Stuck in a Rut.
By Rosalie Redd

Casey Church is dealing with the usual things that any Fourteen year old girl has to deal with. That is if they are a girl in a world where girls aren’t born, they are transformed. Leaving her male life behind is difficult, and new threats are on the horizon.

Chapter 46

I slept uneasily that night, nightmares of the twins breaking in waking me every couple hours. I looked like a mess when I came down to breakfast. I didn’t even remember going up to bed. DeShaun must have carried me upstairs, and had Mom change me into my pajamas.

I sat at the table, sipping a cup of coffee, the mug held firmly in both hands. “You look terrible pumpkin, did you get any sleep?”, Dad asked.

I shook my head and cradled the coffee. I normally hated coffee, but this cup seemed like a magical brew to me right now, helping to keep me awake and sane.

Mom looked at me. “You are staying home today. I will inform the office. No arguments.”

I sighed, and knew there was no point in resisting. I put the mug down, my hands trembling. Dad must have noticed, because he pulled out his phone.

I watched him flip through his contacts, and he speed-dialed one.

“Hello. How is it going? I was going to ask a favor. Hes. Yeah, she’s scared. I was going to ask if you could … your day off? Sure that’s even better. 30 minutes? Sure that works. See you then. Love you.” I heard Dad’s side of the conversation, and wondered who he was talking to. I needn’t have bothered, because he turned and faced me.

“Pumpkin, your Aunt is coming over, she will spend the day with you while your mother and I are at work. I don’t want any arguments. This is happening. You are shaking visibly. You are in no condition to go to school”.

I looked over at DeShaun. He looked back at me and smiled. “I’ll gather up your homework and lessons. Don’t worry about it.”

I nodded and managed a bowl of grape-nuts, with banana slices. I put down the coffee. Seriously, that stuff is vile. But not needing the caffeine, I didn’t need it.

Mom hugged me, before heading out to the garage. DeShaun joined her for a ride in to school.

Dad and I sat there for a little while alone. He finished up his breakfast, and came over and hugged me.

“Remember, none of this is your fault. Marcia, these two, none of it. You are a beautiful, intelligent young lady who doesn’t deserve this. I’m sorry that you have to go through it.” He said.

We sat together in the living room. The doorbell rang, and he got up to answer it. Aunt Maggie came in. She was Dad’s sister, and as such she shared in his.. um… our lack of height. Still, she was the tallest 5’4” woman you could imagine, radiating this aura of respect, authority, and intensity. She was an unexpected addition to Grandma and grandpa’s family, being younger than Dad by 12 years.

I looked up from the couch, seeing her. She had on jeans and an Eden Prairie Police K-9 unit polo. Her reddish brown hair was up in a pony tail. With the jeans and the polo you could see her fit physique, strong, and slender, but still curvy. I noticed I looked at her chest. I have said before that the women in Mom and Dad’s families all tend towards the average or bigger side. Aunt Maggie was no exception, being at least a C cup. Aunt Maggie came in, leading her partner Hercules.

I stood up and she saw me. “Is that Casey? Oh look at you! You look so pretty. I didn’t even recognize you!”, she squealed. She did a little twirling motion with her finger, and I did as she asked, spinning around for her to get a good look.

She ran over and hugged me. I felt her crush me in the embrace. Aunt Maggie is strong. VERY strong for someone her size.

I wrapped my arms around her and hugged back tightly. Tears dripping down my cheeks. She reached into her bag and pulled out some tissues and offered me one.

“Ladies, as much as I’d like to stay, I have work to do on a case. If you need anything though, feel free to call.”, Dad said as he grabbed his briefcase and headed towards the garage.

Aunt Maggie looked at me, those hazel eyes of hers scanning me up and down. “I just can’t get over how different you look.”, she said.

“I know, neither can I, sometimes. “, I admitted.

I ran upstairs and changed. I didn’t feel like wearing the skirt and blouse I had picked, so I grabbed some sweats and a t-shirt.

I looked out the window. Nobody was out there, but I still felt nervous.

Aunt Maggie and I sat down on the couch, and she regaled me with stories of what she had been up to. Her and her partner had been influential in a big drug bust the other week, and had also found a missing boy that had been abducted by his father in a custody dispute.

Hercules curled up on the floor and yawned. Maggie scratched him on the head as I watched.

I caught up Aunt Maggie on everything that had been happening in my life, from meeting DeShaun, to Marcia, and the situation with the twins.

“I knew some of the details about the Hayes girl.”, she said. “I was the one your parents handed the information your friend had gathered to. But since it was out of my field, I wasn’t the one who worked on it.”

I actually hadn’t known that.
Aunt Maggie and I spent the morning, baking and chatting. She loved to bake, and I gave her a piece of the cake I had made with DeShaun. She loved it.

A little before noon, there was a knocking on the door. Aunt Maggie looked at me. I shook my head, in response to the unspoken question.

She went to the door, cautiously, leading Hercules. I noticed that she was armed, and that reassured me. I hadn’t noticed her holster before, but it was there. Looking out the window, she saw two girls standing on the porch. I went over to Dad’s office, and looked out from behind the blinds.

“That’s them!”, I said, panicking.

Aunt Maggie nodded, and opened the door. “Hello girls, is there something I can help you with?”, she asked. Hercules sat at her side, looking menacing, even for a German Shepherd, he was on the large side, and that gave him some intimidation points.

“U...um, We are friends of Casey, and we were wondering if she were home.”, Amy stammered, looking from the police insignia on Maggie’s shirt, to Hercules, and back again.

“Funny, from all indications, you girls fit the descriptions of two girls that have been harassing my niece. And shouldn’t you both be in school? Unless, of course, you are Amanda Constance Wilder and Mayelle Jordan Wilder… both of whom were cited yesterday for loitering in this area, and are known to be on suspension from school due to violations in the school ethics code.”

May swallowed hard and stepped back, pulling Amy along with. “I’m sorry, I think we’ll be going. Sorry to disturb you. I hope Casey feels better.”, May stated nervously.

They both backed down the sidewalk, reaching the end of the property line, once they were out of our yard, they turned and ran as fast as they could. I broke out into laughter, and looked at Aunt Maggie. She was trying to appear stoic, and failing. I could see that she was fighting off a major outburst of the giggles.

I felt better, and I gave her a hug, which she gave back. I took note of the time, and called Janie. She was sitting next to DeShaun at lunch. She was feeling better, her cramps had eased up on her today, and she was well enough to go to school. I thought about that and shuddered. That could be me in a few months. I spoke to both of my sweeties. They informed me that Luna had been scared when I hadn’t shown up, but they would tell her that I called when they saw her.

I felt a lot better, and Aunt Maggie and I had a light lunch, some salad. I told her about the kickboxing, and she approved. We went down to Mom’s studio in the basement. When she did personal training, she often had people over Here to work out. She let DeShaun use the weights and exercise bikes and so forth, but I had never really been interested.

Now that I was a girl though, I saw the logic in staying in shape and working out to get stronger. Aunt Maggie had gone out to her car and gotten her workout clothes, and I had hopped on the stationary bike. I watched as She worked with the speed bag, and then the heavy bag. I held it for her as She demonstrated some kicks and punches. She didn’t show me too much, because she thought that it would be best to let my instructor do that, so that I didn’t pick up contradictory technique. After riding a bit, I settled into stretching and some simple yoga poses.
“I’m amazed at how flexible you are!”, Aunt Maggie exclaimed. “I can’t do a full split like that.”, she commented as I did a frontward split. I then showed off a little with a side-split, and she watched.

“How far can you kick?”, she asked out of curiosity.

“You know, I have no idea, I’ve never tried.” I did a few front kicks, in rapid succession, before attempting a full on front upper kick. We both marveled as I kicked my leg up over my head.

“Yep, amazing flexibility!”, She commented. I blushed, surprised I had impressed Aunt Maggie.

We finished working out, and were hot and sweaty. I offered Aunt Maggie first shower, up in my bathroom. After she finished, I took my turn. I put on some yoga pants and a Captain America tee from my boy days, and then threw my school hoodie over that. Aunt Maggie was back in her polo and jeans.

Hercules yawned and whined a little. “Looks like someone has to go.”, She commented. We headed out for a walk, taking Herc out to the trails. I realized this was where George had been raped. I mentioned it to Aunt Maggie, and she shook her head, sadly.

Still, we went on the nature trails, and stopped a couple times for Hercules to sniff a scent, or take care of business. I, of course, looked the other way, as Maggie had to bag it up and dump it into one of the trash cans that lined the path. Don’t get me wrong, I loved dogs, and sometimes wished we had one, but that was the part that I could do without.

There was a slight breeze, and the leaves rustled as we walked. I took in the colors and the vibrancy of the reds and golds and browns. It was turning out to be a better day than it had started. By the time we got back, school was out.

We walked in, and DeShaun was on the couch, taking a nap. Aunt Maggie stared and was about to draw on him, when I yelled out. “Aunt Maggie! No! That’s DeShaun, my boyfriend!”

DeShaun shot up with a jolt, and fell off the couch. After numerous apologies, things had settled down.

He sat beside me, on the opposite side as Aunt Maggie, I noticed. Herc came over and gave a small “woof’, placing his head in DeShaun’s lap. DeShaun sat and scratched his head. Apparently, if Herc approved of DeShaun, so did Aunt Maggie.

Questions, comments, Ideas? Let me hear them!