ditzy-dolls:

Rhonda blinked in the dark. She glanced over at the clock on her phone. Just shy of 3AM. Why was she awake?

She rolled over in bed, light coming from under her bedroom door. Had she left the hall light on? Groggy, she got up, rubbing her eyes. Wearing just a t-shirt and panties, she walked out of the bedroom, into the hall, past the open front door, going for the light, where-

She paused. The front door was open? 

She looked at that for a couple of seconds, not quite registering. Then the adrenaline hit her sleepy brain and she stood up straighter, fear jolting her limbs as she turned, too late. A thick-fingered hand wrapped around her mouth from behind, squeezing tight. Rhonda could smell the leather of the glove on it as she screamed, muffled by the grip. She was yanked roughly back, crashing against a large form, and a low, gruff voice whispered something in her ear. Rhonda’s heartbeat was pounding too loud for her to make out the words.

Then there was a pinch on her neck, and a sharp, painful burning sensation, and she felt her bones turn to jelly as her eyes closed, thick inky darkness pouring in from all sides…

*****

R could feel eyes on her. The room was dark, so she couldn’t see them, but it sounded like there were lots of people sitting in front of her, quietly moving around and murmuring. She was on a thing – like, a platform or like, stage or whatever. She just kinda stood there, twirling her hair and mostly holding still.

“Next up!” a voice boomed from… well, everywhere, it seemed like. “Lot R. Now, this is a great opportunity for those of you who are fans of reversal specimens.” R turned as the black space behind her suddenly lit up. It was some kind of huge screen, showing a picture. A picture of a girl.

She was wearing a weird black like, cape or gown or something. And she had this dorky looking square hat with like, little colorful bits of rope or whatever. She was smiling real big and goofy, and had a piece of paper in her hand. She looked… familiar, but only kinda. Like somebody R had seen in a dream once. But she didn’t know why she’d have dreams about nerdy looking girls who got excited about paper.

“As you can see, Lot R has been given courses of C-44 and L-212 for physical recalibration. Most importantly, though, is that she’s been also exposed to multiple treatments with both F-3 and F-3 beta, making her our most successful ‘blank slate’ projects to date.” A murmur went through the crowd at that. R turned towards the noise, looking but still unable to see anybody.

“That means that even shown her own history, like the ‘before’ picture you see before you, she won’t recall any of it. Isn’t that right, R?”

R blinked, a small spotlight suddenly on her. She looked around in confusion, biting her lip. “Um, what?” she called in reply.

The shadowed figures in front of her laughed. R laughed too.

“Shall we start the bidding at, say, six and a half?”

Then there was much more noise from the crowd in front of her. R didn’t understand what was happening, but she smiled. It was all so exciting.

——————–

Thank you to the benefactor who made this story happen by generously contributing to The Audra Lorde Project. It was a fun request – our benefactor had two specific things they wanted to see, and didn’t want to know too much about how I’d tie them together. I hope you enjoy the route I took! Thank you again.

With this story posting, I’m officially caught up on all outstanding requests. That’s normally a nice feeling, but with this project, it’s a better feeling to have more in the pipe. So I’m asking you – please consider making a donation to the trans rights group of your choice. If you do, send me the receipt and I’ll write you something. Whatever you like. 

If you don’t have a very specific request in mind, that’s okay! Donate anyway, let me know, and we’ll work together to brainstorm a piece. Really, I’ll do whatever. There’s been good response to this and I’d love to keep it going. Thanks.