This choice: The following day, you are released from the hosital. • Go Back...Chapter #7The following day, you are released from the ho... by: Wassel   That night you found yourself unable to sleep - your head too busy swimming with thoughts of David. About how he was, all the things you used to do together when you were little, and how much he had started to annoy you now. Just like you, he took after your dad more than he did your mom, having somewhat of a slim, skinny build with shaggy light brown hair (which he'd recently dyed black). Also like you, while he wasn't exactly what you'd call a stud or anything, he was a decent looking guy, having in the last month, gotten his first proper girlfriend. Presumably she would now be under the impression that he was dead, as would all of his other weird friends. His life was now gone, replaced instead with that of Annie Olsen's. With being a social outcast and the butt of many jokes - some of which you yourself had admittedly made from time to time (not directly to her face of course). You felt extremely bad about this now. Now that she was gone. But there was nothing you could do about it. All you could do instead was think about how that was going to be David that was the butt of the jokes. Forced to keep this whole thing a secret. It really did suck!
The following day you were awoken to slightly more encouraging news however. The Doctors informing you that you'd been given the all clear and that you would be able to go home. Thank Christ for that, you thought, as your parents arrived to pick you up. Unfortunately having the rather unpleasant task of signing all the various pieces of paperwork that prevented you from revealing David's secret first.
"It's for the best, son." your father again assured you as you signed it, feeling slightly guilty and more than a little treacherous as you did - as if you were signing away the last vestiges of your little brother's life.
After that was all taken care of, and after being reminded about various checkups both you and your brother would need to come back for, you said your goodbyes to both Doctor Kerry and Saunders and you were on your way. Back inside a car for the first time since the accident (which considering the outcome of your previous journey didn't really seem like that big of a deal).
Pretty much all of the journey home was spent finding out about how things had been going on with David in your absence. Where he was, what he'd been doing, how long he was supposed to be staying with the Olsen's for, and whether or not he was actually comfortable there. As it transpires, you had missed pretty much the entirety of the school holidays and class had already begun the week before. This meant that not only was Tabitha back at school again, having to pretend like she was saddened over the death of her brother, but David was too - no longer in the 9th grade, but instead in the same one as you!
This seemed utterly crazy to you. Sure he'd had over a month to get to grips with things a little, but going back to school already - as Annie - two grades above where he should be... That was just too much!
"Believe you me, we all talked about it thoroughly," your mother assured you, it obviously not having been an easy decision. "Both your father and I, as well as Mr and Mrs. Olsen, we all agreed it would be best for him to get back into the world as soon as possible, instead of just hiding away. And David did too."
"Plus, apart from the aneurysm, Annie's injuries in the accident were actually very minor," your father added, "We couldn't exactly pass of a few little bruises as a reason why she had to stay off school."
Hearing your father use the word 'she' made you wince, not being ready yet to think of your brother in that way. "But hows he coping? Isn't he finding it hard pretending to be her?" You could only imagine that it would be, but both your parents seemed slightly nonplussed by it all. Clearly knowing something that you didn't.
"Not as far as we know," your mother told you. "It's strange for him certainly and something that will take some time to get used to, but he assures us he's doing okay. Your little brother is tougher than you think."
"I guess..." You weren't entirely convinced by this however, knowing your brother all too well. Over the last couple of years especially, if something was up, he rarely ever went to your parents and instead just tried to pretend like everything was fine. You were pretty certain that they still didn't know about him getting bullied back in middle school. You and Randall having been the ones to sort that out.
"The doctors also said that there might be a chance that certain things could seep through from Annie's consciousness to his own. Subconscious things, such as her knowledge from school. She was apparently a very bright girl, and it seems that David is picking up on some of that."
This seemed like a bizarre concept to grasp, and even though you didn't fully understand it, you just hoped that this 'subconscious seepage' ended there. It was one thing being able to use her brain to help him bluff his way through the twelfth grade, it was something else entirely if it began to alter his personality. You didn't want David's brain being taken over by Annie's. Your parents assured you however that it wouldn't, the doctors being adamant of that (although how much could they really know? - they'd never performed the damn procedure before).
Putting this out of your mind for now though, you instead turned your attention towards his living arrangements. Apparently he had been spending most of his time at the Olsen household, in Annie's old room, and only the odd night here and there (mostly the weekends) back at home.
"There's just too many legal ramifications right now to prevent him staying with us permanently," your mother sighed, sounding slightly frustrated. "The Olsen's are lovely people though and we can visit whenever we want. Plus, I think it helps David not to be surrounded by his old things all the time. To put a little distance between his old life while he gets acclimatized to his new one."
Scoffing at this, " "His new one"... Yeah, right," you asked her then, "And how's that going exactly? You know, being a girl?" This part being the biggest and most obvious change he'd had to deal with.
Looking slightly embarrassed for a moment (both of them), your mother replied, "Well, it's... uh, it's quite as you might expect, I suppose. He's gone through a very big change and naturally it's not exactly been the most comfortable thing for him to talk about. I tried to help him with certain things. Explain how they work... But as you can imagine, he thought it might be best to hear it from Mrs. Olsen instead, which I can fully understand. It's slightly less awkward that way."
Yeah, 'slightly', you said to yourself, imagining that was the understatement of the century. Which would you rather have, your own mom lecturing you about bras, periods and tampons, or some stranger that you'd just met? It was a pretty tricky choice, but you too would probably go for the stranger, just to save yourself the added embarrassment.
Letting out a little cough, clearly not all that comfortable about this whole thing either, your father then announced, "Anyway. Here we are." And looking out the window, you watched as the car pulled into your drive, having finally arrived home...
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