It was a Sunday night. The evening before courses were to resume, to be exact. After summer, Beth had to return to her mother's home, and she completely forgot to ask her father for the money to cover her brother's medical expenses. She walked over to his office where he was writing a few checks, before going to bed, to ask. He had a bald head, a plus-sized build, and a thick beard of grey. And no one could dispute the fact that he is the main source of her Indian features.

The room had a gold glow given off by the lamps and the furniture alone could cover the amount of the bills itself. Above his desk sat a portrait of his father who passed away and a shelf equipped with a gun and bullets. But the one thing that always made her sneak into the office was the mini refrigerator with all kinds of drinks that sat in the corner. And that was the first thing she reached for as she stepped in and sat at his desk.

"Hey papa"

"Yes?" he replied looking up from his checkbook for a quick second.

"I was wondering if you could help my mother cover some costs for Nallo's recovery and bills in general. My mother is really struggling"

He put his pen down, took a deep breath and began. "Between all of those new things I bought for you for school, the vacation I brought you on this summer and having to pay for stuff at the company I just don't have the funds right now. Sorry sweetie. Now head to bed I have a lot work to finish"

"Yeah... um- sure" Beth said before leaving the room, closing the door behind her.

Given that he could earn back all of that money in a single month at least, she knew he was lying. Additionally, he never offered assistance to anyone who wasn't a member of his family but she thought he might have heart for Nallo considering he was her brother but she thought wrong. She picked up her phone off the dresser and started texting her mother to break the bad news. As she put the phone down, she looked out the window and saw a missing poster of DeeJay that had been nailed to an electric pole peering back at her. Goosebumps appeared and by closing the curtain, she disappeared from the scene.

8:34 p.m
Doctors warned the family that Dustin's grandma wouldn't live for very long since her cancer had returned in full force. Although Dustin and his grandma had a troubled history of fighting and bickering often over insignificant issues, he secretly still loved her. He had volunteered to take care of her because everyone else in the home had jobs to do and some just wasn't willing to help.

     She sat on the sofa that night, her swelling foot extending onto the sofa's longer end. The recent storm was covered in the news on television, and a reporter reported that DeeJay was missing. When Dustin heard the news, he peeked out of the kitchen where he was making his grandmother a cup of herbal tea. He instantly texted our group chat about it, but the kettle came to a boil before he could see our responses.

   He poured the water, sweetened the tea and carried it to her. He then sat on the chair next to her and she immediately began staring at him.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yes... I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to die... and before I do.... I wanted to tell you that you were always my favorite" she let out a wicked cough "It might not have seemed like it, but you truly were!" She smirked then continued. "I was always pushing you about certain stuff so you would improve not because I hated you. But because I see the potential in you. So don't EVER think that! And maybe you can't save me... but you can save someone else!"

   Almost brought to tears, Dustin tried to hide his smirk and thanked her in a soft tone.

5:00 a.m
I was awoken by the alarm. I hurriedly put on my school clothes before six and left the house. When my mother questioned me about why I was leaving for school so early, I lied and said that the teachers expected us to be there earlier because our schedules had gotten busier. I also claimed that I was the one who had the classroom key that the teacher had given me at the meeting a week ago in order to get my classmates settled in ahead of time before the teacher was due to arrive.

    Why did I actually leave so early? It's because during the last few weeks before the storm hit, I came to terms with the fact that I am a transsexual woman. I discovered a lot more about myself and at last allowed myself to express the femininity sealed inside me. I had been holding back from expressing myself due to the criticism and scrutiny that would always follow.

    Even though I was pleased with this change in my life, there were some negative aspects as well. I had gender dysphoria and felt the need to immediately alter every aspect of who I was. But I managed my dysphoria by embracing who I am and carrying myself with pride on the outside. Well, at least faking it till I make it.

   I covertly bought myself a ton of feminine goods, androgynous clothing, and hair using my allowance money so that I could begin the transformation into the new and true version of myself. Every morning I had to go to school from this point on, I would make sure to leave early and change into the girls' uniform in the school's bathroom. I would then put on a natural makeup look and clip in wavy extensions that I had purchased. And when I saw myself in the girl's bathroom that morning, I could only think of one word. Beautiful.

I was liking everything new that came with this new chapter especially the girl's bathroom. It was A LOT cleaner than the boys's which I practically needed a hazmat suit to enter which is why I always tried by best to hold my urine until after school. Only thing I hated about the girl's bathroom was not being able to wash my hands after I was done because the water company still hadn't sent back water to the school after they took it during the storm.

    I could feel my classmates and peers looking down on me as I exited the restroom that morning, but I knew that most of them were just insecure, so I wasn't going to let that stop me. I did experience some strange and uneasy feelings as I accepted my gender and dressed as a woman for the first time ever in a public setting, but it was nothing I couldn't handle. Sort of. The only other thing I didn't like was that I was proving the folks who called me a "faggot" right all along, and I despised that.

  I told Dustin, Beth, Carson, and Mandy about my transition during lunch, and they were all incredibly respectful of it. And not surprised either. They immediately switched to my preferred pronouns and name, Toy. Carson and Dustin did crack a few jokes, but I established a limit and warned them not to. After which we began prying about where each other was this summer and Carson was deflecting the question. Overall though, I was content to have a support system even though it was small.

   My other most recent development helped me maintain my composure. I met this boy, Gob, who lived a few miles away from me online who goes to a different school a month ago while everyone was getting ready for school. His parents, who are devout Christians, brought him here when he was only five years old in order to give him a better life. He was born in Ethiopia. I adored the depth and humor of his personality as well as the fact that he was quick on his feet, loved cats and was intelligent. He adored me just the way I was, regardless of my little chest, height, or raspy voice. However, that still does not imply that I told him I am a transwoman.

I didn't want that to spoil things, so please don't judge me. When you first come out as transgender, people immediately look for anything "masculine" about you, especially men and I didn't want any of that considering I was already insecure.

  He has questioned why I tend to keep certain aspects of my life private, but I always toss away the conversation with "trauma." I'll admit that I misled him and put on a front. However, a lot of the lies I told him were truth filled. Like my insecurity, which causes me to only wear a sweatshirt or an oversized shirt with jeans and wedge sneakers when I'm not wearing my uniform. And sometimes I do feel a little fake for not revealing that part of myself to him but I do feel like he would never accept me for me and that I would be just another fling for him like Kent did to me.

    After school we both met up and we strolled over to his house while grinning and chatting. We sat on his bed and watched YouTube videos while chugging enormous glasses of orange juice. That's when in searching for another video to watch he came across a video essay on Beyblade.

"Oh my god Beyblade! Do you know how great this show is?!"

"Um yeah?! I never missed an episode of that shit!"

"Oh my god, you're so fucking amazing!" He said kissing my cheek causing a flood of smiles and goosebumps to wash over me.

"Yo! Episode after episode was a banger! L Drago and that Orion bey were my shit!"

"SAME! But my all time fav gotta be Hades Kerbecs!"

"YOOOOOO! That bey was so cold! You know your shit forreal!"

    Once that conversation start we could barely stop. Could barely contain our excitement. I wanted to live in that moment forever. And although I felt so at home with his presence, I couldn't help but try to hide my chin, hands and hope that my voice doesn't accidentally drop.

But as soon as four o'clock came around I had to leave. I grabbed my stuff and was rushing out the door when I stubbed my toe on his dresser.

In great pain for some reason I began holding my toe whilst jumping up and down and repeating the letter L for some reason.

"L-L-Let it go! Let it gooooooo!" Gob said mocking me and I couldn't help but smile and raise my middle finger to him as I continued my way out.

By the time my sister got home from work, I had taken off my clothes, hidden my hair, and "looked like a guy" once more. So many secrets to keep and disguises that I put on like a secret agent. For the rest of the afternoon I scrolled through my phone but eerily the only thing that was popping up were articles covering the disappearance of DeeJay...

5:13 p.m
Beth arrived home after a tiring volleyball practice. She set her things down in the kitchen with the mind to pick them up later. She called out for her mother and her mother called back to her from the living room. As she stepped into the living room her heart sunk. Her mother was cuddled up on the couch with Kendrick listening to the radio station cover DeeJay's disappearance.

Kendrick greeted her. She cautiously returned Kendrick's greeting. She was bewildered and terrified, and just looking at him brought back all the awful memories.

"Cut up the veggies for dinner for me, will you?" Her mother asked as she kissed Kendrick.

"Um-" Beth gulped "yeah, sure." Beth answered as she slowly stepped into the kitchen.

    She didn't become aware that she hadn't been breathing until Kendrick had vanished from her view. She could feel her hands trembling and her legs weakening as she took the vegetables out of the refrigerator. After setting the vegetables on the counter, she opened the cabinet in search of a cutting board. What the hell? What was happening? The entire scene was an eyebrow raising moment.

6:15 p.m
Carson's after school adventures restart in two weeks so he took a nap as soon as he arrived from school. Being clean felt nice but the lonely feeling was back. As he sat up on the bed he could remember a speech he gave when he was at group therapy at rehab.

"My whole childhood is just a blur. But I could remember most of the time was occupied by doing schoolwork or something my mother enrolled me in. Those activities would take away the loneliness for a short time and then... I was back at home again... No siblings and my parents and I never really had a connection and they were most of the time on business calls. When I did feel that lonely feeling I would daydream. I would imagine myself somewhere else like in the Marvel Universe as a superhero. Most of the time as Captain America. It was comforting but at the same time I guess that's what started to make everything seem even more lonely to me. I was just mirroring what was happening in real life into my imagination. Saving my parents dreams and feelings for me because if I didn't I would automatically become the villain!"

His train of thinking was interrupted by the fridge's humming. He immediately sprang up and went to the refrigerator in search of something tasty to eat. But he discovered beer that his father had purchased hidden in the freezer. Since he had never tried alcohol before, one was opened, and he chose to take a sip. He felt as though the booze was burning his throat, but he liked it nonetheless. He so brought the bottle into his room and drank from it while opening his notepad to write his speech he and Beth would deliver for public speaking class at assembly about DeeJay going missing.

8:01 p.m
    Mandy could feel the misty warm air grasp her as she stepped into the bathroom right after her stepfather came out. He'd just took a long sud-packed bath in the tub and hadn't drained it. So Mandy had to drain it since her love of neat, lovely, and tidy things wouldn't allow her ignore it. However, as the water had completed draining, she noticed that he had left his newspaper with the front page covering DeeJay's disappearance smeared in the tub, causing ink to embalm the tub and adding to her workload. Let's just say she ripped up the newspaper and shoved it in his socks to teach him a lesson and got away with it too.

9:34 p.m
Mr. Chooloo was an elderly, miserable man who spends the remaining of his days inside when they were too many people outside. He accumulated items like televisions and vintage boomboxes, and his home was crammed with them both inside and out. A small forest behind his home led to a river where plenty of kids frequently gathered to splash around and enjoy themselves. That always made Mr. Chooloo grumpy because that is where he washed his soiled clothes.

He struggled into the woodland tonight carrying a basket of dirty clothes and a bar of soap. His skin crawled as he stepped onto the dirt that had made its way down his neighbor's hill and he sucked his teeth as he was irritated it had dirtied his boots. As he empties the clothes into the river and placed his foot in he felt his foot touch something cold and stiff. He assumed nearby children had stuffed something in there because he had come to this river numerous times and knew where every rock was. But he was wrong. A terrible thing drifted up as he removed his foot and glanced down. The cursed blue light of the full moon revealed DeeJay's dead body, a horrific sight.