Jay was just finishing another news report, when her phone rang.
"Jay? This is Varris. I've been trying to contact Anderson all day about our new contract with your station. But he's not picking up."
"Oh?" the fox girl replied curiously. "I'm not familiar with this contract. What's going on?"
"It's about selling you satellite up time, and some new cameras. I know he was having a trial regarding some... unsavoury actions. But he was let off wasn't he?"
Jay sighed a little. "Well, yes..." Though to keep things civil, she couldn't really say much more. "I don't know where he is. Perhaps he is taking a day off. I believe Toby will fill his role from now on."
"Toby? But isn't he sick?"
"She's changed sir... much like me." What has Anderson been telling these people?
There was a pause on the phone. Jay wondered if this was yet another of Anderson's 'associates'. It would be like him to have a club of like minded people..
"I think I can manage," The voice said in the end. "I'll gladly talk to Toby. I just need to think on the best time. I am not a changed person, I hope you understand. It makes meetings a tricky situation. I hate to keep you up all night."
Jay smiled slightly. The voice seemed honest. Perhaps this will open up a few doors for Toby too. "Oh, we're flexible. Come down to the station after sundown, I'm sure we'll all welcome you."
"Thank you. It will be a pleasure to meet you all too."
Aneneza glided through the streets, above rooftops, side walks... the idea of walking on air, as she was might make some people envious of her, however she didn't feel happy at all. She practically exuded sadness on her every motion. She couldn't really move that high anyway, in case people decided to get a rather indecent look under her dress.
Finally she saw the street where her house was. For a moment she had actually not realised it was hers. It just didn't feel like it belonged to her any more. A stranger's house, with an alien atmosphere. Everything reminded her of just how different it all was. From the strange symbols on her door, to the smell itself... nothing made any sense any more.
Aneneza placed her keys in and entered the house. She studied the mushrooms wondering just how she was going to cook them? The hunger she had was making her feel almost ravenous. She boiled the water, and added the mushrooms. She had to wait a little, and added a few of the herbs she bought, stirring them carefully.
She took a little sip... yes. This was what she needed. She didn't know why she had such a strange desire for them, but it had to be satiated. She had a good hour before the food would be ready... what to do?
she took out a notepad, and started writing something.
Hello. My name is An- She scribbled it out. She knew she was writing in her new (or is that normal?) language. She was trying hard to write her name, but for some reason it wasn't working.
Aneneza she completed in the end.
So even writing was impaired... at least she imagined it must be, since what she wrote made perfect sense to her. She tried to experiment with various words, finding it strange. The writing complemented her way of 'thinking' if that were possible. It was evident something was off occasionally, when she remembered a word being one syllable suddenly becoming three syllables.
She glanced at her mushrooms as they bubbled away... the silence was killing her. She needed to do something! Something to take her mind off this. All she had was a piece of paper and her pen... she decided to try her hand at writing something more. She never considered herself poetic before, but she was poor at drawing... besides maybe it would help work out something about this language she had.
*Look at me I am flying
So it may seem to them
Far and away I drift
But the truth is I am falling
There is no up for me
Only different ways down
In such heavy gravity
Falling forever.*
Now she knew forever and gravity shouldn't rhyme... but to her they did? In fact, nothing in that actually rhymed! but it... did to her. This was so difficult to understand. She tapped the antenna on her head, and felt her head band... she was a freak.
A freak! freak freak Freak!
Unless she learned English again, she would lose her job. How long would it take to learn? A month? Or was she looking at years? But What else could she do? She got to work on her sign language cards, trying to work out what they might mean and scribbled it in her own language. It helped that they had the English on the top as well, so she 'might' be able to work out the english symbols again. There were only twenty six symbols. it was less then her language- she blinked. No! less then her real language- argh! Less then her old language.
She had to stop herself from thinking this was 'normal'.
Her mushrooms looked ready. she started to eat them very quickly.
Alex and Sally had gone quietly out of the empty classroom. "Stay away from that side Sis," he advised. The light was still streaming there. They acted like it was hot lava... giving it a lot more space then they probably would have needed to. Sally was practically leaning against the far wall.
Alex opened the door slowly, seeing the coast was clear. The halls had a few of the transformed students scattered about but he was confident they would go unnoticed from this point on.
"Bro? Wont they know that we're... normal?" Sally asked.
"They shouldn't do. They'll just think we changed in very small ways, or something. It has been known to happen," he said.
Sally nodded understanding that. "So, where are we going to go now? I'm kinda hungry," she said. She didn't actually pack that much food.
"Well, I think we should go to lunch with the other students. We'll blend in just fine... more or less. Just sit where I sit... there is a tiny bit of sunshine from one of the windows there."
Sally was quietly impressed by her brother. This took incredibly meticulous planning. She wasn't sure her brother was capable of it. She knew for certain Steven wasn't capable of it. Her doubts about Steven's story was growing. "Alex? I don't think Steve did this," she said. "He's just not that smart."
"I wouldn't be too sure... he's not dumb." But yes... punctuality wasn't his strong point. This needed a strong sense of timing... Still what other explanation could there be? He wondered what were the chances that a transformed student did what they were doing right now? Could Steven be... nah. That can't be right.
"Do you think they eat naked as well?" asked Sally.
"I don't know. Let's find out-" suddenly they bumped into Tiffany.
"Watch it!" She screamed at them.
Alex had never felt such palatable fear in his life. It might be because they were actually human, but they were feeling the dark energy around Tiffany far more then any of the changed.
"Leave him alone!" said Sally shoving Tiffany. She reacted rather aggressively to being scared, and it was enough to snap Alex out of it. He got in front of his sister, where Tiffany's long nails scratched along his cheek.
"Ah!" Alex yelled. The pain seared him for a moment.. he didn't even realise Tiffany had touched him.
Tiffany sneered at them both. "I bet you think you're so superior that you didn't change much. You two stay out of my way. I am not having a good day and I might just decide to make you pay for it!"
Alex rubbed his cheek... there didn't seem to be any blood. Though he did cringe when he realised a changed person did a lot more then touch him! Did that mean... No.. of course not. Besides as long as they avoided the sunlight it should be okay.
His sister was trying to run after Tiffany
"leave it Sally!" He said.
"But she- we have to do something!"
"We can't go to the teachers without exposing ourselves. Just leave it... we'll go to lunch. Stick to the plan" he said calmly.
Sally reluctantly nodded.
"Hello students. We have someone new in our class, I would like to present Jenny" The changed teacher spoke in a strong English accent. She was an odd transformee. A wolf of some kind, but it was certainly a very refined breed of one if that were possible. The glasses on her looked cute.
Everything in this school seemed so... new to Jenny. She wasn't sure what to say before the other students. "N-Nice to meet you," she said quietly doing a little curtsy as Muriel showed her how. This school valued polite well behaved students, and one of the reasons she was allowed here was because they told her she would be. She didn't want to make Muriel feel bad about her, not after all the trouble she caused for her.
She took her seat next to another girl. She appeared to be dressed as a witch. She had a black pointy hat on top of the normal uniform they wore. A male on the other side gave an indifferent look. He was a far different kind of change. Half his face was a sheen of metal. A cyborg...
"Today class we will be talking about the history of Law and Justice..."
That was a weird feeling, Jenny thought. Why did those words make her feel....
"I like your bracelet," The witch-girl said smiling.
"Oh- Um... T-thanks," Jenny said shyly.
This all felt so strange and uncomfortable to her. She felt like she didn't really belong here, but was that normal? She wished she could remember her parents...
