Things changed for us, on July 25th. For everyone of us, in Illinois, at least. And for the people in Europe that may seem like a trivial amount, but believe me, we affected so many. Things were pretty hard for us after The Change, but we managed, as many before us have done. The government would wish this "incident" to disappear into history. But I will not let this happen. So here I sit in this prison of a world I am forced to live, and write of this story of the ones who gave their lives to help us. Now I look around, and see empty chairs, waiting for them to return. There are somethings that are not meant to be spoken, there are some memories not to be remembered, some pain that goes on and on. This is not the time for that. Oh, my friends, forgive me, that you are now dead. Here in this room we talked of tomorrow, and that future never came. My name is Alexander Thompson. I used to be a girl. I used to be Ana. I lived in a small suburb in Illinois. This is my story.

I should start with what it used to be like. Being a girl. I was 16 when it happened. They, excuse me, we had just finished sophomore year. This year people really changed, mostly me. Little old me. I remember in third grade, ha, when we had to write some stupid shit about our friends, pardon the language from no one. The question was, which one of your friends will you still have when you leave high school. I knew who immediately. Amanda. As it turned out, eh, that wasn't quiet right. We had a huge fight about some boy, or something. Then, damn her mother, she moved. To Michigan of all places, so she missed The Change that summer. Most of my friends were in different classes, so I didn't see much of them, so I took the next person, Kris. He was gay, and my best friend. Still is. I was having a sleep over with him that night. The night. Of the Change.

" I think I would rather be a girl." Said he. I laughed and said,

" Well I guess I'd rather be a boy." We both had a good laugh about it. We both suddenly felt very tired. The next morning. Ha, that morning was quite a surprise to our parents. All of our parents. Suddenly their children were all the opposite gender. And not just that, but all the same height and weight, 110 pounds. The new girls were five feet and six inches and the boys were six foot. It was panic and disorder all over the state, and nation. People were wondering in California if this was going to happen to their children. And people in Texas were wondering if their children would have to become faggots too. Washington declared Illinois off limits to everyone who hadn't been in The Change. That meant everyone over 18 left Illinois, and moved. Except scientist who were in charge of the facilities. They split us into groups of age. From there the scientist split us up randomly. We were allowed only a few things from our house, and those had to be approved by guards. We all the option of changing our names. Most of us found the whole thing rather embarrassing, so we opted to changing our names. But some wanted to remember their old lives and kept their names. I become Alexander, Kris stayed Kris. I made another friend while waiting in the line to be split. Her name used to be Willow, but she decided, after careful analysis, to become Daniel. We all lost a lot of friends, after The Change, but that wasn't as bad as some of us had it. Like myself, and Daniel. Our parents turned against us, called us "it" Or "Thing". In our time of need they turned away, disgusted. That summer became to be known as " Hopeless Summer." And it was. But we did settle into a bit of a routine. It kind of went back to normal. Well mostly, except that things got switched around, popular kids were to depressed to do much, and became the nerds, and the nerds became popular, because they were used to being different. Like me. We had a sort of peace. Then, something happened. They found a child outside, a Changeling who had escaped. That was the year that shook us to the core, that would be speak revolution, rebellion, that would see sacrifice. Oh, don't ask me what my friends sacrificed themselves for. I tell you this story, with tears in my eyes, and my soul and heart ripped in two. And I pray, that one day, the human race can learn from the mistakes, and deaths of the Changelings. Please, do read on, and maybe, just maybe, you can do something. Oh, can you hear them, I can, and I will never forget the screams, of, the poor, decrepit, destitute, and dying,

The Changelings.