Opening the door was a pretty normal occurrence, life on the other side wasn’t.
I wanted to go to the store, after all a girl gotta have cake don’t she? One step, one blink and I realised cake was not a priority anymore. Yes the sky was still blue, the trees were still green, the smell of car exhausts was still disgusting yet I instinctively knew something was slightly off.
Walking down the tarmac path my boot heels clumped harshly with a faltering rhythm as I looked around me still wondering why I felt so uncomfortable in this familiar territory. Even the gate creaked its usual protest as I opened it. Nope, still couldn’t put my finger on the problem. The local shops down the high street were as shabby as yesterday and all the days previous, the goods you could see through the grimey windows looked as forlorn as that last rancid piece of cheese you find at the back of the fridge drawer.
Turning off the high street onto the altogether smarter shopping precinct my steps became lighter and my discomfort alleviated a tad. Here everything was shiny. Here the shops enticed you in with their promises of goods that would not only change your life but change it for the better. Lights seduced you in to sample, enjoy, purchase. Staff trained in the arts of selling you what you don’t need waited ready to pounce as you entered the store. I walked past a gleaming window and glanced at my reflection. I stopped, dead.
When the hell did I turn into a man?
