Changes...

"I'm going to change the color of my hair, I just didn't want you to be surprised."

He felt like saying, "It's your hair, I don't fucking care what you do with it." instead he bit his tongue and reminded himself that she was just being polite. Trying not to cause him anymore shock. "Thank you."

The first physical change after his father was gone was her fingernails. For as long as he had remembered her fingernails had been small ovals painted what he thought of as seashell pink. The nails weren't too long, just over the tips of her fingers. Shaped into those perfect ovals tips and painted that pale pink. When he was two or three he painted his as well. There was a picture in the book of his hands next to hers. The tips of his fingers splotched with pink. He didn't remember the day but she would laugh when she would tell the story. He had been so proud. "Look, Mommy! Just like you!"

Now the pale pink ovals had been replaced with longer, pointy nails and the color varied depending on the week. "Styles change."

Before his father was gone his mother's style was chic. He'd heard her friends call her that. "She's so chic." Her chestnut brown hair was worn in a bob. Her clothes were classics. Pencil skirts and jackets for work. Levis and soft sweaters at home. Her nails were perfectly done but not showy. Very chic. He thought she was perfect just the way she was. But she was his mother so of course he did.

After the nails changed, the clothes did as well. "Styles change." The classic wardrobe was replaced with very trendy things. Things that would be described as flashy or maybe even desperate by his mother's friends. Though of course he didn't know what they thought of any of the changes. Not anymore.

His mother had eaten very well and taken very good care of herself. She was in perfect health for a woman her age. Which had made her laugh and his father had teased her about. "For a woman your age you are holding up miraculously!" They had thought it was all very funny.

Now he wondered.

When his father was gone things changed.

Now he was eating breakfast listening to her talk about the shade of blonde she would be. "I always wanted to have long, thick, blonde hair."

He nodded and kept chewing.

He tried to be grateful. She was responsible for his financial well being. The reason he would be entering the top college in the nation next week. The reason he had a nest egg at 17. The reason he was able to live in the house he grew up in instead of one of the state homes. Which as bad as this was, watching her change, it wasn't as bad as those homes. Or at least the stories from them. And the private residence would have eaten away at his nest egg. So really he should be grateful to her for arranging the 4 month extension on staying in his old house and being able to attend the same school. He knew that his mother had thought it was best for him. But she couldn't have known what this would be like.

Watching this woman change everything about her.

She didn't eat as well or work out as often so the very healthy, very fit mother he had always known was now a little softer. A little rounder. It helped that she didn't look exactly right.

Though he wondered why. She had paid top dollar for his mother, did she think that she would be able to magically stay the same?  Though he guessed it didn't matter. If she ruined this body she would just buy another one.

When his father was gone their lives changed.

He looked at this woman and wondered if she had made it happen. If it was her fault. If she knew that his disappearance and the freezing of his accounts would drive his mother to this. The only option his mother thought she had that would guarantee his future. A mother will do anything to protect their child. That's what she had said in her letter.

His mother had arranged his fund. Worked with her lawyers to make sure it could not be stolen from him. And then gave a portion of her fee to a charity organization that worked with desperate people. Those that like her felt they had no other options for their families. He would go to college. He would get his degree. He would make a life for himself. He would have the money to buy anything he wanted.

His mind went to the cube in his room. She was in there. When they removed her from her body they put her in the holding cube. She could stay there forever. She had made sure he had legal ownership of the cube. But she put restrictions on its use. He could delete the contents. He could offer her to research for the empty shells they were trying to develop. He could put her in a mainframe. Anything but what the woman in her body had done. He could not buy a living human who felt that they had no other options to save their families. He could never do that. If he did she promised the first thing she would do would be self terminate. No matter how much money he had that was off limits.

He looked at her again. This new woman living here, looking almost like his mother and he wondered if she knew how often he thought about killing her. Probably not. Afterall in the notes he was described as a good natured young man, smart, dedicated to his studies and his family. Mother left extensive notes and a cube for him. He should be no trouble. Well...

Styles Change.