Driving in Arizona is like getting that procedure where the shove a tiny camera up your butt while also having a dental student perform a root canal on you with no anesthesia at the same time. It's uncomfortable, painful, and rage-inducing. Now add in a screaming Autistic, 6-year-old, in your backseat while you are trying to merge between a nervous Nancy and a Speed Racer. And that is my life in three sentences.
Phoenix is pissed at the motorcycle game he always decides to play on his tablet whenever I need to concentrate. I wince and grit my teeth as I complete my merge like the ninja I am not as my son lets out, "Bahhhh!" in his most high-pitched squeal. Yep, that's the root canal part of my analogy.
My sister wonders why I have a massive headache when I get home at the end of the day...I try to explain to her why, but this is one of those questions where the answer is better seen in person.
I slow down so I don't rear end the nervous Nancy which causes Speed Racer to curse in the form of him honking his horn and then speeding around me, window down and finger up. I give him a tight smile in return, although he can't see me, trying to inform him through mind waves that pressing down on my break was not the choice I wanted to make. If my exit weren't up next, I'd have sped around the slow lady in front of me as well.
Thankfully, nervous Nancy did not get off the exit ramp with me, so I was able to speed toward our destination and avoid being late to Phoenix's ABA appt.
This is the part where something chaotic occurs and the story changes for the worse until Chapter 28 and then gets better, right? Happily Ever After shit and whatnot... Well, that's not what happens in my story. Sorry to disappoint but there are at least thirty other tales you can run off to if you don't want to stick around. (insert the shrugging blonde emoji).
Something does happen, though, but it's not chaotic...at first. So, untwist your panties, if you're still here.
I drove through something before turning into the parking lot of the therapy center Nix has been attending for the last two years. I pause for a second, blinking, as I pass through some kind of thick, hazy blockade. It's nearly invisible and easily written off as another one of my weird moments where I think I see something, but it's gone half a minute later.
Like the man on the bike, I thought I saw last night when I was driving home from dropping my niece off home after her cheer practice. I saw him riding right next to me from my peripheral vision but as I stopped at the red light and looked over, there was no one there.
That was what happened with this weird force field. I drove through it, hesitated, parked, and then when I got out of my car and looked toward where I came from, there was nothing there.
Absolutely, positively, a thousand percent, all in my head. No chaos, no sudden battling of gorgeous knights in shining armor and fire-breathing dragons. No minor accident where I'm saved by a sexy CEO and fall madly in love. Nothing exciting at all.
It was boring, just like any other day. Nothing awful in store for me.
At least, that's what I assumed. That's what I told you but I was wrong... That's what you get for dropping a story based off of one stupid thing told to you by the writer (another shrug and a hair flip).
Because, after getting Nix out of the car, I walked toward the entrance and saw my reflection in their window.....
This is a dream, it has to be... is what repeats through my mind as I enter the building, led by Nix, who has had enough of my dramatics. He can only ever handle one or two minutes of no movement before he takes matters into his own hands. What can I say? He's a hundred percent my child, after all.
Okay, well maybe he's ninety-five percent mine, the other five is from his absent father.
I'm expecting some sort of reaction from the receptionists, a weird look or gaping mouths, whatever, but nothing is out of the ordinary. I'm greeted by Giselle, one of the girls who checks us into our standing appointment, Monday through Friday.
I offer her a small smile despite my inside panic. I glanced at myself in the window and sure enough, I was still a mostly feminine, definitely male version of me. This has to be a dream.
"All checked in!" Giselle grins over at us. Nix bounces in his spot at her voice.
I jerk my attention away from the window, blushing slightly. "Oh, uh, thanks." I say, my voice giving me pause. It's not deep and manly like I had expected. Just like my feminine, almost unearthly, appearance, my voice is similar. There's a lilt to it, making it nearly musical, with a breathiness undertone. I would imagine a male omega from one of my many stories to sound like this.
Maybe that's what this is. A dream based on the book I was reading last night before bed. That's all. Just a dream.
But then Phoenix's therapist comes to get him and without any reaction to me being...not me, he takes him back to the therapy room.
I'm about to leave for the gym, attempting to keep to my typical schedule while Nix is in therapy in the mornings, when Giselle calls me over.
"Hey, sorry to interrupt your morning but I wanted to run things past you for next week." I give her a confused look. "For your heat?"
I tilt my head, running her words through my mind. Heat? Oh.
I take all I know from the many omegaverse novels I've read and apply them to this strange dream. "Oh, yes." I nod, encouraging her to continue. Perhaps this will make this dream make more sense.
"Right, well, you informed us that your heat was going to have you unable to bring Phoenix to therapy and requested a heat aide to be provided for those five days." Giselle typed on her keyboard for a bit and then looked back at me. "I have Amelia scheduled for that. I just wanted to ensure that worked for you."
I gave her a thankful grin. "Yes, that sounds perfect. Remind me again, I'm having a weird morning, hah, what will Amelia provide for Nix?"
Giselle laughs, politely. "Oh, we all have those days. Amelia will be attending to Nix at your home, so he's comfortable, until your heat is over, and you are able to come from the heat center."
Come home? Heat Center? "Right." I confirm, although I am even more confused than ever.
I leave the therapy center, waving goodbye to Giselle.
As I get into my car, I make a quick decision to bypass the gym and head straight home to do some research....and inspect my body.