The Unknown Transformation | Teen Ink

The Unknown Transformation

February 7, 2015
By KrustyKrabPizza BRONZE, Sugarland, Texas
KrustyKrabPizza BRONZE, Sugarland, Texas
2 articles 0 photos 3 comments

Infants in the world of Calaboose, where Alex lived, are much like they are said to be on this so called place named “Earth”. Delivered by the female gender category and looked after by both the male and female genders. Everything related to childbirth is the same between these two worlds, except one thing.
In Calaboose, children are born without genders.
Gender has no importance in a Calaboosens life until they reach a certain age. Every member in this bizarre world is required to attend at least two years of college but, right before they do, their lives change completely. A member entering college is faced with the toughest question and decision of their life! At the end of gogazzle, which consists of grades 6th through 12th, they are given a small, mint green card. An outsider might easily fill this card out, but it takes years of thought to make such a decision for someone living in a highly disciplined world like Calaboose. At the very top of the plain card are the words, “Which will YOU choose?” typed legibly in pure black ink. Two boxes rest perfectly aligned below the terrifying question. A box to the right is colored in soft pink while the one beside it is sky blue.
After eighteen long years of waiting and preparing for this day, Alex found itself face to face with that very card that all adults talked about even after they had made their life changing decision. It reread the question multiple times even though it got the chills every time. This question just couldn't simply be answered and what made it worse was that its family was forbidden to be within a 100 feet from the box of choosing, leaving it to rethink its decision all by itself. 
Alex was situated in a noticeably small room which it found to be completely empty except for a box. Once Alex checked one of the squares on the card, it would be placed in the box, sealed tight and sent to the leaders of the community who would then review his decision.
Recalling the day it was walking home from bobazzle, which are grades 1st through 5th, Alex slightly overheard a local craftsmen who's offspring had been rejected to become a female. Leaders thought it best suited as a male, and the transition took place. Of course, it didn't have a say in it and since Alex was in a hurry to be home before it got in trouble for ease dropping, it never got to hear about the child's happy ending. If there was one.
Mostly all conversations in Calaboose had to do with the same question that Alex had reread over 50 times by now. “Which will YOU choose?” it mumbled among itself for one last time. Suddenly, the door creaked open and a lady tiptoed in. No eye contact was made. She simply walked in, clicked a switch which projected a timer onto the entire front wall and then made her way to the door and disappeared. Starting at five minutes, the timer began to make its way down to zero. By the time it reached four minutes, Alex was lost deep in thought.
Spending multiple days fishing with its dad and other men, Alex was never fond of the female way of life. To it, being a male simply seemed suitable and appropriate. There was a city at the opposite end of where Alex and its family lived. Alex and his father always escaped to the location because it was a place for the male gender to relax, unwind and sometimes, get away from their wives.  It spent so much of its time there that taking the time to accompany its mother and sister, Samantha, who is 4 years older than Alex, didn’t seem as significant or essential. Although with everybody's busy schedules, this family never seemed to give importance to the rare meetings.
Now that Alex was alone in the still and silent room, confusion struck it like a lightning bolt. Up to this day it was certain it would walk in, select “Male” and then simply exit the room without further thought. But, now that it had reached the age to make the decision, it was almost
as if its thoughts had changed completely. Maybe becoming a male wasn't what it was destined to be.
Snapping back into reality, Alex noticed the timer flashed five seconds in bright red light. With hesitation and anxiety slowly beginning to take over, Alex brought its pen over the the card.
And a check was marked.
A few nervous days following the intense choosing, an orange envelope had arrived at the door of its home. Seeing the envelope made Alex recollect its memory of Samantha receiving her envelope. That was when it realized how excited and joyful Samantha had been even before opening the envelope to reveal her entire future. Her name had transformed from Sam to Samantha an she was no longer considered and “it”.
Today, it was Alex’s turn for a name transformation. A day that would change its life, outlook, and personality. It didn't know what to feel. Concern or delight? It settled for in between, forced a smile, took a deep breath, and ripped the orange envelope open.
After skipping through multiple pages of rules and instructions, it came to the very last page in which the very last paragraph held the answer it had been anxiously waiting to find out. Rules and careful watch was something Alex had always been greatly afraid of. Anyone who had gone in to answer the question, could not speak of it. Doing so could result in serious trouble. Therefore, Alex’s family had no idea weather its name would now be Alexandria or Alexander.
“You will no longer be referred to as Alex. This name will be reused in approximately 2 years for another infant and is to mean nothing to you. From this day on, your name will be Alexandria,” It read to itself.
Her heart sank lower than the ground. “How can this be possible?” She thought to herself. She clearly recalled selecting the blue box, not the pink one! This had to be a mistake. But it wasn’t. Although Alexandria might've selected, “male”, the leaders of the community often changed the members decisions to best fit their needs. When it was all said and done, they knew best. Furious, Alexandria didn't agree. She didn't get why all of a sudden gender was so important in her life. If it hadn't mattered up till now, it shouldn't matter after this. “Why did they even give me a choice if they weren't gonna accept it?” Alexandria found herself thinking. That’s when her eyes met her parents and sister who were waiting for the big reveal. Their smiles still rested on their faces and they patiently look around at each other.
She quickly chased away all her angry thoughts from her mind and once again took a deep breath hoping it would calm her down. Curiosity filled the air more than any amount of vapor ever could on a foggy morning.
“Hello, My name is Alexandria. Pleased to meet you.” She had spoken because a formal reintroduction was required as if given a new life or a fresh start. Who knew her families smiles could get any larger as they hugged and congratulated her.
Later that night, Samantha, who was most excited about the news, sat her down to share her experience so far with her sister. While Samantha babbled on about the effort it takes to be a female, Alexandria found herself lost in thought, yet again. At first, she decided on failing the test she had to take so they would transfer her into the male category but, being transferred gave her an uneasy feeling. Crossing that off the list, she began to think of a second option until
she realized there wasn't one. There was nothing she could do. The decision had been made whether she liked it or not. Continuous arguments among herself had passed when Alexandria finally came to the conclusion that maybe being a female wasn't going to be that terrible after all.
And with that, she began her new life as Alexandria.
 



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This article has 2 comments.


on Apr. 11 2015 at 2:29 pm
KrustyKrabPizza BRONZE, Sugarland, Texas
2 articles 0 photos 3 comments
Thanks! Yes, I did have it broken down at first but the formatting messed up.

on Apr. 8 2015 at 12:49 pm
ansem_unlimited PLATINUM, Frederick, Maryland
33 articles 0 photos 140 comments

Favorite Quote:
Thou may think of me as desired, to idolize or villanize me whichever you may choose. but gaze upon me and thou sall not see the husk of a man! for all my sins and all my bliss, i am anything but hollow
-Ansem_Unlimited

feels very... self analytic. like taking a microscope into your own soul, and I can really get behind that! good job, and I would just fix a little bit by indenting with each quote, when the whole thing is a giant paragraph or two it tends to overwhelm a reader (unless you did and teen ink decided to be stupid and format it wrong, which happens allot) but I'm not gonna be a litterateur nazi... GG