Last time...
"Don't worry, after seeing how badly you were hurt, they won't be letting her anywhere near you for a long time! You just relax and rest, and we'll see you in the morning, okay?" Mr. Donner said.

My eyes were drooping and I was just about asleep when I heard someone call my name. It didn't really register at first, but then I heard it again. I recognized the voice and my eyes snapped open. I'd almost forgotten that there was one other person involved in this who the police didn't have, and she was walking right towards me! "Mom?!" I gasped.

Despite assurances that she was safely locked away Mom's arrival had me looking around for Aunt Karen. "What are you doing here?!" I asked.

"We just got back. I went over to Karen's to pick you up and there were police all over her house. What happened?" Mom said.

"What do you think happened?!" I replied angrily. "She did exactly what she said she would do!"

Mom looked confused, "What do you mean?"

"She said you wanted her to 'teach me a lesson'!" I said, flinching away when she reached out towards me.

"What?! What did she do?!" Mom exclaimed.

"What's all this yelling about?" a male nurse asked angrily as he walked in.

"That's what I want to know!" Mom added.

"It was Mom's idea," I said, pointing at Mom, "for my Aunt to try and turn me into a girl. That's how I ended up here!"

"I heard about that." the nurse said, turning angrily on Mom. "How could you send your own son to a lunatic like that?"

"W-what?! A girl?" Mom said, looking a bit dazed.

"I think you'd better leave; you're upsetting him." the nurse said. Mom moved her mouth like she wanted to argue, but no words came out. He pushed her out and closed the door before turning back to me. "Are you alright John?" he asked.

I relaxed back into the pillows once the door closed. "Yeah, I guess." I said with a wince.

"Do you want me to call the police? About your mother?" he asked.

"I...don't know." I said. I had doubts at first that Mom was really involved, but after hearing Aunt Karen's side of phone conversations with Mom a few times I'd been convinced. Now, seeing her reaction, I wasn't as certain anymore. "Do you think she really didn't know?" I asked.

He shrugged, "I don't know. You'd be a better judge of whether she was acting just now or not."

"I don't know anything anymore." I sighed.

"I can understand that. Look, my name's Phillip. I just started my shift, so I'll be here all night. I'll make sure your mother doesn't come in here so you can get some rest. You can figure all this out once you've recovered." he said.

I was having trouble keeping my eyes open so I didn't argue with that idea. "Thanks. I wish I could trust her, but..." I said sleepily.

"Just rest. You're safe here." Phillip said.

I must have dozed off because the next thing I knew there was light streaming in through the window. It wasn't long before Phillip checked in on me. "Finally woke up, huh?" he said with a smile.

"How long was I asleep?" I asked.

"About nine hours. How do you feel?" Phillip answered.

"Thirsty and sore." I replied.

"I'll get you some water." he said. The water he got me was room temperature, which I hate, but I was so thirsty I didn't care. Phillip helped me get into a more comfortable position and then went on to continue his rounds. That left me with nothing to do but think about my situation. I was sure that Aunt Karen was out of the picture for at least a while. After all, she was caught chasing us. But I wasn't sure what to think about Mom.

I was starting to really feel down about the mess my life had become, so I was glad to see Marcie and her mother come in. Phillip intercepted them and talked to them for a minute before coming over to me. "Is it alright for them to come in?" he asked.

I smiled, it was nice to have someone watching out for me. "Sure, they're the ones that brought me here. They're great." I said.

Phillip smiled back, "Good. I was worried that you wouldn't have any visitors you trusted after last night. I'll be nearby if you need anything."

Marcie and Mrs. Donner looked quizzically at me after Phillip left. "What was that about?" Mrs. Donner asked.

"He was just making sure it was okay for you to come in. Mom came by last night." I replied.

"Are you alright?" Marcie asked, stepping quickly to my side and taking my hand in hers.

Damn hormones! I thought, wiping away the tears that thinking about Mom brought on. "Yeah. It's just...I don't know what to think about Mom anymore. Aunt Karen said it was Mom's idea to 'train' me, like she did. And I heard her talking to Mom on the phone a couple of times while I was at her house. And she did send me there in the first place. But she seemed confused last night and...well, she's my Mom." I said. At the last I couldn't keep it together anymore and ended up crying in earnest. Marcie hugged me as best she could without hurting me and Mrs. Donner came around and held my other hand.

"We'll figure this out John." Mrs. Donner said. "I find it hard to believe that your mother knew what was going on. But I also find it hard to believe that anyone could ever want to hurt you like your aunt did, so I'm as confused as I imagine you are. We'll get to the bottom of it. If we haven't by the time you're ready to be released, you can stay at our house until we have."

Marcie nodded vigorously along with her mother's words and I found myself tearing up all over again. I was sure glad I wasn't on those hormones anymore; I could do without all this crying! "Yeah, don't worry John. We'll keep you safe." Marcie added with another hug.

"Thanks. You're the best friend a guy could have Marcie." I said. She smiled at that, but seemed kind of sad for some reason. I guessed that she was worried that the kids at school wouldn't feel the same way. "I promise I'll look out for you. Well, once I get out of here, anyway."

Mrs. Donner laughed, "Don't get ahead of yourself John. We'll be taking care of you for a while yet. I don't think you realize how severe your injuries were. The drive here aggravated them, but even without that there was a real chance that broken rib could have punctured a lung and killed you."

"Really? But she never hit me that hard or that many times at once." I said, a little stunned at what she said. How could I have been that badly hurt?

"The doctor I talked to said that the shape your ribs were in was consistent with continual abuse over a period of time. Apparently even relatively minor blows, if repeated often enough, can weaken and even break bones over time. Until he talked to the police he was ready to have me arrested for child abuse!" Mrs. Donner said.

"What?!" Marcie and I exclaimed in unison.

"Relax kids, he was just doing his job. In cases like this the doctor is required to report any suspected abuse to the authorities. But since they already have your aunt in custody, there hasn't been a problem. We do need to call a..." Mrs. Donner stopped and pulled a business card out of her purse, "Officer Daniels, when you're ready. They need your statement. Marcie and I already gave ours. I think they've talked to your mother as well."

I nodded, "Yeah, I figured they'd want to talk to me. I'm ready any time."

Marcie looked at me worriedly, "Are you sure? Mom says you don't have to do it right away."

"It's okay, I'm fine. Besides," I added, noticing Marcie's frown, "the sooner I give my statement the sooner they can lock Aunt Karen up and throw away the key. I worry that she'll get out on bail or something and come looking for me."

"We can talk about that with the police, if you want." Mrs. Donner said.

I nodded, "Okay. You can go ahead and call them now, if you want."

"Are you sure John?" Marcie asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I want to get it over with." I said.

"Okay, I'll call right now." Mrs. Donner said. She stepped out of the room to make the call, since they don't allow cell phones in the building. At least, I assume they didn't, as the other hospitals I'd been in didn't.

"How are you really feeling John?" Marcie asked.

"Okay." I tried, but Marcie wasn't buying it and glared at me. "All right, alright! I'm stiff and sore, my chest hurts, it's still a little difficult to breath, and I'm scared stiff that Aunt Karen or Mom are going to get a hold of me and I'll end up right back in that basement. Satisfied?!"

Marcie held me as close as she could with all the tubes and stuff. When she pulled back there were tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry to push you like that John," she said, "but I worry that you hold stuff back too much. I know you're hurting, but you act like it's just another day! That's not healthy. We're best friends, you can trust me not to say anything to anyone else if that's what you're worried about."

I shook my head, "Nah, I know I don't have to worry about you talking. I guess..." I stopped and thought about it, something I'd been avoiding doing too much of lately. "I guess I just didn't want to worry you. You've got enough on your plate, after all."

Marcie shook her head with a rueful smile and brushed a few tears off her cheeks with the back of her hand. "I should have known you'd be worrying about anyone other than yourself. Please, don't worry about me John. You're the one who's injured and has all these problems thanks to your aunt and maybe your mom."

"You're asking a bit much, there. I always worry about you. Do you have any friends, besides me?" I said, remembering my realization yesterday.

She smiled sadly and shook her head, "No, not really. The other guys hang around with me for your sake, but none of them pay any attention when you're not around. The girls are okay, but they don't talk to me much. And some of the other guys are downright nasty when you're not there."

"I was afraid of that." I sighed. "I'm sorry I didn't realize that until yesterday. Maybe we can do something about that this year."

"Yeah, that would be nice." Marcie agreed. We continued to talk about school for a while after that, though neither of us brought up what would happen with her being a girl now. I was worried about frightening her. Besides, I'd be there to kick anybody's butt who gave her any trouble!

"Officer Daniels will be by in thirty minutes or so John." Mrs. Donner announced, walking back to the side of my bed.

"Okay." I said, getting a little nervous.

"They're not going to take her side, John." Marcie said. She had to explain what she meant to Mrs. Donner, who agreed with her. We just talked about whatever until he got there. Officer Daniels turned out to be the big guy with the gruff voice I'd seen yesterday.

"Hello John, I'm Officer Daniels." he said as he walked in. He had to duck a little to get through the door, he was really big! I felt Marcie squeezing my hand and Mrs. Donner stroking my hair and realized I'd shrunk back from him when he entered. I took as deep a breath as I could and let it out slowly to try and relax.

"Hi officer." I said weakly.

"I'm just going to sit over here, if that's alright." he said, taking a seat on one of those uncomfortable molded plastic chairs by the door. I felt better with him not looming over me, so I nodded. He looked like he had to be uncomfortable in that little chair with his big body, but he didn't show it. "So, John, are you ready to tell me what happened?"

"Sure." I said, taking another deep breath. Mrs. Donner was still stroking my hair, which was kind of weird. She'd never done that before, though my Mom had when I was younger. It felt kind of nice, though, so I didn't say anything. "Mom decided I'd stay with my aunt over the summer while she and her boyfriend went to Mexico..." I took him through the whole story from the beginning. He didn't stop me once, just sat there and took notes on a little notepad. He changed pages a lot, I think he must have filled the whole pad!

By the end Marcie was crying openly and had her head on my shoulder. Mrs. Donner had a few tears in her eyes, too. Officer Daniels was scowling. "That's quite a story, John. If we hadn't already searched your aunt's house, I might have trouble believing it. We found the estrogen she was giving you, and that locked basement room. We also found the tactical baton she used to break your ribs. There are still tests to run, including a blood test on you to prove the estrogen is in your system, but it's going to be a slam dunk, I think. You're a really brave kid." he said.

I shook my head, "If I was really that brave I would have broken out of there a lot sooner, instead of giving in to my aunt and dressing and acting like a girl."