When Daniel wakes, it's to a room of white. He's sure, so very sure, that he is dead - he tries to move but he can't.
"Hello?" He can't hear his voice, but he can feel his mouth moving to form the words. All he can hear is a ringing in his ears. He shuts his eyes tightly.
When he opens them, the ringing immediately stops, and he can hear somebody saying his name.
"Danielle?" It's his mother.
He can move now. He moves his head to the left, toward the voice, and he realizes he's in a white hospital room. His mother is sitting beside the bed, and Daniel is suddenly aware of her stroking his forehead.
"M-mom?" He says, and is he seeing things, or are her eyes watering?
"Hey, baby."
"What happened?" What's scary is, he can't remember a thing.
There's another voice. "You don't remember?" Daniel looks to his right to see a man in a white gown with glasses. He looks like a doctor. He's frowning.
"No?"
"You took some pills, baby," his mother says, voice wavering. Daniel widens his eyes. "You took a lot of them." Oh. But why would Daniel do that?
"But not enough to kill you," the doctor quickly adds in. "Just enough to knock you out for a long time and damage some organs. And by the looks of it, the pills affected your cerebrum. How much do you remember over the past few days?"
Daniel thinks hard.
The last thing he remembers is leaving for his bus stop after being forced to wear mascara to school one morning. Everything after that is blurry, even the bus ride, and after the bus ride is nothing but blank space.
"I.. remember leaving for school wearing mascara." He turns to his mother, "You and dad made me."
Her face pales. "Danielle, that was.. months ago."
Daniel's eyes widen.
The doctor looks grave. "We can start you on psychotherapy, but I'll need you and your mother's written consent. It's pricey, but it will help you gain back your memory. It'll even help you get into a better state of mind."
His mother is quick to respond.
"My husband and I will talk about it. Thank you, Doctor Fritz."
YOU ARE READING
Boy
Romantikus"My name's Daniel, not Danielle." Daniel Johnson is not a girl. Okay, maybe biologically he is, maybe according to his parents and according to all of his doctors and labelled on his birth certificate he is a girl, but Daniel has always believed t...
