people would not accept me the way I was now.

The skeleton knew there was something wrong with me. He bought me magazines of horses and Barbie magazines. He even brought in make-up, which I was not that good at. Still, it didn’t help. I was so lonely.

Then something important happened. At night, I put my nightdress and went to bed. The zoo was closed. I cried myself to sleep.

The next morning I woke up and looked around. There was another bed in the cage. I looked in the bed. It was Shannon, this girl that lived down the street. She was one year younger than me. I quickly put on a party dress that was very fluffy and full of ribbons. I put some clothes at the end of her bed, as I remember how it was embarrassing finding where clothes were and things like that while I was naked.

As soon as she woke up, she looked around and then started crying and screaming. She obviously knew that she was kidnapped and wanted to go home to her Mum. I brushed her hair saying not to be sad, that I would explain everything when she felt better.

It seemed like it was ages before she stopped crying. Then she looked under her bed sheets and saw that she was naked. I said I would turn around and let her dress. Then she looked out the window and seen some aliens. Suddenly she started screaming again. I told her not to be afraid, they couldn’t come in. They would never hurt us. They just wanted to look at us. This confused her and she quickly put this yellow dress on. She stayed on her bed and looked at the aliens. I remembered that it was the same reaction I had when I saw them.

The Skeleton came in and put our breakfast on the Table. He told me that they bought a new friend for me so that I was not that Lonely. He left.

I could see that Shannon was afraid. I explained to her that she was in a zoo and that the aliens just looked at us. Most were quite nice. They just stared and took pictures. I told the Skeleton was to take care of us. He was a caretaker.

“So we are in a zoo?”

“Yes. It’s not that bad. The worse is that you miss your parents.”

“I think I saw you before,” she said

“I know you. You are Shannon. I am sorry to hear that your dad died of cancer last year. You are Shannon and you live down the street from me. My name is Jade. I went to the class above yours”

“You are Jade. I remember when he went missing. Everyone said that you were kidnapped and now work in some pervy place now. I suppose they will say that pervs kidnapped me and I am some sex slave”

“I am no sex slave and neither are you. We do what we do at home, except that aliens look at us.”

Then she realized that I was in girl clothes and asked why I was dressed as a girl. I explained when I came there were only girl toys and girl clothes. I had to wear them until the boy clothes came. But since then, I was happy pretending I was a girl. I told her I knew she would think I was a sissy and weird. But that is the truth.

She didn’t tease me. She said that my hair is much longer than the ones that were on the posters at home. After staring at me for some minutes, she agreed that I looked like a girl and if I felt like I was really a girl, then she would also consider me a girl.

She asked if we could be sisters here. That brought tears to my eyes and we hugged each other. From that day, there was a special relationship between us. We were sisters or as many would say- soul mates.

Life at the zoo went pretty much as it went before. Except now I had a friend. Shannon always knew how to keep us busy. She would play house or we would spend hours experimenting with makeup. She taught me how to put my hair in a ponytail and how to put makeup on. She also taught me how my clothes went together. In other words, the next few weeks were Shannon teaching me how to act like a girl.

In no time, I was not acting that I was a girl. It seemed what I was doing and how I dressed was normal. You can certainly say that by now I was a real girl. You could not see between the two of us who was a “real” girl and who was not.

The Skeleton came in one day. He didn’t say much. He just poured something from a bottle. The fog that I saw a long time ago was around the floor and after a while, it looked like a cotton bed. He told Shannon to step on it. She did with a smile on her face. I was afraid. This was not part of the daily routine we had at the zoo. I could see Shannon thinking how soft it was, and then she laid down and fell asleep. The fog moved up and formed the star that I saw a long time ago. The star flew out of the cage and became smaller and smaller. Where was Shannon going? Why were they sending my sister away?

I looked at the skeleton. He poured more fog. It was my turn.

I woke up. It was Mum screaming. I looked around and I was back in my old bedroom. Mum was screaming and crying and my sister (who was 8) kept giving me hugs

“Thank God”, she screamed. “My son is home again. I thought he would never come home again. He is back. This is a great day”.

This must have gone on for an hour. Mum was shouting out the window and on the telephone and everywhere.

The Police came and they asked me was I kidnapped. I told them aliens kidnapped me and they put me in a zoo. Then I was a girl there and a lot of aliens looked at me. Later Shannon came and we were like sisters.

Then I heard the police talk with Mum, “This is strange, and what can we do? The fact that he says that he was kidnapped by aliens and was feminized is too strange. Maybe the kidnappers feminized him. You can see that with his long hair, he does look like a girl.”

“He must be crazy. Thinking he was kidnapped by aliens. What about Shannon? I hear she was found as well”

“Yes, but she has the same story. An alien zoo kidnapped her. I think they could have been brainwashed. I don’t know. But I think when things are less exciting, Jade should see a psychiatrist. “

No one believed me that I was kidnapped by aliens. Parents expect us to believe in Santa and the tooth fairy, but they don’t believe us when we say, aliens.

It was nice being home again. The first thing I noticed was nobody was watching me all the time. After a few days, it was like nothing changed, except me. The Zoo experience changed me. I was no longer the same as I was.

I remember the day after I got home. I was getting dressed. None of my boy clothes felt good. In fact, when I had them on, I felt like I was another person. I was not myself. I kept telling myself that they were just clothes and I was still myself. But I still felt bad, in fact sad. Mum kept asking me if I was OK, was I treated well and who was it that kidnapped me? Dad just wanted to know if I was abused.

The next day, I decided to tie my hair in a ponytail. I had to steal some of my sister’s hair things, to help me make a ponytail. I might not have girl clothes on, but I had the hair as a girl. As soon as I came down to breakfast, Dad ordered me to take them out. He did not want a sissy as a son. Mum took them out and said that my hair would be cut. I said no way and rushed to my room.

I stayed there most of the day. I wanted my zoo experience back. There I discovered that I was a girl inside, and I liked being a girl. How would I talk to my parents about this? How would I tell them I thought I was a girl? My dad would disown me. My Mum would think it was some kidnappers that brainwashed me.

I cried and cried. Everything looked so dark. My life was back to normal and I didn’t want to be normal. I wanted to be who I was and I wanted to be happy. Why can’t I decide?

Mum came up and knocked on the door. I shouted to go away, and then she sighed and said she just wanted to know if I was here and that Shannon was here to visit me

“Hi Sister,” she said happily

“Hi. How are you doing?”

“I'm OK,” She said, “I am happy I am home with my Mum, but I miss the good times we had at the zoo. It’s just that no one believes me now when I tell them that we were there.”

“Same, everyone thinks it was some perv that kidnapped us”

“What do your parents say about... you know… that you want to be a girl?”

“They don’t even like that I have long hair. They will never accept that I want to be a girl”

“That’s a shame, you should be allowed. But in a way I do understand them, you are a boy as far as they know”

“But I think I discovered something in me that thinks I am a girl. Why can’t people just accept this and let me decide”

“I know you’re my sister, and people will never understand this”

With that, she took her bag and emptied the contents on my bed. It was some panties and tights. I smiled and asked were they for me? She said yes. I could wear them and no one would know because I had my boy clothes on top of them. I was so happy that I put them on straight away. The old feeling was back. I felt more like myself.

The next day, I had my new panties and tights. I still would have loved to wear a dress, but I would just have to do with what I had on now. Mum saw that I was much happier. I said I felt more like myself

Things went bad at school. When I was sitting down I didn’t see that my baggie jeans mad a gap on my back. The people behind me could look down my jeans. After some confusion, they discovered that it was tights and girl panties.

During break time, all the boys teased me. They called me sissy and panty boy. I started crying my head off. One boy even gave me a wedgy where everyone could see the panties. If you never had a wedgy before, then I will tell you it hurts. It’s where they lift your briefs as far up as possible.

After that, I was sent to the headmaster's office. Mum was called in.

He told Mum that I was a sissy wearing panties and tights. This upset mum so much that she promised that she would take care of it.

On the way home, she said that I was going to cut my hair the next day.

That night I looked out the window to the stars, “Please come and get me. I can’t be a girl here. They only want me to be a boy. They don’t care how I feel and they won’t respect that I found myself up there at your Zoo. I know I will miss them, but I cannot live a life where I am untrue to myself. The Zoo has taught me a lot of who I am, and how different species respect each other. I want to be happy, and I am not happy here being forced to be someone I am not. Please take me back.”

I could see the star come towards my room and the cotton fog on the floor. I laid down on it and smiled

I was going home