Gassan
“Dani was right, the fog changes us and makes it so we’re the only ones who remember. Let me guess.. none of you remember me as a male human?”
Gassan groaned. “Not you too, maybe that’s what the fog does, makes you think you used to be the opposite sex and another species.”
“Dammit, Gassan, I just felt my body change, I had to watch it happen, trapped in that car. Listen, I don’t remember Dani being a boy or a human, but I’m going to believe her.”
Dani poked her vulpine face in, looking at Jackie. “I’ll trust you, but even I gotta admit, I don’t remember you being a guy, hon. So this is what’s it’s like from the outside point of view…”
Gassan shook his head, guiding Jackie towards the sofa, nodding to David and Pammy. “If this continues, we’ll all be thinking we’re someone else.”
Dani and Jackie looked to one another, Dani speaking up, growing frustrated with the situation. “We could test it, if you don’t believe us. You wanna step outside and get changed?”
Gassan looked at the two anthro girls, no women on the couch. “No thank you.” He said in a sultry, dulcet tone. Ever since his family had moved to America from Lebanon some years ago, it was his exotic looks and voice that had sprung him to heights of popularity, he and David generally had girls lining up wanting to go out on dates, and although he had pondered pursuing Dani and Jackie, he’d never had the gumption to do it.
“Well look, Gassan, if you want to be all mysterious, that’s one thing. But we’re telling you the honest truth ok. You’re the one who’s always come to our aid, lion-hearted and ferocious. You need to trust us, that fog will change you. If you go out, we won’t remember you being you.”
“Well,” he said, looking them over, “any way of controlling what we become?”
Dani shook her head. “Other than Jackie…,” she held her temples, there was something locked there. The words used that triggered it. “Something about her best friend coming back.”
Jackie rumbled. “When I went into the garage, Dani had just called me tiger, and that we had a lot in common. Being a girl, I think that’s what happened.”
Dani nodded. “If there are changes rewriting reality, maybe that’s why I remember being a guy, but not what was said. If I’ve been re-written to remember Jackie being a girl, maybe Jackie had said something about wanting a girl. I mean you know how boy crazy she is.”
“BOY CRAZY?!” Jackie said, as Gassan looked at the door. They began to argue about the facts of Jackie vs. Jake. Not seeing Gassan walk to the garage door.
“The last things you all said to me were that I was lion hearted, and ferocious in defending you. These are good qualities, do me a favor, call me intelligent and brave and strong. I’m going to test this.”
Pammy walked back in the room seeing Gassan open the door to the garage, sprinting and trying to get him to stop.
“Pammy, what you need right now, is a hero. I want to be that hero for you, but if this fog works on changing you into what others tell you that you are, then we can work this fog in our favor. Let me out.”
Pammy, tears running down her cheek, hugged him tightly as she opened the door. “You are brave, and strong, and fierce, my friend. You would protect us, and guard us.”
Gassan nodded, his arms trembling as he jumped into the garage and hit the button to open the garage door. Fog poured in, thick, almost soupy and soon filled the small room, to the point that Gassan choked on it, unable to see his hands in front of his face. It tasted of licorice, spicy as well, like a good chai tea. It also hit him like a brick wall collapsing. If the change had been gentle with the others, it was due to how little they had breathed in. He had jumped full tilt into it. His fingers ached, and as he felt over himself, he checked for signs that his chest was changing, luckily he didn’t feel the growth of breasts.
Written by Jack Ripper on 22 December 2015
