Noticing 3: update 08/08/18

Megan actually yelped at the first needle going into what used to be her arm, her former hands flexing on the desk scratching the wood as she struggled to keep herself from running away. "easy meg, you're doing fine, good work." sandy said patting megans shoulder. Megan knew sandy was just saying that to calm her but something in the tone of sandy's voice honestly put her at ease.  with a slight whince sandy takes her own bloody sample, the copper tang of blood fills the air for Meg, a smell that at once stirred hunger and fear. Megan shifted around clearly uncomfortable, her arm stung where the needle had bitten in. The growing fear of the unknown approaching her, the anxiety of change the hard sterile environment around her. The creeping sensation from across her  body, the passive changes that go unnoticed until its too late, her fragmenting and fragile psyche. Primitve fears had started creeping in, the fears that coil in the centre of all of us that experience and reason combat. It was getting too much megan, was about to break "megan would you mind coming over here please?" Sandy asked as gentley as possible seeing Megs distraught state. Megan taking a small comfort in Sany's soothing tone lets herself down off the table. She's full of doubt, doubting her thoughts, questioning her questions, probing holes in her mind and making new ones as she goes. What thoughts were hers and what were fabrications of the change. "I'm megan j..oe... i'm born in main 90's" she thought to herself. "Ana...." a fragment of a memory bubbled up but popped before she could even see it. "to look at" something automated from deep within spoke for her. "Megan?" Sandy asked again looking worried. "yeah" responded megan at long last. "i need you to look at something for me" said sandy. "i can" meg said. Megan walked over to the device, it consisted of an odd cylindrical tube, with something that shone on one end and the other had a glass lense. "lense" Megan said to herself trying to find meaning in her thoughts. The storm of existencial panic in her head subsided "lense, a scope. NICROSCOPE!" suddenly she recognised the device. "yes meg it's a microscope!" said sandy with that same concerned expression she'd been wearing all day. "I look through this?" Megan said "yes..." Sandy said beginning to doubt her friend was actually there at all. Megan levers herself up and with an awkward angle looks into the eye piece. "Running on that same assumption as before that this is a viris or a bacteria i thought i'd first look for signs of immune cell degredation." Sandy said mostly to herself, meg nods blankly seeming not understanding much, "You can see here that the white blood cells are fine nothing has been affected, so that rules that out once and for all. But from what i've seen your blood has a much higher concentration of white blood cells than mine, but even mine is high for a human. This could be some kind of auto immune disease. Our immune systems could be attacking our own cells so that something else could replace them, so what ever this is must be have control of our inner bodily systems." Sandy theorised. "This might explain the changes in psyche also as brain cells could be being replaced through the same process." So in short what this might be is a kind of parasite that prefers a canine host and instead of moving on it changes the host." " sounds like a alot of guesses there." Said Megan, much to the surprise of Sandy who had judged megans glazed over expression as a lack of comprehension. "you guess this alone on ... cell count...high." The curtains of fog had stirred in her mind and clarity broke through for megan. She remembered the immune system. "linnodes, can you check the linnodes?" quizzed megan. "Lymph nodes?" Sandy clarified. Megan nods enthusiastically the relief is immense, the panic lifts off her, new assurances to her identity restored. "i..linnodes, connare" words rose back from the depths, words she had forgotten existed. "compare, lymph nodes?" Sandy smiling at Megan say's "that is an amzing idea megan." Megans tail rapidly thumps the ground. 

"ok i've looked it up, i need to your armpit." Megan's head tilted in a comical expression. "i know it sounds weird just trust me." said sandy. Sandy first checks her lymphs pressing into her armpit feeling for a "string with beads" as the wiki page put it. She felt them, the beads were hard but had some give to them as they moved within her tissue. "ok ive done mine,nw yours." Sandy lifts up one of megs front legs. for a moment she wondered if canine physiology differed too greatly for this test to work but soon felt the same thing. "hmm ok?" They felt no different. "they seem the same as mine." Sandy said. Megans head slumped, they were no closer to finding any answers. Sandy went back to the blood samples looking for other oddities. "what??" Sandy shouted. "wha" sandy kept switching the slides. "they're exactly the same!" Megan ears flattened at sandy's outburst sat there confused. "the samples they've changed. They both have the same white blood cell counts. How the living fuck does that even work? They had to go somewhere!" Sandy scans the slides thoroughly. "there's nothing, no sign of them its like they just vanished." The blood itself starts bubbling. "WHAT.THE.FUCK!" The blood evaporates off the slide leaving nothing. Sandy steps back from the table. "Did you see that, please tell me you saw that!" Megan nod's fearfully. "im at a total loss, that completely defies logic. This is impossible." The slides crack and they break down into  powder. "..." sandy wide eyed and speechless, "i...., it..., wh..." words fail sandy again, she gestures at the table. "we're so fucking fucked." she concludes. "this was our blood, this is in us and it did that to GLASS." Sandy goes over to the table, it wasn't powder it was...sand. With hesitation she picks some up to make sure. "it's fucking sand meg, why is it sand? i so wish i could just hop on to this train of logic." Glass from sand" megan say's. "No megan it was the sand that came from the glass." sandy corrected. Megan shakes her head. "Glass is fro.. SAND." What are you talking about meg? asks sandy with a mix of frustration. "Sand gets COOKED, it turns to Glass!" Realisation sinks in for sandy. "oh shit, that actually makes sense." She examines the sand again. "but that still begs the question here. HOW?" 

Knowing that there is nothing the lab could offer that would grant them any further answers, the girls cut there session short. Megan jumps back out the window and sandy makes a run for her car. Megan's knew not to give into her new urges even as the small fluffy creatures she has persued earlier had made an appearance on the lawn and scampered into the bushes as she reemerged. The same need pulled with all its might again as she saw it flash past, but she was still stronger...for now. Sandy and meg met at the same point they departed at.  Meg just climbs on the seat this time sitting upright on her haunches her. Sandy buckles her in across her legs, "your fine with that?"  Megan nods "yeah it fine. colla?" "you want me to put your collar on?" Sandy asks cautiously. "i need a colla an a leash" Megan says with purpose. "disguise" she followed up with. Sandy nod's and pulls the spare leash and collar that megan had bought days ago out of the glove box. "so what i...walk you into the flat?" Meg turns to face sandy. "yeah" she say's flatly "i not letting go, its a disguise." An intelligence behind Megs stare convinces Sandy. The ride home is silent, rain pelts the car catching the glare from the street lights and scattering it into a thousand tiny mirrors, Meg sits bolt upright leaning into the corners fur now starting in multiple locations on her body, an open window rustling it into a frenzy. Megs stare remains consistant throughout never taking her eyes off the road.  They arrive home, sandy pauses for a moment and then without saying anything she gets out and opens the passenger door. Meg waits patiently for the leash to be clipped on before jumping down and trotting beside Sandy for the short walk to her flat. In the dark with her fur whipping about her strong canine profile any casual observer from afar wouldn't look twice, the key now was to simply act normally. Sandy looked down, "you ok down there?" she whispered. "yeah i ok" Megan say's quietly without looking up. " you haven't said anything for a while, you sure?" "Yeah" meg repeated. They waited at the bottom of the stairs for a bit, making sure no one was about. There was a distant sound of echoing laughter, one of the rooms had a weekly house party. "It's clear" megan said. they dash upto the second floor. Megan finds the climb up much easier, clearing 3 or 4 steps at once. Pushing herself up on both hind legs and throwing herself forward with the momentum with her front legs, she thought back at how clumsily she used to walk, this felt like poetry in motion, nothing was wasted. Her form flowed into the next position with little sign of awkwardness. She reached the top before she realised she'd left Sandy behind running to catch up. "jesus meg dont run off like that." Sandy said breathing heavily, Megan noted her tounge wider and thinner than it used to be filling her mouth as she gasped. They both walked quickly to her door and in a single motion slipped inside quietly.