Adam and Rita went up the stairs. They stopped at the railing on the landing and waved down at Cassidy. Cassidy smiled nervously and waved back, then went back to tending to Hannah. "Ok. You search the left hallway, I'll search the right." Adam said. "Fine with me." Rita said. They parted ways, each heading down their own dark hallway.
Rita shined her flashlight around the five doors in the hallway, carefully opening each one and shining the beam in. The first was a bathroom. The second was a guest bedroom. The third was Theresa's bedroom, Adam's sister who was not currently on the island. The fourth was the TV room, but the fifth was locked. She looked at the door, puzzled. It looked no different from the other doors in the hallway. She rattled the knob, but it wouldn't budge. Giving up, she turned to go tell Adam she hadn't found anything when the door opened on it's own, just a crack.
Despite what all those old horror movies have to say, Rita just gulped and went toward the door that had mysteriously opened on it's own. She pushed it open and shined the light into the space. But she didn't need to. A large paper starlight hung in one corner, bathing the room in a yellowish glow. Against the far wall was a wooden table that was filled with hundreds of beakers of bubbling liquids, no two exactly the same color. Rita flicked off her flashlight and, looking back down the hallway to see if Adam was coming, quietly slipped inside.
To the left of the door was another wooden table filled with science books. A not very comfortable looking chair stood against the right wall, with a small table on which was stacked several notebooks and packs of Sharpies next to it. Sighing, Rita tucked the flashlight into the pocket of her jeans and turned to the book table. She started flipping through the pages.
"Transfiguration: Is it possible?" One newspaper headline had been highlighted. The other books were filled with page after page of "Session Notes", which boiled down to the unknown author conducting some kind of genetic experiment. "What the hell..." Rita said quietly to the empty room. She read some of the entries.
'DAY ONE."
"I place test subject #1, a hamster, into a Plexiglas cage with small amount of powder. After five minutes, hamster starts shrieking. It grows larger and becomes a guinea pig. It starts acting like one, as if nothing had happened. Sterilized cage and let "guinea pig" go in back garden."
"DAY FIVE"
"I place test subject #5, a kitten, into a larger Plexiglas cage. After two hours, kitten howls in terror as it grows larger, it's muzzle elongates, it's fur turns golden, and ears fall and become floppy. Subject is now and acts like a golden retriever puppy, yapping excitedly and pawing at the walls of the cage. I sterilize the cage and present the new "puppy" as a gift for my friend. She is very pleased."
'DAY FIFTEEN"
"I seal off a barn with test subject #12, a horse, in it. After monitoring for 24 hours, I was about to end the experiment when the horse, braying in terror, started running around the barn. It's legs elongate and it's tail becomes thin and ropey. It's black hide is swiftly changed to a yellow-with brown spots pattern. It's neck elongates, pushing into the air. It's muzzle becomes thinner and two small horns come out of the top of it's head. The new giraffe searches the barn for food. Much to my surprise, ten minutes later, the changes reversed: in a few minutes, the horse from before stood there nonchalantly, as if nothing had happened.
I must attempt these experiments on a larger scale. There is a party here this weekend. I will implement them then."
Stomach lurching, Rita realized what was in that package. "ADAM!" She shrieked, running towards the door. Suddenly, her stomach lurched and she sneezed. She felt her face push away from her and whiskers sprout from her cheeks. Rita screamed in terror, but it sounded more like a cat's yowl of fear. Her shoes ripped as her feet elongated, toes shrinking and fusing together into cat paws. The same thing was happening to her hands. Her stomach pushed out and was engulfed in a sudden wave of glossy black fur. Her neck thickened and she started to shrink. Yowling in terror, she stumbled forward, not used to her new paws. She got tangled in her steadily larger jeans and fell onto her stomach. Her thighs thickened and her back cracked. Her spine straightened out and a long, thick tail burst from her tailbone. Her ears moved to the top of her head and became pointed as the rest of her body was engulfed in the glossy black fur. She shrank more and more until she was just a lump in her pile of clothes.
Clambering out of the pile, the new black cat meowed. It started licking it's paws and wiping it's face. It looked up at the doorknob high above it and it leapt to turn it. Suddenly, it heard footsteps echoing outside the door. "Rita?" a booming voice called. The cat pushed the pile of clothes under the table and hid behind them.
Adam opened the door. "Rita? Are you in here?" he called. He looked at all the science stuff agape. "What the fuck..." he whispered. "Guys! I found something weird!" he yelled, running out of the room and down the stairs, leaving the door ajar. The cat took this opportunity to dash out of the room and find a place to hide.