As you reach for the handle, a sensation of vertigo washes over you. The lights around you dim and a falling sensation comes over you. Now shrouded by darkness, the only sound that accompanies you are your slow, drawn out, deep breaths. You feel warm water surrounding you. As your vision comes back to you, you look up and see sunlight breaking through the waters surface.
It was only then that you realised that you were now breathing underwater through your newly formed gills. You feel the warm Amazonian water flowing over them. For some reason it felt so normal to you... so natural... It was as if you had been breathing through gills your entire life. Below you, you see the riverbed which had occasional clouds of silt being thrown up by the current of the river. Around you, you see the occasional fish swim by. A large Tambaqui swims past you without a care in the world. Your stomach rumbles. You realised that you hadn't eaten for a while now. Worse still, you're in the middle of a rainforest, 1000's of miles away from civilisation and trapped in the body of a fictional (now real) monster. To survive out here, you knew you would have to resort to some desperate measures.
You knew no human would help you and if you were ever caught, you would either end up in a zoo exhibit, experimented on or mounted in a trophy room cabinet. Your stomach rumbles again. Remembering the Tambaqui that just swam past, you start to swim for the first time since your transformation.
Your suspicions about your enhanced swimming abilities were confirmed. And then some! For the first time since your transformation, a feeling of happiness, wonder and fascination comes over you. With webbed hands and feet outstretched, you feel the water being pushed aside allowing you to swim through the water with ease. Effortlessly catching up with Tambaqui, you plunge your claws into the fish killing it instantly. Looking down at the twitching fish in your webbed hands, you realise that you had just killed your first animal. Sure you had killed spiders and flies in the past, but killing something like this... A sickening feeling of immense guilt comes over you.
Slowly dropping to the riverbed, you stare at the now lifeless fish and your stomach rumbles again. You KNEW you had to eat soon otherwise you would starve to death. The last thing you wanted to do was starve to death let alone die as a monster. Bringing the fish up to your mouth, you close your eyes and bite down on the fish's head. A strange feeling of euphoria passes over you as the taste of the fish hits your taste buds. Looking down at the headless fish, you were amazed at how tasty this fish was and it was effectively raw to boot.
As a human, you had never eaten raw fish. The smell alone would've made you gag. Your mouth waters, eager for more and you down the rest of the fish leaving the bones behind. "I guess my taste buds must be different now" you think to yourself. Your stomach feels fine now. Looking back up again, you see the sunlight shimmering above the waters surface. You realised since you had gotten here, you hadn't seen the world above the rivers surface yet.
Going up to the surface, you slowly raise your head above the waterline shielding your eyes from the bright light. Your eyes adjust and you uncover them. One immediate thing you noticed was the heat of the sun on your scaly skin. Beyond the sides of the riverbed, you see the rainforest along with the sound of crickets, birds and other wildlife. You'd never been to the rainforest in your human life before and now for the time being, it was now your new home. One thing that was quite apparent was breathing above water was now significantly harder. A light burning sensation passes through your gills as the humid, oxygen rich air passes over them. You knew you would not be able to stay up here for extended periods of time.
Going below the surface again, you continue to explore the riverbed around the area familiarising yourself with your new surroundings. Nearby, you find some reeds and rest amongst them for a while to collect your thoughts. Deep in thought, you knew you could use the reeds for hiding and observing potential prey from a distance. A couple of hours pass and it occurs to you that you would need to find somewhere to sleep for the night so you can figure this out in the morning. Exploring the riverbed, you find a cave and go inside. As you explore the cave, you find an air pocket. Upon surfacing, you find a damp area that appeared pretty secluded away from prying eyes and wildlife.
Getting out of the water, you look around what would now be your new place of residence. The only sounds that accompany you apart from your fleshy sounding footsteps and drawn out breaths is the occasional dripping of water and reverberating rumble of the water current above the cave. Another thing that was apparent now was that the burning sensation that your gills had earlier didn't seem to be happening now. "Guess the humidity must be higher down here" you said to yourself, your voice reverberating around the cave. You find an area to the side and lay down on your back.
As you do so, you felt somewhat uncomfortable and irritated by something sticking out of your back and legs. Running a hand down your back, you remembered that you now had a line of fish like fins that run down your back. Looking along your back, you see these fins connect to the backs of your thighs and you see a separate set on the backs of your calves. You also notice these fins running down the backs of your forearms. Feeling agitated and somewhat alienated by your own body, you lay on your stomach wondering what on earth the next day would bring you.
As you lay there thinking about what to do next, it then dawned on you that you had effectively lost everything you had ever taken for granted or worked for as a human. You start to tear up when you wonder if you would ever see your family or friends again. Even if you did, you knew you would never be able to put your arms around them in your current state let alone get anywhere near them.
Sobbing, you cry yourself to sleep.