After several days of inactivity, I was bored and feeling the urge to get out of the house.
My only visitors had been some fancy-pants doctor who came to check on me as a favour to the parents, and Kevin.
My boyfriend.
Yeah. That was still a thing.
Despite my calls, Orryn refused to make an appearance, but I was sure I could feel him close by. Watching. Judging. Ensuring his little deceit went along as planned. So, I grinned and played the part and became as familiar with Chloe's life as I could possibly be.
Which was pretty standard.
Pretty girl from a rich family. High achiever, type-A personality and, if I were honest, a bit of a bitch. Going through her messages, they definitely leaned towards the mean when talking about some of the other girls in the sixth form she attended.
Her friends, Brooke and Zara, were full-time enablers and part-time bullies themselves. Nothing I read in those chats made me look forward to meeting them.
Then there were the photos. Entire reels of Chloe and her friends in any number of scandalous outfits, drinking, smoking weed and partying hard.
The girl had a wild side.
Unfortunately, she also had a wardrobe full of clothes that suited that wild side, and most of them were the type I'd used to love seeing girls wear but couldn't imagine having the balls to wear them myself.
Even if I did have the body for them now.
With a heavy sigh, I glanced out of the bedroom window, looking for the car that was due any minute. The parents had finally given in and allowed that I could go out for a little bit, so long as I had someone with me.
Since I didn't know Brooke or Zara and they were away at Uni anyway, that left one choice.
Kevin.
I checked my appearance in the mirror, tugging at the pink top that kept inching up and exposing my midriff. It was about as modest as Chloe's clothes got and still exposed a good portion of cleavage that sent my mind reeling every time I caught a glimpse of it.
Since all her leggings and yoga pants were so tight I couldn't help but feel like they were painted on, I had bit my lip and pulled on a skirt that hugged my waist and ended mid-thigh.
It left me feeling just as exposed but would hopefully have less people staring at my ass.
Black tights and some converse were enough to provide me some feeling of modesty and normalcy, and I'd brushed my shoulder length hair twice. It still kept a slight curl that I was starting to think was natural.
No makeup.
I had no idea what I was doing with that and despite the YouTube videos, I knew I wasn't ready to attempt it. I figured I could wave away any questions about not wearing it as difficulties related to the coma.
An excuse I had been using a lot with the parents.
The crunch of gravel signalled the arrival of Kevin's car, and I took one final look before grabbing my jacket and throwing it on. I picked up my phone and slipped it into my purse – urgh – and headed out.
I was starting to get the impression that there was a great deal more effort required to be a girl than I'd thought. More than I would have expected, anyway. My past girlfriends had always made it look so effortless, turning up looking fantastic at a moment's notice.
Kevin leaned against a spotless white Yaris, arms folded across his chest like a romcom poster brought to life. Not the type of car I would have expected, if I was honest, but when I thought about it, it was right for him.
Not sexy but it was responsible, modern and cheap to run. Kevin in car form.
He smiled a greeting and pulled me into an embrace, his lips finding mine eagerly. I tried to respond to the hug without flinching but couldn't return the kiss. It was too much. He was a guy!
I couldn't do it.
Call me homophobic or old fashioned or a plain old ass, but where I'd grown up, two guys kissing would end with a kicking. Despite my new body, I was still me, and in my head, I was a guy.
"You gonna be warm enough?" He asked, brows drawing down in concern as he looked me up and down.
He wore jeans and a thick wool sweater against the November chill, and I was pretty sure he would have a coat in the car, just in case.
"Yah, I'm good," I lied.
I could feel the cold. I'd need to get used to that difference. As a guy, I had been hot all the damned time, wearing shorts and a t-shirt on the coldest days. As Chloe, I was constantly cold.
"So, where we going, babe?" he asked.
I would have loved to climb into the driver's seat. One of the reasons I'd stolen the car that night was because I loved driving fast. Though, for obvious reasons, I decided that was probably not the best option.
"Head towards St James Hospital."
His eyes widened and he gave me a quick once over. "You feeling okay?"
"Yeah." I couldn't help my smile at his expression. "That's near to where I want to go, is all."
He talked as he drove, a good-natured ramble about his family and work. Since he was taking a year off before Uni, he'd opted to try and gain some experience and was working with the secretaries in a law office. Some friend of his dad's.
"I don't mind the work and the people are nice," he said, as I cycled through the radio stations, searching for something interesting. "It's a great atmosphere, though. I'm picking up so much, just being there, you know?"
My grunted reply was non-committal, and I settled back in the seat as the station I settled on began to play some 90's pop song.
"What're you listening to?" He glanced at the radio, then his eyes flicked to me, and I lifted my shoulders in a shrug.
I'd seen Chloe's play list, and I had no desire to listen to any of that garbage. "Thought I'd try something new."
He didn't question it beyond that, and I felt a self-satisfied smile form. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. I could make little changes, bring about some of my own preferences into Chloe's world and play it off as a quirk of coming out of a coma.
A brain injury could result in personality changes. I'd read that online while trying to find a way to explain away any inconsistencies.
I side-eyed Kevin as he drove and pursed my lips. A change in taste could explain any number of changes I might make.
A light rain had begun to fall as we drove along Beckett Street and past the hospital. I directed Kevin from there, leading him ever closer to where I had grown up.
Nice, quiet streets, gave way to long rows of terraced houses with graffiti on the walls and rubbish dumped on the pavement. Black metal bars over windows and dogs running loose as kids played in the streets.
Loud music in a dozen languages blasted from open windows and doors, while groups of men milled about smoking and talking. The immigrants had been slowly taking over the area, shoved into a poverty-stricken ghetto already full of the hopeless and the lost.
As a result, you could feel the tension in the air as those men kept to their own groups, watching women walking past as much as they watched each other. I felt an unease I never had before when growing up there, and very, very, vulnerable.
I kept my expression calm as a man in a stained white vest gestured at another. For a moment, his face changed, teeth lengthening into fangs, as horns of glistening black sprouted from his skull. Then they were gone, and he was just a man again.
A glance at Kevin to reassure myself that I wasn't alone and I swallowed past my fear, wishing that I'd brought the knife with me. It had been stupid to leave it at home.
Why was a demon in Harehills?
It took me a moment to find the answer. Where else was there a concentrated body of desperate people willing to do anything, to give anything, for the chance of a better life?
"Stop here," I said, as we approached the twin tower blocks.
They rose high above us with the now familiar graffiti on the walls and washing hanging from lines strewn across balconies. There were cars parked below, mostly old, more than one without an MOT or insurance and broken glass and rubbish scattered across the ground.
Gangs of feral youth hung about the area in small packs, while others played football on the sparse grass. An old man walked a dog on the edges, keeping a watchful eye on the youth.
And there she was.
Amy. My sister.
I held my breath, eyes shining as I looked at her.
In the middle of a group of pre-teens her age, wearing clothes of girls much older. Hair styled, makeup heavily applied and looking older than their years. One of the girls was smoking as another played music through her phone. The others were openly gawping at the screen of another girl, and Amy sat in the middle of them all, but apart.
When the smoker passed over the cigarette I reached for the door handle, and then exhaled a soft sigh when Amy refused it.
"What're we doing here?" Kevin asked, craning his neck to scan the area.
"Just needed to check on someone."
"Who do you know here?" there was a hint of doubt in his tone. "From the hospital, you mean?"
"Yeah, something like that," I muttered, not really paying attention.
When I looked up, I could see the flat I'd spent most of my life in. There was Mick leaning on the balcony rail, smoking. Weed, most likely, his morning spliff to get him up and ready for the day. Soon he'd head out to the pub where he'd nurse a pint for a few hours as he played pool or talked shit with his loser mates before heading home with a four pack.
If it was a good day, anyway.
On a bad day it would be cheap cider and sitting in the flat, growing ever angrier with how shit his life had turned out.
"Should we… I dunno, get out?" Kev asked. "Is it safe to leave the car here?"
I grinned at that. Not at all.
Then I stilled, heart beating furiously in my chest as he came around the corner, laughing with his mates.
Slim, almost scrawny, wearing sweatpants and a heavy jacket. A balaclava pulled down to rest around his neck, ready to be lifted to cover his face in an instant.
Benny.
I was out of the car and storming across the road towards him, hands curling into fists and shaking with my rage.
One of his mates, Cal, nudged him as they saw me approach and suddenly, I was the focus of a group of four teenage guys. Each of them bigger than me.
"This your bird?" Stan asked, laughing. "She's hot."
"Nah, Benny can't pull something like that. S'why he goes for Fat-Gemma."
"Fuck off," Benny muttered, eyes following me as he tried to place me, and then narrowing as he looked around, wondering what was going on. "Do I know you?"
I didn't stop. Just walked straight up to him and stared him straight in the eye.
"You left me on the road to die, you bastard!"
His eyes registered confusion for a moment and then widened in surprise. "Danny?"
I drove my knee into his balls with all the force I could muster.