A few hours later, I awoke, both because I was hungry and the fact I needed the toilet.

Gently getting out of bed, so as not to disturb Laura who was curled up asleep at the bottom, I slinked off to the loo. As I did, I looked down at myself and realised that someone had undressed me and put me into a nightie.

After a few seconds of discovery, where I suddenly twigged I was still trying to ‘go’ standing up, I sat down and relieved myself.

Who was I? Was I Steve, or Stacey?

Stacey’s memories were getting clearer, now. I could remember ‘my’ first date with Laura and a smile came onto my face.

At the same time, I remembered the thrill of the first computer programme I had written as Steve.

Wait a minute…

Steve’s memories weren’t fading. They were also there, as strong as ever, alongside the new ones of Stacey’s.

I could remember my birthday parties from both points of view…

Physically, I was now Stacey, but mentally I was both twins…

Stacey had always been the stronger of us; I was always a bit ‘limp wristed’, and totally uncapable of any strong physical work. It only seemed fair that she should be the dominant twin now…

I heard noises outside the toilet.

Laura had woken up and was frantically looking for me.

“It’s all right, I’m in here!”, I called out. “Hold your horses, I’ll be out in a minute…”

I hadn’t realised that I’d just used Steve’s voice and one of his expressions until I came out of the toilet and found both Laura and mum staring at me…

“Oops…”, I said, still in Steve’s voice. “Told you we were both in here…”

Mum fainted. Laura just stood there with a shocked expression on her face…

Luckily enough, Paula was still downstairs, and she had paramedic training as well as her specialties, so she soon sorted mum out.

As soon as mum came round, she punched me in the arm.

“That wasn’t funny, Stace!”, she said. “Giving us a shock like that…”

“Sorry, mum”, I said, “I didn’t mean to scare you. It’s just I’m so confused. I’ve got two sets of memories in here, you know”, I said, tapping my head.

“No, you just think you have”, said mum. “You could also do impressions of your brother anyway, so the voice is nothing new, just in incredibly bad taste. I’m surprised at you…”

“I’m sorry, I’m just so stressed out. Nothing makes sense…”, I said.

Laura decided to take charge of me and, taking me by the hand, she led me back to bed.

“I’m hungry…”, I groaned. I hadn’t eaten anything all day and I was really getting peckish.

“That’s a good sign, at least”, said Paula. “Let’s get you some food.”

One fairly healthy lunch later, I was feeling a bit more perky, but still not strong enough to get dressed. I also still hadn’t got a clue what to wear…

Easing myself onto my feet again, I wandered over to the drawers and wardrobes and started investigating what clothes I had.

Looking at Laura as a guide, I picked out what looked like a reasonable selection.

While I was doing this, she came over and stood beside me, supporting me with an arm round my waist.

“What’s up?”, she asked. “Memory problems again?”

“Yes”, I said. “I can remember our first date, now, but I can’t remember how to dress as a girl, or what to wear.”

I slid back down onto the bed and Laura could tell I was going to cry again, so she hugged me.

The tears came freely again.

Laura helped me through all of this. She dried my eyes, got me to stop crying, then showed me how to put on knickers and a bra.

She then found me a nice sleeveless white top to wear, and a black corduroy skirt. First, though, she introduced me to the wonders of tights…

Amazingly, I managed to put my first pair on without laddering them, then put the top and skirt on.

Laura picked out some flats for me, and I put them on.

“Not flashy, but at least its tidy”, Laura said, as I stood up and gave her a twirl.

I hugged her, and she hugged me back, as we kissed…

Laura held on to me as I gingerly went down the stairs.

“Hi mum”, I said, seeing her in the front room.

“How are you?”, mum asked, concerned.

“Still confused, but I’m getting there”, was my reply.

“In that case”, mum said, “do you mind if Paula asks you a few questions? It’s just a few things about you and Steve.”

“I guess…?”, I answered, uncertain where this was going.

Paula faced me.

“Tell me about the trip to Aberdeen”, she said.

I told Paula about the trip, including the time when we had gone to the music festival that we had discovered by accident in the old castle.

It was only after I told her that I realised that it was only mum and Steve that had gone on that trip; Stacey had been home with a virus infection and missed it, with Paula and Laura looking after her.

Her eyebrows raised in disbelief, Paula asked about the sleepover at Rachel’s, a friend of ours that used to live in the area.

I told her about the sleepover, including a funny story about the time Laura got drunk and fell into the pond in the garden during the sleepover and had to be dried out before she could go to bed in a borrowed pair of pyjamas.

Laura punched me in the arm when I recalled that story. Also, I knew that she, mum or I had never told Steve what had happened.

Paula then tried one more question.

“Tell me about Sam Trent”, she said.

Mum went white, but she bit her lip and stayed silent.

I shot upright, told Paula to go screw herself, and stormed off back up to my room, slamming the door.

The tears then flowed freely again, but this time Steve was doing the crying…

Sam Trent had been a vicious bully in middle school. He had always picked on Steve; the worst thing he did, however, was to punch Steve until he was semi-conscious, then rip his uniform off of him and leave him lying in the middle of the playing field in his underpants.

Steve had staggered back into school crying his eyes out, with the bruises already showing…

Sam had got a reputation for bullying other kids, but everybody decided he had gone too far this time. Steve refused to name who had did it, as he was too scared, but people saw Sam’s bruised knuckles and quickly put two and two together…

Sam was expelled the same day.

His anti-social behaviour continued, with him ending up in prison (where he currently still was).

As part of treating the twins, Paula had been told about the event, as had Steve’s mum.

Stacey, however, had not…

Stacey’s reactions to Paula’s questions proved that she had both her and Steve’s memories.

“It’s almost unbelievable”, said Paula. “For memories that detailed to be transferred between twins…”

“No wonder the poor kid is so confused”, she continued. “There really is two people in her head…”