Chapter 1: Can't take it.
I was human once. But I think we may all have been. Or maybe they were something else entirely. All I know was that I made a choice. One that shamed my mother and one that amazed everyone else that watched.
It began with blood. All good stories have to have a gory bit. Well this one has a few. This is just the first. I had been in a car crash. I did not know where I was. Hell, I think I may have had thirty or forty fingers at the time as well. It did not take long for me to work out where I was and what was going on. My arm was bleeding. All I could hear the attendants saying was ‘THE arm' this and ‘ARM' that. You would have thought the thing was not even attached to me.
To say the least they got me pretty damn pissed off.
"Get the fuck away from me!" I think I branded the brand name of my shoe into someone's forehead. After all, I did kick and thrash about a bit.
"Restrain him" they skipped the civil request and went straight to the restraints. How like hospital staff.
"Get the fuck away from arm!" the attendant trying to stitch up my arm stopped. At least he could hear. I was not too sure about the others though.
"What are you doing? You have to stop the bleeding!" screamed a doctor. As I thought. He had Adidas imprinted on his forehead along with some marks from my tread.
"His refusing our assistance. We can't do something against a patients will!" the doctor swore loudly.
"His just been in a car crash! He doesn't know what his saying," I laughed at the narrow-minded fool. He looked like he should have been in an old people's home anyway.
"Like hell Adidas face" one of the other nurses laughed and was met by a hard glare.
"So much for not knowing what he's saying," they mocked him. It only worsened his mood.
"Get the fuck away from me!" he finally got the message and stepped back. I mean it only took a foot to the face and a bit of yelling. But it seemed he could hear after all.
"Fine, bleed to death!" he snapped. I turned my nose up at him.
"It'd be my pleasure" I got up and went to walk out. At that cursed moment, my mother ran in. She had that ‘My poor baby!' look about her.
"Where are you going?" she asked as I walked past her. I half shrugged.
"Die in the gutter? Or maybe a gully. I hear they're all the trend at the moment" it was a shame I was only funny when my life was in the balance.
I was not two steps outside before he grabbed me. And of course, he grabbed my sore arm. He seemed to enjoy my colourful vocabulary. After all, he was greeted with ever curse word I knew.
"Aren't you a fiery one" he observed and pushed me to the ground.
"No wonder I could sense you half the world away. You're so hot headed that you should have burnt me from a mile back" I cradled my arm and glared up at him.
"This is Australia dumb ass. We use metric not imperial" he was forced to laugh.
"Sorry, from like three point six kilometres back" he had gotten the conversion wrong but I did not know the exact number off the top of my head either.
"Well anyway boy" he dragged me up by my arm and was met by more of my colourful vocabulary. Every hospital staff in the near vicinity had poured out of the hospital. My terrified yet pathetically useless mother was with them.
"My name is Kris!" I bit. I am sure he had wanted me too.
"And do I look like a give a shit?" he steadied me and dusted off my back. As to be expected, I punched him. Or rather, it felt like a punched a brick wall.
"I hope that hurt" I bit back tears.
"A little" I admitted. Everyone that had been watching took a few quick steps back. After all, I had just punched with all my strength and he had not budged an inch.
"Good. Now I have two questions. Your sexuality and the animal you'd most like to be" I was already aware that this guy was not normal. After all, he did say he had sensed me from half a world away and I was now inclined to believe him.
"Gay and read my mind" I was sure that he could. He shrugged and went to put a hand to my head but was interrupted by my mother's loud screech.
"You're gay!" she screamed. He looked annoyed.
"But I raised you so you wouldn't turn out that way" she screamed. If he had not been annoyed before he sure was now.
"Shut up you irritating, self centred bitch!" it was the first time I heard him raise his voice. I had to say, that even I was scared by him now.
"If there was an award for the worst mother on earth you would have had it for seventeen years running. Not only did your son pretty much raise himself but you can't even cook to save your life!" she went deathly quiet but her eyes told me that I was no longer her son. So lose.
"Any questions?" she shook her head. The initial shock had passed and she was back to cowering.
"I have one" and my fear had passed and had been replaced by curiosity.
"How did you know how old I was?" he smiled.
"Aren't you an interesting human? You have completely overlooked the one thing that holds the rest of them back. Maybe it wasn't your hot headedness that drew me to you" he put a hand to my and instantly I felt him peer into my mind. I had worked out the basics by his questions and the way he had called me human. Therefore, I showed him a single image.
"You're smarter than you look" he grinned. I was surprised he only grinned. After all, I had just shown him furry porn.
"I do believe I can accommodate that look" he offered me his hands and shut his eyes tight. Everyone watched silently as he began a low chant. I felt the words flowing into my mind and began to speak them as they did. It sounded surprisingly familiar to me.
"Do you agree to never try to return to this place?" that was a no-brainer.
"I agree" he nodded his head and released my hands. He slipped a hand into his pocket. It remerged with what looked like a few strands of dog hair.
"Your choice was a mongrel breed and these hairs are from the source breeds," he explained.
"Each hair will give you part of your knew appearance. However, for it work you must want it with every ounce of being. Heart, soul and flesh" he pressed the hairs into my hand. They felt heavier than any hair I had ever felt before. More like the weight of a chicken bone.
"And how the hell do I do that?" he shrugged. I had never known until that moment that my heart, soul and body were separate from one another. They felt like they were standing six feet apart. But all of them seemed to converge on me at that moment. All three agreeing with the current proposal.
I closed my hand tight and pressed it to my chest. He stepped back from me. I felt a stirring both deep inside of me and in my enclosed fist.
"No turning back now" he must have seen the hesitation that I felt. I nodded and allowed the sensation within me to grow and fill my body. My skin was both glowing and burning. I had hoped it would be painless. But it was agonizing.
I heard my bones crack and change shape. Small black nails tore through my fingernails and a tail forced it was out from my lower back. If I could have strangled him, I would have if I could have at that moment.
My jaw reshaped along with the rest of my head and my incessant cursing sounded more like growling. Somehow, it still sounded like English to me.
Fur quickly grew over my body and I was given the appearance I had requested. If only that was how it had ended. One part of my body was yet to change and with that, change came more agony that I had ever imagined possible. I dropped to the ground when that change took place.
He began to laugh. It was one of the sides splitting ‘someone just got kicked in the nuts' sort of laughs. I had wished it had only been that painful. I planted my paws between my legs and whimpered loudly as I rounded onto my feet. He was still laughing.
"Where the hell are my clothes gone?" I was glad I had pre-covered myself.
"They never survive the transformation" I noted the faces of the shocked masses. I had always hated being the centre of attention. It may have seemed like I loved it from the way I had previously acted. However, in truth I was naturally rather a reserved human. Not that I was human anymore either.
"Did you want to say goodbye?" I smiled widely.
"Bye Adidas face" he somehow forced a glare through his shock I smiled back. And with that, I was gone. Forever to be something I had never been before. To start a new life in a world that was unfamiliar and new to me.
A fresh start where I could forge a new and much better life for myself or perhaps it would not be. But that choice was now mine. Were it had not been before.