Chapter Text
You had been single for quite some time. Usually, you found that you were a very patient woman when it came to the dating scene, never rushing into anything and taking your time to build meaningful relationships with the people you liked. However, times had changed and you were beginning to feel desperate.
When you were younger, dating was never hard. So why did everything feel so different all of a sudden? Was it the fact you weren’t in school anymore? I mean, come on. You barely ever left your house unless it was for work as you preferred the solitary lifestyle but still! You didn’t think you were THAT unlovable. So why the hell wouldn’t anyone date you.
As you sat in your bed, your mind began to wonder as you considered all the factors for your single status. Eventually you came to a determined conclusion that it in fact wasn’t your own fault that you had ended up single despite your killer looks (which you were determined to convince yourself into believing), and unique personality. It instead was that due to the location of your new housing and the influence of social media on society, that was why you were having absolutely zero luck getting a boyfriend.
As any other independent woman would, you decide to pick up your phone and... download a dating app. God damn it ____! You were supposed to defy social norms and beat the patriarchal society that makes men believe that any woman they see online looks exactly how women in real life do, not follow the herd. But alas society wins this time as your finger presses the download button for Tinder. You contemplated downloading dating apps for a long time after seeing the reviews and the creepy dating stories on YouTube when you were scrolling for something to watch late at night. Maybe you had lost your senses, I mean desperation and human contact wasn’t worth risking your safety for, was it?
Thoughts ran through your mind at a million miles an hour. What were you doing? Who’s even on these dating apps? Would someone kidnap you and wear your skin as a suit? Completely engulfed in your own worry, you only snapped out of it when the hot pink and orange ombre background with the iconic white flame popped onto your screen. You successfully downloaded Tinder. The mental barrier had finally been overcome so at least the hard part was over. Now all you had to do was create a profile and upload some photos of yourself, so people knew what they were getting into.
The hardest part of creating your profile was definitely the description. Compared to the other important parts of profile making, the description is what really persuades people into swiping right on your profile. For your username, you just put your name and for your profile picture you just put a picture of yourself, simple. right? You stared at the description box for some time wracking your head with ideas on what to put. Obviously, you put your age, sex, and location in but what else could you put in that would really set you aside from the other contenders without making you seem too needy?
This whole process made you feel nervous. Logically, you knew that you were safe and that a simple description fill was nothing to get antsy over, but your body on the other hand was convinced that this was a danger to you. Your stomach began to create waves of discomfort in your stomach and the nausea set in making you feel under the weather. Despite wanting to immediately match with someone, you understood that forcing yourself into doing this was not good for your own sanity, so you decided to take a break from that.
Swiping Tinder away from your open apps, you click on Spotify and put on some instrumental music. Usually this wasn’t your go-to playlist but whenever you were stressed and needed something relaxing without being too stimulating, this was the playlist just for that. As you look around you, you take notice of the room surrounding you as you lay on your bed. Every piece of your room is a part of who you are, whether it's from your past, present, or future. They are all fractions of the person you are, from your memories to your hobbies, and even dreams you hope to achieve. Fortunately for you, this calms down your anxious mind and eventually lulls it into a peaceful slumber.
During your sleep you dream of your life, specifically the early years of your development. Your childhood. You knew the memories in this stage were crucial to your development into who you are today, and one particular memory seals that belief. You were around the age of 10 at the time, and you were walking home from school when you could hear a faint mewl coming from a tree nearby. When you looked up, you were surprised to see a cat that had gotten stuck in a tree after climbing too high. Your heart thumped as you could imagine how the poor cat was feeling; it was absolutely petrified. You looked around but nobody was around to help, so you took the initiative to carefully make your way up the tree. Despite your own fear, you pushed your feelings aside and slowly but surely wormed your way up to the top of the tree where the cat was located. You succeeded in calming the cat down enough for you to grab it by its neck and descended the tree before allowing the cat to run off. You had learned a very important detail about yourself in the process too. Even though you were scared yourself, you managed to help another creature and showed how willing you were to do it.