Kaylee's Tape

We begin a young man’s story in a room surrounded by darkness, only the smallest of light emitting from a massive projector standing in the middle of the room on top of a table, pointing at a large white sheet hanging from the ceiling. Off to the left side of the projector stands a singular Lazy Boy and to the right is a small cardboard box filled to the top with circular tin boxes in the Lazy Boy sits a tall figure leaning over the arm to flick a switch on the projector.

Within a few seconds, the projector jumps to life and the wheels spin at a rapid pace. From both sides of the sheet are small boxes emitting a loud masculine voice: “we just got settled into the room, and it looks like baby Kaylee will arrive sooner than expected.” A tall young man in his early twenties appears on the sheet, pointing a camera into a mirror waving.

“Honey, can you put the camera down for a second and grab the doctor? I think it’s time to meet our daughter.” A feminine voice comes from the speaker, as the camera pans to a young woman lying in a hospital bed with a face stuck with pain.

“Sorry, I’m coming sweetheart.” The man says as the camera cuts off and the screen fades to black. The wheel on the projector slowly comes to a stop as the youthful figure stands in the darkness with another movie reel in hand.

As the youthful figure sits back in the chair, the projector jumps back to life with energy, making the wheels spin the new video reel rapidly. A young girl about five years old shows on the sheet. It is a bright sunny day, she’s on a little purple tricycle atop a hill screaming “Dad can you see me?”

A masculine voice comes from behind the camera, “yes Kaylee, I can see you, will you please be careful? If you get hurt your mother will have my head.”

The little girl pushes onto the pedals hard and starts speeding her way down the hill, she yells “Dad how do I stop this thing!?”

The man under his breath says, “oh shit” and the camera is thrust to the ground, seconds later a loud crash is heard and the splintering of wood in the background. Young Kaylee exclaims “that was awesome, dad can I do that again?”

The man responds, “no Kaylee once was enough, you already got grass stains on the brand-new shirt your mother bought for you.” The young girl seems upset as she walks into the view of the camera to pick it up, yet she reluctantly appeases her father and hands him the camera. As the screen fades to black the young figure stands from the lazy boy making its way to the box. It leans over digging through the box finding a tin labelled “Jacob and Marley’s Wedding.” The youthful figure makes their way over to the projector with a new movie reel in hand.

The projector jumps to life with a loud whirling sound as the wheels spin playing the next clip. An older-looking Kaylee is shown on the sheet this time, around the age of ten, playing with a few boys around her age.

A feminine voice comes from behind the camera “Kaylee your mother sent me to come to fetch you, it’s time to get ready for your parents’ wedding.”

Kaylee responds by yelling “I don’t want to wear that stupid dress. Please don’t make me cousin Angelica.”

Angelica responds with “I know you don’t want to, little one, but sometimes we have to do things that make us uncomfortable for the happiness of others.” The video cuts for a second then continues as the camera pans to a barn entrance with loads of people sitting in chairs in nice attire looking toward the entrance. A few seconds later Kaylee appears on the sheet in a beautiful white and pink gown carrying a wood basket full of something colourful. Her hair is done beautifully, but Kaylee’s face was full of sadness. She seemed genuinely uncomfortable in her gown.

As she starts to walk down the aisle, she throws flower petals on the ground. When she finally gets to the end of the aisle, the camera zooms in closer and catches a single tear falling down her porcelain white cheeks. The camera cuts again.

Seconds later someone is recording a conversation between Kaylee and what could be presumed as her mother based on their similar facial features. The microphone picked up only parts of the conversation, and Kaylee asked her mother “Mom, why was I not allowed to wear a suit like the other kids?” Her mother replied with surprise in her voice “because the other kids are all boys and only boys can wear suits. You were born as a girl and little girls wear pretty dresses. Now, stop all this nonsense.” The camera shows young Kaylee silently crying to herself as the camera cuts and the screen fades to black.

The young figure stands from the chair and moves the old hearty camera off the side table onto the floor next to the stack of already watched movie reels, then plugs a thumb drive into the back of the projector and grabs a controller from the side table and makes their way back to the lazy boy. While looking through what is on the thumb drive, the youthful figure lands on what they were looking for. It was a video titled “Kayden coming out to parents.” The figure hits play on the projector.

The fans in the projector make a loud whirring noise as it jumps to life, playing a video of much higher quality than the other videos. A mature-looking Kaylee comes into the screen with her hair cut short like her dad. At the beginning of the video, Kaylee says, “Hi, My name is Kayden, and I’m trans, and I will record my coming out to my parents for my safety and for memories sake, so here goes nothing.” The video pauses, then Kayden puts the camera down and sets it up in a living room. “Mom and Dad, can you come here for a minute? I want to talk to you about something very important to me that I want to share with you.”

His parents walk into the corner of the frame, walk to the couch where Kayden is already sitting, and reply “okay this seems serious. What’s going on, kiddo?”

As soon as they sit down Kayden says “Mom, Dad, I’m a boy, I was just born in the wrong body, or better known as female-to-male transgender, and I would like to be called Kayden, instead of Kaylee, and I was wondering if you guys could use, he/him pronouns instead of She/Her pronouns?”

They sat there for a minute in awkward silence. As Kayden starts to cry, his father responds with “you’re disgusting and will never be a real man. Why can’t you just be a butch lesbian instead?”

Kayden responds with “because I’m not a woman nor do I feel comfortable identifying as one!”

His mother finally responds with “get out of my house, Right now. We will not support this decision you are making with your life, and when you’re ready to admit you are a woman you will be welcomed back into the house.” They both walk out of frame towards his bedroom.

Kayden is sitting there shocked at the response and waits for them to return. When they come back into the frame, they have garbage bags full of Kayden’s belongings, drop them in front of him, and walk away with disappointment. Kayden makes his way to the camera, and picks it up, and shuts it off, and the screen fades to black. As the video ends, the young figure stands again and their attention shifts towards the door, hearing the door handle being turned. The door is pushed in slightly, then a knock comes, and a heavenly voice calls out to him saying, “Kayden, honey, I just came to let you know that Jack had a nightmare and is asking for his Daddy.” As light enters the room Kayden’s mature masculine face finally becomes known and standing behind the woman’s leg is a small scared little boy who looks identical to his father when he was that age. Holding his arms open to the little boy he says, “Hey, buddy, Daddy’s here. I got you, you’re safe, little one.” As he is holding his son in his arms he leans over to the woman and kisses her, then says “thank you for loving me when I needed it most. Then he reaches for the light switch and flicks it off.

The End.