Slumping against the wall, Nova hugged her knees to her chest. How was something like this possible? It felt like she was in a nightmare. At school, she had unwittingly glanced at a graphic novel a student was reading and saw characters with animal features, perfectly resembling her reflection in the mirror. Had she transmigrated? Standing up, she looked in the mirror once more.
"Fuck, what's this?"
She was sure she wasn't hallucinating. In fact, she wished she was. Furrowing her eyebrows, she held the two spiraled horns on the side of her head in both hands, then turned her head from side to side over and over. The physique and the face were those of a teenage boy.
"This is strange," she said, her voice a hollow whisper. It was the only word that came to mind, despite the chaos in her head. She hadn't noticed this transformation until she looked in the mirror. Probably, her anger had clouded her senses. What was she supposed to do now? Accept who she was?
She bit her nail, certain that in society, a person with horns wouldn't be considered human. In her reality, they only existed in fiction. Her head throbbed, seemingly from overthinking. If this was transmigration, there was nothing she could do about it. She sighed, walking out of the bathroom.
"That pervert and bitch..."
For the time being, she planned on investigating her body change online. Looking at her bed, she couldn't see her phone. When Orlyssa shoved her out of the car, the phone had been resting on her lap. It had probably tumbled along with her. She could have abandoned it and used her desktop instead, but the phone had things that were important to her. The streets were usually deserted at night, so it was the best time to retrieve it. Even so, it was still possible she might encounter someone on the way. "Damn, what should I do?"
Moving to the closet, she rummaged through the clothes for an oversized hoodie her father had bought her as a birthday present. She couldn't forget how much she loathed him when she learned he couldn't get her size right. Right now, it was her savior.
Pulling the hood over her head, she covered the horns. Surprisingly, she wasn't scared of leaving the house at such a late hour. As she held the doorknob, a knock came from the other side. She froze. After a second, she crouched and peered through the gap under the door, her eyes landing on a pair of red high-heels. She was sure that if she opened the door, her mother would either simply flee or try to kill her. Leaning against the door, she cupped her ears with her hands.
"Quit pestering me."