Christopher stared in the mirror, slowly assessing himself. He looked from his bright golden hair down to the angular eyebrows that gave him an air of determination. He looked at his bright turquoise eyes that were so often compared with the endless waters of the ocean. His small, angular nose pointed down toward his unreadable mouth. He moved his hands up, adjusting his shallow sideburns lightly before he nodded in satisfaction.
He stepped away from the extravagantly wide mirror, walking over to the large black rolling bag that sat on the ornate Persian pattern of the carpeting. Cracking it open, he unenthusiastically inspected its contents before slapping it closed and extending its handle.
The pack prepared, Christopher set out for the door, retrieving his keycard along the way. He pulled the cold metal of the handle down and out, the heavy wooden door readily yielding. He stepped out into the carpeted hallway and strolled by room after room, the numbers engraved onto doors the only identifiable differences between them.
He pushed the cold plastic button in front of him, and immediately he heard the melodic ding of the bell that notified him of an arriving elevator.
Stepping onto the elevator, he nodded to the tall, gruff-looking man that stood already within it. Though he had little space within, he made do until he had gone down 12 floors to the lobby.
Handing his card to the lanky man who stood behind the heavy mahogany counter in his navy-blue outfit, he spoke. “I’m checking out.” He spoke flatly, no expression shown on his face.
“Understood, thank you for staying with us! Applying discount, your total is… $221.46.” The young man behind the counter said cheerfully. He was mildly surprised with the total exactly paid in cash, a double-rare event.
Lugging his bag, Christopher trudged to the door, reluctantly stepping out into the painfully cold winter. The valet recognized him, and the fact that he had no car, and waved him onward. “Have a good day, sir.” The man spoke in a deep voice, not moving from his post.
Stepping up to the ruthlessly noisy road, Christopher brought his arm out, quickly managing to hail a bright yellow Crown Victoria taxi. “Logan, please.” He requested. He saw the driver silently nod and speed up, and leaned against the window to watch the scenery of the silver-gray cityscape blanketed in bright, powdery white layers of pristine snow. It was still too early for it to have been cleaned or contaminated, and too dark to see it clearly.
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The scenery rolled by quickly as he passed into busier territory, full of cars and people travelling hurriedly. He had arrived at the entrance to the airport. Once again giving exact change for the taxi driver’s service, he wordlessly stepped out of the car, unloading his single piece of luggage and walking into the wide hall of reception.
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Hours of TSA later, Christopher sat in his comfortable leather seat, staring out upon the machine-populated tarmac exhaustedly. He narrowed his eyes subtly in discomfort as the whine of the engines began, the headache of having an overweight passenger next to him showing as the man next to him raised the temperature by a consistent 12°F.
A few hours into the flight, all he saw was the white tufts of clouds and the tumultuous waves beneath them. The cabin was slightly cold, preventing Christopher from sleeping. A mechanical tone played, and he looked up from the window to see a light he had not seen on the console in any of his previous flights.
The plane lurched a bit, and he widened his eyes as masks popped down from the ceiling compartment. “Attention, the cabin is losing pressure. Please place your own mask on before helping others with their own while we descend to a safer altitude.” The calm voice of the captain cut off abruptly as the plane angled downward. Mask on, Christopher stared out of the window as the outside world tilted back.
The resetting trajectory didn’t stop until it reached 90°. He knew something was going wrong, but couldn’t escape his seat as the plane fell vertically so rapidly. His pupils dilated as he started to hyperventilate, fear of the impending events taking control over his consciousness, imprisoning him within his own malfunctioning body.
Christopher lost consciousness.
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Author’s Note
Hi! New story. I just had a few ideas and thought it would be fun. Allow me to answer the few questions I can come up with.
1) Yes, this is a gender bending story. If you don’t like it, you can take a hike :)
2) No, I don’t have much of a plan on where to go with this. It becomes painful to write when I restrict myself like that.
I’m always open to suggestions, so make sure you comment those after I develop the story with a chapter or two. I should have them out soon. Thank you for reading!