Gruesome Tuesday

PART THREE

©2004 Tanya J. Allan

This work is fictitious, and any similarities to any persons, alive or dead, are purely coincidental.  Mention is made of persons in public life only for the purposes of realism, and for that reason alone!  Certain licence is taken in respect of medical procedures, terms and conditions, and the author does not claim to be the fount of all knowledge!

The author accepts the right of the individual to hold his/her (or whatever) own political, religious and social views, and there is no intention to deliberately offend anyone.  If you wish to take offence, that is your problem!

This is only a story, and it may contain adult material, which may include sex and intimate descriptive details pertaining to genitalia.  If this is likely to offend, then don’t read it!

Unfortunately no politicians were injured or killed in the writing of this story, and no one else was either!

If you enjoyed it, then please Email me and tell me!  If you hated it, Email me and lie!

I will always welcome contact!

tanya_jaya@yahoo.co.uk

The legal stuff!

This work is the property of the author, and the author retains full copyright, in relation to printed material, whether on paper or electronically!  Any adaptation of the whole or part of the material for broadcast by radio, TV, or for stage plays or film, is the right of the author unless negotiated through legal contract! Permission is granted for it to be copied and read by individuals, and for no other purpose.  Any commercial use by anyone other than the author is strictly prohibited, and may only be posted to free sites with the express permission of the author!
AUTHOR’S HEALTH WARNING

Dear Reader,

Life can be a crock sometimes, so if it all right with you, I actually prefer happy endings!  So, if you want the hero(ine) to have a really miserable time, READ SOMETHING ELSE!

But if you want to see good prevail, and end up with a soppy smile, then I have achieved what I set out to do! 

Please enjoy! Tanya

3.Rob’s story

As soon as the flash happened I knew that I had been electrocuted, and my only concern was for Sophie!

I was flung back against the far wall, and my hand landed in the dog’s water bowl! I was stunned for a moment, and then I sat up, I looked round for Sophie, and couldn’t see her.  But some strange man was lying on his side next to me.

I reached out a hand, and then I panicked, as my fingernails were all painted with nail varnish!

“Sophie!” I yelled, and it was Sophie’s voice.

I turned the man over, and looked into my own unconscious face.

“Fuck!” I said, out loud, and once again Sophie’s voice sounded strange form the inside!

Somehow it all started to go in slow motion! It occurred to me that if I was looking at Rob, then I must now be in Sophie’s body!  But it seemed secondary to getting medical help for me (Rob)!

I checked my (Rob’s) breathing and heart.  He had a pulse and was breathing.  I rolled him into the recovery position, and grabbed for the phone on the wall.

I dialled 999.

“Emergency, which service do you require?”

“Ambulance please.”

“One moment.”

I then heard as she connected me to the ambulance control and told them my telephone number.

“Ambulance, can I have your name please?”

“Its Ro.., no Sophie Mills.  It is my Dad, he had been electrocuted!”

“Address please?”

I told her.

“Is the casualty breathing?”

“He is and he has a pulse.  He is unconscious and I have placed him in the recovery position!”

“Good girl.  When did this happen?”

“A few moments ago.”

“How old are you Sophie?”

“Fifteen.”

“Fine, then stay with him.  It the electrical appliance safe, or is the source still dangerous?”

“It was the washing machine.  I will switch it off!”

“Don’t touch the metal casing, just unplug it!”

I did so.

“Okay, Sophie, the ambulance is on it way, so just stay and talk to me.  How old is your Dad?”

“Forty.”

“Give me his full name, please!”

“Robert Andrew Stewart Mills.”

“Do you know his birthday?”

“21st February 1963.”

“Good girl, now, just check he is still breathing for me!”

I did, and he was. 

“He is!”

“Fine, now we know his heart is fine if he is still breathing, so that is the most important thing to keep an eye on!  Are you okay?”

“Yes, I was touching him when it happened, I was thrown back too!”

“Okay, are you burned?”

“No, I don’t think so!”

“Is your father?”

I checked and could not find anything.

“I don’t think so.  It is hard to tell!”

“That’s okay.  Now is he a fit man, or does he have a condition we need to know about?”

“He’s fine.”

“Okay, now where is your mum?”

“She died four years ago.”

“I’m sorry, sweetie, has your Dad a new partner?”

“No, there is just him, me and Simon, who is up stairs!”

“How old is Simon?”

“He is ten, he is my brother.”

“All right, thanks.  Now the ambulance is not far away now.  Can you hear it?”

I listened, and just caught the sirens.

“Stay with me, right up until they arrive, and then let me speak to the paramedic, okay Sophie?”

“Yeah.”

The two green clothed paramedics came in, and checked me (Rob) out, and spoke to the controller on the phone.

“Is there anyone who can come over and look after you two?” One of them asked me.

“I’m coming with you!  I can’t leave him!”

“Okay, but what about your brother?”

Simon appeared, pale and frightened by the door, as he stared at my body on the floor.

“Sophie!”

I hugged him.

“Its okay, he’s going to be fine!  He was electrocuted by the washing machine.  He will be fine!” I said.

One of the paramedics went and collected the trolley, and I called Aunt Sally.  Sally was Dad’s sister and she only lived ten minutes away.

“Aunt Sally, its Sophie. Dad has been hurt and they are taking him away in an ambulance, can you come and sit with Simon until I get back?”

She was brilliant, and I knew she would set off the speed cameras on the way over!

They had Dad (me) strapped to the trolley, and with a blanket over him.  An oxygen mask was over his face, and they trundled him out to the waiting ambulance.

The fiddled about getting him just right, and I was allowed to get in.  Sally arrived in a spray of gravel, and rushed over.

“Sophie, are you all right, love?”

“Fine, but Dad isn’t!”

“What happened?”

I explained again, and she shook her head.

“He has always been hopeless with electrical things!  Where is Simon?”

“Indoors!”

“Okay, have you got your mobile?”

I put my hands in the pocket of my skirt and found the mobile.

“Is it charged up?  I know you girls!”

I checked and nodded.

“Good, give me a ring as soon as you know anything!”

I nodded, and they shut the doors.  The ambulance took off, and the sirens started again.

I sat and looked at my unconscious form.  If I was inside Sophie, where the hell was Sophie, for she wasn’t in me!

I then thought back to our earlier conversation, and a thought came to me.

‘No, please God, not that!  The poor kid will be lost!’ I said to myself.  I tried to imagine Sophie as a fifteen year old boy in 1978!  Then I realised that I was a fifteen year old girl in 2003!

Fuck! 

I looked down ay my breasts.

I fainted.

I came round when one of the crew waved something smelly under my nose.

“Are you okay, love?”

I nodded.

“Sorry, it is all a bit much!”

“That’s okay.  Your Dad is fine, but he is very deeply unconscious!  So hang in there!”

I nodded, and tried to order my swirling thoughts!

The ambulance arrived at the hospital at Watford, and Dad was wheeled in.  A nurse came over to me, and took me to a small room.

“Just wait here for a little while, the doctor wants to look at your Dad, and you don’t want to get in the way!  Now you said that you had been shocked too?”

“I’m fine, Dad took the main bolt, and I was just knocked backwards!”

“Are you sure?”

I nodded, and the banging of my earrings was most disconcerting.

She just checked me out, and then smiled.

“You seem okay, would you like a drink or anything?”

“No thanks.”

I was left alone and I was able to try to piece together what had happened.  Somehow I was now inside my daughter’s brain.  And it was a matter of extreme concern to me over where she had gone!

I thought back to when I was fifteen, and to anything which could indicate a change in my lifestyle, or behaviour.

I then remembered the time I was bashed on the head in rugby, and spent the night in sick bay!  This was a time where I actually don’t remember a lot of what happened!  I have memories, but sort of detached ones!  I do know that my French master gave me my first ever good report, and as a result I went on to get my French O level, which surprised everyone!

I thought about that time, and could picture me going to lessons, and I can even remember conversations.  I was given my first part in a play, as a girl, Sophie!

That was it! The reason I wanted our daughter to be called Sophie!  I was given a female part in a play, and the girl’s name had been Sophie.  When I told Karen this story, she thought it was sweet!

But that time was weird!  It had started when I got a whack on the head, but I don’t recall an end, things just became normal after a while.  I couldn’t remember whether it was a long or short while!

I stood up and walked up and down, and caught my reflection in to window.  Bloody hell!  This was a nightmare!  I was fifteen again!  It was enough trouble the last time!  But this time I was a girl!

Oh, Sophie, where the hell are you? I cried to myself!

The nurse and a doctor came in.  They shut the door, not a good sign.

“Sit down Sophie.” Said the doctor.

I sat.

“I’m Miles Peters, and I am the consultant neurologist here at Watford General.  I have examined your father, and I must confess to be perplexed as to why he is in a coma!  He has no signs of heart failure, and the shock hasn’t burned him at all!  All his vital signs are fine, but it seems his mind has just shut down!”

“How can that happen?” I asked.

“The human brain is a highly complex organ, and all thoughts and memories are held in place by tiny electro-magnetic charges.  It is possible that the electric shock he received confused the brain, and he has sort of gone to sleep!”

“Is his brain still functioning?”

“Oh yes, it is still keeping everything going, it is just he is very deeply asleep, and he may come out of it in ten minutes, ten days or ten months!  I have no way of knowing!”

“Can I see him?”

“Of course, the nurse will take you to him now!  We have given him an IV drip for fluid and nutrient.  He is breathing perfectly well by himself, and seems to be in no distress at all!  I am hopeful that he will just snap out of it, and surprise us all!”

“Can he hear me?”

“I have no idea, he shows no signs of being aware of his surroundings at all!  But it can’t hurt!”

I followed the nurse to a private room.  The body in the bed looked asleep, and the heart monitor bleeped away reassuringly.

I sat by the bed, and held my own hand.

“Daddy! Are you in there?” I said, and the nurse smiled sympathetically at me, and left me alone.

“Sophie!  If you can hear me, I give up!  You can go to the bloody concert with a bus load of rapists for all I care, now get your arse back here this minute!”

Another nurse came in, and I smiled pathetically at her.

“Do you want a cup of tea, or something?” she asked.

Actually, a double malt whisky would slide down really well just now.

“No thanks, I’m fine!” I said instead.

“If you want anything, just come and see us at the nurses’ station!”

“Thanks.”

I was alone again.

“Boy is this a mess, or what?” I said to the thing in the bed.  I no longer saw it as being me, I was here and able to talk, the thing wasn’t me any more!

“Well, I can’t hang around here!  I suppose this will all sort itself out, but I hope it doesn’t take too long!”

I remembered Aunty Sally, and looked at my watch. I had been here two hours already, and Sally would have told our parents and so Granny would appear and try to take over everyone’s life as usual!  I was very fond of my parents, (Sophie’s grand parents), but they did like everyone to dance to their tune!  I smiled, as Sophie could wrap both of them around her little finger, and they thought the world of her!

I tried to get it through my brain that I had to be Sophie until this thing sorted itself out!  I was Sophie!  I was Sophie!  I was Sophie!

No I wasn’t!

But I had to be!

Bugger!

I stood up, and walked to the window, the miniskirt felt draughty, and I couldn’t pull it down at all!  My legs were very exposed, and it was so different to just seeing them!  As Sophie’s father I had accepted that she wanted to be dressed a la mode, but as the person wearing the damn thing, I felt exposed to the world!  I felt very awkward, and the high-heeled shoes threatened to make me fall over with each step.

I was aware that I had Sophie’s memories, and so I let them take over, and relaxed and let the body do what it was used to doing automatically.  It worked!!

I walked out and called home.  Sally answered.

“Aunt Sally, its Sophie.”

“Hi girl, how is the silly sod?”

“The silly sod is in a coma, and they don’t know if or when he will ever come out of it!  He is breathing fine, and he has a drip in his arm for fluid and nutrient, but it is as if he has gone out to lunch!”

“Oh God!  What a mess!  How are you, sweetie?”

“I’m fine.  Tired and confused and pissed off, but other than that I am fine!”

She laughed.

“You sound more like your Dad every day!”

“Thanks a bunch!” I said, and she laughed.

“Believe me, you could do a lot worse!  He is a smashing guy, your dad, a brilliant father and a super husband.  He was okay as a brother too!”

“I suppose M.., Granny is on way?” I said, and she laughed again.

“Sorry, but I can’t stay forever!  I have my own brats to deal with and Roger will start fretting if I am away too long, poor old bugger!”

“Can you pick me up once they arrive?”

“Of course, I’ll bring your grandfather so he can see the boy!  Oh Sophie, I am so proud of you, you did wonderfully!”

“Yeah!” I said, unconvinced.

“No, you did!  Lots of girls would have panicked, but you kept your head!  If your Dad pulls through, and I am sure he will, it will be down to you!”

“I’d better go.  When are the oldies due?”

Sally frowned and looked at me.

“That’s one of your Dad’s expressions too! Half an hour or so.  See you soon!”

“Bye.”

I went back to the room, and sat by the bed.  I held hands for a moment.  I looked at the hands which had been mine until recently, and compared them with the ones I now had.

They were big but quite soft.  I had always been a writer and not a labourer!  But the hands I had now were small and delicate.  They were pretty hands, and they belonged to my daughter, and not to me!  I didn’t deserve to even borrow this body, and I was determined that while I was in charge of it nothing would happen to it!

I was still sitting, clasping the large hand tightly when Aunt Sally and Grandpa arrived.

“Hi Grandpa!” I said, and he gave me a huge hug.

“How’s my girl?” he asked.

“Okay, just!” I said, and he smiled.  Sally squeezed my arm, and they both looked at the figure in the bed.

“He looks all right!” said Grandpa.

“He is all right, he has just buggered off for a bit!” I said, and Sally looked at me and frowned.

“Sorry Aunty!” I said, and she shook her head.

“My brother has a lot to answer for!  You even talk like him now!”

I vowed to shut up!

The doctor came in and went through everything again.  He smiled and was sympathetic, but the bottom line was he didn’t bloody know anything!

Sally gave me a kiss and a hug, and disappeared. And I went home with Grandpa.

I was quiet in the car, and then he asked me about the accident.  I told him, and he nodded.

“Rob was never very good with electrical things!  I will get someone in to look at the washing machine tomorrow!”

I almost told him to leave it, but I was hardly able to try that again to reverse what ever happened to us!

It was getting late, and I had school in the morning!  Bloody hell, I would have to get out of that!

We arrived back, and Granny had already made the hot chocolate, and was sitting with Steven.  I had to tell the story again, and she made ooohs and aaahs at the appropriate places.

“Well, your grandfather and I are here now, so don’t you fret!  The important thing is to get on with life, so you two will be off to school again tomorrow, as usual!”

We both moaned at this, and I could tell her mind was made up.  I went to my room and tried to work out what the hell I had to do at school in the morning!

As I stood in Sophie’s room, wearing Sophie’s body and clothes, I relaxed and tried to access her memories!

They flooded in, and I had a job to make sense of them.  But I found her bag, and the timetable, and was pleased to see she had even done her homework!

I sorted out my clothes and tried to remember what she wore.  I had to sit down, close my eyes and try to become her!  It worked, and I managed to have everything all laid out neatly.  The school was a girls’ school, and I had a little smile, ironic, that all my young life, I had fantasised about getting into an all girls school, and now I was able to, I was a girl too!

I cleaned my teeth, and undressed.  I stood examining Sophie’s body.  Sophie was quite mature for her age, and I was surprised that boyfriends weren’t more in evidence.  Sophie had a very neat body, firm breasts and a slender waist and slim hips, but still very feminine!  She was quite fit from her hockey and swimming, and she was a very pretty girl!

In fact, she was developing into a stunningly pretty girl, who had a smile to die for!

I slipped on a night dress, and thought about the boyfriend situation.

There was no boy in particular.  She seemed to feel those of her age were silly and immature, and the older ones were more interested in older girls!  She was sort of in limbo, and I was sure it would sort itself out soon!

I caught the fleeting memory of a boy she liked, but just a face, and a smile.

Granny and Grandpa came in to say goodnight, and I was less than comfortable with the idea of picking up Sophie’s life and running with it!  But I just hoped that I would wake up in the hospital, and it would all be over!

To be continued in Chapter 4

 

since 03/09/04