Colin spent the next few hours in the hospital, enduring a bunch of tests and needles. She wasn’t exactly sure what to feel, as she processed the changes to her new body. A female body, with the wings and talons of a bird… what most would accept as a ‘harpy’. The whole thing seemed like a bad dream. She looked at her arms, spread outwards on the sides of the bed. Twitching what she though of as ‘fingers’ seemed to raise and lower certain feathers. They were… large shiny black feathers, that could only belong to a raven perhaps if not for the size.
Then came the questions…
How did it happen? What was she doing? Where was she? Did she talk to anyone? Did she eat anything weird? Aliens? A strange chemical leak from a power plant? Divine intervention?
Colin just shook her head. She didn’t do anything for this to happen as far as she knew. She didn’t even know this ‘could’ happen to anyone. The whole thing was absurd. She was now a bird girl… a weird… thing! She was something that shouldn’t really exist, except maybe in a story of Greek Legend. Not that she knew much of such stories, and she didn’t think she had any Greek ancestry in her- would that even explain it?
She felt very anxious in the hospital room when left alone, glancing down awkwardly at the curves of her new breasts. It wasn’t like they were all ‘that big’ but they were certainly there… propping up her hospital gown.
For a while Colin wondered how her friends would react to this. She just had one or two… but they probably wouldn’t want anything more to do with him now. She had few hobbies aside from video games- which she guessed would be ‘impossible’ now with wings… that probably hurt the most. She just wanted to play her games again… to take all this out of her mind. Yet her new body configuration denied such a simple pleasure.
With summer holidays coming up, it wasn’t like she had any plans.
The doctor had sat by her side and took some notes. The elder man was sympathetic in tone though naturally curious. “So, tell me again Colin… where were you when this happened?”
The bird teenager felt her talons clenching under the covers. Lying in bed was more for their benefit then her own, perhaps to not look at her strange ‘deformed body’. She recanted her story. “I- I was at PE…”
She explained how she had gone to PE… and as always, she was the first to change into her kit and start warming up jogs on the track. At some point she tripped while running on the tracks. She wasn’t even sure if she changed before or after the fall.
“What did you trip over?” The doctor asked.
“I… don’t remember…” Collin thought.
“Hm. Did you… feel it happen? Did it start anywhere in particular?” the doctor leaned closer in concern at the girl’s expression. He wasn’t too sure how to approach this… was it a traumatic experience? Well- perhaps a silly question… why wouldn’t it be? Though there were different grades of trauma. However if the transformation started at a part of the body, then that might indicate an agent of sorts at work and a place to start
Colin thought of that moment to answer his question. That strange moment when she became a harpy. “It- It was too quick…” that was actually off putting, the more she thought of it. It was … so ‘instant’… The teenager didn’t have time to ‘see’ the growth of feathers on his arms, but she did feel the odd resistance of the air after the fact, and acute… sensations of her new gender.
It was like reality had simply ‘glitched’ and she was now in this new strange body. The strange feeling of the air ticking her new breasts… her longer hair, feminine features… but also large talons for feet and wings instead of arms. “People then ran away from me. That was when I realised I- I had turned into a monster…” Colin felt tears in her eyes. “My gym clothes were gone. A teacher put a towel around me and- I was brought here…” She tried to wipe her eyes, bringing some of her feathers around her face.
“Well, I don’t think you’re a monster Colin,” said the doctor. “Trust me, I have seen some horrific accidents. You are far from that. It’s just very… strange.”
Colin knew he was right. The teenager didn’t want to feel sorry for herself, but it was a difficult emotion to get passed. She felt confused, angry and just didn’t know how to react. She stared down at her body… was she really going to live like this?
“I’ll arrange for a psychologist to help sort out these feelings, okay?” Said the Doctor. “In the meantime… I’ll… uh, see how your tests are doing.” The doctor go up from the chair, pondering this strange medical marvel.
Colin started to get out of the bed, resting her talons on the floor. “So… can I go?” There was literally no point being here… and she was just wasting a valuable bed for someone that might actually need it.
“Uh… Well, you don’t appear to be contagious… at least by anything I can measure. So, I see no reason to keep you in… just take it easy for a while.”
With the strange situation, the doctor mulled over his notes. He also looked at the writings of everyone else and discovered a strange… ‘change’ in the general tone. Gone was surprise shock fear and concern beyond what one might consider ‘normal’ for any medical profession. Everyone just… seemed to be accepting it was a new form of ‘chicken pox’… with common sense having flown the coop- so to speak. There were even papers on the internet detailing such ‘rare’ cases dated in the past. Just like that, chicken pox could cause transformation into a harpy.
“Hm… why are people forgetting that this is strange…” Perhaps someone was making sure the teenager didn’t end up a laboratory experiment. Well, he was grateful for that… Colin should lead the best live she could under the circumstances, but the old doctor wished he didn’t forget-
‘If you choose to remember… you invite change in your life…’
“Huh?” Was that a thought in his head, or a voice in the room? It seemed Dr Taenia had to choose if he really was to retire or not…
He sat on his chair, carefully debating the offer before him.
Colin was starting to get ready to leave the hospital. The whole ‘thing’ had been a waste of time and she just wanted to go back home now. She looked down at her winged arms… dwelling on what to do now. She was more worried about the ‘bird’ thing and had yet to really focus on the ‘girl’ aspect of her transformation. She could have probably handled one or the other, but both combined? She had yet to go to the bathroom… did Harpies not need to go as often?
She had got up, stretching her new body, fanning her new tail feathers…
“Colin?” A voice called. She was young woman, though clearly approaching middle-aged with a little bit of a wrinkle on her brow and soft blonde hair. She looked a little cautious on what she was seeing, and that reaction was something the new bird girl had to get used to. It looked like she had almost given her own mother a heart attack.
“Mom?” The bird girl gasped. “Um… Hi…” she waved with her dark black wing softly. Soon her father followed, having got slightly lost in the ward. “Hey there,” He said. The three shared a look at the other.
“Don’t worry son, Birds of a feather stick together.” Mr Flint said.
“Dad!” Colin gave an exasperated chuckle. Though it was enough to break the ice a bit.
“Let’s get out of here,” his father insisted anxiously glancing around. “Never liked hospitals.”
Her mom and dad had brought some clothes, though neither thought to provide a bra… not that she needed it. Her chest felt oddly ‘springy’ there, a little unnaturally so. Not that she would know what was normal or not… but she didn’t feel any discomfort.
Sliding her wings through a T-shirt was an… odd experience. The tail feathers made wearing loose pants a little odd. When the pants got torn though with her talons, she saw her mom get paralysed in fear for a second.
“It’s… really me mom.” Did her mom really think she would hurt someone? Hurt... her?
Her mother gave a guilty look at Colins assurance. “I know. It’s just… uh… your claws are so … big. I just wasn’t expecting that.” She glanced to Colin’s father, who simply shrugged at it. Maybe it was an instinct? Nobody thought birds were that ‘scary’… but to see one that was the size of a human? It was hard not to feel like a mouse.
Colin glanced down at her talons. Were they really that scary? She grasped at the air between them, feeling them move awkwardly. It was strange to have a grasping appendage where her feet should be. “Let’s… just go home.”
As they left though, something gently appeared beside Colin’s bedside. A simple book titled… “Harpy Handbook Volume 1.” Unfortunately, this was unnoticed and left behind.
