What damn assignment?
What was this thing ringing in my head?
"Oh, Cosima, don't be such a loser!" I chastised myself, glancing around and seeing it was barely dawn.
I was one lucky goose to have survived the night out in the open without getting harmed by some random goons. My head was still ringing, though, as if an enormous load had been dumped into it.
It was hard to lift myself up, not with how tired I felt and how the ache on my body throbbed from sleeping on such a small bench – which was barely enough to hold my weight.
As I got up, my leg hit the bottle of whiskey I had consumed the night before, and I gave it a hard kick away. "What else did they add in you which was making me hallucinate to the point of hearing stuff about being beautiful, huh?" I scoffed, rubbing my itchy buttocks. I had developed some rashes there a few days ago.
The doctor said I needed to change my underwear as early as possible, but with my weight, I couldn't help but be lazy. Not when I got home late every day after struggling with about three or four part-time jobs during the day.
Not that I was so fat, but my self-esteem was too low that I saw myself as fatter than my original size. That birthed my unkempt look.
I mean, why bother about looking good or keeping clean if all I would receive from others was scorns all day every day? Sometimes, I could go on for days without washing my hair.
Who cares!
Well, if I couldn't speak with people, I could do as much as talking to a bottle, can't I?
"You've been a bad boy for making momma doze off in the open!" I scolded it, but when I heard some sounds from the street, I drew my sagging jeans up and rushed out of the park to make my way home.
Darn, it was still early morning. I could barely see well, not with my poor eyesight. The prescription glasses I wore were expired and overdue for replacement, but where would I get the money from?
Steal from a bank maybe?
A few workers who were on their way to work drove by as I walked the street. Some were also on foot too, probably unable to find a cab so early. That eased my stress a bit so that at least, I wasn't a bad-eyed sighted girl walking down the dark, empty street alone.
My morning shift at Del Monte's Burgers was at 7 AM, so I better rush home and get dressed for work!
Praying not to get my messy self into trouble, I counted my fingers until I successfully arrived home. I knew the house was bigger than my status, and many times had I received advice from people to sell it off and clear my mortgage, but I was not and would never be ready to sell my parents' only legacy.
I undressed myself as quickly as I could and threw my clothes about my already messy room. The living room was probably the only presentable place in the house because I barely used it. It was too big and had its way of making me feel lonely when I sat in it.
But my room?
Oh, my room, I used that often. It was the most used part of the house by me, accompanied by the toilet. That was all thanks to my numerous frequent running stomachs from eating too much junk. I barely used the kitchen unless I needed some water or took cereals from the refrigerator.
No one cared enough to come visiting my house, so why bother cleaning it? I believed my house should portray my person well: messy and unpresentable.
Well, I liked it that way. Very much preferable to me. In fact, I might throw up if anyone ever cleaned my house!
I went into the bathroom to take a bath. The bath was a rushed one because it was almost 6:30 AM now. Only thirty minutes more before my shift was up. Barely spending three minutes in the shower, I stepped out and went straight into my room to get ready.
"Oh damn! I forgot to use soap again," I grumbled as I remembered I hadn't soaped my body two days before. "I will do that when I get back tonight," I said to myself as I towel dried my body.
Just as I was about to set the towel down and jump into my dress, promising myself that I would apply lotion on my poor dried, and pale skin when I arrived in the night – even though I knew I wouldn't – the display appeared again.
[Beauty assignment starts in thirty minutes!]
The voice in my head echoed again. It was a stark contrast to the dull ache throbbing behind my eyes.
Man, I thought I had hallucinated that shit?!
[System will identify the target when the host meets it.]
"What target?" I frowned, confusion deepening the furrow in my brow.
The response was immediate. [System will not provide answers to that now.]
"Then scram off!" I yelled, more out of frustration than anything else. My head felt like it was about to explode, and this disembodied voice wasn't helping.
[Warning: Foul languages from host to system reduces points accumulated by host!]
"What points?" I demanded, briefly forgetting my throbbing head.
The lack of response only fueled my annoyance. Was this some kind of elaborate prank?
A cruel joke my sleep-deprived mind was playing on me?
Just then, a wave of excitement washed over me, shortly taking over the previous frustration and confusion. Having someone – even something – to converse with felt... nice. A strange comfort in the lonely world I inhabited.
Taking a deep breath, I tried a different approach. "What are the accumulated points for?" I asked the data display hovering in front of me, if that's what it was.
The display shimmered, words forming and reforming before settling on a message.
[Ding!]
[Host can purchase aspects with accumulated points.]
"What the hell are aspects?" I blurted out in front wonder.
[Ding!]
The message on the display flickered again, replaced by a new set of words.
[Available aspects for level one are...]
[Purchase a mind-reading aspect; with 100 points]
[Purchase an invisible back eyes aspect; with 200 points]
[Purchase a telepathy aspect; with 300 points]
My eyes widened. "Will I get superpowers?"
[Ding!]
[Aspects can only be purchased when the host accumulates points]
[Beauty assignment starts in twenty minutes!]
With a final flash, the display vanished, leaving me staring at the empty space before me. My mind reeled, trying to process the haze of information that the system just dumped on me.
Was this real?
Or was I finally losing it?
The insistent ringing of my phone jolted me back to reality. A glance at the caller ID sent a shiver down my spine. It was Mrs. Del Monte, the owner of Del Monte's Burgers, my nightmare boss.
Click…
I answered with a sigh, already anticipating the verbal lashing coming my way.
"Get your ass on here, you..." Her heavily accented voice cut through the phone like a knife.
I held the phone at arm's length, wincing at the volume. My ears were already throbbing, and Mrs. Del Monte's voice wasn't exactly known for its soothing qualities.
"I was already anticipating this," I muttered under my breath after the last beep, "and kept the phone a safe distance away from my earlobe."
Looking at the clock, I saw it was 7:40 AM. One minute late, and I was toast. I had already used up my two sick day allowances for the month, all for a useless interview that ended the same way as every other one – rejection.
Desperate, I threw on my jeans and a wrinkled polo shirt. With a final look at the empty space where the display had been, I dashed out of the house like a deer.
Well, a fat deer, if I must.
Halfway down the street, a horrifying realization struck me. "Shit! I didn't even brush my teeth, and darn it, I forgot to wear underwear!" I grumbled, yanking up my sagging jeans and hoping to hell it wasn't obvious at all that my buttocks were bare.