She felt warm and comfortable and stretching, thinking it was the sun beaming down through the window onto her, creating the warmth on her body, Bethany found she didn’t want to get up. Wondering if Brain was already up, she breathed deeply. Expecting to smell the familiar scent of the coffee he made every morning, she was surprised when she instead smelled a woodsy-smell of fresh earth, the scent of leaves and other plant material decomposing, various flora and fauna and what she thought might a mineral-esque scent. Thinking that it was refreshing, she stretched some more and considered the idea that Brian might be burning some incense and that was why she could smell a forest.
Not wanting to open her eyes, feeling like she could lie where she was for a bit longer, Bethany shifted and rolled over. The bed not making any sound beneath her, she thought it felt odd. Extending out an arm, and, again finding the bed felt strange, she called out, “Brian. Whether it’s incense or some spray, it smells beautiful.”
Only, what came out of her mouth weren’t words. The noises she was hearing sounded nightmarish and made her think of someone torturing a child or woman. Eyes snapping open, finding that she was facing a rock wall, Bethany leapt up. Her head brushing against what felt like a bush, she tried to say, “What the hell is going on,” but only managed to make the same horrible noises again. Looking wildly about, she saw that she had been sleeping on a bed of leaves and pine needles and that she was under a large bush planted next to what she now saw was a decorative rock wall that would separate two properties.
Confused, unsure what was going on and how she’d gotten where she was, Bethany opened to het mouth to reassure herself everything was all right, so long as she remained calm, but instantly closed her mouth with an audible snap when she remembered the horrid sounds she made every time she spoke. Perplexed, breathing heavily, slowly coming to realise that her head hurt every time she moved it, Bethany decided after a bit that she needed to find Brian. Dropping to her belly, she wiggled out from under the bush and peering about, seeing a forest behind her a house in front of her and two properties to her left and right, she found herself at a loss to explain where exactly she was.
“Great,” she mentally huffed. “Unable to talk and lost,” and looking in the direction if the nearby house, noting as she did that she had been sleeping on the edge of someone’s property, she wondered if the occupants could help her.
A skittish feeling coming over her, Bethany found herself leery about going near the house. Sniffing the air, listening to the forest beyond the edge of the property, Bethany found herself listening to what sounded like a lawn mower being run somewhere far off to her left as she realised that she could smell that the house across the yard was empty, which helped to relieve the edgy sensation. Warily taking a step toward the domicile, she paused and her mind screaming that the forest would provide better cover, Bethany thought about what she was doing before deciding that what she wanted was to find Brian, find out why her head hurt every time she moved it and why it was she couldn’t remember the past evening, with everything after she and her boyfriend leaving for the first party lost in a haze.
Slowly slinking across the yard, feeling more comfortable to do so, Bethany watched as the house drawing close, her sense of smelling and hearing reassuring her as she got closer that the house was indeed empty. After a moment, she paused again. Bothered that the house looked so huge, she began question why everything looked bigger than it should, then started asking herself why she was suddenly her hearing and smell was so acute. Crouching low in the grass, looking about, wary, it gradually came to her that she had been moving about on all fours.
Alarmed by this, she leapt up. Pacing back and forth, uttering one of the weirdest noises she’d ever heard, Bethany tried to calm herself down and force herself to look at her body. The pain in her head eventually making her stop pacing, she hung her head low to ground, which eased the pain, and stared at the enormous house. Asking herself, “What the heck is going on?” she uttered a couple more of those haunting cries and started to twist her head to look at herself.
Before she could, a voice exclaimed, “Holy shit! Is that some sort of dog?” and glancing in the direction, Bethany listened as another stated, “No way! It some kind of fox,” she spotted two teenagers in the next yard over.
Elated by the sight them, but at the same time feeling like she should beware, Bethany stared back at the two. On one hand, she wanted to flee, yet she was certain she was human and that they could help her. Conflicted on what she should do, her head hurting every time she thought too much on it, she threw caution to the wind. Forgetting that she was incapable of human speech, she started toward the two teenagers, crying out, “Please. You’ve got to help me. I don’t know what had happened to me, where my boyfriend is or what happened last night,” as she did so.
Looks of fear crossing the two’s face, she watched as they slowly backed up. About to tell them she didn’t mean them harm, she was taken aback when one of them exclaimed, “Let’s get out of here.”
The other nodding, Bethany watched as they turned and ran off. Wanting to cry, she exclaimed, “Wait. Come back,” and hearing once again the noises she was making, she turned and fled toward the woods. Upset that she couldn’t communicate her distress with another human, she didn’t pay the least bit of attention as she scrabbled over the back wall and taking to the woods, she began running, instinct guiding her.
When she was finally able to calm herself down, she forced herself to sit. Looking about, unsure where she was, Bethany breathed deeply through her nose. Smelling small rodents scurrying about in the underbrush, she began to salivate. Thinking that she couldn’t remember when she’d last eaten, she considered going after the critters, but stopped. A voice arguing that it wasn’t natural what she was about to do, Bethany peered about the forest.
Almost looking down at herself, she thought, “No.” Deciding that what she wanted was a mirror or pond or some other reflective surface, she sniffed again at the air. Smelling water somewhere off to her right, she took one final glance in the direction of the scurrying rodents, which had grown silent, to which instinct told her that they were shaming in hopes she wouldn’t come after them. Certain that her need of a reflective surface was more important, that it would help her come to terms with what she thought she looked about, Bethany stood and began padding silently through the forest toward a nearby creek.
When she reached the running water, she stopped a couple inches from the edge, but didn’t approach any closer. Hesitant, thinking she knew what she would see, she started to lower her head, but stopped when a flash of pain spiked across her head. Cautiously creeping the last couple inches closer to the water, noticing as she did that her hands when they briefly appeared in front of her looked more like paws, Bethany found herself thinking back to the two teenagers and a fearing sweeping over her, thinking she knew what she would see, she stopped at the edge of the creek and peered in.
Another one of those weird noises, which she was starting to somewhat get used to, escaping her, Bethany backed up a couple steps and sat down. Thinking, “This can’t be real. This has to be some sort of nightmare,” and slowly looking down, careful to make sure the spikes of pain in her head didn’t flare up, holding the image she’d see in the water foremost in her mind, she peered at herself. Disturbed by what she was seeing, which confirmed what she’d seen, Bethany thought, “No, no, no, no, no,” over and over as she twitched her tail, shifted her four paws and peered at the white coat that now covered her body. Seeing that she had somehow become an arctic fox, she leapt up and slowly pacing back and forth, she asked herself, “What happened to me? And where’s Brian? And is he also in the same type of predicament I am?”