Assume reality, then suppose.

Suppose... suppose, suppose, suppose... suppose that the world is
stranger than you think.  Suppose, say, that every shadow is a 
doorway to Hell; that on the other side of every mirror is a world 
of darkness... a world of Night, almost identical to this one, and 
yet terrifyingly different.

Suppose, also, that some people are... different.  Say, oh, three 
per cent of the population aren’t quite human.  Suppose that not 
even they know who they are, until something triggers it, deep with 
their soul... and awakens a monster.

Suppose... just suppose... that you knew one of these people...

Hell, suppose you’re one of them
... Suppose... I am...


	Pain... ripping through every cell of my body.  Spine...
cracking, expanding... reshaping.  Hips... exploding, re-aligning... 
burning with agony.  Knees breaking and growing; ankles cracking and 
expanding.  Ribs stretching and swelling... bones shrinking, growing, 
breaking, aching.
	There was no part of me that did not hurt.
	My entire body was growing, and not even in proportion.  Even 
faster than my height increased, my shoulders widened, my ribcage 
swelled.  My toes and feet become massive cat-paws with silver-white 
claws... starkly in contrast with the blue-black fur erupting all over 
my body.
	My fingers crack, erupt with claws, and curl inward.
	I shriek... a bestial sound... a commingling of a lion’s roar, 
a tiger’s yowl, and a  human cry of pain.
	Minutes pass, and the pain subsides.  I look in the mirror to 
see what I have become:
	Seven feet, now, when before I was only six-two.  Long 
dishwater-blonde hair turned to a shining blue-black mane.  Fingers, 
once ring-circled and clever at a keyboard, now stiff and inarticulate 
claws.  Slender, lazy-soft limbs and body, become barrel-chested, 
washboard-stomached, massively muscled and fur-covered body and limbs.  
What once were leather-booted feet now were padded, splayed-toed paws, 
with the ankles and knees put together like a cat’s.
	What was I?
	What had I become?
	Could I ever be human again?
	I collapsed to the ground, weeping with despair, wishing only 
to be human again.
	In time, I got my wish... strangely, my clothing, even my 
rings, was unharmed.
	Still weeping, I staggered over to the phone and dialed the only 
number I could even begin to think of at the time...
	"Marissa?  Can I come over... I have to talk to you... It’s a 
matter of life and death..."