“The switch; it’s done. Pamela is now in Darla’s body. This is Darla in Pamela’s body.” Jenkins felt his entire body stiffen as he stood upright. Every ounce of sleepiness that lingered in his body evaporated as he grappled with the words coming through the receiver.
“What? How? We just talked about this yesterday. I thought I had more time.” His voice wavered, and he had to swallow to fight back the vomit that jumped up his throat.
I can’t believe she did this. How could she?Tears burned his eyes as he waited for the response.
“She came over early this morning and told us about your visit. I had a feeling you were going to try and prevent this, but it needed to happen. Now it is done, and I wanted to let you know.” Her voice sounded detached and bored, as though she was reading an article from the morning newspaper.
I can fix this; I need to fix this. I need to convince her to switch back.
“You can switch back! There is still time,” Jenkins pleaded as his voice rose an octave.
“No, Jenkins, I won’t do that. I can’t. I’ve worked far too hard to just give up now. I will make sure she is comfortable in Darla’s body.”
“I can’t do this.” Jenkins’s jaw clenched. “I can’t be a part of this. I’ll tell someone.”
“No one would believe you. Goodbye, Jenkins.” The line cut off, and the dial tone blared in his ear. He relaxed his hand, and the phone fell to the floor. His body slumped down, and he curled up in a ball as his whole body shook.
Sobs rippled through him, and he wrapped his arms around his folded legs, just as he had after the particularly difficult nights with his uncle, when he had to listen to him beating Kinley in the next room. Helpless and weak, he couldn’t protect her back then, and he couldn’t protect Pamela now.
“I’m so sorry I didn’t protect you, Kinley, I should have done better to keep you safe. And now I’ve let Pamela down. I’m a failure.” His words choked out between sobs, and he finally managed to sit up, legs still clutched to his chest. The tears dried up, and his eyes burned from exhaustion.
I’ll never forgive you Darla, not for what you did to Kinley, not for what you did to me, and especially not for what you have done to Pamela.His heart pounded as he dropped his head between his legs. The world drifted away, and all he could think about was what his sister would do in his shoes.
Jenkins walked out of the high-rise building, a few men in suits followed him out the door and they shook hands before going their separate ways. Thanks to his hard work and his alumni connections he secured a lucrative position at a law firm in downtown Los Angeles. Despite everything that happened with Darla, she made good on her promise. She continued to pay for his college and didn’t contact him again after that night of Pamela’s birthday party.
He removed his suit jacket as his sun became immediately sticky from the summer heat. He lifted his face towards the sun and smiled, he won his most recent case and was able to put a known sexual predator behind bars for the rest of his life. It was worth a moment to celebrate in the sun.
After the Darla situation, he changed his study to be a prosecutor. His new fight was against those who cause harm to others. He was prepared in case Darla ever harmed someone else. It was his new life purpose.
His phone vibrated against his chest, and he put down his briefcase while pulling the phone out to answer. The phonenumber was from out of state, and he didn’t recognize the area code. He shrugged and flipped open the phone and pressed it to his warm ear.
“This is Jenkins.”
“Jenkins, I am so glad you answered. I need your help.” A woman yelled breathlessly, and Jenkins pulled the phone away from his ear an inch. He tried to place the voice, but he didn’t recognize it.
“Who is this?” His mind reeled as he tried to think through any recent conversations he had where he planned to take on a new case for someone. Nothing came to mind, but his shoulder tensed because something about this felt familiar to him.
“It’s Pamela.”
He remembered Pamela and the voice on the phone didn’t match. Whoever he was talking to was a different Pamela. A raspy voice who sounded more like a frog.
“Pamela who?”
“Pamela Shaw, I used to be your mom, Darla Samson.”
Jenkins flipped the phone closed and put it back in his pocket. He ignored the next few vibrations as he descended down the stairs to the street where his car was parked.
His feet hit the concrete harder than his normal walk and people perched on the steps gave him curious looks as he stomped past them. Once in the car he pulled the phone out again and opened it to stop the annoying vibrations.
“What do you want?”
“No, Jenkins, will you just listen to me?”
“I’m listening.” Jenkins hadn’t spoken to Pamela since the day she switched, and he was thoroughly annoyed that she has popped back up in his life now after all this time.
“I’ve switched with someone, a woman. I have no idea who I am or where I’m at.”
“I told you I want nothing to do with this.” Jenkins pulled the phone away and was about to hang up when he heard her voice get louder, desperation strained her already hoarse voice.
