The words hung in the air, powerful and deadly. You couldn’t quite make sense of them at first and merely stared up at the two doctors. You had heard of Crystal Minx. You had seen thumbnails and pictures of her, though you couldn’t say you were deeply familiar with her work. She had a kind of dark, goth asthetic with a lot of aggressive looking tattoos. Trying to picture that your dad…it beggared belief. After an average sized eternity you found the strength to speak. “You put…a pornstar in my dad’s body?”
“She was an organ donor, and as luck would have it her injuries almost perfectly mirrored your fathers. Like a wonderful jigsaw puzzle, the two patients completed one another.” There was something about Kerry’s words that troubled you.
“But…” you struggled to verbalise your confusion and horror. “This doesn’t make sense. You put a woman’s brain …a pornstars brain in my dad’s body…my dad’s male body…”
Saunders winced slightly. “There will undoubtedly be dismorphia,” he conceded, “but we’re willing to cover all future therapy costs.”
“Of course, because of the legal grey area that we find ourselves in the world cannot know that Crystal Minx is in your father’s body,” Kerry cautioned. “To your friends, extended family, neighbours…it will be as if you father survived a traumatic accident and returned slightly changed. It’s not even unheard for people suffering traumatic brain injuries.”
“But my dad, you said he’s still in there?”
“Oh yes,” Kerry answered. “The switching of control seems irregular and random, but your father is very much conscious. Crystal is very much the dominant persona from what we’ve observed, with all her behavioural patterns and memories, but your father has his moments of reassertion. It’s been a process, but we have hopes that some form of peaceful cohabitation will be possible in the future.”
Your head spun, but then another thought came to you, sudden and sharp. “What about my Mom? Does she know about this?” You had fire in your voice as you demanded answers, “ Did you even bother to talk to her about it?”
“ Tim, calm down,” Kerry replied. “Yes, we have spoken with your mother and yes, gave her consent for the procedure to go ahead. I won’t lie to you and say that she’s been comfortable with how things have progressed, but she has been here on a regular basis to see both you and your father. She’s with him now, as a point of fact.”
“I want to see them,” you said, trying to get out of bed despite the broken ribs and swirling nausea you felt. “Right now.”
The doctors exchanged a worried glance, then nodded. You were eased out of the bed and placed into a wheelchair, which Saunders carefully pushed out of your little room and down the winding hallway of the hospital. Eventually the three of you came to a room tucked away neatly into the corner of the building, pacing in front of the door, was your mother. Her long blonde hair was in a frazzled state and her expression was one of sleepless worry, but when she saw you her eyes widened with joy.
“Timmy!” She came over to you in a rush and began peppering you with kisses, throwing her arms around you and holding you in a tight embrace. “Oh, my boy you’re ok.”
“Mom,” you winced, smiling faintly, “easy, I’m still sore.”
She released her grip and studied your face carefully. “You’re going in to see him?” She looked up at the doctors. “Do you think that’s wise?”
“Mrs Connors,” Saunders let out a weary sigh, “it won’t do anyone any good if we put this off.”
She nodded and for a moment looked like she was going to cry, but then **** a wet smile when she looked at you. “Just…brace yourself, sweetie. Dad’s…not the same.”
Dr Kerry pushed the door open and guided your wheelchair inside before quietly peeling off to stand by the door in silence. The room was dim and quiet, save for the soft, rhythmic beep of the machines. In the centre of the room, laying abed was your dad. At first glance he seemed fine, with only a few bandages about his head and some light cuts about his cheek where glass splinters had got him.
He’d always been a big man, like his own father. And a youth full of outdoors activities had shaped his body into one of weathered muscle. That strength was undiminished even in hospital scrubs and bandages. He turned his head when you entered, and grinned at you in the familiar. “There he is,” he greeted in that rich voice of his, “there’s my boy.”
“Dad,” you said, easing out of your wheelchair and heading over to his bedside. “Thank god…”
You wanted to hug, made to do so, but then something happened. His smile shifted and his eyes sharpened. That look of paternal pride was replaced by a strange, predatory glint, a hungry, approving looking coming over his face as he looked you up and down. It made your skin crawl and halted you in your tracks.
“Well,” he said, licking his lips a little. “So you’re the firstborn. You know, the way your old man talks about you, I was expecting a kid,” eyes raked up and down your form in a way that made you sick. “But you’re a young man. Look at you, all lithe muscle. You must have run track.”
That burned. Your dad had helped train with you in the year prior, encouraging you on when you were absolutely ready to give it up. “What have you done with my Dad?”
“Still here,” Crystal waved lazily at your father’s head. “Though tucked away, sitting in the neurological cuck chair while we have this little chinwag.”
“Don’t talk about him like that,” you hissed.
A chuckle of strangely feminine laughter escaped your dad’s throat. “Oh, I do love fierceness in my men. But, you know, Tim, your dad isn’t the only one having a hard time.” Crystal gestured downwards, “look at me. A week ago I was one of the hottest pieces of ass walking the planet. I had a devoted following of fans…and now I’m stuck in this…temu Harrison Ford body.” She clicked her tongue. “What a mess. This horrible male body…”
“Don’t you-”
“Tim,” it was your mother’s voice, and her hands were on your shoulders, leading you away, “Come on, I think that’s enough for now.”
Crystal, wearing your father’s face, grinned wolfishly at your mother. “Jenny, baby. Now it’s a proper threesome! C’mere, it’ll be a family reunion!”
Your mother’s face hardened into a look of utter disgust and began to lead you from the room. When you looked over your shoulder, Crystal used your father’s body to blow your a kiss, that once warm, father face twisted into an expression of deviance.
While you were outside with your mother and the two doctors, Crystal looked down at her large, calloused hands and then smiled to herself. “I’ve got plans for you, Donny.”
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