Edit | #Wattys2016

Nine

When I awake, Carmen is sitting in a chair at the far end of the room.

"Sleeping Beauty awakens," she drawls, running her hands through her hair. She's changed into a sweatshirt and trackpants, the dirt and grime washed from her face.

I roll my eyes at her. "Whatever."

"Just wash up and be prepared for dinner, although I have no idea why we're supposed to feed you," she says 'you' like a piece of moldy, sticky, decomposing matter that she found on the bottom of her shoe.

"Same, Carmen," I say her name in the most venomous tone I can muster, "I don't think someone like you should be fed. It's just a waste of resources."

And with that, I do a small hair flip and canter towards the bathroom. Corinne: Three. Carmen-still the same stuck-up ,over-confident girl who seriously gets into fights with me even though she knows I'll win: Z-e-r-o.

Take that, I think as I open the door of the bathroom, twisting the smooth knob.

And then I stop short.

Oh sparks. Sparks, sparks, sparks!

The girl that stares back at me in the mirror has a horrified expression plastered on her face. She should. A giant red, swollen patch of skin covers her left cheek, and the eye above the wound is swollen shut, purplish-blue. Her lip is cut, and there's an ugly scar on the cheek that isn't red and swollen.

And that girl is me.

"You've gotta be the most beautiful girl, Amber," I tell myself as I stand in front of the mirror, frowning at my neon rainbow hair and golden eyes that I thought looked pretty good yesterday. It's too dull now, and so ugly.

Shaking my head, I undress and slip into an mid-thigh off-the-shoulder dress, and put on a necklace and some bracelets.

Then I step in front of the Edit machine. Without hesitation I run my forearm across the blade sticking out of the Edit machine, It quickly disappears, and I let my blood drip into it as I use my other hand to select the colour and style of hair and my new eye colour, along with makeup and additional facial features. I never touch that section. I want my face to be smooth and flawless, although dimples and freckles are considered cute nowadays.

Upon completing Editing my face, and also minor Edits to my legs - to make them slimmer, smoother, and hairless, I step out the door and onto my hoverboard, my school materials all placed inside a purse that rests on my wounded forearm, which I sprayed with the healing potion before I left, and my sunglasses resting on my nose.

With my head held high, I fly towards school.

I am beautiful, I tell myself, although something in me aches for the humble, adorable, innocent Amber that used to exist with Chance. I ignore it, like I do everyday.

A sob escapes from my throat. I'm so ugly. What happened? Don't they have the healing potion or something?

This is the Black Hole.

I reach for my bottle of the substance in my pocket, but I realise, to my horror, that's it's missing. My hands find nothing inside my pockets.

Sparks, I must've left it on the pod.

A tear slips down my face, and although it comes in contact with my wounds, it doesn't hurt. Strange. That must've been some really strong morphine, or some weird Black Hole concoction.

Tear after tear rolls down my face, and I swipe them away, not feeling any pain. I shake my head. What am I thinking? At this moment I need to be strong, stronger than I've ever been.