STAY STILL
Sighing, you step backwards, and slump into one of the chairs – having to be careful not to sit on your newfound tail.
What mess have I gotten myself into. The seat was cold, but sitting helped your head stop spinning enough for you to set
your jaw and make a decision. There didn't seem to be a reason for you to believe that there was anything wrong going on
here, and it wasn't as if trying to escape would improve the chances of the creature, person - whatever it was – remaining
in a friendly state for now.
You sit there sunk in your own thoughts and trying to gather your bearings for some minutes, hoping that the distraction
will reduce the beating of your heart, and the stress of the bizarre, supernatural situation. In this way, it isn't long at all
until footsteps come again, and you stand to the door opening once more. There are two of them, this time, and though
they were dressed in the same black jumpsuits and with the exception of a few differences in their relatively generic and
less than noteworthy faces completely identically, you reckoned the one standing to the rightmost to be that which had
originally come to you, and it was this creature that nodded his head in acknowledgement of your presence. “Come forth
again.”
Already standing, you step forward as the two turn and lead you on, back down the corridor. This time, however, there is
not much walking to be had, as before ten seconds pass, all the two creatures stop before one of the smaller, branching
doors to the side of the passageway, and press the panel beside it to open the door beyond – entering without even turning
to you, this time.
Following after, you soon see that this room is the most distinguishable from the rest of what you had seen in this strange
place yet.
The surfaces are made of a different, darker material – more sheer black than those outside – and the walls are almost
completely covered with monitors and screens of varying sizes, flashing between indistinguishable screens of data and
diagrams you cannot hope to even grasp the purpose of. In the place of tables and chairs, this space contains only one seat
– a long, black, laid-back one that reminds you of a dentists' chair – and no surfaces but for a white, metal desk on wheels
that shelve a few monitors of its own, as well as tray after tray of what looked like medical equipment – giving your heart
the greatest start yet, and freezing your feet there in the doorway.
Calmly – almost too calmly – one of the figures turns about, while the other continues to the desk. It seems to notice your
hesitation, as it reaches promptly to it's side and produces the sleek black weapon that you had seen earlier, and brandishes
it against its chest, threat clear, and insistence silent and gently forbidding. “Lay down.”
Your breath hitches in your throat, and for a long moment, you cannot move, even if you knew in which direction you
wanted to – back out the door where you had come, to make a run for it, or to comply with the insistence of the creature
before you instead, and get into the chair. The creature which had gone over to the computer seems entirely engrossed
with whatever it was causing the lights to flicker rapidly upon it's plain, pale face, which reassured you by way of the fact
that he had not gone to prepare any of the medical equipment. For now, at least.
Slowly, each step seeming to fight against your instinct to flee, you approach the chair, and settle yourself onto and then
back into it with unsteady hands. Approaching thereafter, the creature – which you now recognised once more as the one
who had greeted you – returns its weapon to its hip, and produces another as your head meets the black cushion on the
back of the chair. It is more square and short than the large one, and has an end not at all that different from the mouth of a
grocery market scanner. Nearing your side, the creature raises the instrument with a level of calm precision you had yet to
see in a doctor. “This will not hurt. Remain still.”
Closing your eyes, and practically quaking in fear, you remain stationary as the creature approaches, and brushes the
device up against the side of your head. The sensation causes you to blink... However, when your eyes open once more,
everything has changed, and you find yourself glancing to and fro with confusion. What just happened? Have I blacked
out again? Has everything changed, and do I have some other body?
Thankfully, as you frantically glance down and around, you find that at least outwardly your form seems to appear much
like you first saw it – though it was among one of the only things that remained unaltered. The positions of everything
about the room have changed – the medical-seeming table is much closer to the chair than it had been earlier, the first
creature from earlier is nowhere to be seen, and, most prominently, the second is standing directly above you – glancing
down with a complete lack of expression upon its face. “Fortune smiles today. You are one of the stable ones.”
“Stable?” You rasp, looking straight up at it in shock, not realizing before doing so that it was the first time that you had
spoken or made a true noise since all this madness had begun. Your voice is strangely unfamiliar to your own ears, when it
comes – sounding as though you hadn't spoken in days, if not longer.
The corner of the creature's lip quirks, almost as if expressing the slightest of smiles. “Stable. You are a satisfactory
specimen.”
Sitting up and standing from the chair, you glance over to the table with the computers, where a small operating mirror is
facing outward - giving you an uncomfortably accurate view of your own beastly, foreign visage. This body... was
completely alien to you. You had never seen anything like it, and you had never wanted to either. It felt so strange about
you, so strange to use, and yet it was certainly your own flesh, there was no questioning the fact. “I... I don't understand.
Why do I look like this?”
The door to the room shifts open once more, and the creature gestures over its shoulder lightly, beckoning you to follow
just as the first one had before. “Let me show you why we do this. Allow me to explain.”
Written by Doppelfoxx on 31 January 2022