Evan held his hands close to his face. His fingertips were building with a sharp pain growing ever more intense until his finger nails came off. One by one they were forced off his fingers by something under his skin wanting to come out. Something was growing inside of him, his skin being pushed to its limits with a trickle of blood coming out of his tips, until something small and black emerged, then it grew and grew, forcing its way out of his fingers and curving downward and forming into a sharpened claw.

Evan stared at his hands, shaken by the wicked talons that grew out of him: the bones in his finger stretched and hardened inside him, his whole hand seized up in a fit of reshaped bones and claws growing out of his flesh. They looked sharp and as dangerous, just like Evan’s tail tip. Nerves started forming connections in the claws, making them a part of him. But Evan, stupefied, looked down at his hands as they changed before his very eyes. Pressure built up in the base of his thumbs, while an invisible force pulled them further away from the rest of his finger. Evan yelped in pain as his thumbs were taken from their normal resting spot and travelled further down his hand. It had doubled the distance between it and his index finger, while the pain shot up his arm and made him curl.

Both Evan’s hands went numb before sensing another build-up of pressure in his palms. The numbness shielded him from pain, but the pressure made him aware of what was going on; the fingers grew longer and thicker. His thumbs almost stayed the same as they remained in position while his fingers grew. His hands grew heavy under new weight and his new claws made it difficult to hold onto anything without leaving scratch marks.

Evan panted in hysteria. Soon his toes began to undergo a similar transformation while his toenails were forced out as tougher, firmer claws grew out of his digits. The pain forced him off his feet and onto the ground with his legs raised. Evan lied on his back whilst his tail swept the floor and his hands shook. His toes grew in all dimensions while the wicked talons sharpened. His feet snapped and twisted itself, growing longer and the flesh under his toes firmed up.

Evan looked at himself. His body rested on the ground like an animal. Quickly, he desperately got back to his feet and his new structure made him feel like he was walking on stilts. His barrelled chest made him wobble from a shift in his centre of gravity while his tail kept swaying to keep Evan upright, but his new stance prevented him from keeping a human posture: he almost fell over and only his clawed hands - or should he start to call them paws? - kept him onto the wall, his talons digging into the gyprock and holding him steady.

More and more did he looked less human. His body resembled nothing what it was only last week and it would resemble even less a week from now. He could have released tears once again, but other than the now usual distress nothing else came. His mind was surrendering to the prospect of becoming a beast; that terrified him even more than the last transformation.

Suddenly, a calming presence crept into his mind.

Breath, it said. Evan complied; his worries slowly began to wash away. Sleep It then said. Whatever was making him obey, there was no reason not to do it.

Could that have been The Voice…?

It didn’t matter for now. He rested his sore bestial body on the sheets, curling into a foetal position and hugging his pillow for support and comfort. In response his tail curled itself until its tip nearly met Evan’s face. In the dark, all Evan could sense was his new limb curling up to where his face was. The claws on his feet had caught on the fabric of his sheets, dragging them whenever they moved.

Sadness was all his mind felt on that bed. Sadness and loneliness.

What he was going to do. What would his future be? Evan had to find some way of undoing all that was done to him. As he weighed his options and thought to himself, Evan had finally gone to rest...

The sunlight barely touched the ground. The tall pine trees around had a canopy thick enough to prevent the sun from being seen. Out of instinct, Evan wandered around the forest, taking in the scents, the sounds of the rustling between the trees and the birds singing to each other, the scent of the clean air, mildew and moss. He looked at himself: his human body returned. He smiled out of content, before realizing he would soon wake up. Better just walking through nature and enjoy that peace as long as it lasts.

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Resting upon one such pine was someone identical to him. The Voice. Evan immediately approached his doppelganger, whose face turned to his direction at the crunching of leaf litter. His eyes opened and his mouth turned into a big smile.

‘Hello again, my friend.’

‘Voice, where are we?’

‘In your head, of course. Well, in your bed, if that’s what you meant.’

‘Smartass,’ Evan muttered under his breath, ‘no, I mean, what’s this place?’

‘Somewhere safe. Somewhere where you can be free and happy.’

‘I was free and happy last week! These past few days I have been anything but happy and free! I have been through a torturous experience that I think hasn’t stopped yet and I’m trapped in my house! Sooner or later my colleagues or my neighbours are going to find out something is wrong and I’ll end up on a surgery table or maybe in a zoo cage!’

‘That's why I brought you here,’ The Voice said with his arms extended, ‘Evan, I brought you here because this is important for you. Go that way,’ he said, pointing to a particular direction in front of him.

Evan turned around to where The Voice was pointing. ‘What’s so important over there?’

‘Go that way, and you will find safety.’ And with that, he vanished out of existence.

Evan looked to where The Voice had directed him: nothing but more pine trees ahead of him. What was so special about it? Nevertheless, he was desperate enough to make his way to it.The more he walked towards the location the more compelled he felt to go there. It was like if something inside his mind incited him to go towards it. Was The Voice messing with his head or something? He wouldn’t certainly get such an urge to go somewhere without knowing where he was going...was he so sure he could trust The Voice? He may have been something inside of himself but...

Eventually, the forest clearing ended. Beyond was sunlight and grassy hills.

In that moment, Evan broke into a burst of energy and found himself running on that untouched valley of nature. Surrounded on all sides by steep cliffs, green grass all around and a sapphire blue lake in the distance, Evan kept running without any thought, guided by something like an instinctive need.

Suddenly, A hand touched his shoulder. Evan abruptly stopped that mad, happy run and turned to see whom it belonged to.

‘Beautiful, isn’t it? All this beauty untouched by humans,’ The Voice said.

‘It…’ no pride could hold it. Wherever he turned his head, he saw only beauty and perfection. ‘Yes, you are right. This is absolutely beautiful.‘ He closed his eyes to concentrate on his mind and sighed. ‘But why send me here, I doubt it was for sightseeing.’

‘You’re absolutely right, dear Evan. I want you to find this place when you wake up. Leave your home and find this place. It’s here that you will be able to understand why you went through everything that you did and how to understand yourself.’

Evan felt a wave of indignation raising from his stomach. ‘How am I supposed to find this place?! There isn’t any landmarks! And I most certainly cannot go outside looking the way I do!’

‘You will be able to find this place inside of you. Listen to your heart and follow its guidance, it’ll tell you where to go.’

‘Oh, why don’t you get more vague, eh?’ He shouted sarcastic. ‘I thought I was meant to listen to you, remember?’

Once again, The Voice didn’t seem to be moved by his harsh words. ‘Sometimes you need to listen to your heart more than me. The heart of any sentient being is more than an efficient pump: it’s your compass. Listen to it and let it guide you down the right path.’

‘So if I listen to what’s on the inside then I could find answers and help me deal with what’s going on?’

‘Absolutely,’ Voice beamed with happiness.

‘Then I can figure out what’s going on and then I can resume my life?’

‘Yes. I cannot tell you more, I’m afraid. Besides, our time here is now over. Listen to your heart, and you will find the answer of-’

Evan shot up from his bed with heavy breaths. He looked over his body, hoping to see human hands, everything coming back to normal… but when in front of his eyes appeared his claws, together with holes in the sheets digging into the mattress itself, he felt into a mix of despair and resignation. He would never get back to before…

...then the valley from the dream came back to his mind, and a sense of serenity and content pleased his mind.

He had to find it, no matter what. No doctor would ever be able to cure him. No human would help him without shouting from the horror and indicating him as a danger. He had no other path but the one showed to him by The Voice.

Evan opened his front door for the first time in days. He looked outside and the cold damp air hit his body. Everything in his neighbourhood felt different. He could see clearly in the dark and his smell could pick up the flowers from his neighbour’s yard to the smell of a nearby cat.

Without a second thought Evan took a tentative step outside his home and he ran out into the night.