She stayed slumped against the door for a while, listening to the house fall quiet again. Her heartbeat slowly calmed, but her thoughts refused to settle.
"I can't go on like this… I can't hide forever."
Sooner or later, they would see her, her little brother, her mother, and then everyone else. And explaining this would be… a total disaster.
She pushed herself up and walked back to the mirror, staring at the unfamiliar girl looking back at her.
"…Okay. I-I just need to think of a plan," she muttered, trying to sound like a genius strategist.
She rested her hands on the desk, leaning forward like she was about to take an exam.
Option one: Tell them the truth.
"I went to sleep as a boy and woke up as a girl because of a gift… or a curse."
She imagined her mom's reaction, her brother's face, the endless questions, the disbelief especially Dion, her little brother. That little dork was a massive fan of gift users and superheroes. He'd probably ask for her autograph before even asking if she was okay.
"Yeah… they'll think I lost my mind," she muttered. "Becoming a gift user is already almost impossible, and becoming a cursed one is even more unrealistic. There are only thousands of cursed users in the entire world, and I ended up as one... wow my luck really went all out just to screw me over."
Option two: Lie.
She could say she was a cousin or a friend or maybe… his nonexistent girlfriend.
Her face heated up.
"Wait, no that's weird why did my brain even go there?" she groaned, slapping her own cheeks.
She shook her head. "That's impossible, I live here, they know everyone I know."
Option three: Run away.
She stared at the door, imagining herself dramatically escaping through the window like a tragic anime character.
"…Yeah, no," she sighed. "To begin with, where would I even go? I don't even know how to use public transport properly."
She let out a slow breath and sat on the edge of the bed.
"…Calm down, Denver, you are not in a fantasy drama... yet."
She grabbed her phone.
"First, I need information if this is a curse… I need to know what kind."
She glanced at the door again, imagining her little brother bursting in at any moment.
"…And I need a plan before that happens."
She stared at her reflection once more.
"If I'm going to explain this," she whispered, "then I need to make it sound less crazy than it actually is."
She paused.
"…Which is going to be very, very hard."
She flopped onto her bed and grabbed her phone, staring at the screen like it held the answers to her existence.
"…Okay, Google, don't fail me now."
She opened the search bar and typed:
"Boy turned into girl curse"
She blinked at the results.
"Top 20 Gender-Swap Anime You Must Watch!"
"Funniest Gender Transformation Manga Characters"
"Is Gender Bending a Popular Trope?"
"…I am not a trope."
She tried again.
"Real case boy turned into girl overnight"
"Urban Legends and Hoaxes"
"Psychological Phenomena Explained"
"Why People Believe Gender Swap Myths"
She clicked a few links, but they were all the same fiction, theories, or people arguing in comment sections.
"…this is all useless."
She groaned and typed again.
"How to undo gender transformation curse"
No results found.
She stared at the screen.
"…Of course, what am I even expecting."
One last desperate search:
"World Gift Registry cursed users gender transformation"
The page loaded slowly, then showed a bland official statement:
"Certain cases are classified. Information restricted."
No details. No explanations. No solutions.
She dropped her phone onto her chest and stared at the ceiling.
"…So basically, the internet knows nothing."
She rolled onto her side and hugged her pillow, letting out a long sigh.
"I turn into a girl overnight, and the best advice Google can give me is to watch anime."
She stared blankly at the wall.
"…This is bad, this is really bad."
Then looked at her phone for a long time, no answers, no solutions and no miracle button labeled "Turn Me Back Into a Guy."
She sat up slowly and clenched her fists.
"…Screw it."
Option one, tell the truth.