Chapter 2

Dear Diary: First Entry of My New Life
June 19th, 1991

I woke up this morning feeling exhausted and weak as a kitten. That was the most normal part of the entire day. I was sure that when I last closed my eyes that I would not be waking up again. And, if I did wake up, I figured on it being Purgatory or Hell. I’m not sure either would be any worse than my actual experience.

I was dying of complications from COVID-19 thanks to the Corona-virus. No one here knows anything about it (go figure). Hell, no one here knows about SARS, the Ebola epidemic in Africa, or a myriad of things I was very familiar with. Maybe this is a dream as I die, but whatever it is, I find myself transported from April of 2020 back to June 19th, 1991. I’ve gone from being a 64-year-old man to a 14-year-old young woman.

When I woke up, I found myself in a female body. I’m still trying to wrap my head around this. Even more disturbing was the feeling that caused me to reach between my thighs, which lead to me screaming, which brought my mother running into my room.

I should mention that my mother running, in my previous life, which I can still recall so well, was out of the question due to an accident that took her legs when I was a child. In this timeline, that would have been before this version of me was even conceived. Here, though, she is whole.

Anyway, I was blubbering when she entered my room and saw me looking at my blood-covered hand. She quickly left the room and returned with a bowl of warm water and a washcloth. She assisted me in getting cleaned up and reminded me (from her point of view) that this was a natural part of becoming a grown woman. It helped, from my side of things, that this was my first period in any way you counted things. She helped soothe me with her kindness and love. That has not changed. She could be hard when necessary, but she was a loving and wonderful mother, then and now.

The weakness I experienced when I awoke is due to having contracted meningitis. After what I went through with COVID-19, I’m glad I did not experience this illness, too. Fortunately, the fever has broken, and I seem to be well on the road to recovery. At least, I finished my school year before this happened and won’t have to make up for any missed classes over the summer due to this illness.

My date of birth the same as before, though the year is off. As Alfred, I was born in 1956: the year Castro began his revolution in Cuba, Egypt seized the Suez Canal, and we started building the modern Interstate highway system. This diary is a gift from my mother, given to me on my birthday, June 14th (Flag day), five days ago. Yeah, I share a birthday with Donald. What’s different, beside me being a young woman now, is that instead of being thirty-five this year, I am fourteen years old.

Additionally, instead of clearly being white, my skin tone is light brown, maybe olive(?), and my hair is black. My eyes are the one thing I recognize without having to imagine myself as a white male. They are still hazel green with gold flecks. I still have the scar from a busted lip from falling down the stairs when I was 9, and the cut on my left ring finger from picking up broken glass and getting cut when I was seven.

I cannot help but wonder if Loki isn’t the one in charge of running my life. This is just the kind of “joke” I can imagine him pulling on some poor soul, (me in this case). “Hey, this guy wants to have a do-over. Well, I can do that. I’ll just put him in a young woman’s body, in an alternate timeline, with a few modifications, but leave him fully aware of his previous life. He should be happy that he doesn’t have to go through the whole birthing and growing up bit. Fourteen is a great starting point! Oh, and I think he should get his ... her first period upon waking up in her new body. Oh, this will be fun!” Yeah, I can just imagine that is the conversation he had, with himself, before doing this to me.

Anyway, compared to how I felt when I first woke up, I feel so much better. I took a shower, then a long hot soak in the tub, per mom’s suggestion. I then rinsed off and ate brunch. Mom and I played some Uno and watched Road House, among other things. I was surprised by the way watching Patrick Swayze made me feel. The feeling of getting an erection is nothing like what I experienced watching him. Of course, mom noticed my squirming and put the movie on pause, giving me an excuse to go to the bathroom. I was wet, but not dripping. I did have to use the bathroom, so that’s what I did. Do you know how much of a pain in the ass it is to take a piss as a woman? You have to sit, or squat and ugh, I don’t want to think about it.

Anyway, that was my first day as a young woman. It wasn’t a long day, but it was eventful. Oh, and my name seems, is Juanita Anahi Thorne. That will take some getting used to.