This is such a sweet comment, thank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed the game, especially enough to come back to it.
To answer your questions, the "head for the hills" option is locked behind life seven or eight (I'd have to go glance at the code to check which); I wanted a buffer to let the protagonist get properly exhausted/done before that option appeared.
There isn't a way right now to change your gender throughout the gameplay, but it's a great idea. If I ever do a version 2.0 for Stay?, that would be a good add!