First evening as Allison and Tamara

I followed Claire, or I suppose Tamara for now, to the other bedroom, the one occupied by our mother. Her hollow skin was laying on the bed. Her name was Juliet, and she was working as a accountant. Her salary allowed her a decent way of life alongside her children, even if she wasn't rich by any means. From Allison's memories, she did seem like a loving and caring mother.

Their father was named Harry, a somewhat taciturn yet kind engineer for a software company working in a city a few states away. He loved to spoil his daughters whenever they met. He and Juliet divorced because he had to move far away for work and she didn't want to follow him, but they stayed close nonetheless.

As I recalled Allison's life, I could experience her feelings for her parents. She really loved them deeply. It was strange, I never felt something like this before. Only disdain and hate for my father, and resentment for my mother's supposed lack of care...

Tamara approached Juliet's skin, closing her eyes for a brief moment before stabbing it with her spines and restoring her.

"Sorry, Mom. You can rest a bit longer now." Tamara muttered before grabbing my hand and leading me back to our bedroom.

The twins shared a common bedroom, since their mother couldn't afford a bigger place. I sat on my bed, observing the room. It was a pretty feminine room, with some posters of movies and of musicians the girls enjoyed listening to. Mainly pop singers.

"It's a cute room." I commented as I laid down, looking through more of Allison's memories to learn more about her.

She and her sister studied psychology at college, they were in their third year. They were excellent, dilligent students, appreciated by teachers and fellow classmates alike. They had a group of friends at college they always hung out with. Fortunately for us, both were single right now, Tamara having had a boyfriend until a month ago, one she broke up with, and Allison not having had anyone for almost a year already. She had fairly bad luck with men. I did find something interesting, though, she seemed interested in trying to date a woman someday. She was bi-curious, apparently.

"Their lives seem pretty peaceful." Tamara said, breaking me out of my thoughts.

I chuckled. "It's a far cry from ours, huh?" I then stared at the ceiling, more thoughtful. "Growing up as normal teens, in a normal household with normal loving parents and friends... They're lucky..."

She sat next to me on the bed. "They are, yeah." She put her hand on mine, smiling warmly at me. "Thank you again for agreeing to try this."

I smiled back. "You know I can't refuse you anything. You were so excited about it..." I then blushed slightly as I glanced at the chest I now had. "Although... I didn't think we'd both be women when you mentioned it..."

"Would you have preferred for us to become men?" She giggled, her tone more teasing.

I looked away. "No... But don't you find it weird? To see me like this, as a woman?"

I couldn't imagine Claire wearing a man. Maybe she would end up liking it, but it'd be so strange for me. I'd need a lot of time to adapt.

"Sis, I love you, no matter if you're a man or a woman. What matters to me is your happiness. If being a woman makes you happy, then keep living as one."

I closed my eyes and let out a soft sigh. "Thank you, sis. I love you too."

Claire really had this ability to make me more relaxed with a few words, even under the skin of Tamara. For a moment, I just laid there, with her sitting next to me, exchanging warm glances. It was strange because my own affection for her was being mixed with Allison's love for Tamara. More than ever, I wished for us to always be together.

"We should probably study a bit." Tamara finally said after a while, opening her laptop. "We have a test this Wednesday, remember?"

I rose up and giggled. "Right, I forgot I was a college student for a moment. I'm pretty excited to see what college is like, to be honest."

Tamara smiled. "Me too."

We sat at the desk and tried to study. With Allison and Tamara's souls within us, we were able to easily understand these complex lessons about psychology. Claire was already pretty smart, so I was sure she could, but I knew I definitely wouldn't have been able to follow most of that as my own self.

Studying with her was pretty fun, I had to admit. I laughed when Tamara started to imitate one of our professors, taking a deeper voice and quoting him. Tamara always was the more playful one of the two, and it clearly rubbed off on Claire. Claire and I often studied together when we were much younger, but she quickly outsmarted me. It was nice to do it again, even in this strange context.

After a while, we heard a knock on the door.

"Girls, dinner is almost ready, mind giving me a hand?" Juliet said.

"We'll be there in a minute, Mom." I replied.

A part of me found it weird to call her Mom, since I never called my own mother like this, always using a more formal term, but that's how Allison and Tamara did it.

Tamara got up, yawning and stretching. "I'm feeling pretty tired. Might go to sleep early."

I chuckled. "Oh, now that you don't have access to a game console anymore, you're gonna become an early sleeper?"

"Will you miss nagging me every night?" She retorted with a giggle.

"Obviously."

The twins weren't gamers at all. They had a few puzzle games on their phones but that was about it. With their free time, they preferred to watch movies and TV shows, play sports, or go shopping.

Tamara and I left the room and joined our new mom in the kitchen. We set the table while she was finishing with the cooking, and then sat, enjoying a nice dinner together. Family dinners before were quite tense, with my father and mother always arguing, or my father criticising various things, me and Claire included.

Here though, it was relaxing, Mom clearly loving us deeply. We talked about gymnastics, Tammy and I having our training tomorrow after college. Tamara's dream was to become a famous gymnast, one that would compete worldwide. Allison meanwhile, while she still loved gymnastics, wanted a quieter and simpler life. She just aimed to become a proper psychologist and start a family.

Starting a family was something I thought about a few times as Edward. I wanted to become a better parent than my own. A parent who would be there for their children, who would try to understand them, to encourage them. The opposite of my father, basically.

Now though... I can't really have a family as myself anymore...

This thought made me depressed for a brief moment, but Tammy apparently noticed it, as she managed to cheer me up with another joke. After an enjoyable dinner, we went back to our room.

"What were you thinking about during dinner?" Tammy asked when we were alone.

I sighed. "Well, I was wondering what kind of future I had now that I no longer can keep living as myself. It's something I'll have to think about."

"I haven't really thought about it much either..." She admitted before hugging me. "But I know that I at least want to stay close to you."

"I want that too, sis." I replied, returning the hug. "We'll stay together, always."

Tamara looked away, at the window. "I already experienced it briefly when I wore Melissa, but now that I'm more familiar with them, I truly realise how incredible our abilities are. Knowing everything Tamara knows, passing convincingly as her in front of her mother, feeling her emotions... It's amazing..."

"Yeah. It's scary how easily we can replace someone, with everyone none the wiser. But it does open almost limitless possibilities."

She smiled at me. "Indeed."

We spent the evening watching a TV show the twins loved, greatly enjoying it thanks to having their tastes. Afterwards, it was time to go to bed, the two of us laying on opposite sides of the room, but smiling at each others. We were both really excited about discovering college tomorrow and experiencing even more of the twins' lives, meeting their professors and friends and studying. Just this evening with Tammy already felt quite fun and relaxing.

It didn't take long for me to fall asleep, feeling at peace close to my adorable sister.