Waking up for the fourth time, gasping for breath, Avery could only blink blankly at the ceiling, her mind in shock.
''Just one minute to go, and I died like that,'' she thought. She believed it was an accident now she can't say for sure. She imagined dying and coming over and over again for eternity, and she broke out in cold sweat.
She got out of bed and repeated her fourth fall to the ground, but she was absentminded. Getting up, she paced back and forth in her room, her brain working hard to overcome this hurdle.
"What to do... what to do...'' She paced herself dizzy but came up with no ideas, her case was far from normal-she was cursed.
She sat back down on the bed, feeling her pacing was affecting her thought process. 'Should she cover her chest with something hard, so when she is pierced it won't go in,' hmm...no it won't work, she touched her chest in thought, her hands at the top of her breasts.
"Female, what if it's flat..male...change to man, fool the universe...will it work or not...should I try.'' She murmured unintelligent words, her mind came up with an idea on the spur of the moment.
She sat up immediately, to carry out her plans, in the worst case she would die and come back again. She grimaced at the thought of the pain she had to go through to die again, she shook her head furiously as if to shake it off from her mind.
She quickly had her morning routine, not forgetting to put on her grey contact lenses, to hide her red pupil.
Opening her wardrobe, she brought out a jean skirt and a long-sleeved top. Putting on her clothes she packed her hair back and took her purse and phone and left the room with her keys.
She lived in a one-room apartment, in a crowded apartment complex with poor soundproofing. She could hear her neighbor's arguments, and she blushed when she heard that ambiguous sound last week.
She can't wait to get her dream job move out from this neighborhood, and rent a duplex apartment, with airy rooms and fewer neighbors around.
She daydreamed of that day, as she sped, down the stairs, reaching the bottom in seconds, but slowed down to a human pace as soon as she left the building.
She wasn't about to pay the speeding tax, a government-imposed fine for speeding in public areas. She didn't want to risk getting caught on camera for a moment of pleasure.
Passing the spot where she died the second time, she subconsciously side past that area, throwing a middle finger at the flower pot three stories high.
She walked to her parking space and opened the door of a beat-up blue Toyota Yaris, she managed to buy from scrapping and saving every penny.
She unlocked the car, put in the key, she turned it, the car made a weird noise like a tired cough and refused to start. She turned it again, and it made a louder sound and died down.
"Damn it!" She swore as she hit the steering wheel in frustration and turned the keys before it started. She quickly turned the steering and zoomed off.
She drove, to the store that sold second-hand clothes, she can't be picky, she can't afford new clothes, so she always shopped there.
Parking, she went into the store and saw people browsing the racks. She headed to the men's section and picked up two pairs of jeans and trousers with a couple of shirts.
Paying for it, she removed her eyes from the screen as she watched her money leave her account. Ten dollars gone, and it stung.
At another store, she bought a male wig and some bandages.
Carrying her bag out from her car, her eyes met the ogling gaze of her downstairs neighbor. She frowned with disgust, even if he was a werebeast with a supermodel body she felt repulsed by him.
She knew she was beautiful but that doesn't give him the right to undress her with his eyes. Was he so confident in his appearance, that he thought she'd be attracted by him?
She spat in her mind, ignoring him and his shouts of greeting as she sped upstairs. Unlocking her door, she dropped tiredly on the bed, grateful it wasn't her shift at the bar today.
Resting for a minute, she sat up from the bed and put all the bought clothes into the washing machine to wash while she cleared her room.
Placing the dried clothes on the bed, she took the bandage wrap and wrapped it around her chest, glad that her breast wasn't too big.
She looked out the window at her flat chest, she took deep breaths and felt it was breathable and wasn't too tight.
She put on the top and blue jeans and looked at herself in the mirror, she looked like an effeminate man, and to complete her look, she put on the wig, turning into a youthful male.
She felt insecure about this change, she needed it to be thorough. Moving to her wardrobe, she slid the hangers to the side, her fingers felt for the edge, grabbing a hold of something she pulled the wood away, uncovering what was inside.
Different shapes of guns and bullets lined up on the wall, she opened a box and brought out a mobile phone, she typed in a number and it rang.
A lazy voice drawled from the phone speaker, "Agent 2, you know I'm off today... yawn...why are you disturbing me?"
"Pretty please, I need a favor from you," she said to the male on the other line.
"Speak."
"Hmm... could you create a male identity for me?" Avery asked in a lowered tone.
"What? What kind of job requires you to change your identity? For all I know, your assignments go through me before they're handed to you." The man's lazy tone dropped, turning serious.