Bullied and the Bitch

Chapter 4: I Can Survive

I'm hungry. And I'm cold. It's mid-winter, and my clothes are way too short for me. Not to mention my feet are completely bare. I sit on a park bench, hoping I'll wake up. This feels so unreal. This kind of crap didn't happen in real life. Only in fairy tales.

I contemplate going to find Rob, or one of my numerous ex-boyfriends... but why bother? Trent, my own current boyfriend, hadn't been any help whatsoever.

I honestly can't think of a single other person who might believe me and help me out.

I don't know how long I sit on that bench, but it's freaking cold and I start to lose all feeling in my fingers and toes quick. I wander around town, wondering what to do. I'd never felt so aimless, or so useless, in my life. The fairy told me to gain some perspective in life. Was that it? How? Then what? Will she turn me back to normal?

Damn it.

My stomach rumbles and I wonder if this is how I die. Cold, hungry, as a guy. I couldn't even seduce some guy to buy me lunch...

But maybe I could seduce some chick?

...In sweatpants and a hoodie. Sure. I hadn't even cleaned my teeth.

I walk and walk. People pass me by. Some glance at me and whisper, but most just try to avoid any sort of contact with me. I pull up my hood, not wanting anyone to recognise me and realise how far Brianna Klein had stooped, like Elisabeth did.

How did she do it anyhow? It's not like we'd interacted much... Did she maybe have some sort of crush on me? That dyke. Whatever. I was going to die and I'd probably never see her again. Guess there was something good about this after all. Something splashes against the ground I'm glowering at and I look up. The dark clouds are gathering, reflecting my mood. Another droplet splatters on the side of my nose. I curse and make a run for it.

But where to get shelter?

In the end I find myself on a dirty platform in a playground, it's a raised platform with a slide leading off it, but it has a roof and none of the kids are out in the rain. I wonder if school has finished. God, this is the longest day of my life. Sitting with my back against the plastic barriers surrounding the platform, I curl up into a ball. It's not as comfortable as when I was a woman and I instantly unfold. Stretching my legs out, I lean my head back against a solid surface and close my eyes.

It's cold and uncomfortable, but I feel so bone-deep weary that the weather is no longer able to distract me from sleep. I start to blank out, listening to the sound of the rain beat against the cone top of the playground set. Its rhythmic tapping lulls me to sleep.

My sleep isn't restful in the slightest. I wake up every few moments, wondering why I was sleeping in such an awful place, only to realise with some despair that being turned into a man had not been a mere dream. I had truly lost everything. But like so many times before, I tire of my thoughts quickly and fall back into unconsciousness.

The next time I wake up, it's because I can feel something moving beside me. For a long, disoriented moment, I think I'm imagining things. When I glance down, however, I find that I'm wrong and something is indeed happening. I frown at the container slowly moving by my side, pushed further away from the edge of the platform and brushing against my side.

I search for the source of that movement and find it to be slender fingers reaching up from below the platform. The moment I sit up, they hastily withdraw. My eyes follow them, noticing the grey umbrella first, then the person looking up at me with some alarm from below the umbrella.

It probably should have been surprising for me to find Elisabeth standing there, on the lowest rung of the ladder that led up to the platform, having stretched upwards to push the container towards me. I look back down at the rectangular item, finally noticing the condensation on its clear plastic sides and the two golden-brown items inside. My stomach gurgles noisily at the sight of the freshly baked buns.