Once again, he pushed himself to his limit. In a large gym, a man was squatting with 50 kg weights, muscles tense as he began to sweat all over. "One last set! One last set!" he yelled, pushing the weight up from his chest before bringing it down.
"Whoosh...ah!" Mike Ragnik woke up, his body drenched in cold sweat. He sighed, realizing it was just a dream. Checking his alarm clock, he noted it was 6:39 a.m. – only a minute before it would ring. Deciding to stop it early, he got up, turned on the lights, and headed to the shower.
He looked at himself in the mirror. Though he was a man, his long hair fell to his waist, framing a plump belly that protruded outward, with wide thighs and rounded buttocks. To anyone who didn't know him, he might appear like a beautiful woman. "This was the life that brought me down," he thought. This feminine appearance, he wished, could have been the best part of his life – but instead, he longed to look more masculine. Due to an excess of estrogen, however, reality was far from his wishes.
He dressed up and headed to his job as a cashier at a 9/11 convenience store. Around 9:00 a.m., Mike was minding his own business when a group of guys entered, accompanied by their girlfriends. They looked like they were on a party road trip, laughing and chatting loudly. As soon as they spotted Mike, one of them called out, "Well, well, if it isn't the First Lady."
Mike lowered his head; he recognized them – his high school bullies. Fred, the leader, had never physically harassed him, but he never missed an opportunity to mock Mike. After years of taunting, Mike had grown accustomed to the endless jabs.
"Oh, it's you, Fred. What do you want?" Mike said, keeping his tone firm.
"Come on, Mikey, don't be like that," Fred grinned. "Just thought we'd catch up, you know, like friends do."
Mike scoffed. "You say that every time. First of all, this is a store – I'm here to work, not chat. And we're not friends, so maybe you should join your real friends over there," he said, pointing to Fred's friends picking out items for their party.
Fred sighed mockingly. "Always such a mummy's girl, huh? Didn't know you'd be this much of a, well, never mind," he sneered, raising his hands as if in surrender. After paying for their goods, Fred handed Mike a card. "You should check this place out sometime," he said before leaving.
Mike looked at the card and saw it was a gym membership. "Tsk, why would I?" he muttered, slipping it into his pocket.
After finishing his shift, he finally headed home. Walking along the road, he suddenly heard someone shout, "Above you! Watch out!"
Mike looked up, and terror struck him – a large piece of debris from a nearby skyscraper was crashing down toward him.