Noticing 3: Megans tail Story idea (so far)

Noticing 3: Megans Tail

"Thats odd, when did i paint my lips black" Megan thought. "I don't even own black lipstick".

Megan decides to leave it, she's already late for uni. She carries her new friend downstairs to an animal control van outside. The fox seemed anxious and clingy as she handed it over but she thought nothing of it, the sooner it was gone the less chance molly would get in trouble. She signed a form and took another glance at the fox, it whined in response as the van door closed. 

Megan was late but at least it was for a good reason. "Sorry Tim i found an injured animal and called the RSPCA" she thought to herself as she walked the promanade. It was a chilly november morning on the south coast of England. Her journey to University took her along the sea front, the slightly dower sea front properties offering a post-imperial nostalgia to the world, Megan ponders to herself the history of the sea side town boom of the 1800's to distract herself from the long boring hill climb up to the stark gleeming edifice of the unversity. 

Walking through to door Megan opens her coat, the sudden wash of heat instantly makes her uncomfortable. Megan crosses the atrium the high windows painting the ground with the pale morning light. "Hey what's with the lips Meg", Dan starts sharply. "Hey Dan yeah thought i'd try a new look today". They both enter the elevator, "thats what you get for hanging out with Trisha i guess she's going through yet another goth phase." Dan mutters to himself. "i think you messed up though", "What?" Megan said. "Your top lip" he gestures with his finger, "You must of slipped while doing it. There's a line pointing to your nose". Megan looks behind her in the mirror, was that there before? she thought. "oh yeah, oops!" She didnt get a good look at it before she left perhaps it was like that. "anyway catcha laters, im gonna have to sneak into biology through the back." "Laters Dan" Megan says fixated on her face. The doors started to close and she pulls herself away.

Megan explained herself to her tutor Tim and was let off with a warning, "call ahead next time" he said, "go catch up". Megan pulls the seat away from her usual space. The heat is unbarable in here, she takes off her coat and jumper. "Hey Meg been listening to Crade of filth?" Meg starts up "Huh?" Her friend Sandy say's "the make up, whats this about?" She circles her own face with her index finger.  "Oh i just felt like it today, fancied a change i guess" Megan rubs at her top lip again. "Well i suggest getting rid of it, you look weird". "Lab is today and you know how Professor Mason like to pick on people", Sandy say's coyly. "Ha yeah i'd better go clean it off" Megan says.

Megan and Sandy settle the weirdness and make notes on yesterdays results, 20 minutes later they are dismissed for a coffee break. Megan heads straight for the toilets. She draws a couple of stares from some of the less subtle corridor inhabitants. Megan enters the toilet, its empty. She approaches the mirror she reaches into her bag and pulls out a pack of wet wipes. bunching a few she presses her lips tight and rubs vigorously. Nothing happens, she rubs again this time with more care. Still nothing, "What the fuck" Megan mumbles to herself. She looks closer at herself her lips were blacker than before if anything. When she left they'd been merely a dark grey now they glistened jet black. She licked them trying to figure out what was on them, no flavour. The line in the top middle was still there infact it seemed longer more pronounced. She rubbed at it with the wipe in an attempt to get rid of it, Still nothing. The wipe on all attempts has come away clean. She pouted. "Well i guess if i cant clean it i can at least cover it." Megan thought to herself. Meg pull out a small make up bag and selects the most natural tone she has. The lip stick covers her lips well enough, a little foundation on her upper lip and she looked normal. One last self check and Meg leaves the Toilet.

Meg didnt go for a coffee she didnt want to smudge her new make-up, back at class Sandy gives a thumbs up at her friends new but less vibrant fashion choice. "thats a lot better, next time stick to this". Megan fakes a smile, she would be ok for now but when she got back she really needed to find out how to remove the black gloss.

Class ended an hour later Megan and Sandy walked along the corridors, Sandy looks at Meg and furrows her brow. "Meg?". "Yeah?" Meg looks at her. "I was just making sure i was still walking next to you. I dunno what it is but you look different." "how'd you mean" Meg says. " i really don't know but something in your face is different, like the shape of it seems off". "I have no idea what you mean. How can my face look different?" Meg answers with bemusement. "Call me crazy but you look different i swear im not making it up, you are not the Meg i saw yesterday". Sandy grabs Megs hand and pulls out her phone, she puts on the camera and points it at meg. The flash stuns Meg for a second, "Here, see?" Sandy holds her phone over to Meg. "This was us last month at the concert, Here's you now." Meg compares the pictures, she could see it, something in the lower face, her nose and mouth seemed more pronounced. "I cant see anything different". Megan Lied. "You Can't see that?" Sandy blurts. "Actually ive just remembered i have to go" Megan Lies again. "What? now??" Sandy says stunned. "Y..Yeah i have a dentist appointment, almost forgot." Meg trying not to let the worry show smiles, "sillymeseeyalater" Meg says hurridly as she makes a shape turn away from Sandy. Sandy bewildered stares as her friend walks a little too quickly away.

Meg holds her face as she walks, the bridge of her nose felt wider, longer. Megan returns to the bathroom. Closed for cleaning," Dammit" Megan mumbles to herself. She gets in the lift, its full of people, she cant inspect herself in the mirror but a glance reveals that her lipstick had split in a few places and the black gloss underneith shone through like piercing beacons in her mind. She gets off and makes for the first toilet. She lowers her head trying to cover her face with her hair, she's less familiar with this floor, Keeping her head down she notices more people stare at her one of them pointing, panic seeps in but after a few minutes she finds a toilet. Luckily this one was empty too and she turns to look at herself. 

Was this her face? She thought, everything looked wrong. Her chin, her nose her lips, her brow. It all looked off like a stranger stood before her mimicing her movements. She ran a hand down her nose the bridge had indeed widened and flattened, her nose used to turn up into a rounded point. now it seemed to point outwards. She brushes her hair back to get a better look and freezes as she feels her ears. The stranger in the mirror is shocked at her discovery, Megan lifts her hair up, her ears, much larger and rounded to a point. To her horror she realises this is what the people outside were staring at. Her ears poked through her hair. A band of sisters push through the door discussing a test of some sort. Megan panics and jumps into a cubicle, "What do i do? i cant hide this out there!" She thinks. She sits down on the toilet, she goes to put her head in her hands but she's reminded sharply of the grotesqueness that is her face and pulls up sniffing. The girls surround the mirror just infront of her door. Her ears twitch at the conversation it takes a moment for Megan to notice this. The movement tickles her hair and she flattens her ears to her head. "my hood" Megan whispers, Megan packed her coat in her bag earlier and with it a scarf. Bunching her har back she wraps the scarf around her face and neck trying her best to cover her ears in the process, then she puts on her coat and pulls the hood over her. She takes a picture of herself, this time without a flash and finds that she looks normal despite being dressed for a blizzard in a 30 degree biulding.

Megan without drawing too much suspicion leaves the toilet quickly. In the mirror she noted her nose seemed yet more pushed away from her face, the effect made her look somewhat alien. She pulls the scarf up covering more of her face. Megan decides the best thing to do is to leave. She heads back to the elevator. As she walks her scarf keeps slipping down her face she has to regularly pull it back up each time feeling her nose again for any further changes. In the elevator Megan gets a better look at herself. Her eyes wide and scanning, fixate on her lower face. The scarf covers it still but it becomes clearer that something is so wrong that not even wool can cover it. Megan further pulls the hood over her head trying to conceal herself. She felt the scarf slip and her ears release. The fabric of the Hood tents on both sides the points twitching. Luckily everone in the lift were too focussed on their phones to notice, Megan let out a silent scream. The doors open in the atrium, the person on the other side staring right at her was Sandy.

"Meg??" is that you? Megan shakes her head no in response. "It is you! what are you doing here?" Megan wide eyed stares back and muffles "nope not Megan, im Samantha". "I recognise the clothes dumbarse, why are you dressed like that?" says Sandy. The lift empties and people stare at her as the pass. Sandy goes to grab Megans hood to pull it off. "NO!!" Megan shouts. She grabs at her headgear keeping it in place. Her scarf however slips down revealing what can only be described as a short muzzle. Meg Pull sandy in the lift and mashes the buttons to get the door closed. Sandy glares ate Megan mouth agape. "whats happened to you?", "I have no fucking idea!" Megan cries half tearful. "Your face earlier, something was different about you." I know i lied i didnt know what to do i had to get away and figure this out but it didn't stop now i cant hide it!" Megan on the brink of tears. "Quick put the hood back on i'll take you somewhere private" Sandy shushes her.

A room dark and void of any furniture is suddenly lit up a thin carpet. "This room hasn't been used in years, we should be fine". They both walk in and flip the light switch, floressant lights struggling into wakefulness. Megan shrouded under her hood and a jumper borrowed from Sandy walks in. "What now? Im still at uni, i need to get home." says Meg. "Why Home? How is that gonna help you?". "I don't know i just wanted home, somewhere private and safe, somewhere i can figure this out." Sandy places her hand on her friends shoulder you're in the most advanced biotech college in the region if you cant find help here you cant find help anywhere. Now lets have a look at you."

They both sit, Megan shaking with nerves, Sandy pulls back the hood. Megans ears spring up in response sitting much higher on her head, Megans hair bunched upwards having being pushed by her ears. Sandy with a look of morbid curiosity pulls off the scarf. The face that looks up at her wasn't her friend, it wasn't even human. It did still have her eyes though. " Megan i..." Megan sobs into her coat. "How bad is it?" she squeezes past tears. "Pretty fucking bad" Sandy says bluntly. "I have no earthly idea what this is, you seem to be exhibiting symptoms of something so alien to medicine that i would have no idea as to how to start treating this. This is impossible!" "Well thanks for making me feel better" Megan sniffs. "Tell me everything, when did this start?" Sandy enters physican mode. "Well, this morning as i left for college, my lips for no reason were black. I didnt put lipstick on and they weren't like that last night." "Ok" says Sandy. She pulls out a notepad and starts writing everything down. " Then what?" "When i got into college Dan said i had this line on my upper lip" Megan points at the divide that now splits her muzzle down the middle from her nose. " see and you didn't think at that point anything was amiss?" "Well yeah but ignored it afterall what could it be? i assumed it was just part of the mysteriouth liphstick?" Sandy looks up at Megan. "say that again" "whath lipthstick?" Megan lisps. Sandy takes note. "Losing ability to speak" she mutters to herself. "Whath? Noe Waith thish can'th be happeningh" "Megan please we have to know everything, every fact is important, What happened next?" Sandy firmly holds Megans chin. "Ith wath then you pointhed outh tho me thath my make upf looketh bad so ath break i tried tho remothe the lipthick." Megan tounge pushed through her mouth she seemed to have trouble grapsing the motions. " haaaaah" Megan opens her mouth wide and stretches her tounge out. "Mouth taking on the same canine characteristics" Sandy notes. "Canineh?" " What happend next Megan Focus!" "Igh triedth tho wipef buth nothingh happthenned ith wouldnth goh away. Igh coffered it upf wiff offer lifthick" Sandy fixed on her notepad continues to scribble. " lather onh  yough pointhed owt myth fath and how ith changthed, thath whenh ith rahn away, Igh rahn to a thoileth and hidth. Migh chanthes freventhed meigh frohm leavthing. Igh Wrapthed mighthelf upf an thath when yough founth meigh." Megan Stretched out her mouth again. Exposing enlarged teeth. Sandy looks up still writing "Ok what about your hair?" "thair?" Megan lisped. "Your hair when did it start turning red?" "redth??" Sandy took out her phone and snapped a picture, she hands it to Megan. "Oh igh thee, thath moor orangth thahn redth, orangth like the foxth thith mornighn". "FOX!!" Sandy breaking physican mode for a second. "yeagh didnth igh menthion thath earlieghhher?" " What fox" asks Sandy. Thethhh foxthhh iiighh fow....fown....thh ith thhh....thhhhithhh mooor.....moooor.....moooor......gg..g. Megan twists her mouth "Haaaaah, haaaaah, saaaaaan......ie........i....gh c......arnthh....... thhhhhh, roooothh, gh....ghh" Megan Blinks a grumble comes out think a high pitched whine. "roooooooothh" egans mouth no longer worked her tounge spills out of her mouth bracketted by her teeth. "Its ok Megan we'll figure this out" Megan whines.

We need to get you out of here when its late that way no one can see us go to the labs. Megan grumbles and writes. "At this rate i'll be leaving here on all fours" Sandy smirks " that might actually look less conspicuous." Megan growls. "sorry forgot myself for a moment" Sandy whinces.