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ACT II- ARIES

My eyes opened.

I got up.

When I came to, I briefly forgot what had happened in the past hour. I sauntered into bed and checked the clock. Four AM. Still enough time to get sleep. I rolled over, and my ears started twitching. I scratched at them until I realized what I was actually doing. I still had wolf ears.

I bolted out of bed and ran out of the room. Recalling everything, I avoided the bathroom, for fear of fainting again. Instead, I ran out the front door and on the the street.

Later, I realized that wasn't the smartest thing to do, but I wasn't at my most rational. Tail swishing, ears twitching, I staggered off the the brush on the side of the road. I sank onto the ground and tried to come to terms with what had just happened. I felt my own tail, looked at it. It was connected to me, it was mine. I played with my ears.

After I accepted it was real, the next big question popped into my head. What am I going to do when the Sun rises? I can't go to school like this. What if it never goes away?

It was already early in the morning, but some very early morning joggers started to appear. I crawled farther into the woods that made me one of its own. I did not hear any more wolves.

Lying on the ground and pondering my life, I heard a sound near me. I figured it was an animal, and ignored it. But it wouldn't leave. I grabbed a handful of pine needles and threw it at it to scare it off.

"Hey!"

I jerked up into a sitting position. Not expecting to see anyone near me, I was scared that they'd see my wolfish features. I turned towards him.

"No-no! Don't look!"

I looked away.

"Why... are you out here in the woods so early...?" he asked slowly.

I chose my words carefully. "...Personal reasons."

"Oh, uh, me too." He answered.

"What's your name?" I asked courteously.

"Aries."

"I'm Rhys."

He shuffled around a bit. "Oh! Uh, if you don't mind... I mean... if it's ok...can I ask..."

"What?"

"Nothing, it's just..." he sounded almost happy, relieved. "It's just that...you have a tail."

Nervously, I got up. "And?"

"Just like me."

I whirled around. Sitting five or six feet from me was a high school age boy, he looked about the same age as me, sitting in the brush just like I was. My eyes were immediately drawn to his head, where atop his long black hair sat two short black animal ears. Just... like... me...

I now understood his relief. Like me, he had been scared. And now he found someone who was afflicted, like he was.

"So you're like this, too...?" I began.

"Yes...a few hours ago?"

"Yup. I went outside for a walk, and when I came back I was a wolf. Well, half."

"I can see that. I was...out near the cliffs, at the bottom, and I fell asleep. When I woke up, I had these." he explained, standing up.

I stood too. "You look like a bat." I said. He did. Now I could see all of him. His little ears, maybe two inches high, coupled with his black hair made him look batlike. He had two fangs in his mouth, as opposed to my one. He wore a black and white vest with a dark tee shirt underneath. A chain connected his front and back pockets of his black jeans. I could see the end of a black tail behind him, but it wasn't long. It maybe came down to his knees, whereas mine (I measured as I thought) fell down to almost my ankles.

"There were bats in the caves." he responded. "I assume this came from them, somehow."

"A few hours ago, I woke up to some noise. I went out to investigate, and heard some wolves."

"There are never any around here..." he interjected quietly.

"I know, which is why I turned back and went home, but then I had these."

"I just woke up with 'em. Why do you think they're here?"

"I don't know. What are we going to do? We can't go to school like this..."

"I know."

We both sat there in the brush for a while, thinking over what we could possibly do to fix this. Neither could think of anything. Eventually we both just dozed off again. Me, the wolf-boy, and him, batboy. Asleep on the forest floor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as my eyes opened, I sat up. Worried, I looked around, trying to remember what had happened. I looked over, and saw the other boy, the one that became a bat, still sleeping across from me. He looked normal. But something was wrong, I couldn't tell what. Then I realized:

He doesn't have a tail anymore.

My hand flew to behind me. I couldn't feel any furry appendage anymore. There were no fuzzy ears on my head. No protruding fang in my mouth. Had I just imagined it all? Was it a dream?

If it was, then why would I have been sleeping my this kid? It must have happened. But how?

Aries woke up. He looked over and saw me.

"You don't have a tail." I told him.

He affirmed this; it was true.

"But-w...why? What happened? It wasn't a dream or anything..."

"No, because then why would we have been both sleeping here?"

"I don't know." He thought for a minute, then suddenly stood up. "Now that we are normal again...I'll leave now."

"Um, ok." I said, unsure.

"Bye." he said and walked away briskly.

What's with him?

I also got up and started to walk back towards my house. What time is it? It's a Sunday now, so I'm not missing anything.

I got home. Nothing had changed. My parents didn't act any different, so they knew nothing. I ambled upstairs. Nothing was different. The bathroom was slightly messed up after my fall last night, but I picked it all up easily.

In my room, nothing was different. Everything was the same, nothing had changed. Maybe somehow I did imagine it. Is Aries even real? Maybe I just woke up now. Nothing to do about it now. Everything's back to normal again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Weeks went by.

Time is moving on

Moving on

Moving on

It was almost a month since I'd met Aries, and I still couldn't quite forget or understand him. Or myself, for that matter. Why had we changed, and why had we changed back? But none of it had happened recently, so I mostly ignored it.

It was finally warming up outside. Most of April it had just been cold and rainy, but now that May was in a couple of days, Mother Nature seems to have taken the hint. If course, I didn't care much for the weather either way. I was lounging about, just like always, on my lazy Saturday afternoons. Just like last time, I was pretty bored. And a Saturday afternoon. Is this going to be a theme?

Right after I turned off the TV and fell on the floor lazily, I heard a sonorous knock echo through the house.

"Someone get that!" I yelled. No one answered. "Is anyone here? At all?!" Nothing.

"Uh....I have to get up..." I muttered to myself.

I slowly rise up and amble towards the door. The knock sounds again, louder.

"I'm coming!" I yelled. I guess no one was really home. I took my sweet time.

I swung the door open to see Allie standing there, impatient and obviously with something important on her mind.

"What's up?" I asked.

She looked at my surprised. "Haven't you seen outside?!" she asked incredulously.

"No... Why?"

"Just come and look."

She pulled me forward, out the door and outside. Though it wasn't what I was expecting. I squinted my eyes against the expected afternoon sun. But to no avail.

It was pitch dark outside. Like, night. There was no light. Well, there was enough that I could see, but that was about it. Moonlight, maybe? I looked up.

The Sun was still there. But its light was somehow blocked. It was like... looking at the sky from underwater. It was all still there, you could see it, but it was less powerful. The Sun looked weak and white. I could look at it full-on and it didn't hurt my eyes at all.

"You see the problem." Allie interjected.

"Y...yeah..." I said, still confused. "When...did this start?"

"A few minutes ago. I hurried over here as soon as it started, to find you."

"Why?"

"So we could do something about it. There's something else strange about this too."

"What?" I looked back at her.

"Look around."

I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. People walked about their daily Saturday business. Allie and I just on the side of the road. Some animals scurried around. Aside from the darkness, everything and everyone seemed normal.

Or maybe that's the problem.

"No one else notices..." I answered.

"Right. As I was walking here, it was just me that realized something was up. Some shielded their eyes from the Sun that we can clearly see is blocked. They wear hats, they walk as if everything is normal. But it's not." she explained.

"Why?"

"I don't know. Why can't they see what we see? Why can't they see what's real?"

"Maybe they are seeing what's real...and we're not." I guessed. "Either way, we don't know what triggered this weird night thing."

"No, we don't. Since it's just us two, there must be some special reason for it." Allie seemed so deep in thought, so troubled. So different that her usual happy self.

"Well, has anything weird happened to you lately?" I asked.

"No...not that I can think of. You?"

Well, there was that one thing... but that's probably unrelated. "Nothing for me either."

"Well, let's look around. Maybe we'll find something."

"Ok" I agreed.

We walked downtown, like we did so long ago. No one or nothing seemed any different from normal. We found nothing. We must have been out walking for hours. To no avail.

"It's almost dark, or it would be. Wanna just quit and try tomorrow?" I suggested, tired from the day.

"No...we have to...." She stopped walking. "I guess."

"I'm glad you see the futility of our situation."I said sarcastically. "Let's just go home. Tomorrow's Sunday, we can look more then."

"I supposed you're right."

"Maybe this is just a dream, maybe it isn't real at all. Maybe we'll make up tomorrow....to a nice, morning sun" I tried.

"Maybe..."

And with that, we went our own ways home. It wasn't even that late, but I was so tired from walking all day I went upstairs and fell asleep immediately. Though, I realized, what happened before and after the Allie event today and the first wolf day, they were exactly the same. Hopefully the end won't be...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That night was weird. I kept waking up, over and over. Usually this never happens. Maybe once at like four AM or something. But never this often or this sporadic. I finally decided to get up and go for a walk. In my half-sleep haze, I forgot what a bad idea this could be. But I forgot.

I went out into the woods. Like last time. Though this time, I didn't hear any wolves, or anything for that matter. I kept walking. Around the edge, I never went that far in at one time. I was so lost in thought, I didn't realize when I changed again. At least, right away.

I tripped and fell over a stump, and when I got up and brushed myself off, I realized my tail was back. And it was longer. Same with my ears and fang. They were all considerably more wolf like than last time.

I freaked out and ran back home. Forgetting which way it was, I ran aimlessly until I was out of breath. The my "animal instincts" took over. I wasn't entirely in control of my actions anymore. They just happened. I kept switching between running on all fours and on two legs, but hunched over. Only later would I realize what a problem this might be. Now, all I realized was that I was a wolf, and I needed to get home before anyone saw me.

I acted much more animalistic than last time around. I hardly knew what I was doing. Last time, I had complete control. Now, my brain was in a frenzy. The wolf and human parts were conflicting, and I didn't even know what was going on.

I consciously looked for Aries, since he was here last time this happened. But I didn't see him. Both my animal and human parts did this, out of necessity and wonder.

I suddenly arrived at my house.

I bolted upstairs and locked my bedroom door. Relieved, my wolf part relinquished power, since I was no longer in danger. I fell to the floor quietly, very tired and out of breath.

I listened to any sign that anyone heard or saw me. I heard nothing. Except someone breathing. Which was normal, since my parents were asleep.

I kept listening. The breathing stayed constant. Though as I recovered strength and energy, I realized: The breathing was in the wrong place.

It was right behind me.

I whirled around as fast as my tired lungs would allow. There, standing in the middle of my room, was Aries.

"How long have you been here?" I asked, out of breath.

"How long have you been out?" He countered.

"We meet under the same circumstances, I see." Aries also had more pronounced bat features than he did before.

"Not exactly"

"Why?"

"Have you looked outside?"

"That again?! Yes, I was just there. It's black, like it should be. It's night, isn't it?"

Aries gave a little laugh. "How long were you sleeping? It's three in the afternoon!"

Why does this keep happening?!

I'd recovered my strength by then. "This happened yesterday. So you noticed too?"

"Why wouldn't I?! It's pitch black outside!"

"Allie and I walked around all day yesterday looking for clues, and no one seemed to notice the blackout. So it seems were the only ones who see see what's really happening, or...it's just us."

"Who's Allie?" he asked. "My friend. If we're all the same, and we're all the only ones affected.."

"Then wouldn't she have animal stuff to?" Aries interjected.

"It stands to reason."

"Did you tell her about this yesterday, or at all?"

"No..."

"For probably the same reasons you didn't, numbnuts!" he said.

"Hey, calm down, you probably didn't tell anyone either!"

"Well-no. I didn't either."

"So it's really no one's fault. But if it's just us three, let's go find Allie and figure this out together."

"I'm not one for 'together'...but anything to get rid of this stupid tail." he agreed.

We got up to leave. "Your name was Aries, right?"

"Yeah, and yours Rhys?"

"Yup."

We left out the front door. I tried calling Allie, but predictably, she didn't answer. So we scourged the town for her. No avail.

"I have no idea where she'd be."

"You're the one that knows her!"

"I know, I know! I'm just out of ideas. She's not home, she hasn't answered her phone... I don't know."

"Wait...Rhys... Rhys! Look up!" Aries said urgently.

"What?" I looked up. It was still dark, but there more developments in this story. The moon, pale and bright yesterday, was considerably closer and loomed ominously. Many of the stars were black and cold, and couldn't be seen. But a couple planets were closer, and I could actually tell which ones they were by color.

Suddenly, something streaked out of the sky and plummeted into the forest. More followed.

"Was that... a meteor?!" Aries stammered.

"I think so."

"We need to find out what's up. Now." he said decisively. Then it started raining. A bit at first, but then harder and harder. Soon we were both drenched and cold. But everyone else was fine.

"I know a place nearby we can go!" Aries shouted over the rain. "Follow me!"

As we ran, more and more fireballs exploded around us. One came dangerously close and we had to jump. The forest was starting on fire, even through the rain, and the rain turned to hail. Fire, hail, meteors, rain...what else could happen?!

"Where are we going?!" I yelled.

"To the cliffs! I hang out there a lot and there's a cave we can stay in until the rain goes away!" He answered.

We quickly made it to his cave. He started to show me the way in when I saw something above us.

"Wait! Aries! Come here, look at this!"

"Is that...a person?!"

"I think it's Allie! But why is she up there?"

Allie was all the way at the top, almost on the edge. She didn't look like she was in danger of falling, despite the harsh winds.

"We need to go get her!"

"Right!"

Rhys, Aries: Ascend

We did.

It took a very long time, but eventually we got to the top where she was. Fortunately, it stopped hailing and was just raining, but it was still cold and hard.

Allie was standing on the very edge of the cliff. The moon was in front of her, as if she was about to walk straight into it. She looked like she couldn't see any of it, but I knew she could. Everything about her creeped me out. It's like it wasn't Allie.

"Allie! ALLIE! We're here! It's me, Rhys!"

She showed no signs of hearing me. I edged closer.

"I brought a friend! Someone else who can see the night! And everything else! His name is Aries! He changed here, at these cliffs!" I turned to Aries. "Right?"

He nodded.

"Just come here! Please?! What are you ever doing?!" Now the wind picked up, and I could see her tail flying in the wind. Mine and Aries's were doing the same. It was read and streaked with orange. It looked like fire.

"You have a tail now too! What are you?" I had no idea. "Just come here!"

Then she moved. She started shuddering. Crying. I could hear her sobs from back where I was. She cried harder and harder. Then she turned around.

She looked at me through her tears. I couldn't read her face at all.

Then she burst into flames.

END ACT II