I stood in the doorway. Elise had insisted I shouldn’t hide everything—so I kept the septum ring and a few earrings. Just enough to feel honest. Just enough to let them know that their little Saddie had changed.
Their faces went immediately pale. Tense. “What… what did you do to yourself?” my mom finally whispered. My dad just stared. His eyes scanned the black-dyed hair, the piercings, the emptiness of my expression. “You’re wasting everything,” he growled. “You think we’re paying for this? For you to dress like a damn Halloween character?” Before I could answer, my flatmates—Elise and Luna—appeared behind me, calm and collected. My dad pointed at them. “You. You two did this to her. Filling her head with whatever garbage—”
“Dad, stop,” I said, sharper than I meant to. “They’re my friends.” I still couldn’t believe I was defending them. Then Mom took my hand. Her fingers curled back my sleeve just slightly, and she froze. She had seen the edge of my tattoos. The rest happened fast. Shouting. Crying. Ultimatums. By the time they slammed the door behind them, I was shaking.

My bank app confirmed what I already knew—support suspended. Disowned. Cut off. The words echoed in my mind, a cold confirmation of what I already knew. I was on my own, completely and utterly alone. Or so I thought. In a way, I wasn’t. I had my sisters.
They swooped in like a rescue team, offering to cover my bills until I could get back on my feet. They practically dragged me to the salon, a place I never would’ve gone on my own, to restore my makeup and my shattered confidence. I needed something to cheer me up, so I didn’t resist them.
I spent the whole time moping and mumbling about my lost future, the life that had been snatched away.
Luna left soon, tired of my rants, while Elise sat next to me to have her hair done as well.

She smiled to me. “You’re a brave girl, Synn, I mean it.”
“You have no idea how fucked I am.” – I replied, in tears. “I had a chance to succeed in my life but I blew it. I’m not a rebel like you.”
Elise’s smile faded, replaced by an expression of deep empathy. “I understand you better than you think,” she said, her gaze fixed on mine. “You always see me as the ‘goth pothead,’ but I told you before, I was very different a couple of years ago. Look at these.” She gestured to the delicate crosses tattooed on her cheekbones, symbols of a past I didn’t fully understand. “I still remember the day they tattooed me. I looked in the mirror and knew I’d never be a CEO.” She paused, a flicker of something close to defiance in her eyes. “But I did it anyway. I’ve found myself, and I’m not afraid of anything anymore.”
I stared at her, my mind reeling. “You, a CEO?” The question was a gut reaction, a mix of disbelief and surprise.

Elise’s smile was a bitter thing. She showed me a picture of her from a few years back, with red hair, an elegant suit, standing in front of a resort. “See, my family is ridiculously wealthy, they own several resorts in Florida. I was supposed to be the one to lead the business into the future. I had top marks in high school, got into economics here, and with a degree in management, I would’ve been the clear frontrunner. Especially since my brother is so lazy.”
She ran a hand over her black hair, the movement a silent shrug. “But then I joined Delta Nocturna, and all that just… faded away. At first, my parents thought the black hair and goth outfits were just a phase. But then came the weed, the piercings, the tattoos. It was too much. My lazy brother swooped in and stole my position. Now I’m the family disgrace, and he’s the successful one.”
My mind was still trying to process the idea of Elise in a boardroom.
“And Luna?”

“Her story’s different from mine, but not too much.” Elise said, her tone softening. “She’s the daughter of a very respected and wealthy dermatologist. Her career was practically a foregone conclusion. She practically grew up in sterile offices. She wasn’t very happy as a teenager. She never partied, you know? She never explored life. When she got to med school, her career was already mapped out for her. Not that she needed the help—she was an excellent student—but it was an easy path either way. Her family was extremely conservative, by the way. Very religious. She was even engaged to her father’s colleague’s son, with a wedding date all set.”
“Then what happened?” I asked, leaning forward, my own problems momentarily forgotten.
“Well, then she became the queer, polyamorous rebel she is now! Well, first she found our little community. She started by just coming to shows, but soon she was spending all her free time with us. Her fiancé couldn’t handle the change, and her family couldn’t stomach the idea of her dating a woman.”

“I was the first girl she kissed. She told me she had been having weird thoughts and wanted to get them out of her system.”
Elise’s gaze grew distant, as if she were reliving the memory. “She kind freaked out when she realized she was into girls. She was in denial for a while, dated a guy or two, trying to forget about me. But she couldn’t. It wasn’t easy for her. She felt pretty lost and started smoking weed regularly, then did LSD—pretty heavy stuff. It was her way of coping with the life she was losing.”
“But now she’s cut all ties to her past” Elise continued, her voice filled with admiration. “She’s still studying medicine, but she claims private medicine is only for profit now. She wants to work with STDs in the LGBT community. Her family disowned her ancestors called her a communist and a d*ke. But she’s found her purpose, even if it cost her everything.”
Elise took my hand and squeezed it. “You’re gonna be ok, girl!”

She gave me a pair of brown contacts to alter my look further. “Are you serious?” I asked, playing with the contacts in my hand. “You girls just… ruin lives for fun?” The question came out sharper than I intended, the shock of their stories overriding my self-pity for a moment.
Elise’s expression hardened. “Ruin lives? You think my life was something worth saving?” She gestured to the salon chair where I sat. “And you? You were going to be a biologist, right? What kind of life is that? Playing with microscopes like a little kid? Or ending up as a high school teacher?” Her voice was laced with a familiar mockery, the kind I knew so well from our sisterly squabbles. “Come on. We saved you. We gave you a better life. You have the potential to change even more radically than us, since you’re not leaving anything that precious behind.”
“Boring?” My voice was a shaky whisper. “It was my life. My path.” Elise’s eyes blazed, a mix of frustration and something I couldn’t place. “A boring path,” she repeated, her tone sharp and unforgiving. “Yes, Synn. A boring path. And it would have swallowed you whole. We’re offering you a way out.” – she said, sending me a black latex top.

I checked my reflection. The dark bob framed my face perfectly. My once-blue eyes, now warm brown thanks to Elise’s insistence on the lenses. They do look better, I admitted. Softer. And yet a little bit dangerous. And definitely more in line with the new Synn. The piercings had healed. The tattoos had stopped feeling foreign. Even the black latex, once so loud and absurd, felt… comfortable. Like it belonged on me.
“I look like someone you’d cross the street to avoid,” I whispered, half-joking.
But deep down, I knew what Elise had meant. Everyone in Delta Nocturna had walked away from something. Luna from med school. Elise from an empire. Compared to them, giving up biology in favor of this twisted little sisterhood felt almost reasonable. At least she had a community. A role. A look.
I started enjoying the idea of playing with my appearance. And now, the thought slipped in—gentle, unwelcome, but persistent: What if I got implants? Not huge. Just… enough to stand out even more?

END
The complete story “Delta Obscura” was posted on my Patreon in 2025.
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