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OVERLAND, Mo. — She darted into her bedroom, eager to show off the sanctuary of an 11-year-old girl.

It is an infusion of pink and purple, colors replayed in her clothes and highlighted in her hair.

Mazy shares the room with two guinea pigs and Squirt, a goldfish that has outgrown its name.

Here, she closes off the world when she needs to. Outside of this small house she shares with her parents and brother lies the pain of the past, the hope of the future, the unknown that keeps Mom and Dad awake at night.

On a floor lamp in the corner hangs a poster board sign.

“I’m just a girl,” it reads.

In smaller letters, Mazy added: “ … in a boy’s body.”

As a fifth-grader, Mazy has now lived nearly a third of her life as the person she says she was supposed to be. Born Malachi, she never identified as a boy. Before she could talk, Mazy would slide into her mom’s high heels and put on her tops, cinching them at the waist for a makeshift dress.

When Mazy was 3, she pleaded for a toy kitchen for Christmas, which she got. But when she begged for a princess dress, Mom initially said no.