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At Death's Door, by AnotherAperson

Anthony was dying. He lay in a hospital bed, and his breath wheezed in and out through a ventilator mask. The pain and boredom had become unbearable. He wasn't sure what he should be doing or thinking about for the final few days on earth, as none of it seemed to matter much. Tears ran through his fur, but he left them as he watched the plain room across from him.

The door cracked open. Expecting a loved one, Anthony did his best to smile, but it soon dropped as a silver, shiny wolf entered. The figure glanced at the few potted flowers and belongings, before settling on Anthony. His face didn't change at all, seeing him. He kept his glossy, smiling look, with wide, pupil-filled eyes. His whole body looked fake, as if it had been printed. His fur was grey and smooth. He had large, rounded ears, and a cylindrical tail that stood stiff behind him. Not happy nor sad to see Anthony in this state, but nothing at all.

He squeaked over to the bed. As he walked, his legs moved jaggedly, while his upper body remained rigid, with his arms pressed to his sides. He didn't lean forward as he walked. It was almost as if he floated across the room until he came beside the bed. Only then did his neck turn for him to look down upon Anthony.

He stared back. There was something wrong with what Anthony was seeing, but he couldn't tell what. To him, it looked like the figure was only made of fat, with the way his neck wrinkled into itself. There was no sign of the figure having any structure beneath his skin. The palms of his paws lay flat against the edge of the bed. Anthony stared at them, when it occurred to him what was wrong. The wolf wasn't wearing any clothes. He was a solid mass of grey, except for his cartoonish smile, and eyes that looked flat against his face.

Anthony didn't know what this was or how he should feel or react. He looked at the visitor and said nothing.

"Hello, Anthony," said the figure.

"How are you feeling today? Not long now, is it?"

As the figure spoke, his lips didn't seem to move. The sound seemed to come from nowhere, which made the wolf appear like a ventriloquist. It disturbed Anthony further. He coughed into his mask, then rasped out.

"What's that supposed to mean? Do I know you? I can call someone in here."

A button was always in reach for Anthony to press. He knew if he pressed it, nurses would storm in, expecting the worst-- expecting the inevitable. But if they saw this wolf, they wouldn't hesitate to detain him, either.

The figure's eyes didn't move to look where he'd moved. Instead, his whole head turned to look down at the button, and the finger left against it.

"Go ahead, I won't stop you. Your last days should be in peace."

Without changing his expression, the figure turned away from his hand. Anthony coughed again. His body shook with anxiety over this unblinking, unflinching wolf. He felt helpless all over again: as he had when he first entered the hospital. His glare softened, unable to hold it. He pressed his finger closer to the button.

The figure darted, and wrapped his paw around Anthony's finger. He whipped his hand away from the button, then held it against his wheezing chest. Anthony coughed and choked in surprise, letting out a few desperate breaths of air. His heart raced. His face contorted into fear, but the figure didn't do anything more. They held paws and watched each other.

Anthony noticed that the wolf moved closer. He'd bent over himself, and the fur had made many lines of perfect creases across his body, as if he didn't have any bones, and as if there was nothing behind his fur.

Anthony stared at his chest, then went back to his still face. Up close, the ears looked more like cones. They looked as if they'd been wrapped in cling film and glued in place-- like an imitation of what an ear should look like.

"But, there's an alternative, Anthony. So, don't call them in yet. Hear what I have to say first. I know you will be interested."

Anthony was so focused on his unmoving lips, and the sound of his voice, that at first, he didn't notice that he'd finished speaking. He nodded his head.

The wolf seemed to croon closer until his muzzle was almost touching the mask. His other paw came over and patted their entwined paws. His fur felt cool and elastic, and it left Anthony terrified. He just wanted the strange figure to go, but he couldn't make him leave, and he couldn't press the button.

"You have a choice whether you want to die now--"

His smooth paws pushed down against his chest. Anthony coughed through his mask, but the figure didn't react.

"--or start a new life with me."

"I don't understand..."

Anthony coughed again. The figure pulled away and reached for some water. Then, he pulled away the ventilator mask, cutting off Anthony's air.

Anthony panicked. His lungs felt dead in his chest, and while one hand was trapped, the other felt numb by his side. He tried to cry out, but he only let out a sharp wheeze as the ventilator hissed at one side.

Lights and noises blared, but the wolf ignored them. He brought the glass to Anthony's lips, and made him drink. He didn't pull away the glass even after a few sips. The glass emptied before he pulled it away from Anthony's lips.

With no movement of air, the stuff poured straight into Anthony without having to swallow. He was already drowning. His vision became cloudy. His chest screamed at him to breathe, but there was nothing he could do. He accepted this was it, and let his eyes drift closed. This was how he was going to die.

...

The blaring stopped as the mask was eased over his face. Anthony felt that he was holding onto life by a string, but he kept going nonetheless. Slowly, he was able to open his eyes again, and see the wolf above. His silver muzzle was pressed against the mask and pressed flat against the plastic.

From this close, Anthony finally saw that the wolf's fur wasn't fur. It was plastic and perfectly smooth, along with his eyes and mouth that were flat against his head. Anthony realised he was looking at something alien. Something hollow and filled with nothing but air, and yet wanting to kill him himself before he died naturally.

Anthony felt too scared to do anything. Every successive moment of silence between them made his life-string feel thinner and thinner, until the wolf spoke again.

"I'm offering life to you, Anthony; please pay attention."

Anthony stayed silent. The wolf twisted away, so that for the first time, they weren't staring at each other. He kept twisting until the grey wall of his back faced Anthony. He had a zip that trailed from the base of his neck, and followed the curve of his spine to the base of his tail.

"Pull it open, Anthony."

"I can't..."

"Pull it open, Anthony."

Anthony lifted a trembling hand and pulled it down. The wolf's back gaped and sagged open. Inside, he was hollow. The inner space was a dark, crimson colour, almost flesh-like. There were no organs. It was just the inverse side of the wolf's plastic skin, which squirmed and writhed in the darkness. It glistened wet, and there was a grizzly, salty smell that Anthony could smell even through the mask.

The wolf's head crinkled as he turned back to look at Anthony.

"Do you like what you see?"

Anthony said nothing. He stared into the wolf's hollow back, and wished someone would arrive to pity him. This was not how he wanted to go.

"I want you to take your mask off, and push your arms inside."

"No. I need this to breathe."

"Yes, you do."

The wolf reached over and pulled the mask from Anthony's face. Anthony half-sobbed frightened tears, as for the second time that day, he began to die. The wolf waited until Anthony's world became dark, before putting the mask back in place.

"Lift your arms up, and put them inside."

"... No."

...

"Lift your arms up, and put them inside."

It took him a minute to answer this time. And when the mask got pulled off again, it was held away long enough to lose consciousness.

...

When the mask woke him up again, everything seemed to hurt. The wolf was still there, though this time, his face, and paws had blood running over them. It ran over the pupils of his eyes, but he didn't blink it away.

Anthony wondered if it was his own blood. He felt too disorientated to tell, but he hoped that it was. He could actually die that way, and the incessant pain of his torture. But he soon noticed two bodies lying on the floor. They were his nurses, that had helped make the end of his life as comfortable as possible, that lay bleeding on the floor. Possibly dead, but certainly not moving.

Anthony couldn't find the energy to grieve them. He couldn't cry any more than he already had. He felt more concerned about the wolf leering over him. The figure patted his tired arms with his bloodied paws.

"I'm sorry you had to see that; your last days should be in peace."

The wolf waited for Anthony to speak, but he didn't say anything. There was nothing left. He felt nothing, and there wasn't anything he could do for himself or the two nurses. So, when the wolf offered his squirming back, Anthony said yes.

He shuddered as his hands slipped inside. The flesh felt cool and wet and vile against his skin. It was tight, but his hands slowly slipped into each arm. His hands didn't fit into each digit of the paw as expected, and though he searched for the holes. Instead, his hands were soon forced into a tight grip, keeping them from moving them at all. The flesh squeezed the shape tight and kept him in place.

Anthony's face pressed close against the wolf's nape. With the rest of his body inside, and with no air left, he slipped his face inside, into the wolf's mask-head. The smell was more bearable now that he couldn't breathe, but it was still pungent enough to make him gag. As he slipped inside, the flesh tightened around him, squeezing and pressing him into place.

At this point, his vision became shallow. It was harder to tell how close he was to dying due to the lack of light, but the pain was still there. An unbearable, drowning sensation that made him pull back against the suit. He decided then that he would rather have the suffocation torture than this dark hell within the wolf's innards.

"Shush, I've got you. It's going to be alright now."

The voice seemed to surround him, and come from everywhere at once. He tried pulling back again, but found nowhere to move back to. Behind him, the zip had pulled together, leaving his full body trapped in the damp space. In a space he couldn't breathe in.

...

The wolf got up from the bed, and stepped over the bodies, before heading out into the hallway. Someone screamed somewhere. The hallway had been deserted, so nobody noticed him as he slipped into a toilet and locked the door. The figure walked up to the mirror and the sink, and washed the blood from his paws. It was difficult, as Anthony made finer movements cumbersome.

The wolf leant back against the opposite wall, and waited for the changes to begin. After a minute, Anthony's voice appeared, screaming at the chewing, gnawing sensations. He writhed within, but the wolf was too strong, and he stood still and watched himself in the mirror and waited for his own changes to begin.

First, his plastic, cartoonish face morphed. His eyes grew in depth. His ears hollowed out and grew muscles allowing them to move in place, while all over his body, the plastic material began to change. The colour became orange with splotches of white over chest and face. Behind him, his tail became more detailed and defined. The wolf gave it an experimental wag, and the muscles grew stronger.

You're becoming a fox like me. You're stealing my body.

As the wolf's muzzle changed, his smile became real. His mouth parted open for the first time, revealing a real tongue and pointed teeth. Air hissed through his new mouth, and the figure hissed out his first lungful of breath. He used it to chuckle as his lungs took shape.

"I'm lucky to have found you, Anthony; you're very beautiful. I can't wait to use this body."

The figure laughed again until the rest of Anthony died inside, and disappeared. Then he left the bathroom. He stole some clothes that fit, then left the hospital. Walking was awkward, but regardless, he strode towards Anthony's family home. The laughter was unstoppable, as he thought about how excited they would be to see him, walking around and breathing.