Strange Happenings
Midnight. They always came at midnight. The chimes from the old grandfather clock in the den jolted Daniel out of his restless dreams. It wasn't the chimes that woke him so much as the knowledge that They were coming. It was the same horrifying ritual, every single night.
The room was illuminated by an eerie pale green glow. Three figures in haz-mat suits stood around his bed. One of them held a large briefcase, another held a gun, and the third--the apparent leader, from the way he acted--was making entries into a large handheld computer. Daniel tried to escape, to run, to even move, but some unseen force held him in place, as immobile as the bed itself. The leader looked up from his computer and signaled to the one holding the briefcase, who set the case down and began to open it. Daniel strained to see its contents, but couldn't from his position. If only he could move...
The leader reached forward, grabbed the bedcovers and--
The shrill blast of Daniel's alarm clock filled the room. He'd had that dream again, the same one he'd been having every night for nearly a month. Except that it didn't feel like a normal dream. It felt more like a memory, but one that had been partially forgotten. Anyway, Dan had more important things to worry about, so he pushed whatever it was aside for the moment. Today was the last day of school, finally. All he had to do was survive his last few final exams, and he'd be home free. He wasn't about to let a creepy dream get him down.
***
Dr. DiCaoz glanced over his biology classroom. "Is anybody still working on the final?" he asked tiredly. He paused for a moment, then said, "If everybody is finished, you may talk quietly amongst yourselves for the remainder of the period." As the class erupted in chatter, he went back to nursing his hangover.
Daniel loved his biology class. It wasn't just that he was good at it, or that it was the last class of the day. By some bit of luck or fate, he happened to be in the same class as his four closest friends, Gassan, David, Pammy, and Jake. Gassan, David, and Pammy had become absurdly popular since coming to high school. Gassan was Lebanese and therefore "exotic," David was a star swimmer, and Pammy was a cheerleader. In retrospect, popularity was an inevitability. To the other popular kids, Jake an avid follower of the Furry subculture (he called it a craze, but nobody else did) and Daniel, the introspective writer, were social liabilities. Still, Gassan, David, and Pam never let their newfound "friends" keep them away from Jake and Dan. Privately, Daniel was grateful that he had managed to befriend the four people who appeared to be immune to high school drama.
"So, what'd you guys think?" Pammy whispered.
"I'm pretty sure Dr. Di is a nutcase," Gassan answered quickly. He was met with a chorus of approval from his companions.
"Anyway," Pam continued, "are we having our annual Thank-God-The-Schoolyear's-Over party tonight?"
"I can't go," Jake said, "I've got a convention."
"I can't go either," said David, "My dad's taking me camping. He's on a back-to-nature kick."
"I'm visiting my grandma," Gassan said. Pammy rolled her eyes.
"Alright," she sighed, "when do you guys get back?"
"Sunday"
"Sunday evening"
"Sunday, but it'll be late."
"So," Pammy continued, "is Monday night alright with everyone?"
***
The days passed quickly. By the time Monday arrived, he had gone an entire weekend without his mysterious dreams. He was mostly relieved, but part of him wished the visitors would come back so he could find out what they were up to.
The streets were charged with an eerie calm. A summer storm was coming. As Daniel reached Pam's door, he couldn't help but feel a strange foreboding. Something was decidedly wrong. He rang the bell.
"Come in," called Pammy. Dan opened the door and found friend sitting on the floor in a tidy circle. They were all staring at him, an unsettling hunger in their eyes. "We are playing Truth or Dare," Pammy intoned mechanically. "Please, join us. Truth or Dare?"
"Please choose Dare," Gassan said, in the same unearthly voice.
"The Truth is never any fun," agreed David, still in the same tone. Throughout the exchange, none of the four took their eyes off of Daniel.
"Is everything alright?" he asked. "You all seem...different."
Pammy answered in the same monotone as before: "We are collectively unnerved at a series of recurring dreams we have been having. Perhaps you too are experiencing these visions?"
"Yeah," Dan said, "but I'm not acting that weird about it."
"Perhaps," Pammy said, "All will be made more clear if you answer this simple question: Truth...or Dare?"
Written by Zodiac on 31 May 2008
Obvious Suspicions
An eyebrow raised on the student still young enough to be in school. A quick glance through the rest of the room to notice the couch was moved back against the wall, the television was unplugged, and the lights were dimmed. Further back into the house was a black hallway, the half open doorway to a far off bathroom just barely illuminated in the low lights. To the right was an open archway leading to the kitchen, and straight ahead a stairway into the upper floors.
There were no parents in immediate view.
“None of you sound upset.” Daniel voices, looking away as he shuts the door behind him. His stomach sinking with a nervous anticipation of something. Of what he had no inkling.
“We have to get into the spirit. Of the game.” Droned out Pammy in a distinctly uncharacteristic voice, deliberately monotone. What could happen to make a cheerleader act without cheer?
“I don’t know what you’re talking about” came Gassain. His words flat, though his eyes betrayed the glimmer of excitement. “I’m just hoping you choose Dare.”
“We could get something to drink before setting up.” Whispered David, not moving an inch away from the tiny circle he had formed with his knees against Pammy’s.
“No, we’ll talk first. Drink later. This is too important.” Was pammy’s curt reply. Her gaze now directly at Daniel.
“How about” Jake started, his own voice flat and listless. “We start with truth. No one would lie here, that’s the best way to get answers.”
“Yeah” Pammy brightened. “Sit down, pick truth, join us.”
They never stopped staring. Any of them. All eyes gazing directly at Daniel’s, their gaze never breaking contact and their heads turning to face him. It was unnerving, and almost unnsatural. Did Gassain even have his neck bent at a tight angle? No, couldn’t be. He moved his head a bit when he seemed to catch Daniel’s sidelong stare, but continued his unearthly gaze through the corner of that eye. Daniel had no idea what this could be, but it had to be all of his friends acting as one. A prank? Some new game. Maybe they found something embarrassing and wanted to make the reveal something memorable.
None had acted this way before. Why start a prank now?
“I’ll head to the kitchen and get some water.” Daniel answered, making sure his shoes were clean before braving the carpets. Stepping to the right and fondling the walls for a light switch.
“The game is ready.” Pammy muttered in a disinterested tone.
“How about you guys get started? Long walk you know. A bit thirsty.” It wasn’t as if Daniel was the only person here, he thought. His arms swiped across where he knew the light switch should have been, but came up empty. Forced now to step into the shadows, using light from the living room to feel for the other walls.
“It’s best if all of us play together.” Gassain shouted, this time the look in his eyes was a bit more direct. More forceful.
“I can hear you from here, don’t worry. I’ll come in when it’s my turn.” His hands swiped over a light switch now. Flip. Flip. Flipflipflip. The darkness remained. “Say uh, did you know you’re light’s broken?”
One looking closely could almost see Pammy’s eyebrow twitch through the flickering backlit room. All four of the other school-yard friends turned to look at each other, not muttering a word before their full and undivided attention was directed at Daniel.
“We know” David said, the first to speak up. “It is better if you ignore the water. Simply come join us for a game.”
Daniel meanwhile was starting to get as frustrated as they were, only without the pretense of hiding it. What were these clowns trying to do? This was clearly a set-up and they all worked together to ensure the giant red X they intended him to sit on was within plain view. Now they aren’t even behaving reasonably.
“Go on, guys I’m like … right here, you see? If you guys say a dare I can just hear you. You aren’t even ten feet away.” And so Daniel continued into the dark, fallowing shadows to the far sink and feeling for one of the plastic cups left by the tap water. The lack of lighting would explain the rest of the house, but not the fact Pammy’s parents were missing on a Monday night, after school hours. Nor would it explain the lights working in their living room. It was obviously a lamp and a ceiling light, not some candle set out for emergencies.
Which was something of a shame as a candle would have easily fit the current atmosphere.
“We will wait until you finish then.” Said Pammy with her nose upturned, eyes closed in a grimace. Was that disgust? No, couldn’t have been.
“Say, what happened to your mom Pam?” Daniel called from across the tiled floor as he placed a cup under the glass, turning the knob to watch black sludge ooze from the tap.
“Ask your questions when the game begins.” Pammy replies, this time her tone was direct. Aggressive. She actually sounded angry.
Meanwhile Daniel was trying to not throw his cup in horror and flee at the sight of mud pouring into the glass. Was it mud? It might have been mud. He was quick to flick the water off, and when he placed his finger into the glass it felt like water. It flowed and splashed, it had the texture of water. It smelled clean, despite the thick and obvious color to it. By sight it should closely resemble oil, but in the dark or with his eyes closed it could have been easily mistaken for water. Was that deliberate? He could see it because of the living room lights filtering in, but what if …
“Daniel!” shouted Jake, his tone downright furious. “Are you going to join us or now?”
The boy set his glass down, rolling his eyes at the thought of someone as timid as Jake actually attempting to be threatening. After you’ve seen enough of that fox trying to cuddle a tree it’s hard to hear that voice and think ‘danger’ no matter what the reason.
“Yeah I’m coming.” Daniel shrugged, turning away to reach for the refrigerator instead. “Pam, something’s gone horribly wrong with your water. I think you’ve got mystic ooze pouring out. Try not to drink any or you’ll be mind controlled.”
Everyone stopped. Jake went from red with rage, to pale with horror, looking towards Pammy. The woman reaches out to touch her finger across his lips, mouthing something. Daniel didn’t really care because this prank had gone on long enough. It wasn’t as if the youth could read lips even if he was paying attention.
He grabs the soda and pours himself a fizzy glass, the color, the smell, the texture all seeming correct this time. He tastes, and nothing is inherently wrong with it. Daniel takes the glass and clickclacks back to the rest of the group.
“Okay guys, you seriously couldn’t have just let someone else go first?” he intoned towards the four glares, smugly aware that he had so easily ruined whatever prank they might have intended.
“It would be better if- …”
“Nope.” Daniel cuts his friend off without hesitation, casually sipping from the cup and taking a seat in part of the circle. His position made it lopsided but serviceable. Definitely not one for elaborate ceremony.
“You are going first! It’s already been decided.” Pammy monotones, her eyes twitching even as her face does its hardest to keep any emotion hidden away.
Daniel was having none of it “Jake! Truth or Dare.” The child snipped out smugly, his palm resting somewhat comfortably on what felt like heated carpet.
“You are going first.” Jake drones out, his gaze just as unwavering. It was all starting to get so very annoying to Daniel.
He sets his cup down, starts into a reply, and then immediately stops at a sudden and startling revelation.
Written by Arbon on 21 May 2016
The legs of a Lion
Fur. His legs were covered in a tawny, yellow fur from thigh to foot. Daniel stammers, his arms reaching down to touch across the skin and confirm it was real with both hands. He grips the hair strangs and attempts to pull. A wince in pain, the sensation of skin stretching out, the helpless stares back to his friends whom had all simultaneously refused to react.
Wordless, he gapes at the four, motions to his legs, then waves at them all as if they were insane.
“Truth or Dare.” Pammy presses, her tone now sounding outright dangerous.
“Forget the game! What happened to my legs?” Daniel shouts. He attempts to stand up, but Jake was faster. The slim studeny putting a hand on Daniel’s shoulder and trying to set him back down.
“You need to move closer to the center.” Jake mutters softly.
“The game doesn’t count if you aren’t part of the circle.” David agrees, his monotone well past annoying at this point.
“I have the perfect Dare in mind you know.” Gassain speaks up. “So if you are curious at all then you know what to pick.”
“G-guys!” Daniel panics, stuttering out as his legs were in the most desperate need of a shave one could possibly imagining. “Don’t tell me you can’t see this, I’m not even … okay where did my pants go?”
“So its truth then. Very well.” Pammy closes her eyes and breathes softly.
“Your pants are your responsibility.” David replies in the smuggest tone possible.
“Not a dare? You are such a disappointment.” Gassain practically whines.
“If you want to barrow my fursuit go ahead” Jake shoves, not all that gently, knocking Daniel into a more aligned position at the bottom of the circle. Then the nerd moves to sit himself back down and continue the world’s most unnerving stare.
As Daniel sat up and moved to look at his legs, his pants were completely missing. The boxers still present to somewhat resemble shorts, and he had shoes on the end of his feet, but everything from the calves to the heels looked like something you’d see on a lioness. He can’t help but place his arms over his foreleg and try to squeeze the muscles. Every touch feels like stroking against a warm blanket. Every push feels like he’s still wearing clothing and having to fight through the thick hairs before he can reach skin.
“Okay fine, truth, whatever. What the heck is going on here?”
“That’s not how it works” Pammy says with the utmost patience.
“Come on Gassain, make it a good one.” Jake chides.
“Really wish he had picked dare.” David sighs.
“If I have to pick Truth, then …” the man pauses, his eyes gazing up and down in concentration. He knew, he had to know. “How many toes do you have?”
“Five.” Was daniel’s immediate answer. “Now next quest-ACK! Hey, what was that for?”
Pammy withdrew the palm she’d just used to smack Daniel.
“No lying.” She stresses as if the boy had just broken a rule.
“Wh- I’m not lying you butt, I have five toes!” Daniel shouts.
“Maybe he’s just not good at telling the truth.” David posits, looking across to the other three instead of Daniel himself.
“Will you just take a look already, Hello? Human? Humans have five toes!”
“You’re the one who has to take a look dude.” Jake rolled his eyes.
As soon as Daniel looked down again his eyes were far too wide to roll. And he wasn’t quite round enough to complete a full roll in his mad scramble across the floor, backpedalling away from feet and legs that weren’t hist. Feet. No shoes, the feet were far too big for shoes to ever fit. There wasn’t even the evidence one might expect of shredded footwear, no leather and no cloth, not a trace of shoelace to be found, just bare feet. Daniel wasn’t trying to keep in the circle anymore.
He could feel his bare cat-like pawpads pressing into the floor when he scoots backward. As soon as he stops to examine, he’s stretching one leg up to gaze at the toes. His heel was stretched out, his toes were now almost as large as his entire foot used to be, it felt as if his legs had an extra joint into them that bent the wrong way. No? Wait that was just his heel jutting out, distorted so much it felt like a completely new joint.
The toes wiggle when he thinks about it, two toes on the left of it and two toes on the right. There was no big toe, all seemed roughly the same size. There was no pinky. There was no middle.
“I … I have four toes?” was all Daniel could stammer out, now looking back toward his friends as if he was the insane one.
“Now it’s your turn.” Pammy turns her nose up, keeping still in her seat.
“Go on, hit me. Best shot. I can take it.” Gassain seemed to have more life in him, or he was just being antagonistic.
“Man you can put your feet down you know.” Jake chortles, reaching his arm out to try and tap at the top of Daniel’s toe. He can feel the softness of the touch, sending a shiver down his spine.
“And if you need to wash them don’t use the sink. Trust me.” Offered David.
As Daniel glances down between his legs, sprawled onto his back, watching his four friends behave so ridiculously calm and jovial, it was all he could do not to not shout at them and demand to know where the originals were. Whoever these four things were, they couldn’t have been his friends. That just wasn’t possible.
About as impossible as randomly getting lion feet he, suspected.
Written by Arbon on 22 May 2016
Ask for Truth
“My turn? I want the truth Gassain! What is going on here?” Daniel shouted while trying to swing his feet under himself. Wobbly coming to a stand.
“We are simply playing a game.” Gassain answers without the slightest hesitation.
“Oh! My turn.” Went Jake, his hands waving close over his chest as if he were about to clap in excitement, but the palms never actually touch. “Truth or dare Daniel.”
“Dare.” The half-lion growls out.
“I dare you to flap your wings.”
“Bw … I don’t have any wings you je-OH COME ON!” he didn’t even finish the sentence before he could see two feathery appendages snapping together in front of his chest, then folding back over his shoulders. His chest felt sore at the sudden effort, and his only real comfort was seeing the wind from his flapping messed with everyone else’s hair. The cup of soda is knocked over. No one seems to care.
“My turn! My turn!” David grinned. Once more asking that fateful question. “Truth or dare, Daniel?”
Daniel looked over his shoulders to see two bird-like wings jutting from right under his shoulder blades. Or maybe that was in the shoulders? They felt separate from his arms and didn’t seem to stretch his skin as he moved. Torn between surprise and resigned irritation, the youth’s voice just about cracked as he shouts back.
“Explain! What is going on! NOW! I’ve had just about enough of this hallucination nonsense!”
“It’s not your turn Daniel.” Pammy continued in that same Monotone. “Now choose.”
“No! Stop this!” the winged half-lion shouted, feeling awkward to stand on two legs with his wings flexed out behind him. They flare wide and flap on instinct as he gets more upset, the left wing bashing against the wall and the right wing knocking off a desk lamp. The lights grow dim and shadowed, half of the room in darkness thanks to the lampshade while the practical spotlight was on Daniel himself. He could see all four friends, the bottom of their faces illuminated while errie shadows covered the rest.
None of their expressions changed.
“Truth. Or. Dare” David repeated. He was slow. Almost menacing. His lips curled into the barest hint of a smile.
Daniel put both palms over his face and groaned, stomping forward on two wobbly legs. The toes and pads were wide making it seem like walking in snow shoes, the digigrade heel design left him with the sensation of tip-toeing toward them like a cartoonish thief trying to sneak around, and the elongated heel left him constantly leaning forward. The wings served as something of a counter-balance, but it was also added weight high up on his back.
“Dare.” He growled, knowing exactly what he should demand the moment his turn comes up. He simply has to make it through whatever change the swimmer decided to enforce. Daniel was long past fooling around right now, and being the only one standing up in a room full of mostly expressionless people that kept locked in their circle was something of a confidence booster. He was the tallest one there, more so thanks to the new legs, and everything was a bit less intimidating when you have to look down at it.
“Rub yourself.” Came the command.
“W-what?”
“I dare you to rub yourself all over.” David replied, glancing to the other three for backup.
“Well this should be good. Where did I leave my camera?” Jake droned.
“It is the dare, Daniel. You have to do it.” Gassain added.
“Begin rubbing. No hesitation Daniel.” Pammy confirmed, hers somehow having the air of authority. She was the most confident, she was the spokesperson who pushed the hardest. Clearly this had to be her idea, if not hers alone then her forcing it the most strongly. Maybe she drugged him? Did something with the water. A witch maybe.
Daniel had his solution though, if they weren’t going to explain what was happening even when he asked for truth, then there was something else he could ask for with equal desperation.
“Fine. Rubbing. Got it. Should I at least get new pants for this?” Daniel quipped, feeling clawed talons scratch ever so gently onto his stomach. “You have got to be kidding me.”
Talons. And more fur. He looked down to see his shirt was missing completely, his boxers were gone, he didn’t even have sleeves or a jacket. Everything was covered in fur from the neck down, his shoulders a tawny yellow that cuts off at about his elbow. Beyond that the fur distorts into redish brown feathers, puffing up with a bristling fluff, the feathers seemed to move and flex as his skin stiffens. They taper off to turn white around his wrists, with the hands and fingers completely replaced.
Talons. Hard, scaly, a bright yellow with pitch black claws on every finger. He still had five of them. Four fingers and a single thumb, the knuckles in the right shape but the fingers were so much longer than they should have been. He couldn’t curl them into a fist, not really, his clawed fingernails reached all the way to his forearm when he tried. He spread them out, moving each finger and flexing, to see his hands were about half as large as his head.
He could effortlessly grip onto a tree branch with how tightly the new fingers curled, he could envelop a street lamp all the way around. But closing them around something smaller would be a distinctly awkward proposition.
The chest was a different color fur than the rest of him, lighter and softer that trails down his stomach. He had to lean forward to look past his chest, the extensive fluff making it appear as if he might have breasts underneath.
A touch? No. And it wasn’t just fluff, his entire chest was jutting forward. The skin under that fur was a thick banded muscle, as were the abs directly bellow. He felt, padding through the fur, as the muscles wrapped under his armpit and back around into his shoulders. The arms themselves were just as noodly as they’d always been, while this new bulging muscle beneath the fur looked like someone one expects on a bodybuilder.
With fur making it hard to see the creases under the smooth and fluttery lines, he looked more like a woman than ever. A fact that his complete nudity did not make for a pleasant thought.
He continues rubbing, turning, feeling the fur over his upper body and spinning to look behind him.
“Okay! I rubbed, now it’s mine turn. Truth or Da-“
“You didn’t rub all over.” David interoupts.
“Yes I did!”
“No. You need to rub your legs too.”
Daniel stared at him, remembering the plan. With a grumble he takes his clawed talons and start sliding them down his back, down his thighs, lifting up one foot to rub his palms across. The scales were smooth but insensitive, hard to make out much of the texture. The fur was warm and soft, bending like grass under his touch. By the time he was finished he could feel his tail twitching in agitate- …
“Okay that is just not fair!” Daniel shrieks as soon as he realizes what was coming out of his backside, looking over his shoulder to see a long, cat-like tail that obviously was not there two seconds ago.
“That’s the rules.” Pammy chides, her voice still the dull monotone. “If you don’t like it then don’t play.”
Daniel’s face brightened at the prospect of not playing, his first thought being to end the game immediately before any more transformation occurs. But then he stopped to think, his mouth already open and a finger raised. Did the transformation stop when the game did, or would he remain some winged lion with a human face even after all of this stopped. He had his chance now, and he wasn’t about to give it up.
“No. This is my turn Pammy. David, truth or dare?”
David’s grin seems to falter. His voice as before a deliberate monotone. “This time I’ll pick dare.”
“It is what D-man picked after all.” Jake piped in.
“Which one is the D-man?” Gassain questioned.
“The one who’s name begins with the letter D, for uuhh”
“We both begin with a D, my name is David.”
“So that means the two of you together can be Deedee?” Jake grinned.
“ENOUGH! David it’s my turn, right?” Daniel asked, his wings flapping once more. He steps around the spilled soda and gets closer to the sitting quartet.
“And I’ve picked dare.”
“D with D with another D, if this keeps up we need to get a penguin with a hammer who fights killer marshmallows.” Jake muses.
“Then I dare you to change me back.”
“Uuhh … pick another one.”
“Wh, I’m not going to pick another one!”
“You have to pick something else Daniel, that’s the rules.” Pammy interjects.
“None of you picked something else when I asked!”
“You did not ask us to pick anything else, you have simply been bad at the game.”
“Wh … oh come on! Change me back. Right. Now.”
“Pick another one Daniel. I’m not doing that.”
“Another wha … I’m not picking another one David! You guys are doing this somehow and I want it reversed. You think I want to go to school tomorrow and watch everyone laugh at me? Do you think I want to explain to Jake’s silly little club that this isn’t a fursuit? What! WHAT! You’ve seen how they treat the football mascot, are you trying to get me to take his place?”
“So you do not want anyone to see you like this.” Pammy questions.
“Of course I don’t! I want to be normal, with hands and feet and some god damned clothes! Now this is truth or dare and you just picked dare, David. You know exactly what I’m asking so just do it!”
“If that’s what you really want.” David shrugs, for once not an emotionless monotone. “Okay now it’s Pammy’s turn.”
But as Daniel looked down at his talons, his fur, his paws, he could see that nothing had changed at all.
“It’s not … this isn’t back to normal!”
“Truth or dare, Daniel.” Pammy asks.
“We didn’t even finish the last dare! We’re still on david’s turn!”
“Dare, you say. Very well then.”
“Its not your turn, no! We aren’t done with David, he still needs to actually finish his dare!”
“I dare you …” Pammy continues unabated. This time standing up, her arms folded neatly and submissively behind her back. “I dare you to sleep, little kittycat.”
“You guys won’t even obey your own rules? It’s the rules Pammy! He was given a dare, that means he has to. Make him change me back!”
“Sleep.” She repeats, more forcefully.
“You think I’m just going to pass out on the floor? Pammy what has gotten into you, all of you?”
“Sleep.” She furrows her brow, raising her voice.
“None of you are acting like you, not one of you are making any sense. Where are your parents, what sort of game is this? What on earth did you do!”
“SLEEP!” She shouts, the other three now moving away from the cheerleader. The sound of thunder crackles outside, and the building seems to shake.
“Who are you!” Daniel shouts back! Wings flared, claws ready, standing firm in a wide stance as his new leg design didn’t allow for anything more subtle. He was leaning forward enough that were it not for his wings and tail acting to counter-balance it would be hard to not just touch his palms to the soda stained floor.
“I. Said. Sleep.” Was all the woman repeated. And immediately any semblance of a fight was destroyed.
Daniel could see his eyes watering, his muscles laxing. It was so hard to stand now. His wings drooped like cloth down the side, his tail bumped into his calves. He glanced left to see his other three friends as mere shadows in the strange lighting of an empty house. And before his eyes they faded away as if nothing was there.
Too tired to see. Too tired to think. He didn’t get out a next reply to Pammy before he felt himself falling.
He never remembered hitting the ground.
Written by Arbon on 23 May 2016
