Amanda stared at her reflection in the mirror, inhaled deeply, and began the morning ritual of brushing her long white hair. When she was finished the face in the mirror staring back at her was no longer the unkempt and wild looking woman she often woke up as. The woman she saw in the mirror was the vivacious vixen that had saved countless lives in her recent past. The woman who had so boldly declared that no other hero looked even half as good as she did. That was the woman that Amanda saw everyday in the mirror when she woke up, and would continue to see everyday for the rest of her life.

Then the knocking came.

"KNOCK,KNOCK,KNOCK,knock."

That dreaded knocking had accompanied her early morning ritual for two whole months now, and she was growing tired of hearing 'it'.

"AMANDA OPEN UP, I KNOW YOUR IN THERE!"

'It' had only started using her name after she yelled for 'It' to leave her alone. 'It' of course did not listen and continued to torture her with her own name ever since. From that point on Amanda had sworn to never talk to 'It' again. A goal she has yet to fail, despite 'It's' best attempts. First 'it' tried begging, then offerings, and finally settled on yelling. Unfortunately for 'It' Amanda was a woman immune to such methods.

"AMANDA IF YOU DON'T OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW OR I'LL KICK IT IN!"

Amanda had heard that same threat four times before, and like usual it held hollow. Amanda could hear 'It' walking away, and got back to getting herself dressed. She pulled her shirt over her head and down past her prized assets. Once again she looked in the mirror, this time her focus was on her upper torso, and she was just as, if not more beautiful then ever. in her extremely humble opinion. Finally satisfied with her appearance Amanda exited her bathroom with an even happier mood then she usually did. She couldn't place her finger on the exact reason why she felt so good, but something about today felt different as if her life was about to be changed for the better.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Amanda's good mood was instantly turned upside down when she entered her living room. There, on her couch, sitting in her special spot was 'It'. 'It' was flipping through the pages of an old magazine with a picture of Amanda on it's front cover. 'It' stopped flipping through the magazine and looked up at Amanda as she entered the room. For an entire minute 'It' stared at her in utter silence, and Amanda couldn't blame 'It'. Had she switched roles with 'It' she would've stared at herself too.

"... Uh, Hey Amanda I'm here to bring you out of retirement. Yay?"

Amanda stared at Nicole in total silence as she processed what her old friend had just said.

"Uhh, no thanks I think I'll, um, pass."

Nicole scrambled to her feet with a bit of desperation and anger written on her face.

"Amanda I didn't knock on your door for two weeks just for you to turn me down. First read this."

Nicole pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and handed it to Amanda.

"Thats how much you'll get paid per hour."

Amanda stared at the tiny slip of paper in her hand. In all of her life Amanda had never recieved an offer like this. The amount of pay on the slip of paper was astronomical, even the most professional of heroes would gawk at an offer this generous. It was beyond anything she would have ever expected for an offer to return to hero work.

"Come on Amanda. Imagine being able to buy doors wide enough that you don't have to turn sideways to get your hips through them."

The pay alone was tempting enough that Amanda might of signed it, but the idea of a door wide enough for her to casually walk through without having to squeeze her side profile through convinced her on the spot.

"And speaking of hips why don't we talk about yours."

Amanda froze in place as fear raced throughout her body. She had avoided talking about this with anyone for the last three years. This was an issue she had gone without addressing for years, and she was perfectly fine with that. And now it had finally caught up with her; all those years spent cutting the tags off of all her clothes now felt like a waste. Tears began to streak down her cheeks as Nicole eased her down into the massive crater that was obviously where Amanda usual sat.

"Hey don't cry. Its okay to gain weight Amanda it happens to everyone. All that matters is if you're happy. So if you're happy being this big then that's fine, I just wanted to make sure that you're feeling okay."

"Huh, thanks Nicole."

"Don't mention it."

The two friends stood and hugged each other before saying their goodbyes. Nicole left, and Amanda started thinking.