Chapter 3: 3. Making Plans

"Eva?" I asked as I glanced around the tiny hotel room. "Where are you? Why can't I see you?"

Her voice was unmistakable, like she was right next to me. The tone was exactly like I remembered from last night, clear and melodic, and with a slightly odd accent. Not like all the local English folks, but not like back home in Canada either.

She sounded slightly amused and I could picture a little smile on her pretty face as she responded, "I'm not really here, that's why you can't see me. We're bound together, but I don't actually exist separately from you."

"Incidentally," she added, "You don't have to speak out loud to communicate with me? It's ok to do that while we're alone, but out in public it would be preferable if you didn't draw attention to us."

I frowned, "Ok. So how do I talk to you without talking?"

Eva replied, "Think loudly, and focus your thoughts on me. Essentially talk with your mind, rather than your mouth."

/Like this?/ I asked in my head. /Can you hear me?/

"Yes that's right," she sounded pleased. "Well done, you got it on the first try!"

I blushed slightly, "It wasn't that hard. But I think this is easier for me, all right? Unless we're in public, I'm just going to talk out loud."

Eva sounded like she was smiling again as she replied "Very well Lexi. Now on to the matter at hand..."

She paused as if taking a deep breath, which left me wondering whether or not she actually needed to breath. And if she did, how would that work if she was an incorporeal spirit bound inside my body.

A moment later I decided it wasn't about needing the physical intake of air, but probably about needing a bit of time to collect her thoughts. And maybe it just felt natural to pause for breath. Like how I already decided to keep talking out loud to her instead of think-talking at her.

"Practicalities first," Eva announced. "Obviously you are alive and in a comfortable, affirming body. While it is not invulnerable you will find you're now resistant to disease, and should you get injured I will use my magic to heal you. In addition, should you find yourself in danger I will do what I can to protect you. Having said that, please do not put yourself at risk. You're not indestructible and you can still feel pain. So in other words, be careful!"

There was an unmistakable smirk in her voice as she added, "And for goodness sake Lexi look both ways next time you cross a street, and don't stand too close to the edge on the subway platform!"

My cheeks went bright red, that was exactly the sort of thing my mom would have said.

She sounded amused as she went on, "I had a look at the identification your old body was carrying, and used that as the basis to create your new identity cards. I also learned about the local currency and customs, hence the money. And I arranged this hotel room, it is pre-paid for one week. The room includes access to a free breakfast buffet in the mornings, and there are shops and restaurants on the street outside. There is access to the underground transportation network a block away. The accommodations aren't fancy, but it is a safe place to stay."

"Finally Lexi," she added before I could respond, "I have a few suggestions and requests for you. Arranging all this has left me tired so I would like to spend the next day or two resting. I'll ask again that you keep yourself safe and out of trouble. And I'm going to ask that you avoid contacting any friends or family. I must insist that you do not tell anyone who you used to be, that you died, or anything at all about me or that I'm helping you. Instead I suggest you spend your time stocking up on whatever clothes and necessities you need. The money I've provided should be enough. And if you're bored, perhaps you can do some sight-seeing. All right?"

It took me a few seconds to process everything she just said. I finally nodded "Ok Eva. I don't have much in the way of family, but the only one I'd want to contact is Ian. I'll hold off for now, and take your other advice. I definitely need more clothes and things. I have a question though. What'll we do when the money runs out? Where will we go when the week is up and we're out of the hotel? I'm not sure we can get back to Canada without a passport, unless you can conjure one up for me?"

"We'll talk more in a few days," she answered. "I don't know what a passport is, but I'd need to actually see one before I could try and create a replacement."

"It's another kind of documentation," I explained. I gave her a quick description then added, "Mine is back at Ian's place with the rest of my stuff."

Eva replied, "All right Lexi, I'll keep that in mind. Now I'm going to rest. Please stay safe, and try to enjoy yourself."

With that, it felt like she was gone. I couldn't even put it into words exactly, but it was more than her just going quiet. And I hadn't really noticed before that I could feel her, but I definitely noticed when she left.

"Ok," I said quietly to myself. "Let's come up with a plan."

First thing was figuring out what time it was. I turned on the TV, it came on to a hotel info-channel, which had everything I needed. Date, time, local weather, all that good stuff.

So it was half past four Monday afternoon, the eighteenth of May. I was pretty sure I died around two in the morning, so it was just over fourteen hours ago. I was still in London, and I still didn't really know my way around the city. But Eva said there were shops and restaurants nearby, so I quickly came up with a plan for this evening.

I pulled on my hoodie and slung my cute purse over my shoulder, then with a happy smile and a flutter of euphoria I stepped out the door for the very first time as Lexi, as my real self.

My room was on the seventh floor, and while taking the elevator down to the lobby I noted the restaurant where they served breakfast was on the first floor. When I emerged I found the lobby was nice, though it didn't feel like a comfortable place to sit and people-watch.

And outside I found myself in a sort of small cramped courtyard kind of space, with hotel all around. There was an exit across from the hotel's front entrance, where cars and pedestrians could come and go from the main street.

I wandered out there and quickly found what I needed. There was a little electronics shop just around the corner. Fifteen minutes later I had a new mobile phone, a pre-paid sim, and a hundred-pound top-up card. I also picked up a cute protective case. Black, decorated with pink skulls. It just kind of called to me when I saw it. Then it was straight back up to my hotel room so I could get it set up. Priorities, after all.

You are reading story Missed Connections at novel35.com

The phone wasn't anything special, it was last year's model but between that and the top-up it still ended up costing me more than a quarter of my cash.

As soon as I was back in my room I got the phone out and plugged it in, then started setting it up. The next hour or two I spent sitting crosslegged on my bed, downloading social media apps on the hotel's free wifi and setting up new accounts and stuff under my new name. It was equal parts tedious and exciting.

Lexi Lund. I thought it was a pretty cool name. I never thought about changing my last name before, if I'd done things the normal way I'd have been Lexi Harris which wasn't half as cool as I sounded now.

Though it made me wonder where Eva got that last name from. Like was it her name, or something she just made up? I made a mental note to ask her later.

It was just starting to get dark outside when I finally realized I was hungry. My phone was pretty much all set up the way I wanted and the battery was half full, so I stuffed it in my purse then headed back out again.

There were a half dozen little restaurants along the same stretch of road as the hotel, and I soon found myself in a cosy little Thai place. The food was good, but I discovered that I couldn't handle spice quite like I used to, and I didn't have the same appetite as before either.

So half my dinner ended up in a take-away bag. Then on the way back to the hotel I stopped at a little corner store and picked up a couple bottles of water and cans of cola.

Both my brief excursions out into the world had gone really well, and as I was riding the elevator back up to my floor I had another wide grin on my face. The electronics shop, the restaurant, the corner store, even some guy at the front door of the hotel, everyone was calling me ma'am or miss. People were smiling at me. I didn't even have any make-up on or anything and I knew I was cute. I literally couldn't remember the last time I felt so happy.

Back up in my room I put the leftovers and the drinks on the dresser for now, then sat back on my bed again. I plugged my phone in to finish charging it up, and finally turned the TV back on.

I couldn't get into any of the English shows, but the hotel had a streaming set-up so I could get a movie or whatever playing. I wasn't really paying attention to it, but it was background noise and helped me focus on other things.

The next thing on my little mental checklist was to make more plans for tomorrow. So I opened up a notes app and started making a proper list of what I needed to buy.

Clothes and toiletries were top of the list, followed by make-up. I really wanted to get my ears pierced too, and maybe get some pretty jewelry or something, but I put that at a lower priority since I wasn't sure how far my cash would go and I didn't want to run out. From what Eva said I had to last a week, and that included buying meals.

Once I had a list made I spent another few minutes coming up with a passable budget. I had a rough idea what dinners were going to cost me if I stuck to the nearby restaurants, and I could fill up on free breakfasts so I didn't need to worry about lunch. Then I worked out what I could afford in terms of clothes and the other necessities. And with that number in mind, I did some searching to figure out where I should go tomorrow to do my shopping.

I actually ended up spending almost two full hours browsing clothes online, just to get a feel for styles and selection. It was pretty wild, imagining what my cute new body would look like in different outfits.

When I got tired of that I spent some time on social media before I was finally ready to call it a night. I stripped out of my new clothes, used the washroom, then slipped into bed.

My first day as Lexi was kind of short, from about four in the afternoon till around midnight, but it was exciting. And it ended almost the same way it started, with more groping and self-exploration as soon as I was under the covers.

Day two of being Lexi got off to a slow start. I slept in, then my first shower in my new body ended up taking a lot longer than expected when it turned out to be another perfect opportunity to familiarize myself with my new body.

Ok maybe that wasn't unexpected, but it was absolutely awesome. Not so awesome was getting down to the free breakfast buffet at eleven and finding out it closed at ten.

Fortunately I had a back-up plan, in the form of cold pad Thai and warm soda in my hotel room. I made a mental note for tomorrow morning, that I'd get up and get food by nine, then I could go back to my room to shower after I'd eaten.

Anyways the food was ok and it would have gone to waste if I'd left it much longer regardless, so it all worked out in the end. It was right around noon when I finally ventured out of the hotel once again, on a mission to do some proper shopping.

Thanks to last night's research and the map app on my new phone I knew where I was going and how to get there. I found the Tube station easily enough, and discovered Eva put a hundred pounds on my new Oyster card, so I was probably all set for a while.

The actual expedition was equal parts fun, exciting, and tiring. The only bad part was when I realized that my cute girl body also came with cute girl levels of strength. Or in other words, I couldn't carry as much crap as before. That and the budget I'd set for myself meant my big shopping trip was over after only a few hours.

By the time I got back to my hotel room my arms were kind of tired, so were my feet. But I could ignore that as I distracted myself by getting all my new purchases out so I could start organizing them.

With everything spread out on my bed I was left grinning as my new aesthetic became kind of clear. Cutesy-goth seemed to be the best way to describe it. Lots of black but also lots of pink. Bows and hearts, but also skulls. Like my phone case actually. It was good. And it was me.

In addition to all the clothes I also got the other stuff I needed, like a brush, toothbrush, some hair ties since as much as I loved my long blonde hair I really wasn't used to it blowing into my face and stuff. And I got a backpack so I could pack all my new stuff up when it was time to leave the hotel.

For dinner I got a couple slices and a beer at a little pizza place near the hotel. While I was there I got chatted-up by some local guy, but he left me alone when I told him I wasn't interested.

After that I was back at the hotel again, and my second day as Lexi ended pretty much the same as day one.