The facelife game

Nowadays, pictures define you. Social media has grown to be a common source of popularity for people with beautiful faces.

My name is Danica Collins. I used to have a fairly average look, but after my accident, the huge scar across my face ate up whatever was left of my self confidence. My friends drifted away from me, regardless of how much I tried to reach out to them.

I had a boy that'd confessed to me but when I returned to school from recuperating, he told me to act like that never happened. That was over twenty years ago, so why am I remembering it now. I sighed, sometimes when we get bitter, sad and unfair memories just flock into our minds without warning.

I worked into my workplace, it's a renowned modelling agency. Sheridan, the receptionist watched me walk into the building as usual.

"Good morning, Sherry".
I smiled brightly at her. Her gaze went from her strawberry cappuccino to my face then back, she shrugged, continuing her morning check-in routines.

Not replying as usual, typical Sherry. I need to hurry up and put together my files for the meeting this morning, that starts in approximately thirty eight minutes. I pushed the door in to the advertising Team's office.

"Good morning everyone, I brought coffee".
I bellowed, walking over to each four in one cubicle to drop off a tumbler and a glazed doughnut.

"Thanks Danny".
I heard Luka say as I moved on to the next table. As usual his head was buried into his monitor, he didn't even bother looking up.

"Wow, Danny is so hardworking, I'm sure she'll get a promotion in no time".
I turned to smile at Bonita before taking my seat. She's been quite nice to me but with the small talk I come across from time to time, I'm sure she's just being polite. I doubt she really had any good intentions towards me anyway.

It's been so long since I joined this company, seven years so far. I'm diligent, my project ideas stand out and I write reviews for multiple fashion websites on behalf of the company. I've been given so much raises, been recommended for many things but internally they're finding it hard to promote me.

I arranged the files sequentially and moved to the meeting room. I've grown tired of waiting, everyone else who got into the company the same year as me, has gone to Paris for the shows except me.

It's not like I can have my scar surgically removed either, the doctors say it'll damage a vital tissue in my nose or something. I turned on the air conditioning and started setting up the slides that'll go in the projector screen later.
***

The presentations kicked off a few minutes into the meeting, our managing director was there to supervise and pick the best representative.

"Wow! I must commend everyone for all the effort they put into presenting the perfect advertising strategy for this year's fashion show. The most innovative presentation that will be used is... Bonita's".

Bonita smiled, standing up to do a quick bow. Her fellow colleagues congratulated her.

"Pfft, I wonder why Danica tries so hard. She's not even pretty to begin with".

"Exactly! Everyone knows only a beauty can accompany our MD to the catwalk. Who the hell does she think she is".

"And that Bonita is so scheming too. She's using the fact that she's beautiful to reap the benefits of others, so shallow".

"It's a pity though, her presentation was very detailed and amazing. I'm sure he's going to use pieces of her work and add it to make Bonita's more concise but he's not even bothering to take along the owner. If I were in her shoes, I'd stop trying so hard, what's the use of giving it your all just to..."

Her sentence died off when she saw me patiently waiting for the three of them to stand up so I could clean up the meeting room. I'm not the cleaning lady okay. I just got used to doing so, hearing crap like this is not new but there's nothing I can do about it.
***

I flopped into my bed after a relaxing hot shower that seemed to burn away most of the unsightly events today. My phone vibrated from a notification sound, I picked it up and swiped right.

Dear Miss Danica Collins, you and four others have been selected amongst millions to test out this app, based on your recent visits and participations in over 79% of filter apps. It's a free trial since it's yet to be legalized. You don't need to download it, just click on the link below and add it to your home screen. Thank you for your time, we look forward to your feedback soon.

I clicked on the link, only to find out it was just like other camera apps but with slightly advanced features. Okay, not so bad. I took a picture and tried to work around the scar. Removing it, adding double eyelids, maybe a filler in my lower lip and cheekbones.

I must say, the results were phenomenal. The picture looked so realistic, too bad I can't post it. Maybe I'll use it as the profile of my gaming ID or something. My palms involuntary moved to my mouth as I let out a yawn. It had been quite busy at work today, I need sleep right now. I dropped into the sheets, sleep came almost immediately.
***

The sunbeams started to get hotter against my skin. The increasing temperature jogged my senses awake. I looked at the time, quarter passed seven. I still felt groggy, sometimes having a nine to five job ain't so bad.

Also, it was my favorite workday, Friday. I couldn't wait for the weekend to start. I pulled together a baby pink dress shirt and grey suit pants. Freshly dry cleaned, I moved to the body length mirror to tie my hair up. I yelped at the gorgeous figure that the glass projected.

"I-Isn't that the picture I worked on yesterday? But that's me!"
No, it can't be. I know the world is advancing technologically but still, this makes no sense at all. I fumbled around in my purse for my phone.

The app took a while to open. I occasionally glanced at myself, I still looked the same. My scar wasn't there anymore. Once it let me in, I tried to delete an avatar I'd created with my picture for the apps profile. I wanted to see if I'd magically poof back to my original appearance.

But it denied me access, stating avatars can only be enhanced not deleted. This is good but this would only fuel the rumors at work, that I got a surgery done just to get a promotion. Although it's impossible to recover from a surgery as large as mine in just one night, that fact won't stop them from saying whatever they feel like.

After much fidgeting with the settings I had to leave either way, I couldn't be late for work.



Preview of the next chapter!
Danica walked into the office and Sheridan acknowledged her for the first time so naturally, almost as if she couldn't remember what she looked like beforehand.