Tossing and turning in my bed that night, why couldn’t I sleep? Something felt wrong, dead silence in the air. My senses were in a heightened state. My current sick situation must have been over whelming to the extent that I was completely disillusioned. I felt as if I was stuck between two dimensions, sleeping yet still awake. My senses were going haywire; all of my feelings heighted to an astronomical extent. I could smell the sweat from Smiths body, this would usually not be an abnormal phenomenon as the man did have quite an “Aged” smell to himself, but how could I smell him when he was across the room passed out on the plastic green chair!
My focus was then redirected to Sharif, I could unwillingly hear each breath he inhaled then exhaled as he snored ever so lightly. These involuntary notations of my surroundings were starting to scare me. Was I still dreaming? There was no other solution as to what was happening. But before I could contemplate if I was awake or asleep my senses went out of whack once again. This time my eyes where the ones playing tricks on me, my vision cleared then zoomed in, to the extent where I could see each blemish, each wrinkle and each hair on Sky’s face. I shook my head and shut my eyes tight, as tight as I could.
I had no Idea what was happening to me, so I screamed for Sky, but nothing came out. I gasped for air but my breaths became shorter and shorter. I panicked and tried calling for help but nothing, only short exhales exited my diaphragm. My core started heating up, once again my fever returned then my neck stiffened up. Severe cramps ravished my entire body, what the hell did Sky give me to make me feel this terrible sensation? I looked across the room, and once again my eyesight was obscured.
My gut started twisting; and I whined in pain, my back began cracking. What was happening to me? I rolled onto my knees and began screaming in pain I couldn’t take this agony much longer. Every one jumped out of bed at the sound of my blood curdling cries and soon where circled around me trying to figure out what was wrong. Smith tried picking me off the floor but I pushed him away, the pain was too intense. He stepped back not knowing what was going on, none of them knew, they tried discussing the situation but all I could hear was a fuzzed out faint sound from their voices. The pain muffled my senses and sent my body into shock. I started convulsing on the floor, soon I was unconscious.
Then it began . . .
Northern Exposure
The Divided
12-01-2036
Saturday
Diary entry: 5
Cracking and twisting, my body began reshaping; contorting to its own rhythm; I had lost control of all movements, as it contemptuously did not recognise my brains instructions. Now Left on the outside looking in, all I could do was sit back and be taken on the torturous ride. Agony would have been putting it lightly; the torment which I endured had every single pain receptors in my body flashing on high alert. My screams were futile, as they soon turned to a wet bloody cough. The misty red spray covered my hands as I knelt on all fours coughing towards the floor. My body was breaking down, so it could rebuild itself, into what, I was unsure.
I felt as if the transformation had personified, like a psychopathic serial killer, tearing me apart just for its own amusement. The physical toll my body was going through should have left me for dead, there was no way I should have been alive and this was just the beginning. Could I last any longer? Or would I succumb to the pain and embrace a death that felt so much more appeasing than the agonising changes which occurred. But I was not that lucky, Death would have to wait; the transformation had more in store for me.
I had become a victim; it began moulding me into the images of what the new world perceived. It turned me from the weak into the strong. It peeled away at my vulnerable shell, exposing the beast, welcoming it to the new world and letting it have its first taste of freedom. Physical pain would be inevitable; my new challenges would have to come mentally, would I have the power of control? Or would I let it consume me just as it did the reapers? There was no one who could help me; the reality is that I was on my own. Now left a phenomenon, a terrestrial, an unknown, just like so many unexplained aspects of this New world, I could choose to embrace the beast or lock horns with it, in a constant battle of suppression.
I had to control it, not only for myself, but for the sake of the entire group. I could not let it hurt my new family; I could not let it endanger the girls. But would I have the strength to do so, and even if I did manage to bridle the beat and keep it at bay, would my family accept the new me, or would they lash out and see me as a threat? I would soon find out.