Beautytronex Unlimited's top scientists, engineers and aestheticians converged over my supine body. The intravenous drip started and zonked my limbs first. My hands and feet felt light as clouds. The press of the cold metal operating table against my back lessened and went away as if I were floating up. Then the drip hit my mind and my thoughts slowed nearly to a stop. I panicked. But there was no action I could take in response to the panic. I tried to speak but the lips wouldn't move. I had made my choice and there was no going back. They'd change my bone structure forever, and a lot else too.
A warm blot of courage rose in my chest. Its radiant heat was the last thing I could feel. A small sun in a cozy hidden spot just this side of my heart. It was all for the best. I hated my face. No doubt I'd been passed over for so many things because of my plain looks. I'd blended into life - mushed into it really - like an anonymous nobody. Life was superficial, but so what. It was my turn now. I wouldn't be held back anymore as just another forgettable face. I'd be a beauty. A dazzling, drop dead gorgeous, stunning beauty.
I'd entered and won Beautytronex Unlimited's "Ultimate Makeover Contest." The full resources of a zillion dollar corporation with science divisions throughout the solar system were now focused on turning me into the most beautiful model ever. Their ultimate model. The contest had been explicit about that. Now they had to deliver. Their reputation was on the line and with it, endless potential sales.
A rosy, mooshy darkening pressed in on me and I was out. When I woke they helped me sit up. My body felt lighter. It had been seven days and I'd lost weight.
I raised my hands to my cheeks but there were bandages. Doctors pulled my hands back down. Not yet, they said. The procedures had gone well. They'd put me back under for a few more days and when I awoke the bandages would be gone.
Sleep, they said.
When I woke they'd replaced my hospital gown with a sparkly princess dress. Reporters and cameras were all around, all focused on me. Doctors helped me stand up and explained to the throngs of media what they'd done. Every formula for computing ideal proportions from nose to point of cheek had been applied. The distance between my eyes as a fraction of the span from forehead to chin now exemplified the precise geometries of beauty. My skin was flawless down to a molecular level. My eyes were now orbs of azure blue sparkling with subtle flecks of green and gold.
I looked around for a mirror. But if there were one on the walls, it was hidden by the crush of reporters. They elbowed and jostled each other for a better look. Flashes strobed and I saw spots. A murmuring chorus of oohs and ahhs filled the room. Curious, peering eyes became admiring, even jealous. The doctors brought me a small oval hand-held mirror and I gasped.
Looking back at me from the mirror was the most beautiful face I'd ever seen. Ever imagined. Like an angel from another dimension where there were no negative forces, only positive. Where every single thing formed itself into the perfect arrangement of atoms for whatever it was meant to be. Could such rare beauty even subsist in our universe? The warm blob of strength and bravery surged in my chest. I raised my chin and smiled for the reporters. No one would ever again mistake me for just another face in the crowd. I was the ultimate model.
And, as it turned out, a model soon for sale at surprisingly affordable prices. Soon anyone could get a Beautyloan sufficient to have their features sculpted to the exact specifications of this model, and many did. The streets filled with identical copies of me. It was the most popular Beautytronex Unlimited model ever. Until the new models came out, then people wanted those.
My old friends no longer recognize me when we pass on the street. It's hard to make new friends when I look just like every other extremely beautiful last year's model. No one can tell any of us apart.
I give up on beauty. I think maybe what I need now, for myself, to move forward, is a hobby where I can care about something other than myself. Meet some new people who don't care how I look. People who will have to figure out who I am despite how I look cause they need help with the good cause we're all involved in. I found this pet rescue group that gets really good reviews and I'm meeting them tomorrow. I'm going to join up.