Shapeshifter — Alia Cordone
If I were this or that, or something else entirely, maybe I would be happy.
If she were just a little bit smaller, a little bit skinnier, a little bit prettier, maybe she would be happy. So she did, altered herself little by little, but the progress was worthless. It was never enough; the little changes became bigger chunks until she was constantly switching forms. One face on an infinite-sided die, underperformed, and so she rolled again and again until she found a face that worked. Paper thin, she now walked the streets, a smile plastered across her unnatural face. Stopping to gaze upon her reflection, hoping to be satisfied, a creature made of darkness rather than beauty stared back. He laughed at how lost she was, called out her infinite imperfections, and told her he could fix them. He reached out a flawless arm, and without hesitation, the woman latched on.
Shapeshifting over and over throughout her life, she never once asked the parasite inside her to stop. She only asked it to make her better, and so it did. Walking down a hall of mirrors, she observed herself from every angle. She finally saw a beautiful woman smiling back, but it was an unknown face and an altered body. A cold, fake smile stared at her from every angle. Was this happiness?
If only she were different, maybe she would be happy. The woman peeled off her skin and started again.
Alia Cordone is many things, a jack of all trades if you will. She is about to attend college, pursuing pre-veterinary medicine and playing Division I basketball. In her free time, she writes short stories and poetry, hoping to invoke emotion in readers. She creates art, plays too many card games, and will do just about anything for an animal. You can find her spending most of her time outside, either hiking, climbing trees, or swimming. She hopes to continue to explore her passion for writing and slowly start publishing her small works.