Life Transformation Novel

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Waking up in an unknown place is not something I like doing. This is the third time this week that I have woken up somewhere other than my little bed up in the cramped attic that I live in. I hear the clinking of dishes and silverware beneath me.

I quickly rush down the stairs. I stay in the shadows, trying to keep concealed. As I reach downstairs I find that I am in an old tavern. It happens to be the one I work for.

You see, I am a woman and women in my time don't work. We just sit at home, cleaning and wasting away. So, against my better judgment, I hide in male attire and work with men all around me, who, by the way, just love to harass women. In society, women are torn from the others. A sort of segregation, if you will. Being a woman, I feel as if they are talking specifically about me. I would love to just smack them over the head with a frying pan. I begin walking down the stairs and as I head to the door, I am interrupted by my one and only boss, Jonah.

"Danny!" he shouted with glee, "you're here, I was about to call you in today. So many skipped work today to go fishin'" he didn't even give me a chance to speak. "Now get to work! We can't have the tavern goin' broke!"

Doing as I was told, I found my way to the back end of the tavern making pints for the rowdy men that bustled in and whatever else I was told to do. All I ever did here was serve beer and take payments. I have never done anything more than that. I suppose that's the extent of applying for a job at a bar of all places. What upsets me about that is I wish I had done more with my life than just work part-time jobs that I have never liked.

By the time the sun comes round, I completely forgot about how I didn't wake up in my regular place. Rushing out the doors, taking a sharp left, I run to the nearest ally and strip of my boy attire, which consist of a pair of trousers, a button down shirt with a loose top button, paired with a nice pair of men's working boots. I frantically dress in my raggedy girl clothes, which contains a nice farm dress that has flowers all over it and a pair of black flats. I have never liked how I have to live. Running down the street towards my second job of the day, which happens to be cleaning, the one thing that I hate the most, second only to men who judge women and believe they should only do as they are told.

I have never done much of anything with my life unless you count working dozens of jobs throughout my short life as being fulfilling. A man once said, "To live is the rarest thing." I never understood what he meant. Of course, I'm living! What else is this thumping heart for? This pair of lungs that breathe in and out for me? If this isn't life, I must be dead and buried. I have lived throughout different homes and orphanages in my childhood. In every place that I lived, I never once felt at home, safe, or comfortable enough to even sleep peacefully. Each place I have ever moved to, I was either shouted at or just wasn't welcomed, no matter what I did I was never one to be treated fairly while I dressed as a female. Perhaps the reason no place felt like home is that I have never had a home to compare things to.

The only thing I know about my life before the foster care system is my name, Danniella. I hate that name. 'Danniella' never had a good life as a woman. 'Danny' has a chance.

I want you to know that the frantic undressing and redressing led to nothing, as I never did make it to that job. When I rounded the last corner of the house I suddenly had all of the air knocked out of me, which confused me as to how it happened. Actually, no. The most confusing part was the black boots that come into my line of sight right before I black out.

My head is pounding so hard. I feel like I've been run over by a tank multiple times. All I see when I eventually open my eyes is a dark surrounding that the only light source is the light that comes through the cracks in the doorway. All that I can recall is being hit and a pair of black boots. I am extremely confused as to why something this strange has happened to me. What would they want with me? I'm a nobody. Looking around, all I can make out is that I am laid out on a nice sized bed that is actually quite comfortable. I wish I had a bed this comfortable at home. I know that wouldn't happen anytime soon because I've lived in poverty all my life. I can barely afford my food each day, let alone a luxurious mattress. I can just barely make out a window that is on the opposite wall of where I lay. I continue scanning my surroundings.