Lacey’s eyes darkened and she said, “I don’t remember.”
“Do you have amnesia?” Harmony felt silly as soon as the question was out of her mouth, but it was the only thing that made sense with Lacey’s patchwork memory.
“I don’t think so. I don’t remember very much at all. I remember him. I remember what happened.” She stopped suddenly and cast her gaze to the floor.
“You don’t have to talk about it.” Harmony said kindly.
“Thanks.”
“Do you want to go to the police?” After her encounter with law enforcement, she wasn’t sure how helpful they would be, but she wanted to seek help for Lacey somehow.
Her head snapped up and she looked sharply at Harmony. “No.”
Harmony nodded and took another bite of her sandwich.
In the silence, the familiar sound of the front door unlocking and swinging open made her nearly choke. Lyric stood in the doorway with a key ring in hand and Rufus at his side. He looked different from how he usually did, but Harmony couldn’t pinpoint what was different. Harmony felt her throat tighten and her heart rate quicken at the sight of her boss while simultaneously feeling elated that Rufus had returned.
“Rufus…” She breathed. He bounded towards her and immediately began licking every inch of bare skin he could reach. Some of her anxiety was diminished, but the menacing presence of Lyric was still there.
What Harmony didn’t expect was what happened with Lacey. She stopped eating and craned her neck around to see who had entered. When she had taken him in, she screamed and fell onto the floor scrambling backwards across the floor until she was sobbing in a far corner.
Harmony popped up from her seat and faced him with as much fierceness as she could muster. “Please, leave.” Rufus began barking as tension filled the room. He wasn’t a scary dog, but his barks seemed to keep Lyric from advancing quickly.
Lyric ignored her and continued to gaze at Lacey with a perplexed expression. “I won’t hurt you.” He said in a gentle tone. Instead of his usually catlike qualities, he appeared meek.
Lacey shook her head violently and continued to sob. Rufus then bounded over to her and pushed his furry head under one of her quivering hands. She refused to respond to the dog’s affection.
“Please, go!” Harmony commanded.
Instead of listening, Lyric walked inside and shut the door behind him. “I had been wondering what happened to you but this was the last thing I expected to find when I came over here.”
“How did you know we were here? Why do you have my dog?”
“Wendy asked me to check on the house every so often. We were worried about you.” Lyric sat down in the chair Lacey had previously occupied and crossed his legs the same way that she had. “Rufus was in the front yard when I arrived.”
Lacey struggled to regain her composure. Her belly barely rose as she sucked in a breath and her exhales were shaky. She still looked like she was going to bolt at any minute, but she was much quieter now. Harmony reluctantly sat back down in her seat and kept her eyes locked on Lyric. Rufus, sensing that things had calmed down somewhat, ventured to his water bowl.
“Are you my stalker now? First, you hack my chip, then…”
Lyric shook his head, “No.”
“Please leave. Don’t hurt me.” Lacey whispered.
“I’d never hurt you, sweetheart.” Lyric said in the kindest tone Harmony had ever heard him use.
He uncrossed his legs and rose from his seat. He tentatively approached Lacey and she pushed herself even further into the corner. Lyric crouched and gazed into her scared eyes. Harmony was frightened to notice that they both favored one another.
“Is Lacey…your sister?” Harmony ventured.
Lyric didn’t look at Harmony as he said, “No. She is me.”
Harmony was proud of her open mind. She generally did not judge people based on appearance or background, but in that moment, her brain could not reconcile that the girl and man in her living room were the same person. It seemed impossible.
“I chose to forget most of my past self except certain things.” Lyric said slowly and still was gazing at Lacey who looked confused and frightened. “But I guess you can’t forget forever.” A single tear slid down Lyric’s cheek and Harmony felt unexpected compassion. “I began having memories of things I used to do as a woman and began to think that I had to transition to being a woman. The more I found out the more I realized that I had been born a woman already.”
“How did you remember?” Harmony asked.
Lyric then turned to face her and said, “When I hacked your chip.”
Harmony’s anxiety returned and she felt the same fear that had welled up inside her when Lyric tried making a move on her. She couldn’t reconcile that the person in front of her was the same as the scared girl quivering in the corner of her living room. But as she truly looked into Lyric’s face, she could see the ghost of the feminine in the line of the jaw and tenderness in the eyes.
“I don’t understand.” Harmony said finally.
Lyric stood and ventured back to the couch to sit down. With a sigh, he said, “It’s a closely guarded secret that the microchips not only manage your mental health but can help people forget too. While I had heard whispers of addicts becoming empty shells on accident, I never realized that the medical community was using similar methods on people with gender dysphoria or in cases where somebody needed to take on a new persona.”
Harmony was still confused but she didn’t want to interrupt. Even Lacey had taken on a less defensive stance to lean in and listen.
“My parents let me transition at 16.” Lyric continued sadness in his voice. “I had all the surgeries, the drugs, and the clothes to complete the transition, but I could never forget that had been born a woman. The body I had been given had been violated and I didn’t want to remember anymore.”
Lacey’s eyes grew wide and she looked on the verge of tears as Lyric spoke. Harmony’s stomach clenched as the truth of what Lyric said hit her heart.
“The microchip was in the beginning stages but they wanted to use it to help me fully embrace the transition. I agreed and my parents just wanted me to be happy.” Lyric’s voice cracked. “I was deemed a success by the medical community. I have lived a life that fulfilled all my carnal desires and being who I thought I truly was born to be, but you can’t outrun trauma.” Lyric sighed and looked straight at Lacey. “I haven’t gotten everything back, though. What happened to make you transition to me?”
Lacey bit her lip and the beginning of tears welled up in her eyes. “I was raped…” She whispered.
Something passed between the two of them and understanding flashed in Lyric’s eyes. “Is it…” Lacey nodded almost imperceptibly and Lyric barely concealed a sob. “He was one of the good ones.”
“Yeah, I thought so too.” Lacey said.
