Changes Abound Ch: 1 Awakening The alarm clock blares it's chime at 7:30 A.M.. Grumbling in a slight daze, I reach out to slap the snooze button and startle myself when I hear a crunching noise from the clock. I look over at it blearily and see it crushed into small bits. I shake my head, still feeling fuzzy. I throw the covers off and go to climb out of bed, my feet hit the floor faster than I was expecting and I topple to the floor and falling forward to hit my head against the wall. Placing my hand to my head and shaking it to try and clear the odd fuzzy feeling Id' had since I waoke up, I open my eyes to look around. Not being able to see much without my glass, I reach outt o the side table next to my be3d, I try putting them on. Something about my glasses wasn't right since I couldn't get them on my face. After a few unsucessful attempts of putting them on, I place them back down on the table and try getting up from the floor. I make it to one foot, but fall over almost instantly when I place my other foot beneath me. “What in the world is going on?” I ask myself as I fall back to the floor. I lay there for a moment then slowly crawl over to the closest wall, and bracing myself, I was finally able to get to my feet. Albeit really unsteadily though. I look around the room and see nothing unusual amiss. I happen to glance at the floor length wall mirrror in my room and stare. I could see a massive hazy white image in the reflection. Using the wall as a support mechanism, I walk myselfr over to the mirror. I squint my eyes to improve my poor vision slightly and I suddenly scream out. But what happens isn't a scream. I end up giving a full throated bellow, since what stared back at me from the mirror was a huge Polar Bear. I fall back against the wall and crumple to the floor, shaking in pure terror. “This can't be happening. I went to bed human and wake up as an animal. I start to giggle a bit wildly as panic sets in. “I know. It's a joke. Yeah that's it. A joke. Someone came and glued this suit on me and forgot to use regular glue.” Slowly wobbling to my feet again, I try leaving my bedroom which as a human would be easy. My new form as a silvery white furred Polar Bear was far bigger than I was as a human. I was forced to turn to my side to squeeze through the now to small opening of my bedroom door. Heading into the kitchen, I fumble with the drawers in the kitchen and eventually get the silverware drawer open. I pull out a steak knife and placing it against my arm, try cutting the suit off. “OUCH!” I scream as I drop the knife, blood welling up from the wound in my arm where I had cut myself. Staring at the blood oozing down my arm, realization starts to finally start sinking in. Somehow, while I had slept, I'd been turned into my sona. Reaching into another cabinet in my kitchen, I pull out my first aid kit and fumbling with my new paws rather than hands I finally am abl;e to wrap up my arm. I lean against the counter and place my head in my front paws. “Think, think, think. What did you do last night that could have caused this?” I replay everything thqat had happened yesterday over in my head. I do this several times in fact to make sure I remembered everythiung from yesterday. But after replaying everything over in my mind, I couldn't find nothing i'd done differently. Sighing in frustration, I head into the living room and flop down onto my couch. The sudden slamming of my new body into the couch causes the legs on it to snap and the couch crashes to the floor. I sit there stupidly for several minutes then begin sobbing. I cry for almost a good ten minutes before getting myself under control. Grabbing the remot clumsily, it takes me a few tries but I eventually get the tv turned on. Using the very tip of my lcawed fingers now, I press the buttons as lightly as I can until I get the CNN channel. Everything seems fine with the usual reports of highway traffic, wheather and crime. The cameraman pans back to the reporter behind the desk. “In other news today, there seems to be an odd sickness going around. Or maybe it's not a sickness but some form of sudden mutation. There have been growing reports of people waking up to find that they've been turned into some animal or monster. There have been no reports of injury or violence, but sources are saying that it has something to do with some kind of interstellar explosion that happened close to the planet last night. Reports are still flooding in as more and more people are waking up to find they've been altered by this starnge occurance. We will report more on this subject as the matter unfolds.”. I quickly turn the tv off and toss the remote aside. “Well at least I'm not the only one this is happening to.” Climbing slowlay to my feet again, which was getting easier now that I was getting accustomeed to my new stance and body, I slowly walk back to the kitchen, and out of nowhere a siren five streets down begins blaring loudly. I place my paws over my ears and wait for the noise to go away. I shake my head to try and dispell the painful feeling from the siren going off. “Now I know what a dog feels like when a cop car goes racing by with it's sirens blaring.” I shake my head again And carefully opening the fod pantry, I pull out a box of my favorite cereal and pour a bowl. I look down into the bowl and frown. Looking at the cereal laying there didn't seem to peak my interest anymore. Pouring the cereal back into the box and placing it back inside the pantry and look in the fridge. The first thing my eyes lay upon was a thick three lb T-Bone Steak. I reach in and pull it out. Looking down at it, I began salivating badly. I bring it up to my muzzle and sniff deeply. The smell of day old blood in the meat seemed to make my sailvating more pronounced as I set it against my tongue and bite a huge chunk off. It takes me swallowing the raw meat before I realize what I'd just done. My eyes open wide in disbelief and I pull the steak away from my face, looking down at it as if it had been the cause of what I was doing rather than the new instincts for food swirling within me. With a big effort, I put the steak back onto the plate and wrapping it back up, I put it in the freezer for later. Looking around in the fridge again, I happen to see stuff for a salad. Grabbing what I wanted, I put it all on the counter and grab a knife. I immedieately see the problem with me using a knife in my new form. Very unsure of how my muscles worked in this body, it took me almost amn hour to make a salad where before it would have only taken me a few short minutes. By the time I was done making it, I was so exhausted that I left the itchen a literal mess as I went back into the living room and flipping the TV on to one of my favborite channels, I watch an anime as I eat the salad. For some reason, in this new body I now had, vegetables seemed to have a far crisper taste and much more fl;avor and texture than before. Before I kenw it, I was licking the bbowl clean of dressing and carefully getting back to my feet I head into the kitchen and cleaning up the mess i'd made of it, I put the dishes away and head back into the living room. Before I could set back down on the couch, I got a real powerful urge to scratch my back. An itch building so quickly it drove me to distraction. My kitchen entrance was perfect for what I needed. Walking over to it, I place the middle of my back against the corner of the doorway ahnd sliding and shjimmying from side to side, I give myself for what I felt was the most luxurious back scratch I'd ever had. Not even the old wooden back scratcher I had could compare to how good this felt. Losing track of what I was doing I end up toppling over and crashing to the floor. I sit up slowly and begin laughing at the incongruity of the situation. My laughter was so loud the neighbor down the hall walks to my door and knocks lightly. “Everything in there okay with you Gerald? Sounded like you were having a real good time just now.” I chuckle and walk to the door, pausing before I let my paw settle back to my side, afraid of how my neighbor would react if they saw me in my new body. I try to ligthen my voice as much as I could but only getting it up to a very light bass rumble. “I'm okay. Just happened to see something really funny on TV a moment ago.” There was a pregnant silence on the other side of the door for a few seconds. “You okay? You sound real sick. Want me to go get a batch of the local soup from the shop down the road?” I stay quiet only for a few seconds. “Sure. Just leave it outside and kncok when you get back. I don't want you catching what I goty okay?” “Sure. If you need anything just let me know.” And with that, I could hear my neighbor heading back to his room. I head back to my bedroom and lay down on my flattened matress. I grab my glasses and being careful not to snap the metal, I very slowly bend the metal straight before p[utting a slight curve at the very end of the ear bars. Placing them gently on my nose and looking into the wall mirror I isgh in releif. “Well at least that part of me hasn't changed.” I was able to wear my glasses but they weren't balanced to well on my muzzle. I starighten them to my new face slowly over the next few hours till they felt almost natural again. After that, I set about my apartment, tossing the broken bits of wood fropm my bed and couch out the window and down into the dumpster in the alley, being careful to not let others see me from on the street. Closing the window after finishing that, I draw the curtains and tie the bottoms together to keep them drawn. I then move stuff up until evening to help acclimate myself to my new body. Getting more and more used to hwo it worked as time wore on. By the time the sun was setting on the horizon. I had drawn one curtain back in the apartment to watch people down in the strreets. Seeing others in their new animal or mosnter forms already mingling with the humans who hadn't turned. My ears flick to my door as I hear someone inserting a key into the lock. I begin panicking, wondering who besides the landlord had a key to my place. I duck down behind my busted couch which did little to hide the huge white bear I had becom from whomever was trying to get in. I watch in some fear as the door slowly begins swinging open. My room neighbor who had spoken earlier walks in holding the carton of soup he said he'd get for me. Since I had the lights off to keep it dark in my apartment, he had a bit of trouble spotting me byt the couch. I debated whether showing myself to him or not. He took that problem away from em as he reached over and flipped the lights on. I blink and try hunkering down behind the couch more. My neighbor blinks at me in surprise and to my utter bewilderment, he simply shrugs and sets the carton of soup down on the counter in the kitchen. “Should have known this is what happened to you. You're NEVER this quiet in the morning you're usually neck deep in some FPS or RPG and making a bit of racket as a result.” Out of sheer reflex I retort back. “I ain't thqat loud. Your parties have woken the entire building on occasion.” My friend laughs and nods. “True. So we're both equally guilty of being loud. And what I said earlier holds true. Now more than before though. If you need help with anything and I do mean anything, just come get me and I'll do my best to help.” I smile at him as he slowly closes the door. Before he could close it completely I smile at him and say, “I'll do that. Thanks for not freaking out dude.” I see his crooked smile right before the door shuts on him. I was left sitting there with a crooked smile on my muzzle. “I guess this isn't going to be so bad after all.” I say to myself as I head into the kitchen to eat my impromptu meal of soup.