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beauty to accomplish my
goals. At least, that’s what I tried to tell myself. Of course, as soon as I came
to terms with my hair-loss, some dream made me realize just how badly I truly wanted
my hair back.
    Unable to resist, I traced my new figure and my new hair with my
hands. When I turned around to see if my backside had grown, my smile vanished.
The face in the mirror was shocked. My so-called cape should have been the
first thing I examined in the mirror, especially since it had felt odd earlier.
Not my new curves.
    What I had mistaken as a cape earlier was attached to my body, and
there were not just one, but two . The things hung limply, connected to
my body by forming a ‘V’ on my upper back. The skin where the capes attached to
my body gradually turned to a white color.
    Starting at the tops of my shoulders, they gradually lessened until
the tips of them ended at my lower back. They were frost white, and followed
the fresh curve of my back closely, as if they were made to sit there.
    My newly sharpened eyes observed the small petal-like things covering
them. Feeling numb, I pulled the tip of a cape around to the front of my body
and saw that they were quite a bit larger than I had first assumed. I felt a
tingling sensation coming from the cape, as if I had nerve endings in it. That
couldn’t be right, because these things weren’t mine.
      I looked down at
the odd thing in my hand that had attached itself to me like a parasite. It was
made up of material that felt like a flower, soft and smooth. The petals gradually
grew smaller as they traveled down the wing, but they were no littler than my
thumbnail and no larger than my fist. Wait, did I think of this as a wing? No-
it’s a thing. A cape. Because people can’t grow wings.
    They were still damp and limp, and my back felt slightly sore. I let
the tip drop from my hand to slide back into place behind my back. I turned
around and noticed that I couldn’t see any part of the capes from the front. I
turned around again. I watched the petals ripple and settle. Then back. Sway,
settle. Then around. Ripple, settle. Maybe If I did this enough it will make it
seem more real. Not that I was wishing this was real, or anything. Who needed
boobs and hair and wings?
    Even though I was freaked out, I admitted to myself that a larger part
of me didn’t want this dream to end. Some part enjoyed being curvy and
gorgeous, with these oddly beautiful things on my back. This isn’t like me, I
thought. The real me didn’t care about vain, unimportant things. It doesn’t
make someone successful in life, right?
    I would have kept staring in the mirror for who knows how long, but I
heard someone walking towards my room. Marie opened the door and gasped. “You-
you’re w-wings. They’re beautiful!” I could practically smell her surprise as
she bustled over and slowly reached out to touch my petaled ‘wings’.
    I spun around, putting my body between her and my wings, and then I
glared into her eyes until she glanced down. Ha! I was better than this woman. She
gave a small yelp and scampered out, the smell of her fear fresh in the air.
     What kind of beast was I? I was stunned at the way I just treated
her. It wasn’t her fault that I was baffled and simply waiting for this perfect
dream to pop.
    She did nothing wrong to you, my mind said.
    She needed to know her place , my instincts said.
    You weren’t raised to treat people like that. Every being should be
treated the same. Back and
forth they argued. Which one was I? Mind or body? Flesh or soul?
    I sat down on the bed and put my newly beautified head in my hands. I
guess I now knew this wasn’t all a dream... I was beginning to get a headache.
    Focus , I told
myself. Instincts are unpredictable. You need to think like a human being,
not an animal. That would have been great advice, except for the fact that
I wasn’t even sure I was human anymore. Did these things on my back make me an
animal? What did she call them?