My eyes opened, and I was greeted by pain. Every muscle strand felt wrong, every bone felt like it was broken and remade.
My body screamed in pain, only soothed by the cold of the steel floor. The cold seeped into my back like water over hot coals.
And second by second, slowly, the pain faded.
Still, I did not move—the pain long gone, yet something new took its place.
I could feel how my legs seemingly bent the wrong way. My very flesh felt wrong.
I could only describe it like being trapped inside the house of a stranger: I knew there was a bathroom, a living room, a bedroom—but I didn't know where anything was or how anything worked.
Hesitantly, I began to move my arms and legs, as if to test the muscles that were now mine. Slowly, I sat up, dragging my body to a wall. And like lead, my body dragged me down, my legs still not ready to carry my weight.
And as my back rested against the wall, I looked down to see the truth I had long before known.
I... was no longer human. What I saw were not the legs of a human, but the paws of a rat, matched with a long tail—thin, yet strong, and a dark pink color.
As my eyes traveled up my body, they were greeted by blackish-grey fur, which only highlighted the stitches that covered my body like a macabre pattern, wrapping around both my arms and legs.
I tried to stand, yet my body fell, my legs collapsing under my weight. Tiredness began to seep into my bones, and I could only try to get comfortable.