Daniel's Dramatic Tale
My name is Daniel. One month ago I came down with the 'torch'. Blowtorch Fever, they called it. An appropriate name too, as you could've fried an egg on my human chest. Yes it is necessary that I describe my chest as human. You'll find out why in a minute. See, the Torch has a curious side effect: TFOR. It stands for Transformative Failure... err... something or other. I'll look it up later when I'm on a computer. Anyway TFOR actually changes you--literally! It transforms your body into something else. I think there's some kind of scale that goes with it from one to a hundred based on how much you changed... how much humanity you lost or, in some cases, how much you have left. Personally, I'm a pitiful 5%. That's all the humanity that TFOR left me... the rest is raccoon. That's right. I'm a raccoon. I'm lucky, too. Why? I'll tell you why. I could've been ANYTHING. I could have been a plant... a squid... or something not seen on earth entirely! No one quite knows why that happens. Maybe the virus came from an alien planet on a meteorite that burned up in our atmosphere and the animals are from wherever it came from. That's just one in a thousand theories.
Anyway, like I was saying. I'm a raccoon with 5% of my human self left. My body is covered in fur from head to tailtip. I like my tail. I've always wanted one. Strange but true. Anyway! Everything human about me is gone but for my eyes and mind. Thank God I kept my mind... if there is a God. I even lost my vocal chords to the TFOR virus. I have to use a box attached to my collar called a 'voder. It has a thick, rubber coated wire that attaches to a dangling keyboard I hold in my paw and type on to make it simulate human speech. Of course it's an ancient piece of shit that sounds like a dying robot with constipation. Most of the buttons don't respond when I want them to, it occasionally blares random nonsense without warning, and there are far too many times when it won't even turn on! This is the life I was given one month ago...
Clothing probably shouldn't really be an issue any more... but it is anyway. I don't like going around naked; it's just not in my nature. I'm still human inside, after all. I usually wear a blue vest without pants (they're so hard to move in... the vest is enough). On the vest is a darker blue ribbon with black pawprints on it. It's a 'cure TFOR' campaign ribbon. Some teefers would probably disagree with it, but that's their problem. I would be happy-- no, ECSTATIC to change back to human. Sure, I've -adapted- to being a raccoon, but 'adapting' in NO WAY means being OKAY with it! And then there's the collar. I had to wear it at all times. It had a tag with all of my important information on it, saying that I was a teefer, that I'd had my rabies shots (they became necessary because as a raccoon I was more susceptible) my address and name... I wouldn't need it unless something happened to my 'voder... so I'd probably need it often. Ugh.
Right now I'm dealing with -another- issue: Getting out of my bedroom. The pet door that my mom had reluctantly installed (reluctantly because she, like I, was in denial that I was like this permanently) was blocked from the other side. My mom wanted me to stay in here until she was comfortable with me going out again, which would probably be never. She didn't trust me to be alone -anywhere- anymore. She was always afraid I'd hurt myself or that I'd get eaten. This bedroom had become my prison. She'd even put down newspaper in the corner so I didn't have an excuse to leave for the bathroom!
"Mom." My 'voder barely managed to crackle loud enough to be heard through the door. "Let me come out now please." It wasn't even my voice... it sounded like some over polite stranger on a broken telephone (It kinda sounds like Microsoft Sam)."I will not run away or get hurt just let me leave this room now." It couldn't even use conjunctions! 'Can't', 'I'd', 'Won't'... those were all no longer part of my vocabulary.
"I'm sorry, dear." My mom said apologetically from the door, sounding like she was about to have a breakdown. "I don't want you to die! I saw a deer outside last week only feet from the back door! Deer attract wolves and wolves eat raccoons!"
Batshit... insane. I couldn't leave my room because deer had led wolves to the backyard last week... and apparently they'd been waiting for me all this time. My mother's overprotectiveness could have been somewhat my fault, however. I'd cried like a baby for three days after I'd finished changing. I'd never been more upset in my fifteen years, and it had rubbed off on my mom a lot more than I would like to think about.
That was it though... the last straw. No way was I staying cooped up like some zoo animal--I was getting out of here tonight! Up till now I'd been too scared to leave on my own, the world being a -lot- bigger now, but this time I was too scared to STAY! Who knew what my crazed mother will do next! She could move me to the basement where I'd be all alone in the dark. Wouldn't put it past her either! I waddled to the window and lifted it, grateful for my opposable thumbs. Looking out I could see the shingled awning reaching out a few feet, and then the tree in our backyard. There were some long branches facing my window just barely jumping distance for a raccoon like me. I didn't care about the long drop (okay, I cared a little.) I just wanted out of this place.
Summoning all of my strength and courage I bunched up into a tight furry ball, then sprung forward with everything I had, just catching the end of the branch! I fought and struggled to climb my way up, but it was no use. I was dangling from the branch fifteen feet in the air.
I found I was able to shimmy across the branch by going paw over paw until I was closer to the tree and another branch was right below me. I dropped down to that one, my voder clacking on the branches behind me, threatening to fall from the branches and hit me on the head. In this manner I eventually made it relatively unscathed to the ground. Everything was quiet. It was night, the air was cool and there was a slight breeze. Without pausing to take in the sights and scents I scampered quickly to the fence. Climbing up presented no real challenge as I just crawled up the support beams on one side and jumped to the plastic trash cans on the other. I leapt from there down to the damp grass, the moisture making my 'voder suddenly squeal. I stopped and listened intently for a minute... two minutes... nothing happened. No one heard the noise. I chittered angrily at my 'voder and carried on.
I ran down the sidewalk to one of my neighbors' houses, I think his name was Johnson Green. If memory served, he was due to make his annual New York trip the next morning. It was a good thing I chose tonight to leave. It took longer than normal to reach his house due to my shortened legs, but I sped up once his truck came into view. I clambered up the back of his truck and into the bed. Luckily Jonson had packed all his blankets in under a tarp that stretched the length of the truck bed, so I wouldn't get cold tonight waiting... not that I would without them, having fur and all. I still preferred to use a blanket. Hiding myself behind some boxes, I settled in for the night. I knew tomorrow I wouldn't be in Minnesota any more.
When I awoke the next morning I felt an odd sense of vertigo... what was going on? My bed... it was moving...? Where was I? OH! That's right! I was in the back of my neighbor's truck! Johnson Green was his name. I didn't know much about him except that he had family in New York and liked to vacation there a lot, which was convenient for me at least.
I crawled out of the blankets on shaky legs as the truck wavered back and forth on the road. Stabilizing myself more or less I took stock of my surroundings. I was in a rectangular truck bed with a blue tarp stretched tight across the top, making all the light come in blue as well. There were various giant Tupperware containers organized in the bed. They were spaced evenly apart and I could just barely squeeze through them. Fortunately they were taped down so they wouldn't slide and crush me in between them.
I unsteadily wobbled to the side of the truck where there was a space in between the tarp and the bed's lip on the starboard side and forced my head and paws through, along with some of my shoulders. We were going so fast!! We had to be going at least sixty... and it was early too, judging by the sun. Couldn't have been later than 7-- good thing I left when I did! The air whipping my fur about was crisp and cool. There were no other cars about, which was only slightly surprising being the time of day it was. We were driving down the freeway with thick forest on both sides and the trees and fresh air both smelled amazing.
I was startled out of my reverie by a sudden knocking on the side of the truck--my 'voder! Its keyboard was dangling off the side! I tried to pull it back up but the wind was too strong and I feared the noise would alert Johnson and give me away. I couldn't crawl back into the bed either... it was slowly pulling me further and further out! I was going to hit the road!!
With no other choice I unclipped the 'voder from my collar and watched it smash against the road, tumbling along behind us as keys flew off in random directions. I knew other cars would come along behind and devastate its already mangled corpse... I took pleasure in that, though it meant I now had no voice to speak of. No pun intended.
I slipped safely back into the bed and slumped against the wall, panting from my recent fright. Unclipping my 'voder from my collar had just reminded me... I needed to hide it. My collar, that is. The 'voder was already trash. I unclipped my collar from my neck and stuffed it into my vest pocket. I
couldn't let anyone know who I was. My vest and ribbon would make it obvious enough that I was a teefer, but I didn't want anyone reading my information and sending me back home!
The rest of the trip was uneventful other than some good views from the truck (And almost being discovered once or twice) and got boring really fast. I survived by eating the junk food that Johnson had packed as snacks for his trip... I felt guilty about that, but the trip had taken THREE DAYS! I had to eat -something-. And he could always buy more...
Anyway, when Johnson had finally parked somewhere in the New York province I was able to sneak out of the bed of the truck. It was nearing dawn and I was in a completely foreign place... needless to say, I was terrified. I sat there on the street for a few minutes; just staring at the odd buildings and streetlights. The nearest place had a glass front that said "Twin Bells: Polyton Bakery", so I guessed Polyton was probably the name of the city.
I began sniffing the air when I caught a particular scent... fox. A fox? Here? Near the road? Wait a minute! There was a pet door on the bakery! Well there were pet doors everywhere, actually. Fullmorphs, full animal teefers like me, aren't that uncommon. But the fox smell was strongest here near the bakery. He (assuming it was a he) had been here either very recently, or came quite often so he must live nearby. Formulating a plan in my head I instantly set off down the sidewalk, following the scent away from the Twin Bells.
The trail eventually led me to someone's backyard. It had a pretty nice garden, with an unmistakable den entrance nearby. He must have a deal with the owner of the house. A strategic position like that would keep the rabbits away from the garden and give the fox a place to live... and me too. That was my plan. I wanted to move in with the fox that lived here. Don't take it the wrong way, I don't normally barge in on people like this, but I didn't know if living with humans would be the best route in case they decided to call my parents! Even though I was a raccoon, I was still obviously a minor.
My first order of business was to hide my vest and collar in the bushes near the den so I wouldn't be identified until I wanted to be... the fox wasn't at home right now, so I cautiously crawled in by myself. The den was fairly spacious and there was a chest in one corner and a pile of blankets in another-- definitely a teefer. I curled up on the pile of blankets and went to sleep, waiting for my new host to arrive...