She Was Alone

[CAUTION. This chapter contains some mild body horror, if that quicks you out I'll put a warning before it begins and you can skip to the last paragraph.]

"Mmmh, Tasya" Jayne almost whispered as she instinctively tried to cuddle... Nothing? Her eyes fluttered open again only to find herself alone. Tasya was gone. She realize she was still in the same stark white room. The IV had been removed from her arm and replaced with a bit of gauze and a smiley face bandaid. On the bedside table next to her she recognized her phone... it was blinking with a new message. She went to grab and found her muscles much more cooperative than they were earlier. It was just a little past-noon according to her phone. It was old, the model had been outdated even on its release and so it was slow in equal measure. But it still worked enough to check her texts.

Jayne, sorry I'm not here but I really had to head to class. I hope you don't mind but I added myself to your contacts. Take as much time as you need to rest and recover. There's some leftover fried rice in the refrigerator you can heat up. I ran your clothes through my washer and drier, I left them folded in the bathroom for you. There is a spare key on the kitchen counter as well so you can lock the deadbolts if you leave before I come back. Or if you need a place to stay or anything. Just, please don't touch my lab equipment or notes. That's all I ask.

Jayne's cheeks flushed a bit. Tasya was putting a lot of trust in her it seemed, and knew she owed the woman a great deal. She almost missed something else, an envelope stuffed with something that didn't quite fit, it had been underneath her phone. Setting down her old clunker of a phone and reaching for the envelope, she noticed a particularly strong smell. Lifting it to her nose she inhaled the scent and shuddered. To say it was pleasant would be an understatement. The odor invoked a feeling deep in her. Was it desire? Lust? She opened it to find a letter, handwritten on an otherwise blank sheet of paper. The cursive script was the same as on the outside of the envelope. The letter was definitely the source of the scent. She unfolded it to read.

Miss Bronwen, I hope you slept well and are recovered. I've left you a ring, and parchment in this envelope as well. However you decide to wear it, do keep it on your person. Though not associated with me, there are a few groups who will extend their protection to you so long as you bear it. You will need it. The parchment is a sample of what is to come and a gift from me, study it. I will be watching your progress. Don't worry about who I am. We'll meet when you're ready.

Upon reading this, Jayne did the only sensible thing she could think of. She got out of bed with the letter and envelope still in hand and walked over to the kitchen counter. Still nude, mind you. Setting them down on the counter she turned on the cold water of the kitchen sink and splashed some in her face, careful not to make a mess. The cold water hit her skin and she went wide-eyed at the shock to her system. Coldwater had long been a tradition of hers in order to wake up from a night's sleep and help her focus, also in part just to be sure she wasn't still dreaming. She turned off the sink and blinked several times, reaching for a paper towel. Droplets of the cold water landed on her small chest and threatened to tease her on their descent before being blotted dry.

After drying herself off she looked back to the mysterious letter and envelope... she was surprised to see them still there. This wasn't a dream. Was this some sort of elaborate joke? A prank? Maybe a weird... if creepy way of Tasya trying to make her feel better? She approached it once more, the wanton scent returning to the forefront of her senses as she pulled the rest of the contents out of the envelope. Sure enough, there was a folded, yellow parchment. She unfolded it to the best of her abilities and set it down lightly on the counter. Next, she examined the ring. It was a silver ring with a flat head, a stylized blue crescent moon done in enamel adorned it. She studied it a bit and could find no other engravings or markings. She'd secretly hoped to spot "made in China" on the inside of the band just to dismiss it. It seemed harmless enough, she found it fit her right middle finger well and slid it on. She didn't particularly feel any different. Nothing happened as far as she could tell and so she let out of sigh of relief, perhaps with a bit of disappointment as well.

Next, she looked towards the yellowed parchment. Examining it in detail now it looked like it was actually a page torn from some old ill cared-for book. Staring at the text, none of it looked legible to her. It was definitely some other language and an entirely different alphabet. Still, she felt compelled to continue looking at it.

'Did... the text just, move?' she wondered.

Jayne became laser-focused on the document, her vision slowly receiving a vignette as suddenly the words on the page were the only thing in this world. The text began to shift and move about the page, letters merged with one another to create whole new shapes, some broke apart becoming alien punctuation. At the very periphery of what was audible, Jayne began to hear hurried whispers, like an entire room full of people gossiping. The voices became louder and more insistent as if whatever unseen whisperers drew ever closer to her ears. Finally, the voices stopped, as did the text on the page. Then they coalesced to speak a single phrase to Jayne that she could understand... "Shape flesh and bone."

Her mind checked out. Instead, her head was suddenly flooded with visions... impossibly beautiful humans, and things that... looked like humans in various positions showing off their bodies. The visions shifted then show these flawless people sprawled about rooms, fucking in every which position, bathing in or filling one another with their sexual fluids. The women all had gorgeously sculpted tits of all shapes and sizes, including some which were of impossible size. Some of them leaked milk while others knelt before them and nursed the huge tits. The men, and more than a few women, all had thick, girthy cocks. Some of which were so big they looked impossible for them to fit in anything, they had matching balls some of rediculous size that tightened, pulsed, and churned as they were emptied into and onto partners.

[CAUTION. Mild body horror begins here. If you're easily squicked out, skip to the last paragraph.]

Then there was a darker shift... she envisioned women being fucked with the cocks to the point where she was certain they couldn't have been healthy, screams of agony and sickly noises as well made Jayne feel sick. She wanted desperately to look away, yet she couldn't. The visions shifted once more, they were no longer sexual, but they were certainly no less grotesque. Some of the same impossibly beautiful people now calmly lounged around, but they were different. Their bodies were altered, elongated heads, ridges, crests, pointed ears, no ears, bone spikes, mouths that split open at the jaw with inhumanly long tongues. These forms were somehow both beautiful and horrifying. Jayne was screaming in her mind now, begging for it to stop.

The horror wasn't yet over. It was then she noticed the furniture these creatures lay on was far different from anything she had ever seen. Then a stool blinked at her. Tables made with actual legs, bodies bent and stretched or sewn together to make chairs, couches, and love seats. She died a little inside, her mind couldn't take much more as the vision seemed to recede outside of the building. It was a relief not to look at that horror anymore... but sides of the houses had oddly shaped miss-matched panels with... no... she saw a whole townscape. Walls were covered in flesh, sinew held windows in place, bone reinforced the homes and covered the roofs, the lawns were writing masses of flesh.

[/End Skip]

Suddenly she was back at the kitchen counter. Her fingers dug into the hard surface. Had she long nails she was certain they'd have scratched Tasya's countertop. She was sobbing, tears flowed freely from her eyes as she felt anger and revulsion at what she had just witnessed. Why would it show her that? Why?! Every synapse of her mind burned with that question. As if on cue to give her some other impossible thing to think about she watched with horror as the page that had just caused her so much distress started to burn up, along with the mysterious letter and envelope. There was no fire, but the paper was burning with orange hot edges, slowly self-destructing. As they burnt they left behind no scrap, nor ash. It was as though they were never there.