...go wake up your brother?"

"Oh yes." Valerie's mother agreed. "He'll be late for his part-time job if he doesn't get up soon."

"I guess." Valerie said, scooting her chair back.

"Thanks hun." her father replied before tearing into a piece of toast.

As Valerie climbed to her feet, her gaze shot between her father and her mother. She was fully exposed to the two of them now, and was expecting some kind of reaction. Her father was only interested in his breakfast, however, and her mother had her back to her, busy fixing the coffee. Although her embarrassment was beginning to fade a little, she still left the room as quickly as she could, eager to get away from them if only for a few moments.

Out in the hallway she began to move towards the stairs, but stopped as something caught the corner of her eye. It was an old family photograph hanging in a frame; an image of the four of them, sitting on the edge of a wooden dock, taken during a family vacation out in the countryside. It was exactly as Valerie remembered it, except for one important piece: her clothes were missing in the picture, too. She was about thirteen in the picture, and her body was exactly as she remembered it being.

"This is so weird." Valerie muttered.

She scanned a few more pictures, and they were the same; identical to the originals, but she was naked in all of them. Sighing, she pushed her worries to one side and began to climb the stairs. How could she begin to make sense of all of this?

She reached the landing at the top of the stairs, then made her way towards her brother's bedroom. She pushed open the door... then hesitated. She could see her brother, Thomas, snoring peacefully on his bed only a foot or two away from the door. It wouldn't be the first time she'd had to go in there and wake him up.

But she'd never done it naked.

Standing on the threshold, it somehow seemed wrong to enter her brother's bedroom like this. Being in the kitchen, having her parents see her in the buff... that had been embarrassing. But this seemed somehow more shameful, like she was defiling some ancient brother-sister law. She stood frozen, unwilling to even try and wake him up with her voice.

"Come on Val, remember the pictures." she muttered. "This is... to him... to him it's normal."

She took the first step onto his thick red carpet. Still he snored away, blissfully unaware of what was entering his room. Valerie so desperately wanted to cover herself, felt it stronger than she'd ever felt anything before. Only her hands refused to do as she asked, somehow hovering an inch or so away from her vital parts. Another step, and she was standing over Thomas. She took a deep breath and steeled herself.

"Wake up, sleepy head." she said, and gave him a shake on the shoulder.

His eyes slowly opened. She saw his gaze begin to focus, and he stared at her exposed thatch. 'Oh my god' she screamed internally. 'What if he's different? What if he-'

"Morning Val." he said sleepily, turning over onto his back. "What time's it?"

"Nearly eight."

He groaned. "Oh man. Stupid job. I miss the days when I could just lie in bed all day, you know?"

"Mmm." Valerie replied, edging towards the door. She wanted the conversation over as soon as she could.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked, sitting up. "Everything alright?"