After what seemed like hours of talking, the doctor asked her to lie down on a dirty hospital bed which had stains on it. She was hesitant at first but the doctor said he had a tight schedule, so it was either she gets on it or leaves. She quickly got on the bed.

The doctor injected her with this long needle and said it was something for the pain.

After what seemed like hours Glenda woke up. She was in a lot of pain and her arm was swollen where she was injected a couple of times. The doctor prescribed her some pills to drink; every day in the morning and at night. He told her that she was injected with chemicals to clean her skin first, and then the pills would make her skin colour change to white. He gave her a lotion to apply every night. She was told never to skip a day without drinking the pills or applying the lotion or else the whole thing wouldn’t work.

Glenda was relieved that the surgery was now over. She paid the doctor R5000. The money was really nothing to Glenda; she never used her allowance money for anything because she always had all she needed. She was feeling drowsy as she made her way out of the flat.

In the taxi she turned on her phone. There were a lot of messages and missed calls from her parents; they were worried about her. She didn’t respond to any of them; she plugged in her earphones and listened to some music. She was so happy. She couldn’t wait to see the end results of the surgery. When she got home, a police car was outside.

She got in the house and her parents hugged her so tightly that she couldn’t even breathe. “We were worried about you Glenda,” her mum cried.

“Where were you?” her dad asked.

“I just took a walk and met a few friends,” she lied. “We were just hanging out.”

“See, we told you sir that things like this always happen. Teenagers are a handful and you shouldn’t worry too much because she will get back home,” said the cop. Glenda’s dad was furious, he told the cop to go and that they were thankful for his help. Glenda’s mum was relieved that her only daughter was in one piece. They made her a hot bath and her favourite food for dinner. Before sleeping that night, Glenda put on the lotion she was given by the doctor, drank the pills and slept.

In the morning she woke up and ran to the mirror. She was anxious to see some change. She saw no difference but then she understood because it was too early for changes. At school she was all smiles, the other kids just stared and talked about her amongst themselves. She didn’t care, she knew that her life was about to change. She even sat up straight in class and ate her lunch in the cafeteria like everyone else.

When the other kids bullied her she just smiled. This will stop soon, she thought to herself.

At home, Glenda continued following the doctor’s orders. She drank the pills every day and applied the lotion too. After a week, Glenda woke up and ran to the mirror.

She stared at her reflection in the mirror. All she could see was a young white girl staring right at her. Her hair was different too; it was now softer and it glowed. Every part of her body was white. Glenda screamed for joy. Her mum even came up to her bedroom door and asked if everything was OK. She said yes and continued to stare at herself.

This was unbelievable! And to think she thought the doctor was a scam.

She got ready for school with a huge smile on her face. She didn’t join her parents for breakfast, she texted her mum on her way out that she was going to catch a ride with Lisa. Her mum didn’t mind although she didn’t know who Lisa was. She thought it might have been a friend from school.

When she got to school, nobody stared at her like they used to. It was only in class where they noticed that something was wrong. There was a white girl in Glenda’s seat. Nobody asked; they just thought she was a new girl transferred from another school.

At break time she made new friends, awesome ones too… She was part of the popular clique of the school. They adored her and kept saying there was something about her. She was now using her birth name, Nakonia, that’s why they never noticed that she was Glenda.

***

Tell us: Do you think Glenda will get away with being someone new?