A Little Nudge: A Vision Spring tale

Michelle sat in the transgender pride meeting, feeling terribly out of place being the only one not dressed as her feminine self. The rest of the girls were moving forward, and she was being left behind, again. She sighed. It was her own fault.

Growing up, she had been part of a very conservative church, and suffered from terrible guilt whenever she gave in to her need to be feminine. The end result had been a frustrating cycle, one where she goes from trying to make her dreams a reality to getting rid of everything connected with the whole experience, just to start all over again a few months later.

Not only that, every time she went through the cycle, it seemed like she had gotten further, only to suffer even more guilt, and then suffer even more when she had to start all over again.

Last time, she had ended up in the hospital on suicide watch before she realized she had to make the change to her body or die. Now she had the girls of the tg pride group to help, and she had hoped she could finally overcome her upbringing and make progress.

But now that she was going to the meetings, she was finding the old fears resurfacing. She had been kicked out of her parent’s house after the last time, and now she was staying at a shelter, with almost nothing to her name, and no decent job to buy any male clothes, much less to spend on feminizing her appearance, so how was she supposed to do this?

She now had counseling once a week, and really would like to go dressed, but how to even start? The only good thing was she had finally had a honest conversation with her mom, and go the impression that she believed this gender issue wasn’t some passing fad, but she wasn’t going to go against
Michelle’s father, who was very conservative.

That meant she was on her own, at least for now. The other girls were good, but most were much further along than she was, and she was starting to feel like they viewed her as a poser, using her family background to avoid having to make the plunge.

The meeting was about to break up, when in breezed in the most magnificent creature Michelle had ever seen. Roberta, the leader of the meeting stood up and said, “Aleece? Long time dear.”

The woman brightened, and said, “Hello, all. I am Aleece Sabanna. I just came by to drop of some clothes for girls who may need them.”

Roberta said to her, “Well, that is a good thing, In fact, we have a new girl here,” Roberta brought Michelle up to the woman, “this is Michelle.”

Michelle looked at this newcomer, and suddenly felt very shy, and stammered a “hello”

Aleece took Michelle’s hand, and looked her in the eyes, and Michelle had a feeling that she was looking right into her soul. Even Roberta became uncomfortable in the silence that followed, and excused herself. Aleece said. “So, Michelle, where are you from?”

“Ha…. Hawaii” Michelle stuttered.

Aleece smiled, and said, “Long way from home, aren’t you? You come to Seattle to get out of the sunshine?”

Michelle shook her head. “My parents moved here when I was in my teens. Dad got a job working for Boeing, and so we came here. “

Aleece continued to hold on to Michelle’s hand, and said “So, you need some clothes. Come over here and take your pick.” And then she led Michelle to the large suitcase she had brought in, opened it up, and Michelle had to gasp.

The outfits were beautiful, and obviously very expensive, high end woman’s clothes. Aleece smiled, and pulled one dress out. “This one will really match your coloring dear. You have a mixed ethnic background, don’t you?”

Michelle nodded. “Yes. My mom was a native islander, and my dad was a mix, with his dad being white and his mom being black.” while she spoke, she fingered the silky, bright yellow dress.
It had multi-coloured flowers on it, reminding Michelle of the classic Hawaiian shirts, but much more richly made than any of those.

“You like it?” Asked Aleece, “it’s yours.”

“I… I couldn’t take something like this, it must have cost a fortune.” stammered Michelle.

Aleese smiled, and said, “I have plenty more, hon. I came by today to donate these to anyone who needed them, and I would say that include you.. Now how about underwear dear?”

Michelle had to blush again. “I … I have a set I bought at Goodwill.”

Aleese took Michelle’s hand and led her out of the meeting room, saying “That will never do. Come with me, I will take you to the best underwear shop in town.”

Michelle felt like she had lost all control of her life, but said, “They would be closed, surely? Its 10 pm.”

Aleese smile got even bigger, and she said, “Not for me. I happen to be very close friend with the owner of the chain.” and with that, she swept out of the building, with Michelle stumbling behind her, still holding on to the fancy dress.

Michelle soon found herself in a limo, her new dress in a bag beside her, holding on to an alcoholic drink for the first time in her life, and telling her life story to this woman who was more like a force of nature than a person.

After she was done, Aleese excused herself long enough to type on her PDA, saying that she was making the arrangements with the store owner for their private shopping trip.

While she typed, Michelle found herself fascinated with Aleese’s fingers. They were painted a bright green, with a dark green vine that wound its way from the base of the nail to the tip.

Then Michelle realized that green was a theme with this woman. Not only her nails, but her lips, her eyes, and her dress were green, and her neck and ears were adorned with emeralds.

The other thing that was remarkable about her to Michelle was the strong sexual energy she gave off. Michelle had never had any real attraction to girls, even when she had been forced to live as a boy, but sitting beside this woman, she seemed to be unable to help fantasizing about pleasing her, in any way that the woman chose.

They arrived at the store, and were met with the owner, who seemed like he couldn’t humble himself enough for Aleese. Once inside, Michelle found herself soon stripped, measured, and handed a bra and panty set that would have taken her a months wages to pay for, and told to change.

The effect of the new clothes was remarkable. Michelle almost couldn’t recognized herself in the mirror, and for the first time since she had discovered her feminine side, felt like her outside matched her feelings within.

Aleese smiled as Michelle admired her reflection, and said, “You look wonderful dear” Then she said to the owner, “We will take it all” and pulled out a credit card.

“For you, Aleese, no charge.” the owner said.

Aleese then said to Michelle, “ Come, my dear, we must show you off. There is a club nearby we can go to.”

Michelle pulled herself away from the vision in the mirror long enough to say ,“I … I have never been out in public before, Everyone will know I am not really a girl”

“Sweetheart, look at yourself again.“ Aleese said, “You are a beautiful woman, both inside and out. And in any case, its time to let go of fear, don’t you think? And with that, she grabbed Michelle’s hand, and took her from the store back to the limo.

A few minutes later, they arrived at a nightclub, and although shaking with nervousness, Michelle managed to navigate her way with Aleese ‘s help into the club. While many people stared at Aleese, they didn’t seem to give Michelle a second look, and soon she was able to relax a little.

The reaction of people when Aleese introduced her was varied. Some seemed honestly glad to meet her, some gave her a hungry look that frightened her, some were clearly jealous of her being with Aleese, and some were clearly looking past her at Aleese to see how to better ingratiate themselves with her.

The one exception was a strange old man, who moved carefully using a cane, and had an ugly scar on the right side of his face. Aleese came to him, and kissed him, but he seemed unaffected by her charms, and after greeting her, the man came up to Michelle and nodded to her, and then went toward the exit slowly.

The rest of the night was a blur to Michelle, and soon she was being driven home, and fell into her own bed. When she woke in the morning, the only sign that the whole thing wasn’t a dream was the new clothes.

For the next week, Michelle went back to her usual routine, going to work in her male identity, and coming back to the shelter to sleep. Her dreams were full of fear, as she had nightmares of being back on Hawaii, being chased by her family for betraying them by giving in to her need to become a woman.

But, then, the dreams suddenly changed, and when she would run from her family, she would end up plunging in the ocean. Once under the water, she could hear a strange voice that seemed to come from the water itself, comforting her, supporting her, and lending her peace.

When the time came for the pride meeting again, she hesitated to wear the clothes, but thanks to the change in her dreams, she found the confidence to put them on again, and went to the meeting.

When she got there, each of the girls took turns showing a dress from the suitcase that Aleese had brought. It seemed like each dress had been tailor-made for the girl who wore it, matching her style, colouring, size, and personality perfectly.

Michelle asked the leader of the group about Aleese, and she said, “Honestly, I don’t know much more than you do, dear. She came by a year ago, left some gifts for the girls, and then soon left. But she did give me a card from this charity she represents.

She then went to her purse, and pulled out a card, and handed it to Michelle. The card said, Vision Spring Charity. It had email address and a phone number, and nothing else.

The next day, after her shift at work, Michelle went to the public library to do some searching on this “Vision Spring” She had a feeling that there was something going on much bigger than giving away clothes to people like her.

A few clicks led her to find out that the charity had started in Europe more than a year ago, and had started to fund projects in North America about 6 months after that. They seemed to specialize in helping gays, lesbians, and transgender people.

The other fact she was able to get was that the chairman of the charity was a wealthy businessman named Gregory Kolvolenkov, and she recognized his picture as being the old man from the club. But what was Aleese’s involvement?

She tried typing in her name, and found nothing. She then tried the name of the club she had gone to with Aleese, and found a picture of Alesse at the opening of the club, but her name wasn’t mentioned. It seemed that the rich and powerful knew her, but no one talked about her at all.

That night, she dreamt, and this dream was even odder than the previous ones. She was transported to a castle somewhere, and saw a huge room, dominated by a round table, Each chair was totally different than the other. The chair directly across from her was made of stone, and had a diamond in the top of the back of the chair.

The chair to the right of that looked like it was made from a massive tree trunk, with green vines circling around it, with a flower on the top of the back. The chair to the right was even more impossible, as it appeared to be made of water and ice.

Next to that was a chair that appeared to be on fire, then, a chair that seemed to be made of a whirlwind. The next chair was bright as the sun, and the last one was as dark as space.

While Michelle watched, a group of people came into the room and came to the chairs, and sat down. Aleece was there, and she sat in the green chair. Beside her she recognized the old man who was the chairman of the charity, and he sat in the chair made of stone.

As the rest of the group came in, she realized that a couple of the chairs would be empty. The water chair, the chair made of darkness, and the chair of fire had no occupants.

The old man said, “Report.’ Aleese stood, and said, “We are making progress. I have a promising candidate in Seattle, and there is one in Vancouver worth investigating as well. Should those work out, we just need to find the last member, and we will be ready.”

The old man didn’t seem satisfied, and said “Getting recruits is good, but they will need training, and we are going to have little time for them to get accustomed to their powers and roles before the crisis comes.”

Aleese smiled, and said “We are doing all we can for the moment. I believe we will be ready in time”

The old man said. “I hope you are right. Collect the Seattle candidate as soon as possible. I will go and deal with the one in Vancouver.”

The others began to speak, but Michelle couldn’t hear them anymore, as she faded from the room, and woke up. The day after that, Michelle had a terrible scare at the restaurant that she worked at, when her brother Stan came in, saw her, and said, “Mike?”

Michelle tried to hide, but it was too late. Her brother cornered her, and she felt the fear again. Stan said to her, “So, this is where you went. How is life as a degenerate?”

Michelle tried to get away, saying “Let me go. I am working here.”

Stan said, “Dam sissy. You broke your mothers heart with your sickness. Does your employer know you are a pervert?”

All of a sudden, Michelle’s fear evaporated, and it was like she was connected to something, something powerful, and primal, and it was waiting for her to give it a command. It was in the water glasses, in the rain outside, and even in the people around her.

Every molecule of fluid was putting itself at her disposal. Suddenly, Stan felt weak, and fell to the floor. “What are you doing? You’ve taken up with the Devil now, too?”

Michele shook her head, and backed away from Stan. The other customers looked at her in fear, and unable to face them, she went back toward the kitchen. However, there was no relief there either. Her boss was afraid, and angry, and unable to face him, she fled the restaurant.

Michelle ran back to her room at the shelter, feeling like her heart was going to burst with fear. What had happened to her? And just as important, without a job, how long before she lost this place, and then where would she go?

In desperation, she grabbed the card she had taken from the pride group leader, and went to the free phone available in the common area of the shelter, and dialled the number.

She was not really surprised when the number turned out to be a automated system. She decided to at least leave a message, and so said “Hello. If this message gets to Aleese, please. Its Michelle Achazia, you took me shopping a week ago. I hate to ask, but I am in a lot of trouble, and something really weird is happening to me. If you can help, I could really use some right now.”

After she got off the phone, all the energy in her body seemed to leave, and she was suddenly was totally exhausted. She figured her best bet was to rest up, and try to salvage her job in the morning. If that failed . . . Well, she would cross that bridge when she got to it. Weaving like a drunk, she made it to her room and collapsed on her bed, asleep in seconds.

The next morning, she went to the restaurant where she worked, hoping to be able to salvage her job. When she got there, her boss was clearly frightened of her, and offered her three months salary if she would leave and never come back.

She sighed, and realized it was probably for the best, and took the check, and left. At least the money would buy her some time to figure out what to do next.

Not sure where to go now, she found herself just wandering around the town. It felt like the ocean was calling to her, and so she went down Broad Street, toward the waterfront. Then she heard a different voice, one that seemed to be coming from Myrtle Edwards Park, and she felt sure it was Aleese. She started running toward the park.

As she had hoped, Aleese was there, sitting in the grass next to a tree. Michelle ran up to her, but as soon as she got close, she stopped. Aleese had raised her hands, and sang, and although it seemed impossible to Michelle, the tree behind her swayed its branches to her song. Then things got even stranger. The grass also swayed, and the flowers as well.

Then, the grass, the flowers, and the tree behind her actually grew taller, and music reached Michelle’s brain without passing through her ears, as if the tree, the grass, and the flowers were now harmonizing with Aleese’s song.

Without understanding, Michelle had the impression she could join in as well, but not just her. The rain clouds above, the water from the ocean, all the water around her wanted to join in, if she let them. And she wanted to. So despite having no clue what she was doing, she reached the water, and they let loose with music, and it was glorious.

Soon, the song ended, the grass, trees, flowers, and the water were all still again. “How?” Asked Michelle. “How is this possible? What are you?”

“The same as you.” Said Aleese.

“Then, what am I?” cried out Michelle.

“You, are part of a very unique group. You and I, and the others like us have a connection to our environment that most people lack,” said Aleese, “For each of us, we connect most strongly to a particular part of that environment. I am connected to the Green, all the plant life on the planet. You are connected to the Water.”

“What do I do now?” asked Michelle.

“Come work for us, dear. We will train you on how to use your gift. We can also offer you all the material things you can imagine.”

“And what do you get in return?” demanded Michelle.

“If we are lucky, honey, we will get a chance to save the world.” Answered Aleese.

Michelle looked at her doubtfully, so Aleese added. “Why don’t you take some time and think about it. Meet me here at sunset, if you wish to join us.” Michelle watched her walk away toward a sports car parked at the edge of the park, then turned herself, and went the other way.

She didn’t have a destination in mind, but the need to be close to the ocean was still strong, so she headed towards where the park met the sea, and found a way right down to the water, and sat on the edge of the land, looking out. She sat there thinking for a long time, trying to decide what to do. It wasn’t like she had a lot of options.

She had lost her job, she would have no place to stay, and there was still her brother and the rest of her family out there, maybe looking for her now. Feeling hungry, she got up, and went out of the park down towards the Waterfront Seafood Grill, figuring that she might as well spend some of her last check.

Despite the fact that she was trying to avoid using her “connection” as Aleese called it, it was still present everywhere around her. Not only from the ocean and the rain clouds, but from all around her, even the people. She remembered reading that people were seventy-five percent water, and for the first time, really connected with that knowledge.

After she ate, she went back to the park to wait. She found herself trying to imagine what would happen if she joined this group, and almost changed her mind several times before she finally saw the sports car pull up. At that moment, she decided firmly to make a go of it, and ran to meet Aleese.

Aleese hugged her, and said. “I am glad you have decided to join us”

Michelle asked, “Did you really think I wouldn’t?“

Aleese said, “Not me, dear. I always thought you just needed a little nudge to get you going. Now we can really get to work. Welcome, to Vision Spring”