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It had been another boring Friday at college, and he was glad when he could finally collapse onto his bed. Lying on his back, staring at the ceiling he let out a long sigh and found himself drifting off to sleep, his eyelids slowly closing.
…
He jumps up, quickly looking around, looking for the loud noise that had invaded his near-sleep state. His heart is pounding in his chest and he’s breathing quickly. He starts to calm down as he realises that he’s in his room and that he had fallen asleep. Reaching across to his bedside table, he picks up his ringing mobile phone. Looking at the name, he sighs.
“Oh great, that just who I need to talk to.” He muttered to himself.
He presses the answer button, knowing that he won’t stop calling him if he doesn’t.
“Hello.” He says
“Hello, hello, Jack. John here.”
“Yeah, I know, I read your name on the phone.”
“Ah yes. Anyway, coming out tonight?”
“Ugh, nah…I got stuff to do.”
“Oh yeah, like what?”
“Work mostly. I’ve got this stupid assignment that’s in for Monday, and I haven’t even started it yet.”
“Ok…so why can’t you come out?”
“Ha, ha, ha…look I really need to get it done. If I don’t then I’m of the fecking course.”
“Shame, seeing as it was Mathew’s birthday tomorrow we were going to go The Winchester tonight.”
“Mathew’s Birthday? I thought that was next weekend…”
“This week, next week, does it really matter? Are you coming out or not?”
Sighing he shook his head.
“I’ll think about it.” He said in the end, knowing that john would think of it as a ‘yes’.
“Cool, cool. See you there!”
He put the phone back on the table and rubbed his eyes. Glancing at the clock he worked out that he hadn’t been out of it for very long.
Sitting on the side of the bed, he thought about whether he should actually go out or not.
He glanced over at his computer, thinking about the work he needed to do. Then he glanced at his phone, lying quiet and still on his side.
He had a feeling that he already knew what he was going to do.

- - -

“Oh…come on, how can you say that?”
“Because it’s true, you dip-stick.”
“Bullshit. I refuse to believe it.”
“D’you want me to show you?”
“Go on then, I dare ya.”
Jack rolled his eyes.
‘Those two are going to get each other hurt one of these days.’
This happened, almost like a ritual, every Friday night. He wondered if John spent all of his time looking through the Internet for strange and bizarre challenges that he could do, only to prove to Mathew that he could do it and show off. It seemed stupid to him, but that was one of the reason that they hang out; he was always good for a laugh.
He rubbed his forehead, something he had been doing on and off for the past hour or so.
‘Just my luck to start getting headache on a Friday night.’
He wondered what was causing his headache. He knew it wasn’t the fact that he was drinking. The last time he had tried that, which had also been his first, he had spat it out and had been sick without even swallowing it. That wasn’t something he wanted to repeat, so he had become the ‘Designated Driver’ of their little group. The fact that he couldn’t actually drive seemed somewhat moot.
There was a suddenly joint of pain in his head and he rubbed that little bit harder.
He looked over at John and Mathew. John was leaning on his back over one of the tall barstools trying to drink a pint with an apple balanced on his chin.
He stared at them for a second, before laughing slightly and, again, shaking his head. An action he quickly regretted, as his head stung with pain.
His eyes drifted around the room. He saw people talking loudly, trying to make themselves heard over the dim of everybody else trying to make themselves heard.
It suddenly seemed too loud, too stuffy and too cramped. He stood up and headed across the room.
“Hey, where’re you going?” John yelled at him, not helping his headache.
“The north pole.” He said in reply, “Where d’you think I’m going?” he pointed at the toilets.
“Sheesh alright…” he barely heard John say, having not waited around for a reply.
When he reached the toilet, he almost immediately regretted it. He knew that this place usually smelled bad, but it seemed almost a thousand times worse. He braved it though, wanting to get away from the noise, which seemed just as bad, just on a different part of his head. Breathing in through his mouth, he walked over to the sink and turned on the tap. Although the noise from the bar was subdued, the sound of the extractor fan, usually nothing more than a background whisper, seemed to drill into his ears just as much.
He cupped his hands under the tap and let them full up with water, before splashing it over his face.
It didn’t help.
Grabbing a paper towel he wiped his hands and face dry as best he could, and then stared at himself in the mirror. His forehead creased as he looked at himself. Something seemed wrong, but he couldn’t tell what. He looked at himself for several minutes, but in the end gave up, wanting to leave the stink behind.
Walking back into the bar, he wished he had stayed in the toilet and climbed out of the window. The noise pounded on his ears as if there was an explosion going on next door. Not only that, but the smell of cigarette smoke, something he’d never liked anyway, suddenly made his want to gag.
He quickly went over to his little group of friends.
“Listen guys…”
“Hey there you are; I was beginning to think you’d flushed yourself down the bog.” John, the joker, again with the witty come-back.
“Funny. Look I’m gonna head home now. See you later.”
“You kidding, it’s only…” he looked at his watch, but then realised he wasn’t wearing one “…well, early.”
“Look I’ve got a splitting headache, and I’ve got stuff to do tomorrow, ok.”
“Ah, com’on man…”
“NO!” he yelled, the whole of the bar suddenly going quiet at this out burst. “Goodbye.” He said “Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow, but I doubt it.”
He turned around and walked out.

- - -

The trip home hadn’t been pleasant, as a fine rain had decided to begin falling not soon after he had left the pub. Even so, he’d enjoyed it mostly because of the fresh air, or as fresh as you can get these days, and the quiet.
When he got home, he found a note stuck to his bedroom door:

Jack
Just thought I’d remind you
about the meeting that I’ve
got to go to. I’ll be back some
time on Monday. Have a
good weekend and please
don’t trash the house.

All the best
Dad

He’d forgotten that his dad would be gone over the weekend, and as he stumbled into his room he figured that it would probably allow him to get more stuff done with no distractions in the house.

- - -

It was late, and he was tossing and turning in his bed, half asleep.
Sweat covered his forehead, and his breathing was rapid and shallow, almost as if he was in the grip of a bad dream.
He wasn’t though. He rolled over onto his back, his eyes open, staring up at the ceiling, lit from outside by a street light.
“Bloody hell.” He whispered
His headache was gone, but in its stead he had a strange feeling running through his body. He’d never felt anything like it before. The only time he’d felt even close, had been the time he’d locked himself out of the house during a storm. When his farther had returned the next day he’d had a slight case of pneumonia.
He’d felt awful then, but it seemed as nothing compared to whatever it was he had now.
He threw the covers onto the floor and quickly followed it with his shirt.
He closed his eyes and tried to force himself the sleep, but the weird feeling running through him was too much and in the end he sat up.
He wiped the sweat off of his forehead and tried to breathe normally.
‘Typical that I’d be left alone when I’m probably dieing.’
He flopped back down onto the pillow, again trying to get himself to sleep.
His breathing suddenly quickened, and his hand went to his chest. He sat up again, his breathing getting quicker and quicker. On one breath he suddenly stopped, almost as if he had been frozen.
The breath seemed to be pushed out of him as the force that had been building up within him finally gave way, and flowed through his entire body.
Thinking that he’s going to be sick, he rolls to his side and falls to the floor in a failed attempt to get to the bathroom.
Down on his hands and knees, he starts moaning as the force inside of him starts pushing at his body.
It doesn’t hurt him, it only pushes. Pushing at his foot, making it grow. Pushing at his hands, making them change.
He doesn’t notice this, as the force also pushes at his mind. Not to change it, but to keep it closed off from what is happening.
The first thing to start changing is his feet. He can feel it happening, but he doesn’t know what it is. It feels almost as if someone is pulling on his feet, when what is really happening is that they’re lengthening. He toes were changing too. His small toes had melted into the one next to it, and the rest had all grown bigger. Black pad formed on the end of his foot, and short hairs started growing from his skin. The hairs spread up his legs, the body underneath it changing as it went. The muscles in his legs bulged, becoming strong and powerful as the change worked it way further up his body.
A small tail pushed its way out of the back of his boxer-shorts, the fur spreading up his chest and back, the muscles becoming toned and strong.
As the fur spread down his arms, his fingernails began to grow. They turned jet black, growing longer, and sharp and pointed. Pads, similar to the ones on his feet, appeared on the palm of his hand and at the end of his fingers.
The fur finally reached his face. His mouth was pushed out by the force inside of him, although it didn’t get pushed out very far. His hair retracted into his body, being replaced by the fur that now covered his entire body. His ears were the last to change, growing longer and longer, becoming pointed.
In the end, when his transformation had finished, the force deep within him, that had pushed his new form to the surface, faded away. He fell onto his side, his mind reeling from what had just happened, even though he didn’t yet know what it was.
His mind worked its way back to normal, and he shook his head to try and get things clear.
He looked aimlessly around the room, noticing that something was wrong, but unable to work out what. He put his right arm out and tried to lift himself up onto his bed. He stumbled with his newly shaped feet and fell down, landing on his tail. The pain brought him round from his daze and he moved his hands round to rub what was hurting. His mind was brought fully back to itself when his hands happened upon his tail. Moving his hands around he tried to work out what it was. Then he noticed his muzzle. Sticking out in front of his face, it took up the bottom corner of his vision. He forgot about his tail and moved his hands around to see if it was real.
He stopped as he saw his hands.
He followed the fur on his arms to the rest of his body. He looked down at himself, covered in fur, and he started breathing fast. He saw feet, he saw the fur, he saw his hands…
He began to panic. He stood up; or rather he tried to stand up. His new feet didn’t want to be used in the same way his old ones did and he toppled over, trying to use them the wrong way. He fell forward and banged his head against the edge of his bed.

- - -

He woke up the next morning slowly. He went to get up, and a sharp pain shot through his head. Wincing, he moved his hand up to his head. He winced again as he touched the scab on his head. Pulling his hand away a few dried flakes of blood were left on his hand. His hand hovered in front of his face for a while as a memory pulled at the edges of his mind.
Suddenly, in a flash, it all came back to him. He looked at his other hand, and he searched around his face, checking to see if he really had changed. His hands moved all around his head, but everything seemed perfectly normal.
She sighed, a smile spreading across his face.
“Thank god…” he said to himself. He picked himself up off of the floor.
He then noticed two things at once. One was that everything seems smaller that it had before, or at the very least lower, and the other was that he was a little shaky on his feet.
He knew what he was going to see and he didn’t want to look down, but he found his head dropping anyway.
His feet looked exactly as they had done last night. The fur, the stretched feet, the muscle filled legs.
“Oh shit…it wasn’t a fucking dream.”
The fur went all the way up to his stomach and then seemed to just fade away, his skin becoming more visible as it went up. Craning his neck, he saw that he still had a tail too.
He found that he was standing on his new feet easier now, as although he was a little wobbly, he didn’t feel like he was going to fall over.
“Ok…ok” he said to himself, trying to work things out.
He thought back to previous night, trying to work out why the lower part of his body was still transformed.
He thought back, but him memory ended with him banging his head on his bed.
He sat down and looked closely at his legs. He rubbed hand back and forth along the fur. The dark brown almost matched the colour of his hair, only his hair was darker. He also saw that it seemed to change to a lighter colour around his…
He mind suddenly froze. He’d never even thought about that. His hand moved down toward his boxer shorts, but then stopped.
‘No…’ he thought ‘just think of a way of changing it back…’
He thought, trying to think of how he could change his top half, but not his bottom half.
‘I don’t even remember how I changed in the first place; let alone how I changed back.’
“Ok…” he said to himself “Let’s think cinema. Werewolves…”he though back to all the movies he’d ever seen.
“Ok…it can’t be the full moon, its daylight for fuck’s sake…which means that…it’s got to be will.” He paused as he processed the information and swirled it around in his head, “I’ve got think myself back to normal.”
The only thing was, he wasn’t sure how to do it.
He closed his eyes and repeated ‘I want to be human…I want to be human…’ over and over again, but nothing happened.
He sighed, “Ah shit”
He though back to the previous night, thinking about what he’d felt when he was changing.
‘Last night…I was as if…almost as if I couldn’t feel it…but it felt…almost…gentle.’ That wasn’t the word he was looking for, but it was the only one he could come up with, ‘it wasn’t forced…’
“Maybe…”
He closed his eyes again and this time thought;
‘I want to be human again.’ But only once.
In his mind he had the suddenly mental image of himself as a human, as clear as crystal. He concentrated on it, trying to think about it, but not wanting to push to hard, somehow knowing that if he did would loose it again.
Then he felt it, it was like a pulling sensation, as if someone or something was pulling his legs inside of him. The feeling came so quickly that he didn’t know what it was, but it was only there for several seconds before it disappeared completely. Opening his eyes again, he looked down at his legs.
They were perfectly normal again.
He breathed a huge sigh of relief. He rubbed his legs again, this time feeling grateful for the feeling of skin under his hands.
He stood up, glad to be back to normal and on normal feet. Looking down at himself he wondered what it was that had caused his sudden transformation. He thought about it as he headed down stairs to get some breakfast.

- - -

He was standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom. Originally he had gone in there to go to the toilet, but when that was done he had found himself staring at the mirror wondering if he should try it, even though he knew that it would probably be better to leave it and get changed into some clothes.
He’d been staring at himself for several minutes, trying to work up the courage to do it. His biggest worry was that he wouldn’t be able to change back and that he’d get stuck in the other form forever.
‘I couldn’t live like that…and God only know what Dad would say…’
He looked up at himself again.
“Fuck it…why not…”
He closed his eyes and pictured himself again, this time in his other form. Again the image was almost perfect. He felt it build up within himself and he left out a small gasp as the force began pushing at him. His eyes snapped open and the feeling of being pushed from the inside disappeared. He looked at himself to see if anything had happened, but it didn’t look as thought anything had. He took a close look at his arm and saw that there seemed to be an extremely fine layer of hair, even on the front of his arm. His forehead creased as he began to think.
‘I wonder…’
He closed his eyes again and concentrated, this time picturing just his hand. He feeling of being pushed was in his hand, but only for a second or so, and then it was gone. He opened his eyes and looked at his hand. It had changed, but the fur stopped at his wrist. He turned his hand over, looking at the way he had pale almost white fur on his fingers, but brown fur on the rest of his hand. He looked at his claws, which looked a little too deadly for his liking.
He closed his eyes again, and this time pictured his whole body. He felt the force again and this time he went with it allowing it to change him. It lasted barley a few seconds, but it felt as though he was having the air pushed out of him. He felt the change too, but it was very slight, and almost as if it were far away. Once the feeling passed, he opened his eyes and looked at himself.
He looked down at his body, looking at the fur that covered his body and his face. He reached up and touched his muzzle with his hands. It was then that he noticed his ears.
Looking at them, he began to realise that something seemed wrong. He thought back to the movies that he’d seen and compared them to himself. It dawned on him, rather shockingly, that he wasn’t a werewolf, like he’d first thought.
His muzzle was far too short, and his ears were way to long. Twisting round he looked at his tail again, it worried him that having a tail could seem so natural, and it finally click in his mind as to what he actually was.
‘Holy shit…I’m a fucking RABBIT!’
He stared at himself, trying to get the idea into his head.
“Fucking hell…” he said without thinking.
It then hit him that he could still talk. His mind felt too cluttered with new information. Closing his eyes he quickly changed himself back, feeling the pulling feeling again, and he tried to work his head around what he’d just figured out.
‘Ok…werewolves I get…but wererabbits?’ as far as he knew, it was completely unheard of…excluding the Wallace and Gromit film a few years back. ‘How is it even possible to get a wererabbit anyway? I thought that being a werewolf was because of a curse…why would anyone have a curse about being a rabbit.’
He didn’t know, and the more he thought about it, the more confusing it got.

- - -

He almost hit the ceiling when the phone started ringing. Since changing back, he had gotten into some proper clothes and had tried to sit down and watch some TV, but had only found his mind drawn into thinking about his new-found Wererabbitness. He’d been so deep in his thinking, still trying to work out why he was a wererabbit that it had taken him completely by surprise.
He walked over and picked it up.
“Hello.”
“Hi Jack, you alright?”
“Oh hi dad. Yeah, I was err…thinking, and the phone made me jump.”
“Well, nice to see you’re trying something new…”
“Funny…”
“Yeah, anyway, I was just ringing to check up on you. Everything ok…no unexpected events that you can’t handle…”
He clenched his jaw shut, trying hard not to laugh. He swallowed hard and forced the laugh down.
“No…everything’s fine.” He didn’t want his farther to know about it yet, and he wasn’t sure how he’d react.
“Well, that’s good then. I’ll be back by the time you get back from college on Monday, so I’ll see you then. Love you, bye.”
He put the phone down. His father mentioning college had reminded him that he had to get his assignment done, and he now had only a day and a half. Temporarily forgetting about his newfound other half, or at least shoving aside, he raced upstairs to do his work.

- - -

It was Monday and he was sitting at a computer in his classroom as he always did. The Assignment was done and handed in, and it had scared him a little that he’d got it done.
Usually, when he sat down to do work, he’d either end up staring at a blank document, or he’d start typing, but then get distracted by something else, like he’d want to listen to music while he work and end up getting involved in that.
But when he sat down to do his work that is what he actually did. He didn’t know why, but his mind seemed so much clearer than it had before, and doing work seemed easier.
He tried to explain it, if only to stop his mind wondering, and the only thing that he could come up with was that maybe his mind had been holding onto his other form for a while and had therefore be distracted. Now it was free.
It wasn’t an entertaining prospect, as that meant that he had been like this for years, maybe even his whole life. And if that was true, then it meant that…
In the end, he gave up thinking about it.
Either way, it didn’t matter. If his new-found ability meant that he could do his work easier, then he was all for it.
He suddenly had the feeling that he was being watched. Looking over his shoulder, his eyes meet briefly with Kate, before she quickly looked away. He looked back at his work himself.
‘Was she checking me out?’ he wondered
Before, she probably wouldn’t have looked at him twice, but everything seemed different now. Not just himself, but the way people talked and acted around him. It was almost as if they could all sense something different about him.
He looked back over his shoulder and he and caught her looking again, before she quickly looked away.
He smiled a little as he turned back this time. He had always like Kate, but seeing as she was the only girl on the course, it was obvious to anyone with half a brain that everyone on the course did. And if she was checking him out, then it was a very good thing as far as he was concerned.
“Jack? I don’t know, but he seems…I don’t know…different, doesn’t he?”
He knew the voice, but couldn’t quite believe he was hearing it. It was John, and he was sitting on the other side of the room. Not only that, but he was whispering too.
A similar thing had happened when he’d left his house earlier. He’d left perfectly normally, same time he always did. Only he’d found the noise from the traffic a little harder to bear than normal. Not only that, but the fumes had made him want to gag.
He had bore it for his trip to college, but he didn’t know if he’d be able to do it again.
He had realised, about halfway, that the reason things seemed so bad was because for what he now was. Rabbit’s had exceptional hearing and a strong sense of smell, and now he had both too. He had felt suddenly grateful that his senses were dulled in his normal form. He’d thought more and more about what he might now be able to do. He knew that rabbits were fast runners, so he assumed that he would be too. He had imagined himself in his other form, sprinting along through fields and using his powerful legs to jump over any obstacle he came across.
The prospect was one he relished.
But he knew that he also had to be careful. If anyone ever found out…
He certainly didn’t relish the thought of being locked in a cage for the rest of his life.
In the end, just as he was walking through the main doors of the college, his mind had settled on the ‘Great power, great responsibility’ saying. It’s wasn’t that he was going to go around playing the hero, but he knew that he had to be careful.

- - -

He was walking back upstairs. He had just had his lunch and he felt like browsing the net to pass the rest of the lunch hour.
He turned a corner and saw Kate standing outside the class room. He gave her a small smile as he passed her, or at least tried to.
“Hey” she said, “Can I talk to you for a sec?”
He suddenly found his heart beating fast.
“Err…yeah, ok.”
She nodded her head off to the side “Come on.”
He followed her into an empty classroom.
“So…” she said after shutting the door, which worried him slightly “I’ve got to ask…why didn’t I know about you before?”
“Wha…?”
“Don’t play dumb…I’m not that stupid…”
“No seriously, what the hell are you on about?”
“About why I didn’t…” she stopped a stared at him for a second.
He began to realise that whatever her reason for staring at him earlier, it wasn’t anything to do with what he thought it was.
‘Damn.’ He thought
“When did you…wait a second…what are you?”
Those words sent a chill down his spine, but he tried his best to hide it.
“What…what the hell are you on about? Seriously…”
“Oh come on…we’re both the same…”
“What? What do you mean ‘were both the same’?”
“Well you know, we’re…wait…” a smile started spreading across her face, “You don’t know do you?”
“Know what?”
The smile turns into a grin.
“Oh…you’re going to love this. Listen, are you doing anything tonight?”
“Huh.”
This time he’s not just speechless, he was floored.

- - -

He’d been thinking all afternoon about what she was going to show him, and the only theory that he’d been able to come up with, based on what she said during their short conversation was that maybe she had worked out what he was.
‘Maybe she can sense it or something. But that doesn’t explain why she got so excited.’
His farther hadn’t been back yet, although he had expected as much, and so as he headed out, he left him a note; pinned to his father’s door in a similar fashion to what his farther usually did.
She was standing at the end of his street, as they’d arranged, and he followed her through the street.
“So where are we going?”
“You’ll see…”
He thought about asking further, but knew that it was pointless.
She eventually stopped in front of a house. It didn’t look remarkable in anyway, and he wondered what was going to happen. The one thing that did worry him was that it looked as though all the curtains were drawn.
He had a mental vision of himself opening up the door and then being surrounded by people his hazmat uniforms and being carted away for experiments.
“Well, here we are.”
“Seriously, what is this all about?”
“Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad. Actually, you’ll probably think of this as one of the best moments of your life.” She smiled and walked up the path to the front door.
He stayed where he was for a second, now even more confused.
He followed her up, all be it somewhat hesitantly, and they stood in front of the door.
“Just remember one thing…”
He stared at her.
“…Try and keep an open mind. And definitely try not to freak out.”
She took a key out of her pocket and opened the door.
They walked in and he looked around, trying to see if something was going to jump out at him. From what he could tell, it seemed like a perfectly normal house. The only thing that he could see that seemed off was that there were no ornaments on the shelves or pictures on the wall. Other than that, everything seemed normal.
She walked into another room, what he could only assume was the lounge, and he followed her, curious and worried at the same time. He had heard voices from inside and so he was ready to defend himself if necessary.
When he walked in, he was surprised to find that a group of people, some he knew, some he didn’t were just sitting around watching TV.
“Guys, here he is.”
One of the people who turned around was Mathew.
He grinned at seeing him.
“I fucking knew it. When you went running out of Friday…I knew it!”
“Always nice to see a new face.” One of the others went. It was someone he knew in passing from college, but they’d never even spoken before.
“So, “Mathew says “What are you?”
“Actually,” Kate says “he doesn’t know about others. He’s…literary new to all of this.”
“Really…so, you didn’t know anything before Friday. Wow, I’m surprised that you’re still san…”
“Can someone please just tell me what this is all about?!”
He had finally had enough of everyone talking so enigmatically around him. He wanted answers.
Mathew leaned forward in his chair, grinning. “I can do better than that, mate…I can show you.”
He then closed his eyes. Jack realised what was going to happen a split second before it did. Mathews form suddenly bulged, black fur coming out of every patch of skin the he could see. His face pushed outwards into a long muzzle as his ears moved to the top of his head, becoming pointy. Mathew moaned a little as this was going on, but when he was finished, all there was was a wolf, covered in thick black fur and glaring yellow eyes.
Jack felt the strength drain from his feet and he fell backward. Luckily, there was a settee behind him and he crashed onto that, almost as if he had wanted to sit down.
“Holy shit…” he whispered
“Do you see now…we’re all the same.” Kate said
He looked up at her, suddenly finding himself staring up a giant rabbit, who looked a little similar to him. Her fur however was grey and while, and she also still had her long blonde hair.
He looked over at the others, seeing a leopard, a lion and some sort of lizard.
His mind was blank. He didn’t know what to think about what he was looking at.
“I think we blew his mind.” Mathew says to the others, and they all chuckle a little.
Kate sits down on the settee next to him, and he doesn’t even register her presence.
“Don’t worry, it’s all perfectly normal. It’s not that we’re…monsters or anything. We’re just…different. Yeah?”
He looked at her. And it suddenly hits him.
‘Holy shit…I’m not alone. I…I don’t have to keep it a secret!’
“Yeah…yeah, ok. You just…caught me by surprise.”
“Well we had to tell you one way…”
“Couldn’t you have just…told me…?”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Mathew says “So, come on…what are you?”
He looks at him for a second, wondering if he should tell him or not, wondering if he’d laugh.
“Will you tell us already.” He almost yells.
A grin spreads across his face.
“I’ll do better than that mate…I’ll show you…”

Description
It had been another boring Friday at college, and he was glad when he could finally collapse onto his bed. Lying on his back, staring at the ceiling he let out a long sigh and found himself drifting off to sleep, his eyelids slowly closing.
…
He jumps up, quickly looking around, looking for the loud noise that had invaded his near-sleep state. His heart is pounding in his chest and he’s breathing quickly. He starts to calm down as he realises that he’s in his room and that he had fallen asleep. Reaching across to his bedside table, he picks up his ringing mobile phone. Looking at the name, he sighs.
“Oh great, that just who I need to talk to.” He muttered to himself.
He presses the answer button, knowing that he won’t stop calling him if he doesn’t.
“Hello.” He says
“Hello, hello, Jack. John here.”
“Yeah, I know, I read your name on the phone.”
“Ah yes. Anyway, coming out tonight?”
“Ugh, nah…I got stuff to do.”
“Oh yeah, like what?”
“Work mostly. I’ve got this stupid assignment that’s in for Monday, and I haven’t even started it yet.”
“Ok…so why can’t you come out?”
“Ha, ha, ha…look I really need to get it done. If I don’t then I’m of the fecking course.”
“Shame, seeing as it was Mathew’s birthday tomorrow we were going to go The Winchester tonight.”
“Mathew’s Birthday? I thought that was next weekend…”
“This week, next week, does it really matter? Are you coming out or not?”
Sighing he shook his head.
“I’ll think about it.” He said in the end, knowing that john would think of it as a ‘yes’.
“Cool, cool. See you there!”
He put the phone back on the table and rubbed his eyes. Glancing at the clock he worked out that he hadn’t been out of it for very long.
Sitting on the side of the bed, he thought about whether he should actually go out or not.
He glanced over at his computer, thinking about the work he needed to do. Then he glanced at his phone, lying quiet and still on his side.
He had a feeling that he already knew what he was going to do.

- - -

“Oh…come on, how can you say that?”
“Because it’s true, you dip-stick.”
“Bullshit. I refuse to believe it.”
“D’you want me to show you?”
“Go on then, I dare ya.”
Jack rolled his eyes.
‘Those two are going to get each other hurt one of these days.’
This happened, almost like a ritual, every Friday night. He wondered if John spent all of his time looking through the Internet for strange and bizarre challenges that he could do, only to prove to Mathew that he could do it and show off. It seemed stupid to him, but that was one of the reason that they hang out; he was always good for a laugh.
He rubbed his forehead, something he had been doing on and off for the past hour or so.
‘Just my luck to start getting headache on a Friday night.’
He wondered what was causing his headache. He knew it wasn’t the fact that he was drinking. The last time he had tried that, which had also been his first, he had spat it out and had been sick without even swallowing it. That wasn’t something he wanted to repeat, so he had become the ‘Designated Driver’ of their little group. The fact that he couldn’t actually drive seemed somewhat moot.
There was a suddenly joint of pain in his head and he rubbed that little bit harder.
He looked over at John and Mathew. John was leaning on his back over one of the tall barstools trying to drink a pint with an apple balanced on his chin.
He stared at them for a second, before laughing slightly and, again, shaking his head. An action he quickly regretted, as his head stung with pain.
His eyes drifted around the room. He saw people talking loudly, trying to make themselves heard over the dim of everybody else trying to make themselves heard.
It suddenly seemed too loud, too stuffy and too cramped. He stood up and headed across the room.
“Hey, where’re you going?” John yelled at him, not helping his headache.
“The north pole.” He said in reply, “Where d’you think I’m going?” he pointed at the toilets.
“Sheesh alright…” he barely heard John say, having not waited around for a reply.
When he reached the toilet, he almost immediately regretted it. He knew that this place usually smelled bad, but it seemed almost a thousand times worse. He braved it though, wanting to get away from the noise, which seemed just as bad, just on a different part of his head. Breathing in through his mouth, he walked over to the sink and turned on the tap. Although the noise from the bar was subdued, the sound of the extractor fan, usually nothing more than a background whisper, seemed to drill into his ears just as much.
He cupped his hands under the tap and let them full up with water, before splashing it over his face.
It didn’t help.
Grabbing a paper towel he wiped his hands and face dry as best he could, and then stared at himself in the mirror. His forehead creased as he looked at himself. Something seemed wrong, but he couldn’t tell what. He looked at himself for several minutes, but in the end gave up, wanting to leave the stink behind.
Walking back into the bar, he wished he had stayed in the toilet and climbed out of the window. The noise pounded on his ears as if there was an explosion going on next door. Not only that, but the smell of cigarette smoke, something he’d never liked anyway, suddenly made his want to gag.
He quickly went over to his little group of friends.
“Listen guys…”
“Hey there you are; I was beginning to think you’d flushed yourself down the bog.” John, the joker, again with the witty come-back.
“Funny. Look I’m gonna head home now. See you later.”
“You kidding, it’s only…” he looked at his watch, but then realised he wasn’t wearing one “…well, early.”
“Look I’ve got a splitting headache, and I’ve got stuff to do tomorrow, ok.”
“Ah, com’on man…”
“NO!” he yelled, the whole of the bar suddenly going quiet at this out burst. “Goodbye.” He said “Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow, but I doubt it.”
He turned around and walked out.

- - -

The trip home hadn’t been pleasant, as a fine rain had decided to begin falling not soon after he had left the pub. Even so, he’d enjoyed it mostly because of the fresh air, or as fresh as you can get these days, and the quiet.
When he got home, he found a note stuck to his bedroom door:

Jack
Just thought I’d remind you
about the meeting that I’ve
got to go to. I’ll be back some
time on Monday. Have a
good weekend and please
don’t trash the house.

All the best
Dad

He’d forgotten that his dad would be gone over the weekend, and as he stumbled into his room he figured that it would probably allow him to get more stuff done with no distractions in the house.

- - -

It was late, and he was tossing and turning in his bed, half asleep.
Sweat covered his forehead, and his breathing was rapid and shallow, almost as if he was in the grip of a bad dream.
He wasn’t though. He rolled over onto his back, his eyes open, staring up at the ceiling, lit from outside by a street light.
“Bloody hell.” He whispered
His headache was gone, but in its stead he had a strange feeling running through his body. He’d never felt anything like it before. The only time he’d felt even close, had been the time he’d locked himself out of the house during a storm. When his farther had returned the next day he’d had a slight case of pneumonia.
He’d felt awful then, but it seemed as nothing compared to whatever it was he had now.
He threw the covers onto the floor and quickly followed it with his shirt.
He closed his eyes and tried to force himself the sleep, but the weird feeling running through him was too much and in the end he sat up.
He wiped the sweat off of his forehead and tried to breathe normally.
‘Typical that I’d be left alone when I’m probably dieing.’
He flopped back down onto the pillow, again trying to get himself to sleep.
His breathing suddenly quickened, and his hand went to his chest. He sat up again, his breathing getting quicker and quicker. On one breath he suddenly stopped, almost as if he had been frozen.
The breath seemed to be pushed out of him as the force that had been building up within him finally gave way, and flowed through his entire body.
Thinking that he’s going to be sick, he rolls to his side and falls to the floor in a failed attempt to get to the bathroom.
Down on his hands and knees, he starts moaning as the force inside of him starts pushing at his body.
It doesn’t hurt him, it only pushes. Pushing at his foot, making it grow. Pushing at his hands, making them change.
He doesn’t notice this, as the force also pushes at his mind. Not to change it, but to keep it closed off from what is happening.
The first thing to start changing is his feet. He can feel it happening, but he doesn’t know what it is. It feels almost as if someone is pulling on his feet, when what is really happening is that they’re lengthening. He toes were changing too. His small toes had melted into the one next to it, and the rest had all grown bigger. Black pad formed on the end of his foot, and short hairs started growing from his skin. The hairs spread up his legs, the body underneath it changing as it went. The muscles in his legs bulged, becoming strong and powerful as the change worked it way further up his body.
A small tail pushed its way out of the back of his boxer-shorts, the fur spreading up his chest and back, the muscles becoming toned and strong.
As the fur spread down his arms, his fingernails began to grow. They turned jet black, growing longer, and sharp and pointed. Pads, similar to the ones on his feet, appeared on the palm of his hand and at the end of his fingers.
The fur finally reached his face. His mouth was pushed out by the force inside of him, although it didn’t get pushed out very far. His hair retracted into his body, being replaced by the fur that now covered his entire body. His ears were the last to change, growing longer and longer, becoming pointed.
In the end, when his transformation had finished, the force deep within him, that had pushed his new form to the surface, faded away. He fell onto his side, his mind reeling from what had just happened, even though he didn’t yet know what it was.
His mind worked its way back to normal, and he shook his head to try and get things clear.
He looked aimlessly around the room, noticing that something was wrong, but unable to work out what. He put his right arm out and tried to lift himself up onto his bed. He stumbled with his newly shaped feet and fell down, landing on his tail. The pain brought him round from his daze and he moved his hands round to rub what was hurting. His mind was brought fully back to itself when his hands happened upon his tail. Moving his hands around he tried to work out what it was. Then he noticed his muzzle. Sticking out in front of his face, it took up the bottom corner of his vision. He forgot about his tail and moved his hands around to see if it was real.
He stopped as he saw his hands.
He followed the fur on his arms to the rest of his body. He looked down at himself, covered in fur, and he started breathing fast. He saw feet, he saw the fur, he saw his hands…
He began to panic. He stood up; or rather he tried to stand up. His new feet didn’t want to be used in the same way his old ones did and he toppled over, trying to use them the wrong way. He fell forward and banged his head against the edge of his bed.

- - -

He woke up the next morning slowly. He went to get up, and a sharp pain shot through his head. Wincing, he moved his hand up to his head. He winced again as he touched the scab on his head. Pulling his hand away a few dried flakes of blood were left on his hand. His hand hovered in front of his face for a while as a memory pulled at the edges of his mind.
Suddenly, in a flash, it all came back to him. He looked at his other hand, and he searched around his face, checking to see if he really had changed. His hands moved all around his head, but everything seemed perfectly normal.
She sighed, a smile spreading across his face.
“Thank god…” he said to himself. He picked himself up off of the floor.
He then noticed two things at once. One was that everything seems smaller that it had before, or at the very least lower, and the other was that he was a little shaky on his feet.
He knew what he was going to see and he didn’t want to look down, but he found his head dropping anyway.
His feet looked exactly as they had done last night. The fur, the stretched feet, the muscle filled legs.
“Oh shit…it wasn’t a fucking dream.”
The fur went all the way up to his stomach and then seemed to just fade away, his skin becoming more visible as it went up. Craning his neck, he saw that he still had a tail too.
He found that he was standing on his new feet easier now, as although he was a little wobbly, he didn’t feel like he was going to fall over.
“Ok…ok” he said to himself, trying to work things out.
He thought back to previous night, trying to work out why the lower part of his body was still transformed.
He thought back, but him memory ended with him banging his head on his bed.
He sat down and looked closely at his legs. He rubbed hand back and forth along the fur. The dark brown almost matched the colour of his hair, only his hair was darker. He also saw that it seemed to change to a lighter colour around his…
He mind suddenly froze. He’d never even thought about that. His hand moved down toward his boxer shorts, but then stopped.
‘No…’ he thought ‘just think of a way of changing it back…’
He thought, trying to think of how he could change his top half, but not his bottom half.
‘I don’t even remember how I changed in the first place; let alone how I changed back.’
“Ok…” he said to himself “Let’s think cinema. Werewolves…”he though back to all the movies he’d ever seen.
“Ok…it can’t be the full moon, its daylight for fuck’s sake…which means that…it’s got to be will.” He paused as he processed the information and swirled it around in his head, “I’ve got think myself back to normal.”
The only thing was, he wasn’t sure how to do it.
He closed his eyes and repeated ‘I want to be human…I want to be human…’ over and over again, but nothing happened.
He sighed, “Ah shit”
He though back to the previous night, thinking about what he’d felt when he was changing.
‘Last night…I was as if…almost as if I couldn’t feel it…but it felt…almost…gentle.’ That wasn’t the word he was looking for, but it was the only one he could come up with, ‘it wasn’t forced…’
“Maybe…”
He closed his eyes again and this time thought;
‘I want to be human again.’ But only once.
In his mind he had the suddenly mental image of himself as a human, as clear as crystal. He concentrated on it, trying to think about it, but not wanting to push to hard, somehow knowing that if he did would loose it again.
Then he felt it, it was like a pulling sensation, as if someone or something was pulling his legs inside of him. The feeling came so quickly that he didn’t know what it was, but it was only there for several seconds before it disappeared completely. Opening his eyes again, he looked down at his legs.
They were perfectly normal again.
He breathed a huge sigh of relief. He rubbed his legs again, this time feeling grateful for the feeling of skin under his hands.
He stood up, glad to be back to normal and on normal feet. Looking down at himself he wondered what it was that had caused his sudden transformation. He thought about it as he headed down stairs to get some breakfast.

- - -

He was standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom. Originally he had gone in there to go to the toilet, but when that was done he had found himself staring at the mirror wondering if he should try it, even though he knew that it would probably be better to leave it and get changed into some clothes.
He’d been staring at himself for several minutes, trying to work up the courage to do it. His biggest worry was that he wouldn’t be able to change back and that he’d get stuck in the other form forever.
‘I couldn’t live like that…and God only know what Dad would say…’
He looked up at himself again.
“Fuck it…why not…”
He closed his eyes and pictured himself again, this time in his other form. Again the image was almost perfect. He felt it build up within himself and he left out a small gasp as the force began pushing at him. His eyes snapped open and the feeling of being pushed from the inside disappeared. He looked at himself to see if anything had happened, but it didn’t look as thought anything had. He took a close look at his arm and saw that there seemed to be an extremely fine layer of hair, even on the front of his arm. His forehead creased as he began to think.
‘I wonder…’
He closed his eyes again and concentrated, this time picturing just his hand. He feeling of being pushed was in his hand, but only for a second or so, and then it was gone. He opened his eyes and looked at his hand. It had changed, but the fur stopped at his wrist. He turned his hand over, looking at the way he had pale almost white fur on his fingers, but brown fur on the rest of his hand. He looked at his claws, which looked a little too deadly for his liking.
He closed his eyes again, and this time pictured his whole body. He felt the force again and this time he went with it allowing it to change him. It lasted barley a few seconds, but it felt as though he was having the air pushed out of him. He felt the change too, but it was very slight, and almost as if it were far away. Once the feeling passed, he opened his eyes and looked at himself.
He looked down at his body, looking at the fur that covered his body and his face. He reached up and touched his muzzle with his hands. It was then that he noticed his ears.
Looking at them, he began to realise that something seemed wrong. He thought back to the movies that he’d seen and compared them to himself. It dawned on him, rather shockingly, that he wasn’t a werewolf, like he’d first thought.
His muzzle was far too short, and his ears were way to long. Twisting round he looked at his tail again, it worried him that having a tail could seem so natural, and it finally click in his mind as to what he actually was.
‘Holy shit…I’m a fucking RABBIT!’
He stared at himself, trying to get the idea into his head.
“Fucking hell…” he said without thinking.
It then hit him that he could still talk. His mind felt too cluttered with new information. Closing his eyes he quickly changed himself back, feeling the pulling feeling again, and he tried to work his head around what he’d just figured out.
‘Ok…werewolves I get…but wererabbits?’ as far as he knew, it was completely unheard of…excluding the Wallace and Gromit film a few years back. ‘How is it even possible to get a wererabbit anyway? I thought that being a werewolf was because of a curse…why would anyone have a curse about being a rabbit.’
He didn’t know, and the more he thought about it, the more confusing it got.

- - -

He almost hit the ceiling when the phone started ringing. Since changing back, he had gotten into some proper clothes and had tried to sit down and watch some TV, but had only found his mind drawn into thinking about his new-found Wererabbitness. He’d been so deep in his thinking, still trying to work out why he was a wererabbit that it had taken him completely by surprise.
He walked over and picked it up.
“Hello.”
“Hi Jack, you alright?”
“Oh hi dad. Yeah, I was err…thinking, and the phone made me jump.”
“Well, nice to see you’re trying something new…”
“Funny…”
“Yeah, anyway, I was just ringing to check up on you. Everything ok…no unexpected events that you can’t handle…”
He clenched his jaw shut, trying hard not to laugh. He swallowed hard and forced the laugh down.
“No…everything’s fine.” He didn’t want his farther to know about it yet, and he wasn’t sure how he’d react.
“Well, that’s good then. I’ll be back by the time you get back from college on Monday, so I’ll see you then. Love you, bye.”
He put the phone down. His father mentioning college had reminded him that he had to get his assignment done, and he now had only a day and a half. Temporarily forgetting about his newfound other half, or at least shoving aside, he raced upstairs to do his work.

- - -

It was Monday and he was sitting at a computer in his classroom as he always did. The Assignment was done and handed in, and it had scared him a little that he’d got it done.
Usually, when he sat down to do work, he’d either end up staring at a blank document, or he’d start typing, but then get distracted by something else, like he’d want to listen to music while he work and end up getting involved in that.
But when he sat down to do his work that is what he actually did. He didn’t know why, but his mind seemed so much clearer than it had before, and doing work seemed easier.
He tried to explain it, if only to stop his mind wondering, and the only thing that he could come up with was that maybe his mind had been holding onto his other form for a while and had therefore be distracted. Now it was free.
It wasn’t an entertaining prospect, as that meant that he had been like this for years, maybe even his whole life. And if that was true, then it meant that…
In the end, he gave up thinking about it.
Either way, it didn’t matter. If his new-found ability meant that he could do his work easier, then he was all for it.
He suddenly had the feeling that he was being watched. Looking over his shoulder, his eyes meet briefly with Kate, before she quickly looked away. He looked back at his work himself.
‘Was she checking me out?’ he wondered
Before, she probably wouldn’t have looked at him twice, but everything seemed different now. Not just himself, but the way people talked and acted around him. It was almost as if they could all sense something different about him.
He looked back over his shoulder and he and caught her looking again, before she quickly looked away.
He smiled a little as he turned back this time. He had always like Kate, but seeing as she was the only girl on the course, it was obvious to anyone with half a brain that everyone on the course did. And if she was checking him out, then it was a very good thing as far as he was concerned.
“Jack? I don’t know, but he seems…I don’t know…different, doesn’t he?”
He knew the voice, but couldn’t quite believe he was hearing it. It was John, and he was sitting on the other side of the room. Not only that, but he was whispering too.
A similar thing had happened when he’d left his house earlier. He’d left perfectly normally, same time he always did. Only he’d found the noise from the traffic a little harder to bear than normal. Not only that, but the fumes had made him want to gag.
He had bore it for his trip to college, but he didn’t know if he’d be able to do it again.
He had realised, about halfway, that the reason things seemed so bad was because for what he now was. Rabbit’s had exceptional hearing and a strong sense of smell, and now he had both too. He had felt suddenly grateful that his senses were dulled in his normal form. He’d thought more and more about what he might now be able to do. He knew that rabbits were fast runners, so he assumed that he would be too. He had imagined himself in his other form, sprinting along through fields and using his powerful legs to jump over any obstacle he came across.
The prospect was one he relished.
But he knew that he also had to be careful. If anyone ever found out…
He certainly didn’t relish the thought of being locked in a cage for the rest of his life.
In the end, just as he was walking through the main doors of the college, his mind had settled on the ‘Great power, great responsibility’ saying. It’s wasn’t that he was going to go around playing the hero, but he knew that he had to be careful.

- - -

He was walking back upstairs. He had just had his lunch and he felt like browsing the net to pass the rest of the lunch hour.
He turned a corner and saw Kate standing outside the class room. He gave her a small smile as he passed her, or at least tried to.
“Hey” she said, “Can I talk to you for a sec?”
He suddenly found his heart beating fast.
“Err…yeah, ok.”
She nodded her head off to the side “Come on.”
He followed her into an empty classroom.
“So…” she said after shutting the door, which worried him slightly “I’ve got to ask…why didn’t I know about you before?”
“Wha…?”
“Don’t play dumb…I’m not that stupid…”
“No seriously, what the hell are you on about?”
“About why I didn’t…” she stopped a stared at him for a second.
He began to realise that whatever her reason for staring at him earlier, it wasn’t anything to do with what he thought it was.
‘Damn.’ He thought
“When did you…wait a second…what are you?”
Those words sent a chill down his spine, but he tried his best to hide it.
“What…what the hell are you on about? Seriously…”
“Oh come on…we’re both the same…”
“What? What do you mean ‘were both the same’?”
“Well you know, we’re…wait…” a smile started spreading across her face, “You don’t know do you?”
“Know what?”
The smile turns into a grin.
“Oh…you’re going to love this. Listen, are you doing anything tonight?”
“Huh.”
This time he’s not just speechless, he was floored.

- - -

He’d been thinking all afternoon about what she was going to show him, and the only theory that he’d been able to come up with, based on what she said during their short conversation was that maybe she had worked out what he was.
‘Maybe she can sense it or something. But that doesn’t explain why she got so excited.’
His farther hadn’t been back yet, although he had expected as much, and so as he headed out, he left him a note; pinned to his father’s door in a similar fashion to what his farther usually did.
She was standing at the end of his street, as they’d arranged, and he followed her through the street.
“So where are we going?”
“You’ll see…”
He thought about asking further, but knew that it was pointless.
She eventually stopped in front of a house. It didn’t look remarkable in anyway, and he wondered what was going to happen. The one thing that did worry him was that it looked as though all the curtains were drawn.
He had a mental vision of himself opening up the door and then being surrounded by people his hazmat uniforms and being carted away for experiments.
“Well, here we are.”
“Seriously, what is this all about?”
“Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad. Actually, you’ll probably think of this as one of the best moments of your life.” She smiled and walked up the path to the front door.
He stayed where he was for a second, now even more confused.
He followed her up, all be it somewhat hesitantly, and they stood in front of the door.
“Just remember one thing…”
He stared at her.
“…Try and keep an open mind. And definitely try not to freak out.”
She took a key out of her pocket and opened the door.
They walked in and he looked around, trying to see if something was going to jump out at him. From what he could tell, it seemed like a perfectly normal house. The only thing that he could see that seemed off was that there were no ornaments on the shelves or pictures on the wall. Other than that, everything seemed normal.
She walked into another room, what he could only assume was the lounge, and he followed her, curious and worried at the same time. He had heard voices from inside and so he was ready to defend himself if necessary.
When he walked in, he was surprised to find that a group of people, some he knew, some he didn’t were just sitting around watching TV.
“Guys, here he is.”
One of the people who turned around was Mathew.
He grinned at seeing him.
“I fucking knew it. When you went running out of Friday…I knew it!”
“Always nice to see a new face.” One of the others went. It was someone he knew in passing from college, but they’d never even spoken before.
“So, “Mathew says “What are you?”
“Actually,” Kate says “he doesn’t know about others. He’s…literary new to all of this.”
“Really…so, you didn’t know anything before Friday. Wow, I’m surprised that you’re still san…”
“Can someone please just tell me what this is all about?!”
He had finally had enough of everyone talking so enigmatically around him. He wanted answers.
Mathew leaned forward in his chair, grinning. “I can do better than that, mate…I can show you.”
He then closed his eyes. Jack realised what was going to happen a split second before it did. Mathews form suddenly bulged, black fur coming out of every patch of skin the he could see. His face pushed outwards into a long muzzle as his ears moved to the top of his head, becoming pointy. Mathew moaned a little as this was going on, but when he was finished, all there was was a wolf, covered in thick black fur and glaring yellow eyes.
Jack felt the strength drain from his feet and he fell backward. Luckily, there was a settee behind him and he crashed onto that, almost as if he had wanted to sit down.
“Holy shit…” he whispered
“Do you see now…we’re all the same.” Kate said
He looked up at her, suddenly finding himself staring up a giant rabbit, who looked a little similar to him. Her fur however was grey and while, and she also still had her long blonde hair.
He looked over at the others, seeing a leopard, a lion and some sort of lizard.
His mind was blank. He didn’t know what to think about what he was looking at.
“I think we blew his mind.” Mathew says to the others, and they all chuckle a little.
Kate sits down on the settee next to him, and he doesn’t even register her presence.
“Don’t worry, it’s all perfectly normal. It’s not that we’re…monsters or anything. We’re just…different. Yeah?”
He looked at her. And it suddenly hits him.
‘Holy shit…I’m not alone. I…I don’t have to keep it a secret!’
“Yeah…yeah, ok. You just…caught me by surprise.”
“Well we had to tell you one way…”
“Couldn’t you have just…told me…?”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Mathew says “So, come on…what are you?”
He looks at him for a second, wondering if he should tell him or not, wondering if he’d laugh.
“Will you tell us already.” He almost yells.
A grin spreads across his face.
“I’ll do better than that mate…I’ll show you…”