30 years later

Thirty years had passed since that moment.  Now I know what you're wondering.  Where am I now?  What am I doing?  Funnily enough… I'm not even alive.  I died about a little less than a year after moving in with Max.  Wasn't the prettiest of deaths either.  Let me just give a quick rundown.  Bear with me here, it’s a lot.

Living with Max and Reginald was the best thing to happen to me.  Reginald seen me as a daughter and even found me a partner who accepted me, who would later be my fiance. Unfortunately, Max passed a couple of months before I did after her husband pushed her down the stairs.  This was partially Beatrice's fault because she told him about Max's apparent cheating knowing he would hurt her out of anger.  He didn't mean to actually kill her, but what happened, happened.  The funeral was held a little while after, which of course, Beatrice had to ruin.  The snake of a woman stomped in there and berated Max for being a black woman who never should've been able to marry into the family.  When the family stood up for Max, Beatrice put her attention on me.  Me presenting as a woman was something she could not stand in the slightest.  Determined to get everyone on her side, she actually tried to get Fluffy to flip my skirt and flash everyone.  However, it seemed her snake had more brains than she did and refused to do it.  But the whole moment still really upset me.

What do I do after getting upset?  Not go to my fiance.  Not go to Reginald.  No, I went to food.  Duh.  Both my fiance and Reginald tried to keep an eye on me, but they looked away for a bit too long and I found myself bingeing once again.  In order to hide that I had done it, I tried to go to dinner like a normal human.  Unfortunately, that little bit of extra food was enough to rupture my stomach lining.  I don't remember much after that except for the pain and being rushed to the hospital.

Obviously, I didn't make it.  So why am I still here, you ask?  Shortly after passing away, I woke up in the place we call the Afterlife, which is run by Max, and a few of her old lab buddies.  A place where there's a council in charge of groups of representatives who represent the voices of mental illnesses in people's heads.  Similar to the one that constantly told me to binge.  Like Max, I was part of this Council.  You can only guess what I was in charge of.  Binge Eating Disorder and also Dysphoria.  At first, I didn't know what the second one meant, but I later found out it was the gender-related stress I had been feeling my whole life.  I finally had a label for what I was.  Transgender.

Sadly, the Council believed I was too sensitive to start working as a member.  Instead, I got to stay with Max and learn to deal with the binge eating and also a new addition to my problems.  Mind reading.  Everyone developed some sort of magical ability, but mine was the worst.  Thankfully I did get control over it over time and learned to switch it on and off, but when it all first started?  Overwhelming would be an understatement.  Eventually, Rex, the boss for Anorexia ended up being out of commission for the foreseeable future and I took over for him for nearly 20 years until his best friend joined the Council.  From there, I was able to start working as the Council member I was meant to be.  I got my own group of representatives and got things up and running.

I believe that sums everything up.  Now, things are much better.  Yea, bingeing is still a very big issue for me and occasionally I will binge bad enough that I end up rupturing my stomach lining again and need a trip to the hospital, but it could be worse.  However, there was one thing I worried about a lot.  More so lately than in the past.  What happened to Mum?  I couldn't help but wonder if she was okay, or if she even knew I was dead.  As the Afterlife was connected to Heaven and Hell, Max and I recently started visiting Reginald in Heaven since he recently passed.  According to him, he told my mother about my death, but I did worry if it was true or not.  There was the possibility he was only saying it to keep me calm.

Over time, I worried more and more about it.  It wasn't helping that I knew her time was coming.  Soon she would be gone from the living world, which would allow me to see her again.  I just didn't know when I would be able to.  

***

One boring day, I decided to take a trip down to Lucas's office to see if he had any information on my mother.  With him being in control of the whole Afterlife, he had all the papers of who died.  Even if they were in one of the other two worlds.  Meaning, he would know if Mum was gone or not.

"Sir?"  I cracked open the door to his office a bit.  "May I come in?"

"This is about your mother, isn't it?"  He said flatly.  Never in my life had I met someone so flat.  I doubted the man even knew what emotions were.

"Um, yea.  Have you seen anything about her?"

"Last name is Murphy, correct?"

"Yes, sir."

"She's in Heaven.  Just got there the other day.  Would you like me to send a visit request?"

My eyes lit up.  "Oh, yes, please!!  Thank you so much!"

Not reading my expression, he simply nodded and returned to his paperwork.  Now all I had to do was wait.  I wished I could've visited right then and there, but sadly, visit requests were needed so people didn't travel from place to place and try to hide there.  

Two days later I was at the Golden gates.  An angel was there to greet me and led the way.  I could barely contain my excitement.  I couldn't explain how much I wanted to see my mother!  Like the Afterlife, Heaven was built like the living world, just more majestic.  Everything was bright and people walked and traveled by clouds.  It always made me wonder how they didn't fall through.  I was led to a quaint-looking house at the edge of a street.  

"This is it!"  The angel smiled.  "I'll be back for you when your time is up!  Have fun!"

With that, she disappeared.  I took a deep breath, let it out, and knocked.  Silence.  Nervously, I waited for someone to answer.  What if I got the wrong house?  Maybe Lucas got the wrong person!  What if she wasn't even home?!

"Hello?"  The door opened and I heard a voice I hadn't heard in years.  But not the one I was expecting.  Instead of my mother, it was my father, who looked much older and exhausted.  One look at me and he looked very puzzled.  "... Adam?"

"Uh, Aven, actually,"  I mumbled.  "I, uh, changed my name."

He froze for a moment before looking apologetic.  "Oh!  Right!  Sorry, it's just… been so long since I've seen you.  I guess it was just an automatic response.  Why don't you come on in?  Your mother will be very happy to see you."

Hesitantly, I let myself in.  A huge part of me still feared my dad even though he looked so much gentler now.  The very first thing I noticed when I entered the house was the wintery blue dress that I had loved all those years ago.  I froze when I saw it hanging on the nearby closet door.  She really kept it all this time.  If it wasn’t for Dad giving me an impatient look, I would’ve stared at it a while longer.  Not wanting to cause a fight so soon, I tore my eyes away from it and followed him.  He walked with me down the hallway and into their small living room where Mum was sitting on the couch.  Like Dad, she looked much older.  White hair replaced the once reddish-brown hair she had and she had the stereotypical wrinkled look.  We locked eyes and both of us took a moment before running towards each other.  Well… I did.  Mum wasn't able to get up fast enough.

"Mum!!!  Oh, god, I missed you so much!!"  I cried.  "I'm so sorry I wasn't able to say goodbye!!  I still think of it to this day!!"

"Oh… Aven, don't worry about that."  Mum hugged me tightly.  The feeling of being held in her arms again was indescribable.  "Reginald told me what happened after you passed.  Although it was upsetting… I knew you were in a better place.  You were too good for that world."

"I still feel bad…"  I sniffled.  

"Don't, okay?  We’ve reunited again, so that's all that matters."

With my best smile and nod, I pulled back and wiped the tears out of my eyes.  As I sat down next to her, Dad joined us in the chair next to me.  Like normal, he looked like he had something to say.  I braced myself for the worst.  The chances of him changing were so small it wasn't even worth hoping for.

"... So I heard you got yourself a fiance,"  Dad said pretty bluntly.  Clearly, it wasn't what he wanted to say.  "I met with the man after Reginald told your mother everything.  Very sweet guy."

"Yea, he is."  I nodded.  "I figure we will still be good friends when his time comes.  Relationships aren't something easy to do when it's in between worlds like this."

"I don't doubt it."  He nodded.  

Awkward silence.  Mum gave him a look before rolling her eyes.

"Oh, come on, Mark!"  She exclaimed.  "Be a man and say what you want to say!"

Dad gave her a look before looking at me with a very apologetic expression.  "Ugh… Aven… I'm sorry for how I treated you.  I was a terrible father to you."

I was shocked.  Dad was apologizing?  As a true Canadian would say… eh???

"I knew you were happier presenting as a woman deep down… but I could never accept it.  I had all these dreams of you being the perfect son… and I failed to see I had a perfect daughter.  I caused you more harm than good.  I blame myself for the binge eating habits you picked up on, and ugh… I hope you can forgive me."

"... I forgive you,"  I said after taking a moment to process it all.  The look on Dad's face said it all.  All those years of blaming himself were over.  He finally had his daughter back.

"Thank you."  Dad nodded, clearly trying to be a man and not cry.  Once again, awkward silence.

"So!  Tell us what's been going on!"  Mum said after a while of silence.  "What have you been up to?"

With a smile, I told them everything.  Not one detail was missing.  We talked right up until I had to leave.  Even then, I had more stories to tell for our next meet-up.  At any chance I could, I would visit them.  Family time was something I didn't get a lot of as a kid, so this was the time to finally enjoy it.  And enjoy it I did.  Not as their son, of course.  But as their proud daughter.

End