Scott and Katie’s Apartment
December 22, 2012
8:02 AM
It was real. It felt too real to be a dream. There was no reason to deny that the pain and misery inflicted on my body that night were real. The pain…
I had to see if I had eaten anything moldy from the fridge that would have contributed to the dream. Why was I thinking that? It was like my mind was spent trying to figure out what was real and what was not. The unknown sensations made all the different thoughts hard to process as I slept. All at once my brain just said, “screw it,” and accepted it. I didn’t strangely.
I was the first to wake up; I was lying down on my back. Taking in a slow breath, I caught a whiff of the Old Spice on Scott’s thick fleece blanket. It was covering my face and I enjoyed it. I moaned a little and quivered, then realized that I was also under the bed’s blankets.
Wait. That doesn’t make sense, I thought. I was on my face when I went out. Who tucked me in?
With little strength, I raised my hands to my face and opened my eyes to the darkness. I pulled down the blanket with little effort and looked up at the bedroom’s ceiling fan with clouded vision. I stopped moving and my heart sped up when I heard a gasp.
“Ms. Walsh is awake.” The woman’s voice sounded tired at first but quickly became alert and shaky, scared maybe. I didn’t like it. I shuddered and yelped feeling something… weird brush against my leg.
I pulled the blanket back over me when I remembered that I had been naked since last night, but I had reason to believe that somebody, meaning her, had handled me while I was unconscious. I could have screamed for that embarrassing ordeal, and then, remembering the transformation, that she had gotten a good look at me…
“Eh… go away,” I mumbled.
“Ms. Walsh, don’t be afraid, I’m here to help. I’m a nurse from the local hospital. The sheriff called me in to watch over you and Scott.” She spoke sincerely and low to me through the fabric. “Are you feeling any pain? Do you need any assistance?”
Before I stuck my hand out to shush her away, muffled flapping of wings came and a familiar voice spoke. “Nurse Whitman, we will be the judge of that. Fetch her some water.”
She shrieked and ran out, for both the following of orders or freaked out by talking animals, although they weren’t animals per se. The door closed.
“Katie, how are you feeling?” Arana spoke through the blanket with a level to not frighten me. I heard her land on the night stand next to me.
The thing under me moved again. As I fully woke up, I began to feel more sensations. With the foreign object under me it was hard not to squirm so pathetically.
“Katie, you need to speak. If not I’ll tell the sheriff and Mike to make you.”
I sighed and followed her words, not wanting any conflicts. I pulled down the blanket. Arana the hawk stood on the edge of the nightstand, her sharp talons digging into the wood. My eyes cleared up but saw something rather strange within Arana’s eyes. Her irises were glowing bright blue but still displayed great wisdom. How did she come here? Is that what happens when they appear in this world?
The nurse came back with a coffee cup of water. “Water,” it came out of my mouth a raspy whisper rather than normal speech. She fed me very carefully, but I caught her looking at the sides of my head. She must’ve had a long night from the look of the deep bags under her eyes, and her unkempt blond hair. I took the cup into my hands and drank the rest, already feeling better from the ice cold water.
Arana nodded and looked away, “Go tell Mike you oaf.”
“Okay,” a second voice said, it was definitely male but I couldn’t see where it came from. “Wait… I’m not an oaf.”
“Stop denying it and tell him.”
Mike came and walked to my side of the bed, “At least one is awake, I was beginning to worry.” I kept my head uncovered; I heard other voices at the door, but none I could pick out. Arana kept them out of the room so as to give us some space. I looked up at Mike and he looked like he hadn’t slept at all. His hair was pressed and oily and smelled odor from his day old uniform he still wore. He looked at me and gulped. “Geeze,” he whispered.
I said nothing.
Mike kept on staring at me and it made my body tense. He got the message and backed away. I looked at the bedroom door. A man dressed in a sheriff’s uniform stood next to the blond nurse, both differentiating in age. He had a short buzz cut with gray hair around his ears. The nurse was in hospital scrubs and had her hair cut short and pulled back with a headband. Both looked the same as Mike—scared. A brown and white husky stood next to the door with the same eyes as Arana’s. That must be Scott’s totem, I thought. Scott was still asleep and still completely covered by the blankets.
Then I felt really embarrassed, causing me to blush and pull up the blanket. “Leave us alone.”
“Miss,” said the sheriff. “You need to know what’s been happ…”
“Just go, all of you,” I interrupted harshly. “I need a moment.”
Arana repeated my words with sympathy and the sheriff agreed. “Let us know when you are ready to talk, miss.” They left including the dog, but Arana stayed to speak before leaving.
“Before you uncover your boyfriend, Katie, be prepared. You might not handle what happened to him,” she flew away. I almost got hit by her wing. She told the dog to close the door.
My stomach growled in the quiet of the bedroom. Sitting up I felt the thing move from my legs and plop behind me. Looking behind me, and yelping, I saw my tail, lined with the same armor plating as my arms and legs, batting slowly on the pillow. Strange sensation, that’s all I can say.
My head dipped and long hair fell over my eyes, scaring me a little. It went past my shoulders and stopped at the middle of my torso. I have never had long hair, it got in the way whenever I worked at the winery or played sports. I pushed back the hair and stopped to feel my ears. They were long, pointed, and extended to the back of my head like an elf’s, or for that matter, I am that elf, or whatever I was. They felt real, natural, and moved on their own. Something about it made me want to see the rest. I untangled myself and went straight for the door, locking it.
Taking in a long breath and exhaling slowly, I looked down at my naked body.
What I saw made me want to, but didn’t, scream my lights out and cause an avalanche. My arms and legs had armor plating around my shins and forearms. Three overlapping plates laid under my skin and, possibly part of my bones and muscles as natural bracers. I pressed on them and they felt firm, almost sponge or cartilage like. I looked at my tail and grabbed it, feeling the strength and grace of my new appendage. I tugged it, feeling it well attached to my spine. Again, weird sensation. Under the tail was smooth skin. I reached behind to feel the base and froze as the armor traveled from the base of the tail up and along my spine, stopping short of my neck.
“What am I?” I asked myself. I needed to see a mirror but it was in the bathroom. I glanced at the lump in the bed and Scott was still asleep. “What did Arana mean by be prepared?”
I had enough gawking at myself and grabbed my robe. Closing it with the belt, I didn’t count the tail as it pressed against the inside. I walked to Scott’s side of the bed, remembered Arana’s words, and slowly pulled to covers.
Scott’s head was first. Like me his black hair was past his shoulders and his elf ears stuck out like antennas in a mess of bed head. I blinked when I saw that his cheeks were thin, no pudginess, and his chin was better defined, even sharp. Pulling down more of the blanket, I dropped it just above his waist and stepped back. I cupped my mouth and whispered, “Good lord.”
When I touched him on the chest last night, I thought I was hallucinating. I saw the undeniable truth. Scott had the biggest of changes—all the body fat was gone, replaced by muscle, strong muscle. A six-pack. Thick biceps. Strong chest. I couldn’t remember the last time I had seen a strong man in person, and there I was, looking over my new and improved boyfriend.
Feeling turned on I shook my head and went back to business. I placed my hand on his shoulder and shook him, “Scott, wake up.” It only took a few shakes to open his eyes. He coughed for a second then face me. His eyes met mine.
“Morning,” he said, then it hit him. “Holy crap.”
He sat up and looked at himself, feeling himself. The hair was flung in every direction, but I noticed the rest of his body was hairless. He seemed to be taking it well, I had expected him to go off and faint. “And I thought it was all a bad nightmare.”
I nodded. “How are you feeling… besides the stomach?”
“Off the record,” he started, “I have no clue. My strength is bigger than before, and I have this to mess with my mind.” Scott grabbed his tail and shook it, then let go as it flapped against the pillow. “What do you think what happened since we… mutated, or something?”
“Beats me, the cop was gonna say something until I told him we need to be alone.”
Scott blinked. “A cop? Great, just what we need. Who else is here?”
“There’s a nurse from the hospital and Mike.”
“Mike stayed? Wow.” He combed back his hair to expose his ears, “What about Ashley?”
“Come to think of it I don’t know.” I looked at the closed door then back at Scott, “Come on, we can’t stay in here, they might knock any time.”
I felt disappointed when Scott told me to close my eyes. He was right, I had to for the sake of my well-being. We wouldn’t want me seeing him striking a pose, later finding myself on the floor with that image burned in my mind. Although, remembering his chest settled me a little, or nerved me. Just to be clear, I wasn’t feeling like myself. I opened my eyes when he said it was okay. He cursed that the robe didn’t fit him anymore, looking like an oversized trench coat.
Once we we’re mostly satisfied, Scott opened the door and I imagined the worst.
*****
To be honest, I didn’t want to talk to anybody, I just wanted to stay in the bedroom and freak out over my body, but Katie had a point. A cop was in the apartment; he can do almost anything for answers, maybe he could have put us in a jail cell for protection. What he would do considering our condition was unpredictable, if he wasn’t one of those guys. Even with that said, the tail kept bugging me. I was starved, a hell of a lot stronger, and I was afraid of going into a sprint. In my old body, I knew it from the toes to my hair. In this one, I couldn’t trust a single cell.
Why oh why there more people in the apartment was beyond me, Mike had some explaining to do.
I saw Mike, a middle aged sheriff with the disposition of a trained gunman and detective, and an aged nurse with blond hair. Mike looked at us with a half shocked expression on top of staying up all night I guessed. The others, however, were not taking it well. The nurse gulped loud enough to be heard and the sheriff tensed up.
At the dinner table were our totems. Keeji sat on the floor looking at us with his tongue hanging out, just like a real dog. The bird that was Katie’s totem, I suspected, had perched itself on a chair with a serious look in her glowing blue eyes. The eyes from both totems creeped me out and I wondered if they would ever stop glowing.
Ashley was nowhere, which begged the question as to what happened to her.
“Ah, hi,” I started. Everything felt wrong, including the focused eyes on us.
“Morning,” Mike said low.
Katie came close and I wrapped my arm over around her shoulders. “So, uh,” I said to Mike, “wanna explain why they are here and what happened last night?”
“I didn’t call them, he came.” Mike nudged his head to the sheriff, “And she came at his request. All three of us protected you guys until you woke up.”
I nodded, thanking him, then looked addressed the sheriff. “Sheriff, let me be the first to say that whatever you’re thinking, you won’t have any trouble with us. We are victims more than criminals. We still don’t know what really happened to us.”
“I’m aware of that, sir,” the sheriff said; he extended his hand to me. “Your… totems… briefed me. Name’s Sheriff Phil McDermit.” He was hesitant when mentioning the totems, the whole “not used to talking animals” feeling lingered. I shook his hand and introduced ourselves.
“And you?” Katie asked the nurse.
She gulped again, “Nurse Betty, Betty Whitman. I’ve been watching you and your boyfriend’s health since last night. I still can’t get over what has happened to you. From that much trauma I heard about, you two would’ve been vegetables.” She kept looking up and down us with less fear and more fascination.
“Join the club,” I added. Maybe she did. “And I guess you were the one that got us under the bed’s blankets?”
“Well, me and Mr. Sanders here, then spent the night watching the place. Perfect health I might add.” Betty looked at Mike and he nodded, “It seemed kind of pathetic to leave you two slumping like that.”
The sheriff cleared his throat. “So once you were settled, your... animal friends talked. Have to say that the bird is the most knowledgeable, although she was a few times hesitant on a couple of questions.” I turned to look at the bird, “I’m worried about the dog, he isn’t right.”
“I do have a name, officer, and its Arana,” she said, “Fifth time.” Keeji didn’t talk, he just stared at us with his tongue sticking out.
“Okay…” I paused, “Anything else?”
Mike scratched his head, “After you two went inside, the entire complex went into an uproar. People screaming, cars driving out to nowhere, and some just fainting in the middle of the road. Before I knew it they were having ideas that it was all a religious event, a bad one. I was about to kill somebody until Phil came.”
“I heard a gun go off.”
“That was me, sir, to break up the commotion on the stairs,” McDermit said, “Had to arrest a few.”
Katie came closer to me, getting a little too personal with my new chest, and Mike’s perspective wasn’t what she wanted to hear.
Closing my eyes and sighing was all that I could do to not go further imagining the fight, “But why haven’t you two acted like those afraid of us?”
“Because like you we’re scared too,” Betty said, “I mean you two are the first in a series of transformations, the only ones in the whole mountain, not to mention what’s happening down the hill. More are showing up by the minute. It’s a political and ethical mine field down there, you can’t even be safe in your own home, or worse, trust each other who has a tattoo or not. Other than that, I’m more interested about you Mr. Dunne. Mike told me you were overweight. There was a pile of body fat in the street and had to be thrown out. The smell made people sick.”
So that explains why I looked like I was throwing up?
“So no hack and slash sort of thing from you?” Katie asked.
Betty nodded.
McDermit shook his head, “Right now isn’t the time to start probing the couple, we already know a lot from the news. Mike told me what your goals are and I promised to keep you two safe as long as it takes.”
“Promised?” I asked, “Cops have hard times keeping promises from my view.”
“But old high school friends do.” With that Mike and McDermit performed a casual fist pump. Catching me off guard, I peered at Katie and she too looked lost. The cop went back to being professional.
Katie let go of me. “We need to get back to Temecula. That’s all we want right now.”
I nodded, “Oh, are the roads open now?”
McDermit placed both hands on his belt, his right hand resting too close to his sidearm. “I’m afraid not,” he said, “Caltranz is very adamant to keep the roads closed for in and out bound traffic until further notice. My superior at the department is on their side and tells us to not make any deals with concerned citizens. Airlift is not possible, the airport’s runway is damaged and the weather doesn’t seem to settle any time soon. Everybody is stuck here for the time being.”
“Wow, what about when they open?”
“By their clocks, tomorrow morning.”
Me and Katie exhaled in relief, but I had a thought, “Oh, right, we don’t have a car.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Mike said, “we’ll figure it out later.”
Nurse Betty, sounding friendlier, “Do you need me to check on your health?”
“Uh, some other time,” Katie said turning red, “I need to get rid of this extra hair and eat some food.”
“Can you give us a chance to be alone?” I asked the cop and the nurse.
They nodded and respectfully left, but I told Mike to stay. “We’ll be outside,” Betty said and the door closed. Mike folded his arms for being with us.
“Okay, Mike, spill it,” I said, “Where’s Ashley?”
His mouth quivered and he hesitated to speak. From that, I knew that something was wrong. “She’s at the house. I’d rather not talk about it.” His voice sounded depressed and his eyes looked down.
I was stunned by his reaction, it was the saddest I had ever seen him. The whole time we were talking, he had left Ashley out of the loop, and as we brought her up, he was uncomfortable. “What happened?”
“Like I said, not talking about it.” His voice sounded serious.
“Alright, I’m backing off.” I raised my hands up and felt my tail twitch under the robe. No chance changing a veteran’s mind.
To break the awkward silence, Katie said, “I need something to eat.”
I nodded and she dashed to the fridge.
“Guess I’ll leave you two alone for an hour,” Mike said, “I need to take care of some stuff back home.”
“Fair enough. Are you gonna be back? Better have answers when you do.” I asked.
Mike nodded.
“Also, care to do something for me?”
“Like what?”
I spread my arms out and looked down at my flat and fit body under the big robe, the sleeves falling farther down my arms. “Wanna hook me up with new clothes? I can pay you.”
And just like that he smiled, for the first time in the whole day. “Yeah, I’ll do that. No prob.” We shook hands and he went to the door but stopped to look back at us. “Stupid, almost forgot. I’m not to brag but Katie is in trouble.”
Katie turned from the open refrigerator grasping an apple, “What is it?”
Mike rubbed his chin, “This will be the death of me. Your parents called last night on your cell.” He bit his lip. “They know what happened last night. I told them everything.”
Katie’s eyes went wide, “Crap.”