The New Flu

In recent years, the world barely had time to recover between outbreaks. First it was the avian flu, then swine flu… and now, something people had started calling “the gender flu.” It wasn’t an official term, but it caught on — because that’s exactly what it did: it altered a person’s biological sex, permanently. Raymond was one of the many who got infected, and like so many others, his life was completely turned upside down. When the symptoms passed, the mirror reflected a new reality: a female body, soft curves where there had once been sharp edges, a gentle voice replacing his deep tone. At first, it felt like grief — not just for the body he’d lost, but for the sense of control, the stability of self. And then came the harshest news: scientists revealed that once the transformation took place, the body developed strong antibodies. Reinfection — and therefore reversal — was impossible. This was his new normal. The world went into quarantine again. Research teams worked nonstop, th...