Extracted - Chapter 16 – Please Don’t Hate Me – Part 1 of 2

 

Extracted

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 16 – Please Don’t Hate Me – Part 1 of 2

 

The door opened and two people stepped into the room…and stopped.  Nancy’s eyes went wide and she stood up immediately, her eyes unable to believe what she was seeing.  But those two people were just standing there, staring at her.  Not moving.  As much as it went against everything she had ever been in her life, she almost started crying.  “Mom, Dad,” she begged.  “Please don’t leave.  It’s me.  It’s Stephen.  I’m really here in this crazy body.”  When they still didn’t move, she begged again.  “Please don’t hate me!  Please!  I love you!”

Slowly, Agatha’s mouth dropped open.  “Steve?” she said.

“Yeah Mom.  It’s me.  It really is.”  There was a touch of tears in Nancy’s voice now.

Slowly, Agatha started moving toward the young girl in the room, but the closer she got, the faster she moved, until finally she dropped to the floor in front of the young girl and wrapped her in her arms.  “Stephen!” she cried.  “Oh Stephen!  What have they done to you?”  Sobbing, she continued to hug the child that was mentally her seventeen year old son.

Henry moved in and knelt down on the floor and wrapped his arms around both of them.  He held them all together that way for a long time while his wife and…son…cried together.

“I missed you so much!” Agatha told her son that she hoped really was inside the young girl she was holding.

“I missed you too,” Stephen, inside of Nancy, replied.

Agatha finally got herself under control.  She moved back and pushed Nancy away to arm’s length where she could see her better.  She shook her head.  This was their big football playing son?  The shock was astounding!  “Nancy,” she said.  “You look…beautiful!  Very, very pretty.”

Henry, behind her, had other ideas about that.  Knowing that this was his big muscular son inside that little feminine body made him sick!  That is, if his son really was in there.  He did his best to say nothing about that.

“Blame…my, other mother for making me look like this,” Nancy told her.  “She made me wear all this.”

“But Steve, you’re lovely,” Agatha told him.

“Mom, when was the last time you ever used the word lovely or pretty and was talking about me?”

“Never,” Agatha conceded.  “Still, I’m relieved to see that at least you’re not…I don’t know, homely or abused in any way…that I can see.”

“I’m not,” Stephen told her.  “They’ve actually taken pretty good care of me.  And I’m sorry to say that I’ve needed some taking care of.”

Agatha looked at the little girl in front of her again and said, “Yeah.  I have no doubt.  Tell me, how lost have you felt being…like that?”

Nancy was startled by the question.  “How lost?  Mom, you can’t imagine how lost I’ve been.  How lost I still am.  You name it and I can’t figure out how I’m supposed to deal with it.  I don’t want to be girl.  I have no idea how to be a girl.  I hate this!  And look at me.  Look at how small I am now.  I was big.  I worked out hard, for years, to get my body in good shape.  I was proud of how strong I was.  I was proud of how my entire body looked.  I had everything I could possibly want, but now…”  Nancy threw up her arms, then shook her head.  “I’ve got nothing.  Everything I wanted and loved about my life is gone.  And I’m stuck with this.  What am I supposed to do?”

Agatha and Henry both felt for their son just then.  What neither of them realized though was that somewhere in their son’s little tirade, they both started to cross the line that kept them from believing that this was really their son they were talking with.  They both started to believe that their son really, somehow, seemed to exist in that little girl’s body.

 

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Mike and Wanda Stiller opened the door and immediately saw Emily sitting with a good-looking boy and holding his hand.  He looked to be a large boy, who for some reason was wearing a nice suit.  The suit did nothing to hide what appeared to be a muscular body underneath.

The moment he saw them, Stephen dropped Emily’s hand and stood up.  “Mom!  Dad!  You’re here.  Finally!”

They had been told, but seeing Stephen in the flesh was almost overwhelming for Mike and Wanda.  Very tentatively, Wanda said, “Nancy?  Is that…really you?”

Stephen hurried over to them.  “It’s me Mom.  It’s me.  Please believe me.  Please!”

The large boy moving toward them so quickly made both Wanda and her husband step back a bit in fear.  Seeing that, Stephen stopped, shocked and disappointed.  Heartbroken.  “Don’t hate me.  Please don’t hate me.  Please believe me, I’m really here inside this…thing!  I’m really Nancy not Stephen.  When they didn’t move, Stephen fell to his knees and started crying.  “I love you,” he cried.  “I love you!  I need you Momma.  I need you Daddy.  I need…”  He rolled over onto the floor, rolled up in a ball, and sobbed.

Emily rushed over to him.  “Nance!  Nance!”  She knelt over his big body and hugged him.  “It’s okay Nancy.  I’m here.  I’m still here.  I know who you are.”

But Stephen could do nothing but feel sorry for himself and cry.  He had wanted nothing more than to see his real mother and father for so long, but now they obviously didn’t want him anymore.

Emily, still on the floor with Stephen, looked up at her mother and father.  “I know you guys don’t believe it, but this is Nancy.  This is my little sister.  I know that for a fact.  I have no doubt about it at all.  Mom, Dad, she knows things about me that only Nancy knew.  Only Nancy and nobody else!”

“She does?” Mike asked tentatively.

“Like what?” Wanda asked.

“Private things Mom!  Personal things.  Don’t ask!  They’re…embarrassing.”

“She knows things?” Wanda asked, with more hope than she had a moment ago.

“Yes!  Damn, she knows everything!  About all of us!  Things that I know for a fact that nobody else would know but her.  Just…trust me on that.”

“You were always so close,” Wanda said.

“Yeah.  We were.  That’s how I know for sure, and why I can tell you for sure that this is my sister.  Not that…other person in her body.  This guy here, is actually my sister Nancy.  I have no doubt at all.”

Very tentatively, Wanda finally knelt down over the crying boy, who was more like a grown man.  Softly, she placed her hand on Stephen’s arm.  “Nancy?” she asked.

Stephen looked up at her through his crying eyes.  “Momma,” he cried.  “It really is me.  It really is!”  He sobbed again.

Wanda didn’t know exactly what it was.  Maybe it was because of what Emily had said.  Maybe it was because of how strange it was to see this big guy lying there crying like that.  She didn’t know why exactly, but she did know that her heart yearned so much for this to be her long-lost daughter.  “Nancy,” she said again.

“Momma,” Stephen cried.  “Don’t leave me.  Don’t stop loving me.  I need you!  I need you!  I’ve missed you so much!”

Gently, Wanda pulled the crying boy into a sitting position.  She looked deeply into his tear filled eyes, and saw something there.  Something she couldn’t put a name to, but it was something that she recognized.  “Nancy,” she said a bit more firmly.  “You’re really in there.  You’re really here.”

“Momma!” Stephen cried again as hope seemed to reach out to him.  “Momma, I’m really here.  I’m Nancy inside here.  And I want to get out of here so bad!”

Still a bit tentatively, Wanda reached out and wrapped the crying boy-man in a hug.  As the man in her arms cried even harder, she held him tighter, then tighter still, until she herself was crying.  “Oh Nancy.  I’ve missed you so much.  I’ve been so lost worrying about you.”

While the two of them cried together, Emily softly said, “Mom.”  She looked up at her father.  “Dad.  I’ve been sitting here with him for a while now.  We’ve been talking…a lot.  Trust me, this is Nancy.  I don’t know how, but it really is her inside him.  Nance doesn’t seem to know anything at all about the boy whose body she’s in, but she sure knows everything about being Nancy.  And I just…feel it in him.  I feel my little sister, my best friend, inside him.  He’s Nancy Dad.  He’s Nancy Mom.  The real Nancy.  Our Nancy.  Believe me, I know it’s true.”

Wanda was still holding onto Stephen, but was now rocking him back and forth as the two of them cried and held each other.  “I love you darling,” she said to him.  “I love you my dear sweet girl.  I love you so much!”

Stephen seemed to cry even harder as he hugged his real mother tighter.

Finally, Mike knelt down and put his arms around both of them.  “Nance,” he said gently.  “I love you too.  Very much.  I’ve…missed you.”

Stephen lifted his tear-filled eyes to his real father.  “I’ve missed you too Dad.  Like you wouldn’t believe.”

Mike and his family stayed like that on the floor for a minute more before he suggested, “Maybe the floor isn’t the best place for us now.  Why don’t we get up so we can talk better.”

Slowly, he helped everyone to their feet.  Wanda stepped back and wiped the tears from her face with her hands as she looked more closely at the huge boy in front of her who somehow was her daughter.  Something made her smile and nearly laugh.  “You got all dressed up!” she said to Stephen, who was also her Nancy.  “You look really nice in that suit.”

“I wore it for you Mom,” Stephen told her.  “I know how much you like to see Dad when he gets dressed nice.”

Wanda allowed herself to let out a small chuckle.  “Yes I do.  And I thank you for being so thoughtful.”

“I wanted you to like me Mom.  Even this…new me.”

“Hm!” Wanda grunted.  “As much as I hate to say this, Nancy, you’re a good looking guy.  Very good looking.”

“But Mom, that’s just it.  I don’t want to be a good looking guy at all.  I don’t want to be a guy…a boy.  I want to be me again.  I’d do anything to be me again.  Anything!”

“I’m sure,” Wanda told her.  “Being…you inside there, it must be difficult.  It must be!”

“It is, Momma.  Believe me, it is.  I’m so…I don’t know.  I don’t know anything.  And there’s nothing I know how to do or even want to do in this body.  I hate it.  I hate it bad!”

“I’m sure,” Wanda agreed.

“What’s the worst thing for you?” Mike asked.  “You’re suddenly practically an adult now.”

“Huh!  What’s the worst thing?  You mean besides not being me, and not being able to see or even talk to you and Mom…and Emily?”

“Yeah,” Mike said.  “Besides all that.  What seems to be the worst thing?”

“I’m bored!  This Stephen was all into sports and stuff, and I’m not.  I want to dance, but he never danced.  Dad, I’ve got nothing to do.  I even asked if they would teach me to drive.  I’ve got a car and a driver’s license, but I just need to know how.  They took my car keys away from me instead.”

“Thank goodness!” Wanda muttered.

“I just want something to do!” Nancy said, totally frustrated.

“Maybe we can talk about that later,” Wanda suggested.  “You, me, and maybe Agatha as well.”

“My new mom?” Stephen said.  “Why her?”

“Because maybe, since she’s the one who raised…the real Stephen, she might have a better idea about what kind of things a boy your age might be able to do.  Things that maybe someone like you, Nancy, might find interesting.”

Stephen shook his head.  “At this point, I’m open to anything!  That weird doctor who seems to be in charge of things here talked to me a little while ago.  She said I need to look around and find something that interests me.  The problem is, I don’t know what.  I’m big now.  I’m supposed to be seventeen years old.  But the strange part is, I don’t feel seventeen.  Even though I’m not sure how being that old is supposed to feel.  I still feel like I used to.  Like I’m still twelve.”

“That much I believe,” Mike replied.  “It only makes sense.”

“Because you are only twelve,” Wanda emphasized, agreeing with her husband.

Stephen laughed a bit.  “Want to hear something funny?”

“What?” Wanda asked.

“It’s so weird.  I’m so big I can reach everything in the kitchen now.  Everything!”

In another room, Doctor Montcliff watched everyone carefully.  It had been very touch and go for a while there, but now things seemed to have finally sorted themselves out.  Did the Stillers really believe that Stephen was in reality their daughter Nancy?  She wasn’t sure, but at least they were acting a bit better towards him.  Emily though.  She had no doubt at all that Emily was convinced that Stephen was her sister.  That much alone made her feel better.

She gave them all a few more minutes, then decided it was time for the final big meeting.  The families could talk between themselves for a bit.  It was time now for Stephan and Nancy to meet each other…and their former selves.  And she knew that as much as the parents wouldn’t like it, those two deserved to be left alone to meet each other.

The room where they would meet was already prepared, and she had four FBI agents standing by just in case.

Now, it was time.

 

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Despite being told they could all go to lunch soon, there was a large coffee urn and a nice-looking tray of snacks set out in the room.  Wanda and Mike Stiller and their daughter Emily were there together.  Their other daughter, Nancy, wasn’t there.  They didn’t know where Nancy had been taken to.  The door opened and Henry and Agatha Marsh walked in.  They noticed that their son Stephen wasn’t with them either.  The grownups all moved towards each other, but Emily felt a bit lost and kept to herself.

“They told us the kids will be back soon and then we can all go to lunch,” Henry said to the others.  “And there’s supposed to be some kind of cocktail party for us later, just before dinner.”

“Yeah,” Mike replied.  “They told us that too.  We’ve got this time right now, but we’ve actually got the entire rest of the day.  I think our daughter, Emily, wants to head to the pool.  We’ll probably go with her.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Agatha agreed.  “Maybe we’ll see you there.”

“What do you think is happening now?” Wanda asked.

“Our kids, Stephen and Nancy, are supposed to be meeting each other,” Henry told her.  “And for some reason they’re insisting that none of us should be there.  Don’t ask me why.  I think it’s ludicrous!”

“I agree!” Mike stated.

“I’m not so sure,” Agatha said.  “Maybe having us all meet the way that they did was better than simply throwing us all together.”

“Why?” Wanda asked.  “You and I talked on the phone already.  We kind of knew each other already.”

“So did we,” Henry admitted.

“Yeah,” Agatha said.  “But did they know that?  The way they worked things here, it’s almost as if they expected us to immediately hate each other and start fighting.”

“That sounds possible,” Mike admitted.  “In fact, likely.”

“Yeah,” Wanda agreed.  “So maybe you’re right.  A little caution doesn’t hurt.”

“No,” Henry agreed.  “And I hate to admit it but, seeing…Nancy…a little while ago, was a lot more difficult than I imagined.”

“For us,” Wanda said, “seeing Stephen nearly tore us apart.  I can’t believe how difficult it was.”

“Wanda,” Agatha said.  “I really hate to ask this but…”  She paused a moment then asked.  “When you met Stephen, did you really believe it was your daughter living inside of him?  I mean, really?”

Wanda searched for a way to answer that, then her husband said, “Not at first.  At first, we saw that big guy, almost a full-grown man, and simply thought there was no way that our Nancy could be inside there.  It made no sense at all.”

“That’s pretty much how I felt too,” Wanda admitted.  “I simply couldn’t believe it was her at all.  Thank God for Emily.  She did more to convince us that it was really Nancy than anything else.  Um…until I actually held him and looked deep into his eyes.”  She shook her head.  “I don’t know how, but I saw something there.  Something of Nancy, that I knew without a doubt was my Nancy.  I think it was only then that I really believed it.  And I mean, really believed.  So now…now I have no doubt in the world that somehow my daughter has been split apart and half of her is her old body, but the other half now lives inside…your son Stephen.”

“That’s kind of how we felt too,” Agatha told them.  “But I think for us it was easier, quicker maybe.  For me, it was the things that Nancy said that made me believe.  All I had to do was listen to her and the things she was saying, complaining about, and I knew I was listening to my son for sure.  I had no doubt at that point at all.”

“So we believe,” Mike said.  “And you believe.  But where does that leave us now?”

“Just as lost as we were before,” Henry told him.

Mike nodded, but Wanda had a different opinion.  “No!  We’re not.  We know for sure now where our children are, even if they’re not the way they’re supposed to be.  They’re not completely lost anymore.  They’re found.  Both of them.  As for me, as much as I hate it, at least I can take some comfort in that.”

Agatha went to her and hugged her.  “Thanks for putting that into words,” she said.  “I agree.  At least we can take comfort in that much.  They’re no longer lost.”

“No,” Henry agreed.  “They’re no longer lost.  They just feel that way.”

 

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