This choice: Lexy Andraco, a 20 year old college sophomore. • Go Back...Chapter #5Lexy Andraco, a 20 year old college sophomore. by: Wassel   ...It was a young woman who you'd never seen before. Older than you by at least three or four years. Pretty, if in a slightly unconventional sense. With short, dark wavy black hair. The front of which was dyed green. Her face slightly on the chubby side, with a small silver stud decorating the top of her lip. This being a far cry from the short brown hair and square jaw line you were familiar with.
No way! you heard yourself gasp, yet no sound escaped your lips. It being only now, while sitting there staring at this strange girl, that you finally accepted all this as real. That the doctors really had performed a brain transplant. Almost feeling like you were about to faint.
You didn't though. Managing to stay conscious enough to ask, "Who... Who is she?" as your eyes examined every inch of her form (not that there was much to see due to the covers and the hospital gown).
"Her name was Alexandria. Alexandria Andraco. Or Lexy, for short," Dr. Saunders informed you. "She was a college sophomore I believe. English Literature. Arrived yesterday afternoon after collapsing at home. Seems she had a brain aneurysm completely out of nowhere."
"Oh God... And that... That's really my dad now?"
"Yes, I'm afraid so."
If he hadn't have told you this then there really wouldn't be any possible way to tell. There not even being a hint anywhere that this was indeed your father. 'Lexy' looking every bit the college sophomore she appeared. Imagining, from the green streak and the piercing that she was one of those gothy/alternative types. Like the ones that hung around together at school in large clusters. Listening to crappy music and pretending like they're cool as shit because they don't like 'popular things' and that their wardrobes are made up almost entirely of black. Which was the complete opposite of your father in a way, who in his youth had been somewhat of a jock. Having always been disappointed that you never got into sports like him and spending a bit of his free time down at the gym (at least when he wasn't playing golf).
Picking up from where Saunders left off then, Kerry again piped up. "It was unfortunate for Miss. Andraco, yes, but fortunate for us. Seeing how, apart from the aneurysm, her body was in both perfect health and good physical condition. Making her an ideal candidate for the procedure. Really we couldn't have been more lucky."
"But... But he's like a girl now," you said. It hardly being 'ideal'. Your dad being a married man with a wife and three kids. Not some college sophomore.
"Yes. This is true," he stated. "Though surely you'd rather have that than your father not being alive at all, eh?" It becoming quite clear to see that Kerry's specialty lay in medical matters, not really in tact.
"I... I guess."
Thank God Saunders was there then. Being a bit more thoughtful when it came to dealing with all this.
"I know it's a shock right now and it will take time to adjust, but look at it this way, Tim," he said, placing a hand on your shoulder, "He's still the same person you knew, inside. It's just the outer package that's changed. It's as simple as that."
He was right of course. If everything they had said was true and he was now perfectly fine and would wake up the exact same person as he had been, then really you should be grateful. No matter how weird or freaky it was that he was now a girl and had lost twenty odd years of his life. No matter what problems it might throw up in the long run or how long it might take to get used to... which you imagined would be a lot.
"Well, ahum..." Kerry then coughed. "Not quite as simple as that, Dr. Saunders..." Looking cryptically towards his colleague, who did not seem to appreciate this at all.
"Yes, Dr. Kerry. I was getting to that," Saunders replied through gritted teeth. Looking rather frustrated. It being obvious that there was something else they weren't telling you. Something big.
"What? What were you getting to?" you asked. Looking to them both. Again, neither man looking like he really wanted to answer.
Letting out a sigh and once again dropping to his knees in front of you, Saunders then explained as best he could that although the procedure they had used had saved your dad's life, it wasn't officially sanctioned by either the hospital or the medical board. Nor was it strictly legal. Dr. Kerry having apparently decided to do it off of his own back and it having been kept quiet ever since. Nobody else in the entire hospital, apart from them two, knowing the truth. This news feeling like you'd once again been punched square in the face. Desperate to know what this meant going forward.
"We've already spoken to your mother about this, as well as Alexandria's parents, and we've all agreed that we're going to have to keep the entire thing a secret. The transplant, your father being alive and Alexandria being dead. Everything. Otherwise the consequences will be too high. We will both lose our jobs and quite possibly go to jail and your father will be hounded by the media for the rest of his life. He'll never get a moments piece. Never mind all the legal ramifications that will come with being inside someone else's body."
"You've got to be kidding me?" you croaked. Not knowing whether to laugh at this or cry. This idea being simply preposterous. "How the hell are we supposed to do that?"
"I know it won't be easy," he replied, "at least not at first, but believe me, it will be much easier in the long run. Your father will simply have to 'act' the part of Alexandria in public. Attend college, spend time with her friends, that sort of thing. The rest of the time he can still be himself." Adding that, "You'll all be very well compensated of course. Just to make things a little easier."
Easier? You very much doubted anything would make this any easier. Especially not money. Basically being told that you were going to have to pretend like your sister was dead and that she was now someone else. It was insane! Muttering quietly, "I can't believe my mom actually agreed to this..." And after twenty years of marriage.
"Not just your mother, but David and Tabitha too," Kerry said. Referring to your little brother and sister. Both having been in the car when the accident had happened and no doubt both aware of all of this now too. "They also agreed that its in your father's best interests to do so."
You felt like you were going mad. Were you the only one who was against this idea? Why did they all fine with it and you weren't? Sure, you guessed perhaps they had had a little longer to let it all sink in, but even still... This was your little dad's life they were debating, and he wasn't even awake yet or had any idea what had happened to him to defend it. Thinking to yourself then, that as much as shock as it was for you, it was going to be more so for him.
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