As I woke up, I could hear a beep noise. The beeping seemed to coincide with the banging in my head as it painfully throbbed.   Orphan ~ Final Chapter by Susan Brown

 

Previously...

‘Come along Mark I am in a hurry to get to the clothing shop.’

She grabbed my hand again and started to pull me away from Petra. I looked up and saw at the top of the staircase, all of my friends staring down at me. There was Stacy, Rachel and all of the others and they all looked a bit upset, Stacy was actually crying! Then Sheila came out of the staff room holding Teddy in her arm, she seemed to have been crying too. It was all too much for me. I wrenched my hand away from Miss Barnett and ran out of the door.

I didn’t know where I was going, I couldn’t see very well as my eyes were full of tears. I ran along the drive, my dress kept whipping up a bit in the wind. I didn’t care if my panties were showing and I was past caring for anything anymore. I could hear some shouts from behind, calling me back which I ignored. My sandals crunched on the gravel as ran full tilt out into the road. I heard a screech of brakes and then nothing.............

And now, on with the story…

As I woke up, I could hear a beep noise. The beeping seemed to coincide with the banging in my head as it painfully throbbed.

My eyes cracked open and I immediately shut them again as the glare from the lights were very harsh.

I moaned slightly and could feel that my throat was a bit sore and very dry. Carefully opening my eyes again, I noticed that they had become a bit more accustomed to the glare. After blinking several times, my eyes seemed to clear a bit and I could see roughly where I was.

My sight was a bit blurry but it was clear that I was in bed and that I was propped up slightly. Looking around what was obviously a hospital room, I saw that I was alone. I turned my head to the left…that hurt a bit as my neck as well as my head was a bit painful, I noticed that that I was attached to some sort of monitor and the beeping noise was coming from that. My arm had a tube going into it under a bandage. The tube went up to a drip thingie and I could see the clear liquid dripping down from a bag. Where the tube was going into my arm, there was yet another dull sort of pain where the needle had been put in. All in all, I was not in a very good state.

I was wearing one of those white hospital gowns and the bed clothes were up to my chest and tucked in quite tightly. There was a sort of frame under the sheet and blanket where my legs were which must have been there to keep my legs away from the bedcovers. I felt another strange sensation and it was coming from my willie, it was uncomfortable and hard to describe. I was just about to lift the covers, when someone came in.

‘Hello there, awake, are you?’

I looked up and I saw the fuzzy shape of a nurse in her light blue uniform, starched apron and cap.

‘Hello.’ I croaked.

‘Throat a bit sore? Not surprising as you had a tube down it for a week. Take a little sip of this water then I’ll go and tell sister and your relatives that you’ve finally stopped snoring and have decided to join us again.’

She said this with a twinkle in her eyes and a smile on her face. I liked her straight away! She left me with my drink and I sipped the water; it felt nice to quench my thirst. It was funny her saying relatives as I didn’t have any, except that aunt that came from up north, who I had never met.

The door creaked open again and the nurse and what I took to be the sister came in.

‘Hello dear,’ said Sister. ‘You look a bit better than when you first came here. Now have you any pain?’

‘Erm…yes, I hurt in lots of places, my head mainly and my foot feels bad and erm…erm,… my tinkle feels funny too.’

‘Tinkle…oh I see, well you don’t need to worry about that. You have a catheter in there. It’s there to help you go to the toilet.’

‘Catheter?’

‘Yes, it’s a tube that’s placed inside you when you are not able to go the toilet yourself. The doctor will be here in a short while as she needs to have a quick chat, then we can get you something for your aches and pains. She’ll explain everything to you. Then we can let your relatives loose on you. Now have a little rest and then we can sort you out.’

The sister and nurse after a little smile left me to myself. I still had no idea how I had got here and my head was throbbing all the more, making it hard for me to think too clearly. One thing that did make me wonder was all this about relatives?

I shut my eyes as it was bit strange that everything was a still out of focus. Then I opened them again as I felt this strange feeling again from down below. I lifted up the sheets with my free hand and all I could see was some bandages where my panties would normally go and between my legs I noticed that there was a clear tube poking out. As I looked, I could see a small amount of wee dribble down the tube. Feeling a bit sick at that sight, I swiftly put the sheets back down again. I shut my eyes and must have drifted off, as the next thing I remember was that the door creaked again and a lot of people in white coats came in.

‘Hello there.’ aid the eldest one who happened to be a lady. ‘How are you feeling?’

I repeated what I said to Sister.

‘Well, first of all, my name is Doctor Connor but you can call me Tania. I’m the doctor looking after your case and these other people are my students. Now I just need to have a word with them then I’ll be back with you, okay?’

I nodded.

She went to the end of the bed and they all went into a sort of a rugby huddle. After a few moments, the students left and Doctor…I mean Tania came over, dragged a chair to the side of the bed and sat down next to me.
‘Right, sorry about that. I have a few minutes and I think we need to have a chat. I have sent for some pills for you to ease the pain. Unfortunately, they are a bit strong and will send you to sleep but I want to just tell you a few things. What do you remember?’

‘Nothing much, just that I ran out into the road without looking, heard some brakes screeching and then…nothing else.’

‘Well, you are very lucky. The driver manager to break hard. The car clipped your ankle and you fell heavily onto the side of the road. Your head hit the kerb and you suffered a compound fracture of the skull. Your ankle just had extensive bruising and you lost a bit of skin…nothing serious about that. However we were very worried about your head injury. You had to have an operation to fish a few bone splinters out and we also had to release the pressure as you were bleeding a bit. Both procedures went okay, but you have been in a light coma until today. Brain injuries are tricky things and we didn’t know if you would recover properly or not. I bet your vision seems a bit wonky?’

‘Yes, it’s sort of fuzzy.’

‘Well that’s not too bad. Anyway, we have to keep you in for a little while longer so get used to being in bed. We are going to do some tests tomorrow to see if your memory is okay and if all your other bits and pieces work. In the mean time you need to rest and not get all upset. Okay?’

‘Yes Tania, thanks for helping me.’

‘Hey, that’s what we are paid for and anyway, between you and me, it’s the nurses who do all the hard work, I just sit about all day looking important.’

I giggled at that, not believing a word of it. But I had to say something else…

‘Erm.. Doctor.’

‘Tania, remember.’

‘’Sorry Tania, I have a tube down there.’ I vaguely pointed downwards, ‘when can it come out?’

‘Well honey, I think that we can get that out of you tomorrow. Can you stand it for a little while longer?’

‘Yes….okay.’

‘Well done,’ she said standing up. ‘Now there are some people who are dying to see you but they can’t stay long. Ah nurse, got the pills? Good. Right I had better be off to see what those students are doing behind my back. I’ll see you tomorrow.’

‘Bye.’

The nurse gave me two pills which I swallowed with the help of some water.

‘Well done. Are you feeling hungry?’

‘Not really.’

‘That’s all right. Just ring the bell if you need anything. You can have some supper later anyway as you need to get something in your tummy. Now don’t go away and I’ll see if your visitors can come in.’

My heart sort of flipped as I remembered what had happened at the home. Would it be that horrible Councillor Smart and the equally nasty Miss Barnet? Then I remembered that it was supposed to be family visiting me…It was all quite confusing…

The door opened and my face lit up when I saw who it was… Sally, Bob and Petra!

‘Hello Stephanie!’ shouted Petra as she rushed over to me.

‘Shhhhh,’ said Sally and Bob together.

‘You’ll get us chucked out,’ exclaimed Bob quietly but with a tolerant smile on his face.

‘How are you dear?’

I looked up at Sally’s anxious face.

‘Fine thanks. It’s a bit painful in places, but the nurse has given me some pills.

‘Oooh look Mummy, Stephanie’s got a bottle of wee under her bed and a tube…’

‘Petra Phillipa Beacham, if you are not good you will go outside.’

‘Sorry Mummy.’

I smiled as Petra looked anything but good at the moment. She looked like she was bursting to tell me something.

They all pulled chairs up around the bed and asked me about how I was and everything.

I told them what the doctor said and then Bob spoke up.

‘Well you have told us about what has happened to you and now it’s our turn. Are you up to hearing what has been happening whist you have been snoozing in here?’

I nodded, sort of dreading what he was going to say. I remembered vividly what had caused my accident. I was going to be put in a boy’s home and forced to go to a boy’s school, leaving everything and everyone I held dear, perhaps never to see them again.

‘Hang on Daddy,’ said Petra, fishing in her bag. ‘Here you are Stephanie; I’ve been looking after her for you.’

It was Teddy! I took her from Petra and held her tightly to me as Bob started to speak again.

‘When you left, we started arguing with Mr Smart. The sanctimonious old fool wasn’t going to budge and then we heard that you had run off, so we dropped everything and ran after you with everyone else. It was awful when we saw that you had been hurt. Luckily the ambulance was there quite soon…’

‘Cor…you were all bloody and you twitched and...

PETRA!’

‘Sorry Mummy.’

‘Young ladies don’t say things like that.’

‘’Sorry Mummy.’

‘Hmmm. Go on Bob.’

‘Thank you dear. Now, things got a bit rushed. The fool Smart wanted to get Miss Barnet to go with you in the ambulance, but Sally got there first and literally shut the ambulance doors in her face.’

‘I’m a bit ashamed of that.’

‘Well, I’m not, Mummy, you were a star…’

‘If I can continue? Right Steph, where was I…oh yes. Anyway, Sally went to the hospital and I followed behind in the car with Petra. It was touch and go for you as you evidently stopped breathing twice, but they soon stabilised you and after several hours of waiting around, we were told you was out of danger. I sent Sally home with Petra and stayed the night. At least one of us has been here ever since. They kindly laid on a room for us to use so it was no great hardship.’

‘Yes and I managed to stay off school, compash ,erm comp… Mummy what is it called?’

‘Compassionate leave, dear.’

‘That’s it!’

‘Thank you for being here for me.’

‘That’s okay,’ smiled Sally.

‘But…what’s going to happen to me. Will Miss Barnet come and take me away again?’

Sally held onto my hand.

‘Well dear, that’s up to you.’

‘I don’t know what you mean.’

‘Well, after you were taken away in the ambulance, Matron collared Councillor Smart. She told me what happened. Evidently, the good councillor has these expensive trips abroad supposedly on council business. However, somehow, Matron found out that he had several trips…now everyone, not a word of this to anyone, okay?’

We all nodded and I was wondering where this was going.

‘Well, as I say he had several trips abroad to Benidorm and it so happens that his secretary was there at the same time on holiday on all of these occasions. Matron is tight lipped as to how she knew all of this, just saying that she has “contacts”. Now Mrs Smart is a jealous woman. She once threw half a pint of bear over a barmaid who smiled and made a suggestive remark to her husband. If she got to know about Councillor Smart’s, shall we say extra curricular activities, World War 3 would start. Anyway the long and short of it is that the good Councillor has seen the error of his ways.’

‘Does that mean I won’t have to go to somewhere else?’

‘Not if you don’t want to.’

‘Can I go back to the Home?’

‘I’m afraid that isn’t possible as there would be too many problems doing that. If the press got to know, there would be ructions. Not everyone is liberal minded.’

I clutched onto Teddy even tighter and my eyes stared to water.

‘What’s going to happen to me?’ I gulped, looking at Sally through tearful eyes.

‘We have a solution; you can come and stay with us. What you don’t know is that Petra was originally our foster child. I can’t have children as my tubes are all messed up. We adopted Petra after fostering her for a while. We have fostered quite a few children in the past and we are licensed to do it still. If you want to live with us, you can still go to the girls school and see all your friends from the home. Would you like to do that?’

‘Yes, please do Steph, it will be great and…’

‘PETRA!'

‘Sorry Daddy.’

‘Can….Can I come and stay with you?’

‘We would love to have you,’ smiled Bob, ‘and if it all works out, I see no reason why Petra can’t have a sister.’

‘You mean…’

‘Yes…we had a family conference. Although we haven’t known you for long, you are a lovely girl and we would love to have you in the family. We’ll help you with your gender problems, just like we have with Petra. If you want to be a boy, that’s not a problem either. It’s a serious thing to go through gender changes and there will be a rocky road ahead for you, but whatever you decide, we’ll help as much as we can, won’t we Sally?’

‘Yes, Bob has said it all. I liked you as soon as I saw you and so did Bob. I think that you would be a very nice addition to the family. We want you to be with us, if that is what you really want. But we aren’t going to force or rush you. If you want to go live with other people, we’ll make sure that you go to a nice foster family.’

I looked at them all; their kind faces…Petra looked like she was about to burst if I didn’t answer soon. I heard a little voice in my head. It sounded so much like my Mum, “Go with them; they love you and will look after you”.

I smiled, suddenly yawned and just nodded. Ten minutes later, I was fast asleep dreaming about riding Rainbow without a sore botty!

~*~

It was three months later and I was doing up the laces of my tennis plimsolls. I was conscious of the shortness of my tennis skirt and the frilly pants underneath. I didn’t know if I would ever get used to showing my “smalls” in public, but I was willing to try! Petra was there trying to give me advice about my backhand…which was a laugh really as I could beat her easily at tennis. As I looked around the Tennis club changing room, I reflected at how much had happened since I had last been there…

As Petra wittered on, my mind went back over the recent past…

I stayed in the hospital for another two weeks and then went back to what is now my home. It took some time for the headaches to stop and my eyesight to clear. The hair grew over the scar on my head and you wouldn’t know to look at it that it had ever been cracked open like Humpty Dumpty! The damage to my ankle wasn’t too bad and apart from a slightly lighter skin over my ankle, you wouldn’t know that I had hurt it.

As soon as I went to my new home, it felt like “home”. Everyone was so kind and made me feel like I was part of the family. Sally and Bob were wonderful and I soon grew to love them so much. Petra was great and we were soon as close as real sisters. It wasn’t long before it was decided in a family conference that we were going to go through adoption for me. It takes a bit of time for all the fuss, bother and red tape to go through and it looks like it will take a few more months before I can officially call myself Lady Stephanie Beacham, daughter of Lord and Lady Beacham, no less!

You could have knocked me over with a feather when I found out that my new parents were third cousins to the queen and part of royalty! Sally and Bob rarely used their titles and seem a bit embarrassed about it although they been to Sandringham occasionally to stay when ‘the family’ are there.

Anyway, as far as I am concerned, I am part of the Beacham family now and I call Sally and Bob, Mummy and Daddy. Mind you, when I want to wind them up, I just call them your Lordship and Ladyship and they don’t like that for some reason!

All this doesn’t mean that I will ever forget my original parents and I never will. Once a week, I go to the cemetery and put fresh flowers on the graves. I also have pictures of them in my room and it’s nice to see them all around me. Anyway, there are always there in my heart and always will be.

Teddy has been joined by another pink teddy called Amanda and two dolls, One Cindy and the other one Lucinda, but Teddy is always my favourite and has first dibs at bedtime for cuddles.

Living in a place that has lovely humungously large grounds, means that I can wander far and wide and be by myself if I want and just enjoy knowing that I am at home; not in any danger and in a place where I am loved and wanted. Quite often, I go for long rides when Petra can’t be bothered to join me…the lazy girl likes to stay in bed when she can get away with it! It’s lovely to wonder in the woods and along shallow streams, trying to catch sight of the squirrels or if I’m lucky a deer. My horse, Rainbow, still huge but as soft as butter, seems to enjoy our rides too. The other day, we were in the woods and there were lovely blue flowers carpeting the ground. I picked some and took them to Mummy and she loved them. She did tell me what they were called, but I have forgotten what she said now… oh yes, I remember, they were bluebells. Anyway, as you can see, I have really settled in and it’s really wonderful that I have finally found some happiness. Yes I am such a lucky girl!

Mind you, I don’t get as much time as I would wish to wander the grounds as I always seem to be busy. Petra and I are inseparable; Mummy says that we are almost joined at the hip! We go everywhere and do almost everything together. We play tennis, go riding, swim in the pool, have midnight feasts (when we can get away with it) and go shopping together too. I never knew how great it was to shop until I first went with Petra. Mummy went too, as she was the one with the money and we got a little bit carried away. I was totally shattered by the time I got home with tons of bags and a whole new wardrobe. Mummy said that she had to remortgage the house with what we had spent! I think she was joking.

I went back to school a month after the accident. It was strange wearing that funny, heavy uniform again, but believe it or not, I kind of like it now as it helps make me feel as if I belong. I saw all of my friends there from the Home and it was great to be back at school with them. Mind you, I often went to visit the Home with Petra after my accident and when I felt well enough and so I hadn’t missed everyone like I thought I might. I had thanked Matron for sorting out the councillor but she just shrugged her shoulders and winked. It turns out that The Sun newspaper did and exposé on him a few weeks ago and he was drummed off the council.

I have decided that I want to do all I can to be the girl I am inside. Daddy had me see a few trick cyclists as he called them. They all said the same thing; that I am a girl inside. Perhaps it took the tragedy of losing my parents to bring out my feminine side. I don’t know about that, all I do know is that I feel so right in the way things are going. Daddy has said that there isn’t much help in the UK but other countries have a more friendly approach to people like me and Petra. Anyway, I know that it is going to be a long hard road for me, but hopefully at the end of all this I will be where I want to be. The only thing I’m sad about is that I didn’t have a chance to be a little girl. I make up for it a bit by being as girlie as I can be and wearing really feminine clothes even though most kids my age wear jeans and things more than skirts and dresses. Still, as far as I am concerned, I want to be the girl of my dreams and that is that!

‘Are you listening to me?’ exclaimed Petra with an annoyed look on her face.

‘Sorry Petra, I was miles away.’

‘Hmm, anyway, let’s go out there and kick her whatsit!’

We left the cool of the changing room. The light was bright and warm outside and I was having butterflies in my tummy as I walked to the court. As we got near, I noticed that we had an audience. Mummy and Daddy together with Tracy, Rachel and all my other friends from the Home were there. Then I saw Matron and Sheila, Miss Cathcart and even Cook were there too; talk about stage fright!

I walked onto the court my legs feeling a bit rubbery. Tamsin was already there practicing serving and looking very menacing. She looked up at me when I arrived and then continued practicing her blistering serve. She looked unhappy though. No wonder, as her mum and dad were divorcing and her friends had deserted her.

We did a practice knock up and then started into the game. I won the first set rather easily as her mind and heart seemed to be elsewhere. We didn’t say a word to each other as we crossed but I could see that she was finding all this rather hard.

Tamsin pulled herself together and scraped the second set by one break point. Then we were into the final set and I was getting better and better as the game went on. I was playing really well and Tamsin, to her credit, upped her game a bit, sending back hands down the line and lobbing me quite effectively. However, I was just about getting the upper hand with my strong cross court shots. We crossed for the final time and I could see the tears in her eyes. She was dragging her feet as though it was all a bit too much for her.

Tamsin was 5-4 up so she should have been happy, at least that the games were going to serve, but she wasn’t. I knew as certain as I could that I would win the next game and then she would probably lose her next serving game giving me the match. She looked so tired and upset and she was even less likely to win because of it. We had a long hard rally on my serve at deuce and I somehow slipped, giving Tamsin the point.

I looked at her as she waited for my serve. She just didn’t seem to be enjoying herself. All my friends were shouting encouragement and she had no one.

I served a double fault and it was advantage Tamsin. She looked at me strangely and I could see some puzzlement in her eyes. She sort of shrugged and then took a deep breath. She was on match point but didn’t seem to care; it was as if nothing mattered any more to her. I somehow served a softish shot and Tamsin just managed to get her racquet to it. The ball lobbed over me to the back of the court, I was able to get back and just as I was going to fire it back down the base line, I somehow slipped again and the ball went out.

Tamsin had won.

There was silence in the court and then some scattered applause as we walked towards the net.

‘Well played,’ said Tamsin quietly as she shook my hand. ‘Why did you throw the game?’

There was no sign of triumph in her looks or her voice.

‘You won fair and square. Tasmin, can we be friends now?’

We both looked at each other. She had lost her family due to the stupidity of her father I had found a new one and I was as happy as I could be. Who had won out of all of this?

She looked at me, her lip quivering. She had tears in her eyes and she looked like she was going to fall apart. After a few seconds, she gulped, took a deep breath and just nodded. We embraced each other over the net and walked off arm in arm to the sound of clapping. Moments later, she was crying her eyes out on my shoulder and I was trying to help make her feel a bit better. It was nice that I had found a new friend and I much prefer to make friends than enemies. It was the start of a friendship that is very dear to me now and I hope that it always will be.

~*~

What about the future?

I look forward to being as complete a girl as I can be. No doubt I will have problems and worries, but I can face them now as I have the love and support of my family and all my friends to help me through.

Oh, I have just found out that Tracy and Rachel are both with foster parents and both Petra and I look like will be going on sleep-over’s in the very near future. I hope that Tracy doesn’t mess this one up!

Anyway, I have to go now as I am meeting Tasmin at the tennis club. Her mum has a new man in her life and things look like they are going to be okay with her. No more Miss Nice Girl…I’m going to beat her this time!

THE END

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