User:MatthiasRat/Made Alone
 | [[:Category:Paradise|Paradise]] story universe |
[[Setting::Paradise| ]]
{{#if:Nuvola apps bookcase.png|}} | Works by MatthiasRat on Shifti |
This is the first story of Christopher's life in the Paradise setting.
{{#ifeq: User |User| Made Alone | Made Alone}}[[Title::{{#ifeq: User |User| Made Alone | Made Alone}}| ]]
{{#ifeq: | |
{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| MatthiasRat | MatthiasRat}} | |
{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| MatthiasRat | MatthiasRat}} | ||
Author: [[User:{{#ifeq: User |User| MatthiasRat | MatthiasRat}}|{{#ifeq: User |User| MatthiasRat | MatthiasRat}}]] [[Author::{{#ifeq: User |User| MatthiasRat | MatthiasRat}}| ]]
}} |
{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| MatthiasRat | MatthiasRat}} | |
Author: {{#ifeq: User |User| MatthiasRat | MatthiasRat}} |
Author: [[User:{{#ifeq: User |User| MatthiasRat | MatthiasRat}}|{{#ifeq: User |User| MatthiasRat | MatthiasRat}}]] [[Author::{{#ifeq: User |User| MatthiasRat | MatthiasRat}}| ]]
}}
}} |
{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| MatthiasRat | MatthiasRat}} | |
{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| MatthiasRat | MatthiasRat}} | | Authors: ' |
Authors: [[User:{{#ifeq: User |User| MatthiasRat | MatthiasRat}}|{{#ifeq: User |User| MatthiasRat | MatthiasRat}}]]
}} |
{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| MatthiasRat | MatthiasRat}} | |
Authors: {{#ifeq: User |User| MatthiasRat | MatthiasRat}} |
Author: [[User:{{#ifeq: User |User| MatthiasRat | MatthiasRat}}|{{#ifeq: User |User| MatthiasRat | MatthiasRat}}]]
}}
}}
}} {{#if:| — see [[:Category:{{{category}}}|other works by this author]]}}
"Have a good evening, sweetheart!"
The curly dark-haired woman waved to her husband as she hurried out the apartment door, dressed in her work uniform. "I'll try," Kim muttered. Her husband nodded, knowing how much the evening shifts irritated her. Sometimes she wasn't home until nearly four o'clock in the morning. Once she'd been even later.
That would bring her to just about the time her husband would experience an annual event that science could not explain.
Though to all appearances, Kim and her husband were a happily married couple, appearances, her husband had learned, were very deceiving. Because for the last six years, Christopher Mattiaz did not see the same face in the mirror that everyone else saw when they looked at him. In fact, from year to year, he did not see the same face. Every August the 17th since 1996, at just after five in the morning, he changed. But only he could see the change.
Christopher let his arm fall to his side and he shut the door. Their dog lifted her old head from the bean bag, curious at the sound, and then lowered it again. But Christopher, a name he had once hated but now embraced because it was unmistakably masculine, could only stare at his hands and wonder what tomorrow they would look like.
For where everyone else saw four human digits and a thumb, he saw two thick finger ending in dark black hoof-like nails, and a single thumb that could barely touch either finger. He lifted those beastly hands to his face, rubbing over the long equine snout, flaring his nostrils, and then up over his long ears, and then back down his spiky, black mane. This year it had been a donkey, and as his hands rested on the shirt that hung loosely from his shoulders, he felt the straps of his bra. Not just a donkey, but a jenny.
"Father in Heaven," he prayed fervently, "please let me be male again."
Only a few days ago, Kim and he had celebrated their second anniversary of marriage. He'd still been a man then; well, a rat, but he'd been male at least. But on August 17th, 2000, only six days after they'd been wed, he'd changed again, a change that no one else could see, feel, or understand. And that time he'd become a female dog, and his hopes had been dashed.
Christopher slumped on the couch, the hooves that ended his legs digging into the carpet. His long rope-like tail settled behind him, still comfortable despite being pinned behind his back. He closed his eyes and just breathed, taking in the many scents of their apartment. Their dog, Crystal, was the most obvious, as well as his own pungent aroma. Then there was last night's pasta caked on the pan still needing to be washed. Kim also had a flavor, one both sweet and simple, one that he always took the time to savor.
His ears bent to either side, and he sighed. Though the shape of his head prevented him from looking down at his chest, he could feel the two breasts snuggled judiciously in his bra. He may have spent the last two years as female -- and two more before that -- but he didn't wear the bra because he had embraced the feminine. It was a matter of practicality, gravity, and comfort. He hoped that by tomorrow he wouldn't have to wear any anymore.
His eyes strayed to the gold ring adorning the smaller of his two fingers on what passed for his left hand. His wedding band; he had two others already made because this one didn't fit his fingers in those forms. At least, despite the bizarreness of his body, he still had Kim; one day she might even know the truth.
The female donkey sighed and rubbed at the base of his ears with thick nails. No sense berating himself for things he couldn't change, so he may as well start collecting all his donkey things and putting them in their box to store away. If the pattern of the last few years fit, he'd need much bigger clothes tomorrow morning.
Christopher stood up again, steady and sure on his hooves. He had twelve hours before his hour came; it would come whether he prepared or not. Hooves clopping, he walked down the narrow hall through the middle of their apartment and slipped into the computer room. He fired up his email and web browser. Who knows? Maybe one of his long-standing inquiries would finally prove that he wasn't alone in being a beast.
This Story is a Draft --MatthiasRat 05:20, 23 January 2008 (EST)