Becoming

by Phylecia Celeste

Episode 1 - A Study in Scarlet

Chapter 1 - Tender Young Alice

Anxiety. Raw, heart-pounding, and unforgiving. It had plagued Alice for years, issuing tremors and paranoia at the worst possible and most stressful of times. Always sneaking up to attack the poor boy. He had decided to get dressed up for that evening. It made him so happy to get dolled up for a night on the town, but the anxiety was always there to eat away his sanity. Always bringing up the what-if's.

What if I slip up? What if I get caught? What if my friends, my family, find out? That was all he could think about. The poor thing could barely cope. And yet, being a girl was the only way he felt happy. For him, to slip into a cute, flirty dress and a pair of sleek, six inch heels, with his hair braided and nails painted up so daintily, was the greatest thing in the world, and to be honest, he pulled it off flawlessly.

Alice couldn't help but cry as he drove home, his girlfriend by his side. It was his first date with her as a girl. His first time with her to show who he really was. What he was going to be.

The date had gone off without a hitch, and his girlfriend made him so happy that all he could do was weep. She had been incredibly impressed by how brave he had been to come out to her. To truly be himself, or more correctly, herself around her was something she adored.

Make-up streamed down his face as he finally dropped his love off. They walked up to the door together, hand in hand. The cutest girls in the world.