the Field
The sound of birds singing rang in your ears and your jumped to your feet. Were you dreaming?
You took a deep breath. The air was fresh and the breeze was comfortable. If only for a fleeting second, you thought that it had all been no more than a nightmare.
But then, you looked at your hands. They were shaped like a human's, but covered in fur and had claws. You ran to the nearest patch of greenish light that filtered through the trees and looked down.
You wore no clothes, but your body was covered in fur. Your feet were entirely different, now resembling a cat's paws. You touched your furry chest and felt strange humps that had never been there before. When you squeezed, you realized that these were not just humps of flesh, but breasts.
You placed your hands on your head--your ears had completely morphed as well, into two catlike ears. Your senses were much keener than before; you could pick up on the smallest sounds, sights and movements of the brush. When you felt around your lower back, you found a tail, long and white with black stripes.
You took a step forward and froze. This body was not your own... or was it? Had you really been changed into...this? Something between a human and an animal, and not a male...but a female?
You began to wander through the forest, becoming more and more aware of this strange new body. With every motion you felt the humps on your chest move slightly and it confused you. You kept walking for a long, long time. At least, perhaps, you were free...even if you were trapped in this new form.
But what would you do now? You didn't know where you were...and it was impossible to return to your own life. Where would you go?
Anywhere. Anywhere but THERE. You wanted to get away from those lunatics, but first you had to figure out where you were now.
You were smart enough to know that there was no way they had just dropped you off in some friendly forest to let you free. You were their experiment, not their friend. They did this to you, and you wanted revenge...but more than that, you just wanted freedom.
And so you ran. You ran and ran and ran until finally, you heard voices in the distance. One of them sounded like Tanya, but the others were unfamiliar. You soon found yourself in a sunny clearing and saw several cat-people standing in a circle, talking. One was Tanya the orange tabby, another was an unfamiliar black panther and the last one was a short, bow-legged Persian.
You hid in the brush and listened to their conversation--it seemed that they were arguing.
"We can't run away," said Tanya. "They take care of us. This is Arcadia. We want for nothing. How could you want to escape?"
"Tanya's right," said the black panther in a deep, male voice. "We should accept our new life."
"You're BOTH crazy!" hissed the Persian in a high-pitched female voice. "Don't you want your REAL lives back!? To hell with you both. Sit around coughing up furballs forever, but I REMEMBER who I am supposed to be!"
The Persian female stomped off.
Written by Merieth on 25 March 2018