The Evolved Survive, Day 223.

Dear Diary, hello again. Today is day 223 since the poison rain. I'm still at the burger joint, still alone. Thinking about hunting down a different restaurant to live in, because this woman can't live solely on burgers. Or maybe I'm just bored and need a change of scenery.

Today I am thinking about past life things. Do you remember when there used to be movie theaters? There was this drive-in theater in Montclair that some friends and I used to go to during the summer. There was one night they played a Scream and Miss Congeniality double feature. Kind of a weird pairing, right? Scream was one of my favorite movies, so of course, I was down to go watch. But I had never seen Miss Congeniality before and thought it was just some girly rom-com that I wouldn't enjoy.

Of everyone, my friend Parker told me that I had to stay and watch it. I actually ended up being glad he asked me to stay.

He was right about Gracie Hart. She was a badass F.B.I agent, who couldn't stand the idea of beauty pageants and hyper-femininity. I get that. And Sandra Bullock was also very fun to watch. Not to give away the ending, but she ends up getting along with all the pageant girls and teaching them a thing or two about protecting themselves along the way. She also opens up to her own feminine side.

I'm reminded of all these things because I miss soap.

I miss feeling attractive, badass, and even girly sometimes. All I have going for me now is that I still have one hair tie, and my hair can still be worked into a very stiff but cute short braid. And wearing my gold heart-shaped locket makes me feel like I'm trying since it's the only piece of jewelry I have now.

Also, here at the In-N-Out burger, I don't have to wear that awful, greasy trench coat. I would tell you where I found it, but you don't want to know.

You may be wondering about my mutation, or what I've been referring to as the Blue Ice.

I'm not dead yet, so that's something. The blue ice has spread from just six inches around my naval to my entire torso and creeping down my limbs. It's now over both my shoulders, but not quite down my arms.

It's only been a week since the last time it spread, so it's probably about that time again. Each spread lasts only a few minutes and comes on about once every week or so. The spread still hurts like heck, but I'm getting used to it. Kind of like period cramps. When you're twelve it feels like your dying, but at twenty-four you're like, wait, was that a cramp?

Anyway.

I've been thinking about the outcome of all this, and about what kind of Evolved I will be after. Maybe I'll turn into something like Mystique from those X-Men movies. You know, the ones with Jennifer Lawrence. I was never big into superheroes, but she seemed cool.

I hope I turn into something like that.

I suppose another option (I don't like it, but here it is) is that I could turn into something like Michael from Underworld, after turns into that Lycan-Pire creature. Scary black eyes, broken-looking body, snarling with tight, blue skin. That's about as bad as I want to imagine because at least he can go back to looking human sometimes.

There is also the very real possibility that I won't survive the transmutation at all. The process of someone being transformed into their final Evolved state is always very intense, painful, and in some cases fatal. Sure, some do survive it. But I've known a lot of good people who haven't.

That's all for now.

Sincerely,

-Kana

________________

If you liked this story, read this next:

Thank you so much for reading! If you liked this article, be sure to click the heart button. If you really liked this article, tips are greatly appreciated! You can find more articles from me here on my Vocal profile.

-Leah H.