FSE

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Chapter 6

Sophia slowly swam towards consciousness, her brain feeling like it was submerged in molasses. Groaning, she willed stiff muscles to move her arm to her face and rub her temples. She opened her eyes and immediately shut them as daylight blinded her. Slowly reopening her eyes to let them adjust, she tilted her head to the side and checked her clock - it was after 10:00 a.m. Panic shot through her as that meant her father was almost certainly up by now. She prayed it had either all been a dream or there hadn't been any sign of her strange night.

Grunting, she propped herself up and checked her hands over in the daylight. Instead of the dark pointed nails of the previous night, her fingers ended in familiar rounded, pink tips. Still, the nails looked quite a bit longer than they should have been, seeing as she had clipped them a few days before. Next, she ran her tongue over her teeth, they too felt normal. After that, she flipped her blanket off, uncovering her still naked body. The fur had disappeared from her chest and stomach, and her pubic hair had returned to its normal brown color and density. To her dismay, though, her legs looked like they hadn't been shaved in weeks.

Her entire body felt stiff, and just moving her arms and upper body felt like it took a lot more effort than usual. Stretching protesting muscles, she arched her back and then reached towards her feet with her face down. A strange dark line on the bedsheet caught her eye, and she stopped stretching. Curious, she picked it up and brought it closer for a better look. When she realized what it was, her heart froze. It was a single stiff dark hair - and it certainly wasn't a human hair. All hope it had only been a dream faded

"Oh no," she whispered as she tried not to panic. If my dad find's fur...

Ignoring the protests of her muscles, she hastily got out of bed and threw on pajama pants and a nightgown. Looking herself over in the mirror, she saw her hair was a complete mess and took a few moments to brush it. She took another moment to confirm her eyes and ears were back to normal, before heading out of her bedroom towards the bathroom. Once there, she took several strong sniffs. Thankfully, the faint dog smell she half-remembered from waking earlier had dissipated. After emptying her bladder, she examined the bathroom floor and toilet. She saw a couple of what might have been wolf hairs and wiped them up just to be sure.

After quickly washing her hands, she made her way to the living room where she could hear the TV. Her dad was sitting in his usual spot, although she was surprised to see he didn't have a glass or bottle next to him. He looked up as she reached the threshold between the front hall and living room.

"Morning Soph," he greeted her cheerfully, leaning back. "Late night?"

"Morning, and yeah," Sophia replied evenly, sitting on the couch.

"Did you have a dog in the house last night?" he asked after a beat, looking curiously at her. "I could've sworn I smelled dog in the bathroom last night."

Shit, her mind went blank. "No, that's really strange."

"Huh, well, I didn't this morning," he said, sounding a little perplexed. "Must have been imagining things after a long day. You working today?"

Sophia nearly collapsed in relief. I'll have to clean up before he has a chance to notice anything else.

"Nope, I have today off. Tomorrow though." She hesitated and then asked softly, "you want to do something later?"

"Oh, sorry, I can't; I have plans later," her dad replied, shaking his head. "I'm heading out to watch the Idaho State game with some buddies in half an hour and probably won't be back until this evening. Definitely another time though!"

"Okay," Sophia replied, disappointed. "Well, I'm going to have breakfast and take a shower."

"Sounds good," her dad said absently and went back to watching the TV.

Good talk dad, Sophia sighed dejectedly and got up. Your daughter turned into a werewolf last night and is having a bit of an emotional crisis, thanks for caring.

In the kitchen, she saw the pan still on the stove still with oil in it and the plate with now dry chicken fat on it. Nausea floated up from her stomach as she looked at the noticeable smudge on the floor where she had eaten raw chicken. Hoping fervently she wasn't going to get food poisoning from consuming raw meat, she wetted some paper towels and wiped up the spot on the floor. After that, she dumped the unused oil in the garbage and rinsed off the plate. Finally, she meticulously looked over the floor to see if there were any loose hairs. Once satisfied there weren't any, she breathed a sigh of relief and turned her attention to making breakfast.

This morning, her hunger was the normal kind and not the deep, gnawing hunger she had felt throughout the last few days. Opening the fridge to grab a carton of milk for her cereal, her stomach lurched a little when she saw the package of raw bacon, and she made a point of looking away from it when she put the milk back. Sitting at the table, she took her time eating, relishing feeling satisfied with a normal breakfast for the first time in days. After emptying the bowl, she washed her breakfast dishes and grabbed her robe before heading to the bathroom.

Hanging the robe up, she eyed the tub and decided a bath sounded far more appealing to her still stiff muscles. After starting the tub, she undressed and hung a towel and washcloth next to the tub. Once the water was high enough, she turned the faucet off, stepped in and lay in the tub, letting herself go limp. She closed her eyes and lay peacefully as the heat penetrated and loosened her muscles. After the unnatural stresses her body had been subjected to, it felt too wonderful for words.

For a time, pure contentment drove the stress and absurdity of the last week from her mind. All was as it should be, the impossible remained impossible and her life hadn't just been turned upside down. Slowly, she let her head slip below the water, soaking her hair. It had all been her silly, sleep deprived imagination; there were no such things as werewolves. After she could no longer hold her breath, she surfaced and inhaled deeply as water cascaded off her head. She smoothed her hair, rubbed her eyes and then opened them again. Just a fantasy...

Several stray wolf hairs were floating in the water. Not quite willing to let go of her reverie quite yet, she closed her eyes and counted to ten before reopening them. The hairs were still there. She reached out to one drifting above her chest and gingerly plucked it from the water. Bringing it in close to her face, she dispassionately regarded it. A single strand of hair was such a small thing really, but this one's very existence should have been impossible. Yet, there was no denying its existence as she examined it. She could feel the silvery strand as easily as the hair on her head or the water covering her submerged body. There was also no use denying the hair had somehow been grown and shed from her own body.

Am I still... human? She let the hair go as her hand sank limply back into the water. What am I now?

Sitting back up, she grabbed the bottle of shampoo on the rim of the tub. She squeezed some into her hand and rubbed it vigorously into her hair.

Where did all of the other fur go? She worked the shampoo down the length of her hair. Where did it come from anyway? Did the moon do it...? How?

Finishing lathering her hair, she lay her head back into the water and held her breath as she submerged her head. She combed her hair with her hands, thoroughly rinsing her hair. She surfaced, took a deep breath and grabbed the conditioner.

I thought werewolves became mindless beasts, she repeated the process with the conditioner. Will that happen to me next full moon? When is the next full moon? Could it happen tonight?

After finishing with the conditioner, she grabbed the washcloth and began gently scrubbing her arms. Several more wolf hairs were floating in the tub than there were before she had washed her hair. She did her best not to look at them.

There must be other people like me out there, right? She scrubbed her neck and back. I can't be the only werewolf. There must be someone who can give me answers. Right?

Moving down her body, she scrubbed her legs and feet with the cloth. She couldn't help noticing her toenails were definitely longer, but also looked a bit smoother than they had been. Maybe there were some perks to monthly transformations at least. Once finished scrubbing herself down, she opened the drain and watched the water flow out of the tub.

People become werewolves after getting bitten by another werewolf in stories, several hairs disappeared down the drain. But that's not what happened to me. What else were the stories wrong about? What happens if I start changing during the day?

A couple hairs lingered on the bottom of the tub after the water drained. Getting to her feet, she grabbed the shower head and quickly rinsed the evidence of her nocturnal escapade down the drain. She hung the shower head back up, closed the curtain and quickly rinsed her body off. After aiming the shower head straight down, she grabbed her shaving gel and began applying it to her legs.

Inconvenient hair growth and longer nails aren't so bad at least, she grabbed her razor and began sliding it down her legs. I miss feeling like a wolf though.

Stopping shaving for a moment, she shook her head to clear that treasonous thought. She didn't want to be a werewolf; she was human. Distracting herself, she concentrated on removing the unwelcome holdover from the night.

Slide the razor down her leg, rinse it off in the shower.

Slide the razor down her leg, rinse it off...

Finishing with her right leg, she rinsed it off under the falling water. She began removing the hair on her other leg and then stopped in surprise. The scar she had sported on her knee from her bike accident was missing. Forgetting shaving for a moment, she gently moved the skin on her knee around, examining it. The scar was definitely gone.

Now that's cool, she checked the underside of her arm above the elbow where she had a scar from a nasty fall she had suffered as a kid to find it too was gone. Do I just heal when I change..?

She considered intentionally nicking herself with the razor, but thought better of it when she remembered how much razor cuts tended to sting and bleed. Instead, she got out of the shower and found a needle in the bathroom vanity. After washing it with soap and water, she gave her right index finger a prick. Blood immediately started to trickle out of the self-induced puncture, and she was disappointed to see it didn't close up immediately. Feeling a bit silly, she washed off her finger and returned to the shower.

What good is rapid healing if it only happens once a month? She resumed shaving her left leg. So much for Wonder Sophia the Werewolf Girl.

After her leg was free of the unwanted growth, she rinsed it. Before shutting off the water, she shaved her armpits which also annoyingly looked like they had never been shaved. She grabbed her towel, dried her upper body off and then wrapped her hair in it. Locating a nail clipper, she set about removing the last physical remnant of her transformation.

That takes care of that, she examined her nails in satisfaction.

Wiping the condensation off the mirror, she looked herself over. As far as she could tell, there wasn't any indication something had ever been amiss. Though, she did note any freckles that had been on her skin had completely disappeared. The image of a snake shedding its skin came to her mind and she giggled. Curious, she removed the towel and stepped on the scale. To her surprise, her weight had returned to what it had been before the party. Stepping off the scale, she turned and grabbed her robe from the hook on the door.

She was just about to put it on when she noticed several lupine hairs on the neckline. Frowning, she opened it to find the inside of it was littered with wolf fur. Grumbling to herself, she hung the robe back up and wrapped a towel around herself before gathering her discarded clothes and heading for her bedroom. Unfortunately, one look at her bed made it obvious her robe wasn't the only item in need of laundering. Resigning herself to some deep cleaning, she threw on a loose t-shirt and sweats. Once decent, she stripped her bed and set to work.

As it turned out, she was quite glad her father had left for the day. It took her over an hour to be satisfied she had removed all evidence of the prior night. With her clothes and bedsheets in the dryer, she fixed herself a sandwich for lunch and then settled down at her laptop. There were questions to answer.

Bringing up her social media profile, she was embarrassed to see she had missed several messages from Candice checking up on her while she was sick Wednesday. While she tried to keep her profile updated, it wasn't unusual for Sophia to go days at a time between checking her profile. Dismissing the notifications, she instead navigated to Candice's page. Ever the indefatigable social butterfly, Candice had been active the night before and had already posted to her timeline several times that morning. Corroborating their brief text conversation, Sophia saw nothing indicating anything out of the ordinary had happened. She did note, with some jealousy, that Candice's most recent post had been just half an hour before and was of her posing with Patty, Racheal and a guy the site helpfully identified as "Joe". The attendant message simply read "Warming up for Saturday morning band practice!".

In the picture, Rachael and Candice were smiling broadly, while Patty looked like she had just been dragged out of bed. Clicking on Racheal's profile, she saw the girl's last post was Wednesday. Scrolling through Racheal's profile, Sophia noted she was an infrequent poster like herself. Going back to Candice's picture, Sophia clicked on the link to Patty's profile. To her utter lack of surprise, Patty rivaled Candice in her social output and had updated her page multiple times over the last twenty-four hours. The posts from the previous night indicated Patty had attended a party and were more than a little suggestive of underage drinking, but none of them had anything to do with wolves or the moon.

Feeling puzzled, Sophia went back to Candice's page and tried to remember the last party attendee's name. To her frustration, she just could not recall it. Scrolling through Candice's extensive friend's list, Sophia watched for either a familiar name or picture. About two thirds of the way down, she finally found a profile picture of the other person at the party. She clicked Alexa's profile and waited for it to load.

To her disappointment, she immediately saw Alexa had posted the prior evening. It was something to do with politics, but Sophia assumed Alexa probably didn't post it while sporting fangs and fur. Drumming her fingers, Sophia stared at her screen. Why was she apparently the only one at the party affected? Granted, she technically had no evidence Rachael hadn't been affected, but the girl certainly didn't look as rough as Sophia felt. Not sure what else to do, Sophia absently scrolled down Alexa's wall.

A couple posts down, Alexa had shared a picture of the Halloween Party on her timeline which had depicted all the other girls who had been there... except Sophia. Looking for the date, she saw the picture had been posted by Patty late Tuesday night. The card game on the table indicated it had been taken after Sophia had come down sick.

I actually go to a social gathering and of course I'm left out of the pictures, Sophia's mood soured.

Feeling dejected, Sophia opened a chat with Candice and prepared to type a message asking if her friend was able to hang out later. However, she just couldn't get herself to start typing. What help would Candice be able to give her anyway?

Hey Candice! Your best friend is literally a wolf girl now! Candice would rightly think she had lost her mind.

Feeling frustrated, Sophia closed the chat and opened a new tab instead. In the address bar, she typed "real werewolves". The first result was just an article about the history of werewolf legends and she skipped it. The next link was a bit more promising and covered historical claims of 'real' werewolves. Unfortunately, the gruesome fates of those accused did little to help her anxiety or mood. Most of the subsequent top links were similar to the first couple.

The results then started linking to various conspiracy theories and a couple were people claiming to have seen werewolves, none of which proved particularly helpful. It was rather discomforting to see they all seemed to agree those unfortunate to be infected with lycanthropy became mindless beasts who lived for killing however. A range of linked articles went into the various psychological and medical disorders that may have given rise to the legends. Was she going crazy? Maybe she had tracked all that fur in from somewhere else... or just imagined it?

Feeling uncertain again, she remembered the pictures she had taken and found the camera where she had left it. Popping out the memory card, she inserted it into her laptop's SD slot and waited for it to load. After transferring the pictures to her laptop, she hesitated before opening the folder they were in. This was it, if they weren't there, she would be faced with the near certainty she was hallucinating and probably needed to be committed. Steeling herself, she summoned the courage to open the folder.

The pictures she had just downloaded popped up... and the first four were exactly the ones she remembered taking. Seeing her naked body with patches of fur again was jarring, despite it being what she remembered. However, it was the golden eyes in the first picture she had taken that really drew her attention. She couldn't help staring at them, they were... actually kind of beautiful. Glancing at her standing mirror, she felt a touch of melancholy as she saw her normal hazel eyes looking back at her. It wasn't just the eyes either, the teeth, the nails, the fur... she couldn't help missing all of it...

Woah there, she hastily minimized the folder. I'm human and that's that. At least I know I'm not crazy...

She pulled her browser back up and resumed looking for other people like her. Unfortunately, it was proving very tough and each page just deepened her sense of isolation. After combing through several fruitless pages of results, she was about to give up when she saw a link to a small forum that claimed to be for people with lycanthropy. With rekindled hope, she eagerly followed the link. The board only had a couple dozen threads and hadn't had any activity in over a week, but it looked like it might be what she was looking for. Entering the first post, she began reading through it.

Much to her disappointment, most of the posts on the board were either from conspiracy theorists, people claiming to have met werewolves or roleplayers. There were a couple from people claiming to be afflicted with lycanthropy, but none seemed analogous to her experience. Sighing, she backed out and was about to try a different search when a loud, demanding tone nearly made her jump out of her chair.

Looking for what could have made the beep, she saw her social media tab had a notification on it. To her surprise, it was a message from a guy she recognized from one of her classes. Wondering why someone she never talked to on or offline would be messaging her now, she opened the message. One glance at it made her heart stop:

You should come over to my house and be my pet wolf girl!

To her horror, it was underneath a video from the Halloween Party... of her acting like a wolf with the skin comically draped over her.