Game Over: Life's Over

New Normal

Learning to walk again wasn't as hard as everyone made it seem. My entire body shrunk so it wasn't like I had a large torso and small legs. At least my whole body was proportionate, even if it was smaller than I wanted it to be.

Mom stayed with me while I regained my strength. It didn't take nearly as long as I was expecting so thankfully, I was able to go home sooner than we all thought. Just hearing the doctor tell me he would get discharge papers ready was like a sigh of relief for me.

I was ready to go home.

Eric and Theo stepped into the room. They had been gone since the previous day. I'd requested some alone time with Mom so they had the night to go home and relax. They probably needed it as much as I did.

"Most of your clothes are going to be too big now. When we went out to get your car seat, I got a few pairs of clothes for you. We sort of guessed on the sizing though," Eric said.

"They might not all fit but we'll make sure you get more clothes," Theo added.

I frowned. Having so many things change all at once was a lot for me to deal with. My brain felt like it was someone else's and still the same as it had always been all at the same time. Everyone saw what I let come out but I was the one struggling with two different versions of myself. One I wanted and one I didn't.

Mom stood in front of me. She took the clothes from Theo and picked out an outfit that she could help me put on. I was hoping at least something would fit.

She found a pair of black sweatpants within the stack of clothes and helped me test them out. They fit around my legs so I was hoping they would fit around my waist.

I didn't like that I needed help getting dressed. It made me feel like I couldn't do anything on my own anymore. I was hoping things would go back to normal once I was back home again but I was trying not to get my hopes up.

I stood up and was a lot shorter than Mom. Even kneeling, she was taller than me. We managed to get the pants up and thankfully, they fit.

I grabbed the bottom of the hospital gown that ended at my knees and pulled it over my head. I shivered at the cold air.

Mom smiled. "You acted the same way when you were little. You hated getting dressed because you got cold so easily."

I took a shirt from her and pulled it over my head. It was a plain, white T-shirt. It fit me well enough that it wasn't too long but the arms were definitely too big. What should have gone to just below my shoulder went past my elbows.

"Is there a jacket or something? I don't wanna freeze when I go outside." It was the beginning of December so I knew it was going to be cold out. I didn't care for the cold. I had a feeling I was going to hate it even more since my body was smaller and it was more likely that I would react stronger to things since my brain was smaller.

"Don't worry," Theo said. "We came prepared."

Mom picked up a crew-neck sweatshirt and handed it over to me. I quickly pulled it over my head. It was bigger than the rest of the clothes but that wasn't such a terrible thing.

"No coat or anything?" I asked as my head popped out from the sweatshirt.

"You can't wear a coat when you're in your car seat. It's easier to dress down a little when we're just getting you from here to the car and back. But if you have to be outside for a longer period of time, we'll make sure you have a coat."

I groaned. Things were so much more complicated than I was used to. I wanted to just wear a coat when I was cold and not have a stupid car seat interfere.