Chapter 7: 7: Heart Palpitations

We spent the rest of the day eating junk food and watching or reading everything we could find about what had happened last night. It was pretty crazy overall. Reports were starting to come in of huge chunks of land mysteriously appearing, mountains flashing into existence in an instant, islands materialising out of nowhere. The worst case in the US was Seattle. From one moment to the next a huge and sprawling alien metropolis had been transposed on top of the city. Like some graphical glitch, the mysterious ruins had replaced any matter it needed to manifest. People became trapped in rooms where the exit was covered by a strange wall. Cars that had been driving down an open street were met with the sudden appearance of a wall of stone. The death toll was staggering, many people had been wholly or partially inside a new wall when it appeared, erasing anything in its way from existence.

When night came around, Kelly gave me a pair of pajamas to wear. We hopped into our beds and I curled up under a big wool blanket she gave me. It felt heavenly to be warm and safe again, but it caused me to suddenly miss my home, my computer, and my friends. The feeling of safety must have triggered some homesickness because I felt a strange emotional juxtaposition. I felt relief and security at finally being out of the worst of it, but it was not the right relief and security, it was not my home, it was someone else's.

I felt tears well up in my eyes as we lay there in the dark, and I did my best to keep myself quiet. I need not have bothered though, Kelly was fast asleep and lightly snoring. The kid was so kind. I’m not sure if I would have offered someone in my position a place to stay out of nowhere like that, especially when we’d only known each other for less than a day. Perhaps it was the cynicism I had gained over so many years of being used by my family as some golden child they could show off to their friends, or maybe it was the friends I had been forced to make within that circle, constantly attempting to tear each other down for their own betterment or amusement.

The last twenty four hours had caused another duality of opinion within me on that subject too. I had been treated kindly by a great many people, but at the same time I had been treated awfully, and although the number of people willing to help had outnumbered those who wanted to do me harm, in the end the bad had outweighed the good. I was now without an identity in a changing world full of terrified people, and on top of that I was going to be a target of that terror. I was counting down the hours until the hysteria against people like myself really started. I knew it was coming. I wiped my tears out of my eyes and tried to drift off to sleep, but for almost an hour I lay awake stewing in my thoughts before I finally dozed off.

The next morning I was woken by a happy and almost obscenely chirpy Kelly. She was sat on the ground next to my bed in her pajamas looking down at me as I groggily figured out what the hell was going on. I sat up sleepily and twitched my ears in annoyance at her far too bright and sunny early morning disposition.

“What time is it?” I asked in a growl that sounded far too cute to be menacing, “And aren’t you a teenager? Why are you even out of bed?”

“It’s like eleven in the morning! Plus I’ve always just been like, a morning person anyway,” she grinned brightly at me. I shielded my eyes and laid my ears back.

“Oh my god your ears are like those guys at airports who wave batons around only for your emotions!” she exclaimed.

“What are you on about?” I grumbled.

“You’re so cute!” she exclaimed, launching herself at me and wrapping me in a hug I was definitely not ready for or entirely okay with.

“I’m not a soft toy!” I mumbled into her shoulder.

“Nah, but you are soft!” she said reaching down behind me and playing with my tail.

“Hey! No! Boundaries, girl! I’m into girls and you’re a minor, this is weird!” I exclaimed in a panic.

She backed off looking chagrined, “Sorry, you’re just really cool and I like making new friends. I’m kinda teased for being able to make friends wherever I go. Nice teasing of course! Sorry…”

“Ughhh, nah, you’re good. Just, I’m not used to the whole touchy feely brand of friendship,” I told her.

“Why not?” she asked curiously.

“Because my parents were like upper upper middle class and really wanted to be actual upper class. They ran in all these snobby circles and made me hang out with their spoiled kids. It sucked, everyone was two faced and bitchy. Touching each other was like some sort of taboo I swear,” I said with a sigh.

“Damn, seems like you’re almost better off without them,” she said in sympathy.

“Yeah maybe. They’re still my family though… ugh let's go have breakfast, this topic is uncomfortable,” I said.

“You got it! But it’s lunch by now,” she said with a wink.

“Yeah, yeah,” I grumbled.

After breakfast we got dressed and Kelly took me to see Mr. Belrick in his office down below. The man was kind of awful. He was thin and would have been tall if not for what I could only imagine was an invisible forty ton weight on his head, judging by the way he hunched. He didn’t seem to mind my foxy features, but he seemed to be especially hateful towards Kelly, maybe due to the way she was invariably cheerful. Since he was her polar opposite, maybe he was offended by her on some genetic level? I managed to get him to rent me a small apartment however, and handed over the cash for the bond and advanced rent right there, much to his surprise. I did get a look from Kelly when I handed over neatly bound stacks of twenties, but Mr. Slouchy didn’t bat an eyelid. He gave me the key and a number and then stared us both down until we left his office.

“You were right,” I said to her as we climbed the stairs towards my new apartment, “He really doesn’t give a shit.”

“Yup! Kind of a dick too,” she said without malice, “But he houses people like you who can’t get through all the shitty paperwork that other places need, so he’s alright I guess.”

“Yeah, maybe,” I said, imagining the kind of creepy people who might take advantage of the paperwork free housing.

The apartment was located on the 6th floor and it was tiny, a living room/kitchen area, bathroom and bedroom. It was also run down and slightly mouldy, with peeling paint and threadbare carpet. And it was mine! I mean, rent was actually kinda high for a place like this, but I guess the no questions asked policy meant he could charge a little more for his shitty apartments. The shower was at least functional, although the pressure might actually have been too high, which was a refreshing change from flats I’d rented back home. The bathroom also housed the washing machine and dryer, and I made sure to test they worked by flicking the power on.

The bedroom was big enough to fit a double bed and not much else, but that was fine, I’d probably just get a king single or something to sleep on. It would feel like a double with this tiny body of mine. The kitchen came with a set of battered looking appliances, like a fridge and an oven.

“Fuck I forgot how awful these places are when you first get them. When we moved to our apartment it took us like a month to clean it out properly,” Kelly commented.

“Yeah I probably won’t bother for now, maybe I’ll buy a bunch of cleaning products and leave them somewhere I’ll see them later and get the urge to use them,” I smiled, “Either way I’m totally buying a dehumidifier though, I think I can taste the moisture.”

“Yeah, I’ll tell you why too. Look, the window is slightly open,” she pointed.

The window was indeed open, if only by a centimeter or two.

“Ahh shit, rain probably got in, and bugs!” I said in realisation.

Kelly giggled, “Are you scared of bugs?”

“Fuck yeah I am, they’re gross!” I exclaimed.

We both cracked up laughing and I felt happiness suffuse me.

“Hey why aren’t you at school?” I asked.

“They cancelled school because of all the crazy shit that’s happening,” she shrugged.

“Oh damn, that’s a good idea actually,” I said thoughtfully.

We left the apartment pretty quickly and went back to her place. I needed to figure out what I needed and the order of importance I’d need it. First in my mind was a bed and bedlinen, then food and cleaning supplies. I’d add more furniture as I got money, because I only had a few thousand left by this point. Oh damn, and I needed to go back and pay Laithe for the clothing I had rushed out of the store with! Before any of this could be completed, though, I needed to figure something out, but without Kelly around.

“Hey Kelly, do you mind if I have a shower? It’s kinda been a little while,” I asked.

“Yeah sure! Let me grab a towel for you,” she said, bouncing off to do so.

She came back and dragged me to their bathroom, which was similar to the one in my new apartment. I thanked her and closed the door. Before I began to actually shower, I needed to do figure out how I had changed my appearance. If I could get that working again, but doing what I wanted, I could go to the mall and buy things without any hassle.

I tried to remember what I had felt when I was running away from the workers and to pinpoint the unconscious action I had done to change my appearance and make it conscious. Feeling a brainwave hit me, I realised it was when I had turned the corner and found myself faced by yet more workers, just as the flashbanged ones had recovered. There had been an urgent need to not be recognisable. What had my mind done? I focused on that feeling again, not wanting to be recognisable as myself. All at once I felt my mind reach out and coat my form in an illusion. The same profoundly average man stared back at me. It was quite easy actually and didn’t really feel like a strain. Straight away I tried to alter it, beginning with the gender. I turned the thoroughly average man into a thoroughly average woman. Then shrunk her to my own height and mixed in enough of my own features to make her look less like a mannequin. My ears and tail were not visible and it was a bloody good thing too.

I fiddled around with my new look for almost ten minutes. I made myself look like a girl of about 23, subtle wrinkles and all, something my normal body was lacking. I gave her pitch black hair and bright blue eyes. I changed my clothing to be a similar cut, but with different colours and motifs. Apparently I liked blue now, because I changed all the clothing to have dark and mid ranged blues accents on a base of black. The look was good, and I was happy that I would not be recognisable as myself. Maybe a distant cousin or something. Dismissing and reapplying the illusion a few times to make sure I had the illusion remembered, I began to undress for the shower.

I used a god awful amount of shampoo. I shampooed my hair , then my ears and then my tail. My tail took forever, it was like a black hole for shampoo and water. On top of that it also looked ridiculous all drenched in water like that, a sad mop of water darkened ginger fur. Conditioning it was also a massive hassle. Cleaning my tail turned out to take so long that the water went cold and I had to rinse myself with cold water before I stepped out. I towelled myself dry as best I could, but it was a mission I ultimately failed. I got everything into a damp to wet status before I gave up and put my clothing on anyway.

I went straight to Kelly and asked, “Uh, do you have a hair dryer? Because this is going to take a lot of hair drying.”

She looked at my sodden state and burst into a fit of giggles, nodding erratically as she did so, “Yeah in my room!”

She got the hair dryer out and plugged it in, but didn’t hand it to me, instead turning it on and starting the task herself. She played it across my tail with a grin, intent on my fuzzy appendage like a kid with a huge bar of chocolate. It was a little unsettling if I’m honest.

“Your tail is so cool. I’m really jealous,” she told me dreamily.

“Uh, thanks. It’s nice to hug but it gets in the way. I bought some jeans but they don’t fit because of my tail,” I said with a grumble.

“I can fix that! Do you have the jeans?” she exclaimed.

“Uh, yeah, they are in my bag, let me grab them,” I said, rushing over and pulling the jeans out before she could get a look at what was in there.

“Hey! I’m still drying your tail!” she grouched.

“Sorry! Uh here’s the jeans,” I said, handing them to her.

“Alright I’ll sort them later, for now sit back down so I can dry your tail,” she commanded.

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“Yes ma’am,” I said, sticking out my tongue.

She kept up her tail drying antics for a while, and I carefully broached the subject of going back to the mall alone.

“So I need to go back into the mall to buy stuff, but I think I should go alone, at least to get in. I can sneak in the same way I did earlier but it kinda needs all my new fox features and senses to do it,” I told her.

She clicked the hair dryer off and looked at me for a moment with a little frown, “Alright, do you want me to wait for you inside the mall?”

“It’s up to you Kelly, if you want to go then you can, I might not be able to hang out though. I’m going to sneak properly this time. I’ll come back here after” I told her gently.

“Okay… Kinda sounds like you’re ditching me... we’re friends now right? Proper ones, not friends that always act cool and tough and don’t like things that aren’t goth?” she asked in a small voice.

Ah. That’s what all this was about. Little Kelly was having issues with the circle of teen life, where every kid tried to impress each other with stupid shit that didn’t matter. Genuine friends who didn’t judge were hard to come by as a teen, at least in my experience.

I shifted to face her properly and looked her over. Her expression was that of pained hopefulness, like a kitten that wanted to play but knew you were too busy. My heart went out to this kind girl who needed a friend. I shuffled forward and gave her a hug. A kind of big sisterly hug, holding her head to my chest and patting her back.

“Yeah, we’re friends Kelly. I need those right now. All my old ones are gone,” I said softly.

We broke the hug pretty quickly and I was greeted with a huge grin that had taken over her face.

“Thanks! We can hang out later?” she asked with a hopeful smile.

“Definitely, I’ll need someone to bring music and help me clean my apartment after all!” I winked.

“Ohhh that’s gonna be gross! I’ll help though, but I think you’ll owe me…” she said with an evil grin.

“That is not a reassuring expression Kelly!” I exclaimed in mock horror.

“Nope!” she laughed.

***

I approached the mall during the early afternoon with my illusion disguise covering me neatly. The entrance was not as crowded as it had been yesterday and I was therefore under a lot more scrutiny this time around. Charles was at his usual post, staring down those who he thought were not worthy to set foot within the hallowed halls of Sherwood Mall. He gave me a good eyeballing when I walked through the doors, but I ignored him and continued onward.

When I was sure I had passed his check I sighed in relief and hitched my mostly empty bag further up my shoulder. It was time to go back to Hot Topic and hand over the money I owed them.

The atmosphere in the mall was markedly different from yesterday. People looked around at each other furtively, and there was an undercurrent of fear permeating the interactions between strangers. The cause was entirely clear, most of the advertisement screens around the mall, instead of ads, showed footage of the event the news were beginning to call the Emergence. The Emergence of what, nobody would explain, but it was pretty clear. The Emergence of people like me. It showed the carnage from New York with the dragon, this time of the actual event captured on phone cameras.

Government warnings flashed between each terrifying shot. As per usual the media was having a field day, sowing fear and panic among the population of the United States. I guess the world was still turning if media conglomerates had time and energy to sensationalise others’ misfortunes for monetary gain.

Hot Topic was almost free of people when I arrived. Just Laithe and an older woman standing near the staff door in what looked to be a very one sided argument. The older woman was angry as all hell, and Laithe looked to be made of stone. I felt really bad for the stunningly beautiful girl, being chewed out by a superior was awful, and I had a feeling I knew why it was happening too. My large sensitive ears picked up what the older woman was saying far before I would have heard it a few days ago. Laithe had done her makeup differently today, it was more reserved and less broken weeping angel. Seeing her without the purposefully beauty destroying getup caused my heart to fail a few beats like a car that refused to start. She was achingly beautiful, like an angel from a story or something. The type of looks so incredible you knew you weren’t allowed to touch.

“... Honestly, I could fire you on the spot, but I happen to feel sorry for you. Those new emerged people are terrors! You couldn’t have known any better, things with those people are too new to know how to handle the situation. I expect you to cooperate with the mall security on the matter fully when they come around later, you hear me?” the supervisor said, a bit of spittle travelling from one lip to the other as she spoke.

“Yes ma’am, but she wasn’t bad, it was that security guard who chased her out before she could pay,” Laithe said in a voice that sounded far too calm for someone who was being reamed.

The supervisor opened her mouth to speak but I interrupted her.

“Hello, I’m here to pay for that fox girl’s purchases from yesterday. Apparently humanity has discovered a new way to be fucking asshole bigots,” I said the last with as much venom as I could possibly muster, pointing it directly at the woman. I saw Laithe suppressing a delighted and surprised smile, and it almost caused me to grin back at her.

“Oh… I… I’m sorry, young lady, I thought she had…” the woman sputtered.

“Yeah, well. I’d have thought at Hot Topic of all places you would know not to listen to the spin the mainstream media was putting on all this crap. It’s like they learned fucking nothing after the shit they did when Trump was running for president. Anyway, how much does she owe you?” I said grumpily.

“Oh… Laithe, please deal with her, we will talk later. I’m sorry young lady, I need to go out back,” the supervisor said in surprise, then turned and rushed through the staff door. I poked my tongue out at her back.

Once she was safely inside the door and it was closed, I turned to Laithe.

“Hey,” she grinned, “Thanks for coming back to pay.”

“No problem, how much does she owe you?” I asked with an answering grin.

“Oh, you owe the store three hundred and twenty four dollars and forty cents,” she said with a raised eyebrow.

Wow, that expression was… nice. I felt my face warm up a bit and my invisible tail swish behind me erratically.

“Wha- M-me? I, what?” I stuttered, then my tail knocked a T-shirt off the stand behind me.

She let out a soft throaty laugh that widened my eyes and said, “Your voice is the same, Kalia, and… well you changed the colours but those are still the clothes I sold you yesterday.”

“Oh… damn that’s… Crap,” I said with the utmost elegance.

“Come on fluffy, let’s go sort it out at the register,” she said with another laugh, brushing past me.

I followed her, a little awed at how calm she was about all of this.

“Alright, throw me some money and I’ll log the purchase,” she said with a wry smile.

“Uh, oh okay,” I said, rummaging in my bag for the right amount of money. I wasn’t about to start whipping out stacks of twenties like with Mr Souchy back at the apartments.

I handed her the money and she thanked me with another kind smile.

I stood and waited patiently while she did her thing with the computer. I watched her as she typed things into it with a small smirk on her face. It made her look cheeky and cute as fuck.

“Alright, we’re done,” she said, looking up and catching me staring.

My eyes flew away from her face at great speed and I coughed to give myself time to recover, “Yeah, sweet, thanks. Sorry I ran away.”

“No problem, that mall cop is a power tripping asshole, who, like you said, is a fucking asshole bigot,” she said with a sympathetic smile.

“Okay, um, thanks!” I said, my own mouth rising up at the corners in response to her words.

“Cool look by the way, how do you do it?” she asked casually.

“Uh, I don’t really know. I can just do it since like… today, at least properly,” I said hesitantly.

“That’s cool, no pressure though. It’s probably for the best if you don’t let me know how it all works,” she grinned, then continued with a wink, “You know, superhero secret identities and all.”

My heart rate increased according to a staccato rhythm at the wink, and it was all I could do to nod and stutter out, “Okay. Uh. Thank you, I’m sorry again, I had better… like, go. I need to buy a bed and some cleaning supplies and stuff.”

“I see…” she giggled, “That’s an interesting combination.”

“Yeah.. uh, so thanks! And um, bye, see you later. I think I will need like more clothes soon so I’ll come back,” I said quickly.

“Sounds good fox girl, see you later,” she smiled.

I fled the store, otherwise I might collapse.

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