Maxine was sitting with Irene on the sofa, nervous…

Her ‘birth mother’, Sarah, was arriving back in the country for a visit that day. She expected to be staying with Max in his flat…

“I’m worried sick!”, Maxine said. “What if she doesn’t accept me?”

“You’ll always have a home here, love”, said Irene.

“I know; but if Sarah doesn’t accept me as Max, she’ll look for ‘him’. I know she will. It will tear her apart…!”

“Could you give me a hand sprucing the flat up, mum? I haven’t used it yet; it might be a little musty from being empty for some time. Also, I’ve no idea if everything is ready. I’ve been paying the bills, but the power and water might not be on, or anything…!”

“Maxine, calm down! If you get too uptight, you might trigger one of your attacks…!”

Irene was really concerned. She didn’t want Maxine to be ill again; she was just getting better. She hugged her, gently stroking her head. She’d worked out that doing this really helped to calm her down.

“It’s ok, mum. I’m just worried for her. I still care for her; however, it’s almost like a favourite aunt. I don’t feel that she’s my real mother, anymore. That honour is yours. At the same time, how do you tell someone she’s never going to see her son again…?”

“Have you got that medical report?”

“Yes, the hospital gave me a copy. I’m glad we got those results; it should give her some kind of closure, at least. If they ran the same tests now, ‘Max’ wouldn’t show up at all. He’s gone, completely, apart from the memories, but even those are just like a favourite book I’ve read; they don’t feel really mine.”

“I still feel guilty about all that’s happened to you”, Irene said. “When I was contacted, the ‘people’ gave me no idea that the person that they supplied would have been converted against their will. I thought you were a volunteer.”

“Yes; I realised that by your reactions in hospital. Don’t worry; I don’t hold anything against you.”

The pair hugged on the sofa, then got up and went to the flat.

It took ages; as Maxine hadn’t been there before, she hadn’t a clue where anything was. For some unknown reason, when ‘Max’ had been first taken, his captors had missed the key to the flat, which he had on him; they had put it into Maxine’s school bag by mistake. That now turned out to be a real advantage; proving that Maxine was now the owner of the flat would have been a real problem…

Max’s original bank accounts were still active; his mother Sarah was paying him a monthly allowance, and the flat bills were being paid by direct debit. Maxine hadn’t decided whether she was keeping the flat or not, so she’d left everything ‘as is’.

The pair were still tidying and cleaning as there came a knock on the door…

“Shit! She’s early!”, cried Maxine. “There’s no food, drink, or anything!”

She quickly got up and smoothed her skirt down.

“Do I look tidy, mum?”

She was wearing a buff corduroy skirt, with silver buttons down the front, a white top, white socks and plimsolls. She’d also grabbed a black cardigan on the way out and slapped it over the top, just because she had chills and was shivering a bit (but not necessarily from the cold…).

“Go on, kid. You’ll do fine.”, Irene said.

Apprehensively, Maxine opened the door…

Sarah was standing there.

“Oh! Hello! Have I got the right flat?”

“Yes, Mrs. Braddock, I was expecting you. I’m Maxine. Aren’t you a little early, though?”

“Yes, my flight was a bit early, which is unusual these days. Is Max about?”

Maxine paused. How to tell her…?

“Come and sit with me, would you? I’ve got something to tell you…”

Now puzzled, and a bit curious, Sarah followed Maxine into the flat and sat with her on the sofa.

“You remember when you first went overseas, you lost contact with Max for a while?”

“Yes, why?”

“Something happened to him.”

“Oh God! He’s not… badly hurt, or something, is he?”

“Did you also notice how his voice had changed on the phone?”

“Yes, I did. It was still him, though; he knew all the right things about me, even though he wasn’t phoning from his number.”

“Well… that call was from me.”

“You? In that case, where the hell is my son…!!”

“I’m right here, in front of you…!”

Sarah flew into a rage.

“You mean my son is still missing! Why are you doing this!?”

“Sarah… mum… please calm down. I’m not lying to you; I’m right in front of you. I can prove it.”

Maxine brought out the hospital report, and passed it over…

Sarah read about the woman named Maxine Slater…

“What’s all this to do with…”, she started to say, then she found the lines in the report that told her the truth that she didn’t want to believe…

Primary DNA Source match: 99.9% accuracy – male – Max Braddock – 18.

Sarah just stared into Maxine’s eyes.

“My beautiful boy… what have they done to you?”

Irene just happened to choose that moment to come out of the bedroom.

Sarah saw her and jumped to the wrong conclusion…

“You bitch! What have you done to my son!!”

Sarah flew at Irene, knocking her to the ground. Maxine had to dive in and pull the two apart…

“What is wrong with you, Sarah!”, she cried. “Irene had nothing to do with this! She’s just my… mother.”

“Your what!”

“Irene has adopted me. She’s my mother, now.”

“She can’t be! I’m still your mother, Max!”

“I’m not Max anymore. That’s the whole point. The test results you saw were from a month ago. The changes are progressive. I’m fully Maxine now. All that’s left of Max is a few memories, in me. I’m sorry, but he’s gone.”

“No…!”, wailed Sarah, sagging to her knees and crying. “I love him…!”

“I know you did”, said Maxine. “This wasn’t my choice either, to start with; this was done to me against my will. However, I’ve got used to it. I want you to, too. Treat me as your son after a sex change…”

Sarah looked up at Maxine, not saying anything for a while. Finally, she slowly pulled herself to her feet.

“I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions”, she said. “Did Maxine say your name was Irene?”

“That’s right”, said Irene.

The pair hugged.

“Seems like we’ve got a common interest, now…”

Sarah then turned back to Maxine.

“Tell me all about yourself”, she said. “I want to know…”

Maxine gave Sarah a ‘potted history’ of herself. Sarah winced when she heard the part about Maxine being an orphan…

“It’s just a fabrication”, said Maxine. “It doesn’t mean anything, really. I’m still me…”

“I can tell that, now”, said Sarah. “All your mannerisms are still intact, and you definitely know me. What did you mean about Irene being your mother, though…?”

“Ah…”, said Maxine. “You see, the problem with me being me is, my ‘character’ that I am now is only 13 years old. I’ll be starting back at college in September, uniform and all. I need a ‘mum’ for all that, and you’re out of the country…”

“Oh, I see”, said Sarah. “So, Irene, effectively, is playing a part as well?”

“Not exactly…”

“What do you mean…?”

“As Max is only here as a memory, I really love her. Like a mother. She’s that, to me.”

“Oh…”, said Sarah. Her face fell. “So, my son has really gone, then…”

“I still care for you”, Maxine said. “Just not like that anymore. However, I still want you in my life, if you’ll have me. Say… Aunt Sarah?”

Sarah thought for a minute.

“Well… you were leaving home, anyway. We were splitting up, as such. I can cope with that, as long as we don’t lose touch.”

“Never.”

Sarah hugged Maxine. She then turned to Irene.

“You look after her”, she said.

“Always”, Irene replied.

“Now, how about I treat you both to a nice lunch?”, Sarah said.

“Good idea”, said Maxine. “I haven’t got a bite to eat in the house…!”