The Shift

I was freezing.

The coldness crawled like tiny spiders on my skin as nausea settled into my empty stomach. My bones ached as if any minute now they could break, and reshape into something entirely different.

I spoke too soon.

I doubled over in searing pain as my spine cracked and curled itself into an all too familiar shape. My arms and legs twisted in ways they shouldn't. I cried out as the bent, broke, reformed themselves.

My arms were no longer arms.

My legs no longer legs.

My hands were no longer hands.

My feet no longer feet.

My face ached as it molded into its new but familiar form.  My skin transformed itself into my new coat of fur for the oncoming winter months.

Finally.

I was freed from the agonizing pain of the shift.

And I darted off into the woods, away from my now unfamiliar surroundings.