I see light at the end of the tunnel.

It’s a fleshy, moist tunnel that is trying its best to expel me though.

I seem to be quite powerless to resist.

The convulsions are getting weaker.

Hey don’t stop Mr. Tunnel… get me out of here.

I can’t breathe.

The convulsions stopped.

*kuu*

What was that?

Was that my voice? It sounds so feeble.

Like it will momentarily be extinguished by this suffocating darkness.

.

Suddenly, the entrance to the tunnel widens and light pours in.

*kuu*

It is hurting my eyes.

But…

I can breathe.

Large gloved hands scoop me up and place me somewhere warm and dry.

I’m exhausted.

I’ll… sleep.

.

.

Hey? Where am I now?

It’s dark.

I don’t like the dark.

I have a strong desire to move towards the light.

But… the desire seems foreign somehow… like it isn’t mine.

Hey, I can see a little pinprick of light that way.

I try to move towards it.

I desperately paddle my paws as if I were swimming.

A sense of incongruity hits me…

Shouldn’t I have hands?

Why do I have paws?

Even that thought seems foreign so I ignore it.

It grows weaker as I reach closer to the light.

Both of us seem excited as the pinprick expands to the size of a door and we fall through it.

.

.

I am the runt of the litter.

The others are all stronger and larger than me.

When its time to feed, they push me out.

Even if I manage to get to the teat faster than them, they shove me and pull my tail until I move.

When I try to do that to them, mother stops me though.

I don’t get it.

It isn’t fair.

I somehow get the feeling that I am not part of the litter.

She tolerates me staying there and feeding off the dregs of her milk after the litter is done.

But she growls warningly at me whenever I try to compete with them.

I am always hungry.

At least they let me pile up with them to sleep.

Their bodies are warm against me as I drift off.

.

.

I’m back in the dark.

I have hands this time.

There is something moving behind me.

I grab at it.

It’s a tail.

Something at the back of my mind tells me that it isn't part of me.

But it is drowned out by an excitement at finally having caught my tail.

Something I had been trying to do for years.

Suddenly, I have paws again.

I turn my head back and there's that annoying thing wagging at me as if it is taunting me.

*bark*

I start chasing after it with reckless abandon, moving in circles all over the place until I accidentally fall through another portal.

.

.

I am sitting there leashed to the wall. My chin is resting on my paws as I study the boy, looking at me, through half closed lids. It’s the same thing every day… in the morning, they keep us tied up in the cage while in the evening, they let us out for food and exercise.

Sometimes people come and take one of us away… nobody has taken me yet.

It’s quite boring in the mornings so I sleep them off.

The boy in front of me points at me and says something.

I raise my eyebrows as I peer up at him.

The keeper seems to be saying something. Then he goes away, leaving the boy behind.

He kneels by my cage and peers in through the bars. I suddenly feel very curious about him and I sit up.

A voice at the back of my head tells me that these feelings aren’t mine… but I don’t care, I’m curious.

I want to know more about the boy.

I sniff in his scent, remembering it.

I suddenly like him a lot.

I want to follow him as my pack leader.

I don’t know why though… even though he doesn’t have fur or claws and his teeth are really blunt.

The voice at the back of my head is even more insistent.

But I can’t resist the dictum of my emotions.

The keeper is back and seems surprised at my change.

The voice at the back of my head tries one last time before falling silent.

.

.

I don’t know why but I suddenly feel guilty.

I shake my head as if I would shake off water.

My ears flop against my head as I shake it.

I am back on all four of my paws.

I suddenly don’t like that boy too much.

In fact, I have a strong urge to bite him the next time I see him.

A voice at the back of my head seems to protest against taking that course of action.

It sounds suspiciously like that of the boy.

I sniff around, trying to find him.

Suddenly, my snout shrinks and becomes a nose and my forepaws become hands.

Although the fur is still there.

I don’t feel like pursuing the responsibility of the boy anymore.

I waddle along awkwardly on my mismatched limbs and walk into a particularly bright portal.

.

.

I am at the park.

Its my favourite place in the vicinity.

The air is clean and filled with scents other than the nasty haze that is emitted by those large metallic beasts.

That smoke blocks my nose and makes me want to sneeze.

Here though, I can let loose and breathe deeply.

I can smell the flowers and the scent of prey… there are a few mice around that way.

I have never hunted them but I just know that they are prey.

I want to go over and explore but a voice at the back of my head tells me that I can’t leave my pack leader too far.

So, I stay… though I really don’t want to.

I turn back to see my pack leader fumbling along, tapping a stick against the ground.

I can smell the depression seeping off him.

It’s been the same for a week.

He’s been moping around in a closed room and regularly having panic attacks.

There… he’s having one now.

I walk over and rub my nose into his neck.

I can feel the blood coursing through the artery beneath his skin.

It would be so easy to lay my teeth against his neck and have him submit.

A pack leader shouldn’t be so weak and need the comforting of the second… maybe I should be the pack leader for a change.

The voice at the back of my head flares up again and all I can do is whine at him in order to comfort him.

The voice at the back of my head floods my mind with satisfaction.

I feel like I did the right thing… I’m happy.

.

Suddenly, I sense something.

A feeling rises up from the depths of my mind… it is something far more powerful, far far more ancient than that puny voice.

It fills me up with anticipation towards what will happen next.

*rrrrmmmmmmbbbbllleeeee*

The tremors of the earth run through my body thoroughly stoking my excitement.

All sensitive life in the area stills as the world, from one moment to another, becomes different.

I feel the primal urge to rush towards the epicentre of the mutation which is extremely close to me.

I am just about to bound away when the annoying voice strikes again.

I try to fight it off but it is too deeply entrenched.

Left with no choice I debase myself towards the pack leader.

*whine*

He nods and I’m off, rushing through the hedges to that smooth piece of land where I instinctively know something important lies.

Prompted by instinct, I start breathing in the air greedily.

Racing against time to get as much of it into my system as I can before it disperses.

I vaguely feel the pack leader joining in… but I have no time to care.

I can feel something entering my body with each breath, strengthening me… I can feel the fog that has always been over my mind clear and the clarity of my thought processes increase drastically.

I now know that the boy has been manipulating me, bending me to his will.

I feel my teeth sharpening in my mouth.

I run my tongue over them.

I feel myself anticipating the taste of his blood.

I feel myself anticipating the taste of his FEAR.

But, for now, I must make use of every moment.

Suddenly with a spike of pain, I black out.

.

.

I wake up with a massive headache.

Everything is quite blurry.

Where am I?

Who am I?

Oh! Right. I was trying to regain my sight via mutation.

My heart starts to beat harder due to my nervousness.

Did it work?

I think about opening my eyes and a blinding light shines into my eyes…

*yelp*

And I yelp in surprise.

My vision slowly adjusts to the brightness and I can see.

I can SEE!

I CAN SEE AGAIN!

Hahahaha.

I can see again.

Whoo.

Although it’s all black and white…

And a snout is blocking part of my vision…

Wait… snout?

Snout?!

*woof*

Paws… check.

Fur… check.

Tail… check.

Yup. It’s final.

I am in Ria’s body…

Well… it’s not that bad… I was kind of expecting something like this when I tried for mutation.

Okay… now I just have to figure out how to get back to my body.

Which…

is lying there…

...not breathing...

.

.

.

Fuck me sideways.

I’m stuck in the body of my dog…

No… scratch that…

I’m stuck in the body of my BITCH…

Fuck. My. Life.

.

A feminine voice resounds in my mind, “Get the fuck out of my body, you parasite!!”

.

.

Oh, great, now I have schizophrenia on top of everything else.

[Welcome to the ROOT.]

And, I'm hallucinating...

.

*AWOOOOOOO!!*