Lost World

{{#if:Jigsaw green.png|}}

Icon	Tales from the Blind Pig story universe

{{#ifeq: | | {{#ifeq: Lloyd | |

   {{#ifeq: Lloyd Brunnel | || 
     Author: Lloyd Brunnel  
   }} | 
   {{#ifeq: Lloyd Brunnel | |
     Author: Lloyd |
     Author: Lloyd  
   }}
 }} |
 {{#ifeq: Lloyd | |
   {{#ifeq: Lloyd Brunnel | | Authors: ' | 
     Authors: Lloyd Brunnel 
   }} | 
   {{#ifeq: Lloyd Brunnel | |
     Authors: Lloyd |
     Author: Lloyd 
   }}
 }}

}} {{#if:| — see also [[:Category:{{{category}}}|other works by this author]]}}

---

You need to understand, I was not a SCAB. Yes, I was a humanoid housecat, but I was born that way; my parents were the SCABS, not me. Second generation animorphs are uncommon, but we do exist. I had a childhood, just like everybody else, and I went to school, just like everybody else. Sure, my classmates made fun of me but that got old after bit once they got used to me. I graduated from high school and got a job at a bakery. Fast forward several years and I was happy, healthy, and well liked by my coworkers and quite enjoyed by my friends, Luke and Flynn. While not wealthy by any standard, I could meet my needs and was able to keep some cash stored away for a rainy day.

Then I got sick.

I didn’t think it was the Flu, most people don’t. The doctors at the local hospital were familiar with my history, but since no one expected a person with feline physiology to get the Flu, there wasn’t any medication I could safely take. Ironically, it was after thanking the physicians for their time and resigning myself to a period of bed rest that things got worse. I had just stepped out of the doctor’s office when I began to feel dizzy. My vision blurred and my head felt like my brain was on fire, and then I passed out.

I woke up in a hospital bed, and the first thing I remember feeling was the cold; pure, unadulterated cold air assaulting my body. It was when I rubbed my arms to try and warm up that I realized what was wrong: I didn’t have any fur. Panic surged through me, and I quickly checked over my body. My fur had indeed vanished, only pale skin remained, and my legs had lengthened while my feet and claws had shrunk. Examining my paws, I found them to have slightly increased in size, each finger longer and separate. My tail was simply gone, leaving behind an alien emptiness where the appendage once was. Finally, I raised a hand to my face and examined it. I winced as the cold skin met cold skin and I cried a little inside as my hand felt the flat face, whiskerless nose, and the immobile, rounded ears at the side of my head. I didn’t need the doctor coming in to tell me why I had passed out for two days; I didn’t need the mirror he offered, because I already knew what had happened.

I contracted SCABS. I had become human.

Physical rehabilitation went quickly as I got the hang of walking plantigrade, and I could go home within a week. My boss and co-workers were glad to have me back, and Luke and Flynn were overjoyed at my change and quickly took me out for a night on the town in order to ‘appreciate the finer aspects of the species’. While outwardly I smiled and went along with their talk about how much more enriched my life would be, inwardly my heart just wasn’t in it. The truth is I was miserable, but I had no one to tell. Every person in my life was human and there just didn’t seem to be a way to say, “I hate being your species” without offending them. Instead I kept my feelings to myself, and in the end I began to withdraw from the people around me. Work became nothing more than a monotonous chore and I started avoiding my friends; eventually I stopped going outside altogether.

Things came to a head six months after I left the hospital, when Flynn and Luke appeared at my doorstep. I didn’t want to let them in but they said that they’d wait all night if they had to. Flynn said they were worried about me and Luke asked what was wrong, but I held my silence. I thought they would just give up and leave, wanted them to just leave me alone, but they didn’t. Instead, Luke stared me straight in the eyes and said, “It’s your SCABS, isn’t it?”

I don’t know why it happened, but there was something about Luke’s raw, blunt accusation that broke my silence, that drew out all the feelings I had been storing for half a year. Every bit of resentment towards my new body was thrust into the open in the presence of the two people I hoped I’d never have to tell, but tell I did. I told them how I missed the paws that let me feel the ground as I walked instead of the dull silence of socks and shoes, how I hated having to use streetlamps to find my way at night, and how garish I found the colours that now intruded upon my sight. I asked how they could stand being in a world devoid of the rich scents and sounds I once knew, asked how they could stand the frailties and cold of furless skin, and asked how they could even function without the instincts I now felt so vulnerable and helpless without. Luke and Flynn just stood there, listening as I cried out my hatred of their form. When I had finished, when every bit of misery was finally let out, I collapsed sobbing onto the couch, drained of all emotion and strength.

While being able to finally voice my feelings was a considerable help, I now had to deal with my friends’ reactions. Surprisingly, they weren’t offended by my outburst. Yes, they were hurt that I had kept it from them for so long, but they didn’t take it as personally as I had expected. They explained that I was going through the same steps as any other SCAB, that it was normal for me to miss my old body and hate the new one. Luke said I would be able to adjust and make my peace eventually, and Flynn said that they would be there to support me until that time.

It’s now been a year since I changed, and while I still long for my old form, those periods happen with less frequency than in the beginning. Luke and Flynn have supported me, true to their word, and I am grateful they were able to put up with me for so long. I’m still a cat at heart, and I think I always will be, but I try not to let it distract me from the big picture. I can’t change the past, and I can’t let it drag me down, I have to make the best of what I’m given and strive towards the future.

Besides, being human isn’t all bad. At least I don’t have to a tail to deal with anymore; that thing was annoying!