The first thing that she felt when she woke up was numbness around her face, followed by a small, puncturing pain and finally coldness around herself. She didn’t know how much time had passed or where exactly she was, then she saw Diane coming with an anesthetic mask, “You were never good at this, weren’t you?” The receptionist seemed to be talking with

herself, her face looking even more dreamlike by the time the mask reached her face. Sally slept again.

It seemed like a second, but judging by the lights over her face, some time must have been passed. A loud bang had waked her up, it seemed and it was followed by a series of similar

sounds. She was unsure of what had happened to her during all this time, but Sally Brown woke up feeling a bit sore on her face. She tried to move, but found her body to

be connected to an IV, removing and sitting up on the bed had been especially painful. Meanwhile, the noises had suddenly stopped and she could hear the faint sound of a police

siren.The door to the room opened, inviting light with it. A tall figure stood over the entryway, first leaning to one side, blood dripped from their chest as it moved closer to

the bed.

“What have they done to you?” The voice identified the figure almost immediately, it didn’t sound like a Poe character, but rather a hardboiled noir hero, maybe even a Sam Spade

that had came to rescue her. However, as far as fantasy goes in the real world, it didn’t last very long. The man collapsed over the floor, letting go of a gun just as the sirens drew closer. Sally didn’t dare to leave her bed, yet she mused the courage to imagine that this could indeed be her boyfriend. Gathering all the courage to actually step on the floor she limped towards the body and

realized how her body had changed, she seemed to be thinner in the right places, while parts of her had been enlarged, almost to the point of being grotesque. Yet, she managed to kneel

besides the man and watch for any remaining life signs, there were none. A door opened in another area of the building, she could listen to some orders being shouted around the area as she decided to move further away, there was no saving him. Just as she stood up, Sally could see another body lying by the side of the bed, to her shock it had no face, her hand reached to her own mouth and she gasped.

A police officer came into the room, being followed by a partner, both of them scanned the room and reached for the body, while the other one tried to take Sally away, the girl was transported in silence towards an ambulance, which had been parked just outside of the building. A small crowd had gathered around the scene and Sally noticed how most of them had their eyes fixed on her. The girl motioned for a Paramedic, trying to ask for a mirror as clear as she could since her face seemed swollen still. It was clear that the man hesitated, yet he handed a metal tray, plain enough to be reflective.

A smile formed on Sally’s lips as she saw her new figure, Dr. Roseberry, wherever he may be, had done a great work into stretching her skin and shaping the face into an exquisite form, however what shocked the most was when Sally found a beauty mark just by the sideof her lips.

It was Diane’s skin.

“I’m beautiful.” She said.