Who: Jamie Jones and Alec Fox What: Jamie discovers a new branch of his abilities and the not so fun side effects When: Monday morning Rating: PG-13
Jamie hadn't meant for it to happen. He'd been thinking about how much he just wanted to get away, how his father had said everything would be easier if they were dogs and they wouldn't have to deal with so many stupid emotions. He missed Sam like a limb, he felt disorientated and confused without being able to check in with his best friend whenever he wanted to. He regretted their stupid fight and he wished he could just go back.
He wished he could change things, it would be awesome if he could turn back time instead of his pathetic and stupid ability to look like other people. Even if he had the guts to go and see Sam, he knew Sam would likely just burn his eyebrows off, snap at him and tell him to fuck off. Jamie wasn't afraid to admit that he'd been so hurt by the whole thing that he'd cried. He was only human, like his dad said, and he had screwed up big time.
He thought that maybe if he could see Sam some other way, if he could turn into a bird or a dog - because everything would have been easier if he was a dog - then maybe he could have checked on Sam without him knowing. Maybe he'd be able to help some way because he knew that Sam would be alone now and hurting and Jamie hated that he was the cause of that and that he couldn't do anything about it.
The next thing he knew there was pain. A lot of pain. The sound of bones shifting and twisting and breaking as his whole body rearranged itself. The crunching of bones twisting and muscles rearranging. There was a stretch and a burn and a pull as the hair on his body grew and turned golden brown.
Suddenly, the whole world was in black and white and Jamie could sense everything in the world around him. He staggered a little and then turned his head when he caught a particularly strong scent. He looked down, the world was black and white and grey for some reason. He pushed his nose into the pile of clothes he’d just staggered out of and wondered what that scent was. Was that him? What about that one?
Before he knew it, his legs (all four of them and he’d fallen over a couple of times because trying to co-ordinate four legs was tricky) were taking him in search of whatever else he could smell. It was kind of thrilling, this sudden connection to the world around him. A car drove past and he shouted at the person driving - for some reason - and what came out instead was a bark. And then a yelp.
Jamie was a dog. Okay, well that he could handle. Long as he could turn back. But he’d run far, he wanted to go back to where his clothes were. He turned his head, the world moving at a pace that was kind of dizzying but he couldn’t quite tell where he’d come from. It caused a panic to curl up inside him and he heard a whimper greet his ears. Maybe he could get to Sam’s? If he could get to Sam's, maybe he could just sit with him, curl up next to him and help in some way. He wanted to help Sam.
He started moving, but the world looked so different when you were on all fours, smaller than usual and hyper aware of absolutely everything around you. More than that, the world was in black and white and grey and Jamie didn’t know whether or not he was coming or going. He had no point of reference, nothing that he could latch onto that would tell him definitively, yes, I’m here.
He heard another rumbling sound, a car of some sort, or a van, maybe? He didn’t know if they had many of those in the town because it was so small. He turned his head, sniffing the air and taking a few steps backwards to get away from it. He didn’t quite know how he walked backwards ,it was awkward and felt strange. Not something he wanted to do on a regular basis, that was for sure. He didn’t even like being a dog. It was kind of raining and his fur was getting wet. It felt horrible and soggy and kind of heavy. He shook, his whole body trembling and twitching, water flicking away from him. Not that it mattered, the rain still fell onto him in the half-hearted drizzly way that it was dripping from the sky.
“What’ve we got here?”
Jamie blinked a couple of times, backing up further.
“Didn’t think anyone’d let their dog just wander around without a collar.”
There was a hand on the scruff of his neck, it kind of hurt a little. He wrinkled his nose (if dogs could do that) and let out an unimpressed growl. Something plastic waved over the back of his neck and let out a little beep and the hand in his fur tightened a little.
“Well... that can’t be right... C’mon, let’s get you to the shelter.”
Jamie panicked again, the man was trying to pull him towards the car and he really didn’t want to go. He growled and dug his paws into the ground, resisting every step of the way until they got to the back door. There was a cage in there and to Jamie it smelt like fear. He whined and whimpered, the dog version of do not want and struggled valiantly, getting free and starting to run. He got his feet tangled around each other, though, slipping on a manhole cover that was slick with water. He thought he had gotten away only to hear a shout and something metallic clicking and cocking, the sound of something shooting through the air and then a sharp pain in the side of his neck. Suddenly he felt like he was trying to paw through water, his fur was so heavy and he was getting stuck to the ground...
Then?
Nothing.
*
He could hear voices. They were foggy and distant and confusing, but he could hear voices. He could also feel goosebumps prickling across his skin. His arms and legs hurt, felt bruised and raw and overstretched, and there was a sharp ache at the curve of his neck and shoulder. His palms, too, felt kind of raw, like he’d been running on them. Blinking a couple of times to dispel the dizziness and the grogginess that always came from just waking up (and for a moment, Jamie was convinced he was in his bed and this was just a dream) but when he sat up and rubbed at his eyes, his head hit the top of the cage and he had to crouch down further.
His arms were bruised. So were his legs, dark bruises that looked like the result of broken capillaries, his muscles hurt like they’d stretched and twisted too far and there was a deep ache in his bones. His limbs felt heavy, like he’d been tranquilized, just waking up from a long, involved sleep. He gingerly lifted a hand to the side of his neck, where there was a purple circular bruise that was around a small red puncture mark.
Okay, so not a dream.
The door of the van was closed, and Jamie stretched his hand through the bars to grab a blanket. It was red tartan and kind of smelt like wet dog (he wondered if that was his fault) but he fed it through the bars and wrapped himself up in it, knees hugged to his chest and his bare skin hidden from view. He felt mortified. He was naked in a cage in the back of some guy’s van. Horror movies were made from this kind of stuff. Slasher films were made based on events just like this. Small town man goes insane, starts killing the local kids.
Jamie felt panicked again, his hair colour shifting darker then lighter, his eyes flickering between blue and grey and green and brown quicker than he was blinking, a rotating iris of colour. He wanted his dad, or his mom, he wanted Sam. Sam would have known what to do in this situation.
They were going to call his parents. God, someone was going to call his mom and his dad and they were going to come out and see him like this, or at the station. It wouldn’t be fair if he got arrested for being naked in a cage in the back of this van. He didn’t crawl in here.
“I swear to God, Chief,” the man was saying and he sounded different now that Jamie was using people ears rather than dog ears. Everything was fuzzier, it had less clarity, “he was a dog. Shot him with a tranq dart and figured I could bring him to the shelter, let someone come get him. Too well cared for to be a stray, you know? But then I stop the van and check and there’s this kid there and he’s baby-butt naked.
I haven’t been drinking, I promise. You know how hard I worked to get clean. I was just gonna drop the dog off at the shelter and then go home. Swear to you. But then there’s this kid... and I didn’t know who else to call. Figured it might have been a prank when I parked the car to take a leak. You know what it’s like; when you gotta go, you gotta go.”
Jamie wrinkled his nose. That was disgusting. What was also disgusting was that he probably smelt like wet dog now, his hair was flopping in his face uselessly, limp and wet and lifeless and he just wanted to go home already. Well, no, he didn’t want to go home. He wanted to go to Sam’s house. At least there he wouldn’t be stared at or prodded for answers. Besides, Sam could set stuff on fire. He wouldn’t bat an eyelash at the fact that Jamie turned into a dog, but he would burn the guy’s tires for shooting Jamie with a tranquilizer dart. Bastard.
“Anyway, figure they mighta switched the dog with the kid at some point whilst I was, y’know, takin’ care of business. Doesn’t explain how he’s so bruised, though.”
Footsteps came towards the back door and Jamie heard the sound of the handle being pushed down. He curled himself tighter into the blanket, pressed himself back against the bars. Wished that maybe he could turn back into a dog and escape. Get to Sam’s house. Push his nose into Sam’s hand until Sam worked out that it was Jamie and let him in. Or something, maybe it would work better if Jamie just pushed his nose into Sam’s hand and didn’t let Sam figure it out. That way, Sam wouldn’t try and set him on fire.
“Anyway, I figured you’d wanna see for yourself.”
The doors swung open and the daylight that flooded into the back of the van - God, had Jamie been in there all night? What time was it when he’d left home? It had been some time in the middle of the night, he’d just kind of wanted to get away for a little while. Town was safe, he often took walks out late. Usually he met up with Sam. The teenager cringed back further, squeezing his eyes shut instinctively to protect them from the sudden assault of light. It made his retinas burn. Shit.
“See? What’d I tell ya?”
To be completely honest Alec didn't have a whole lot of faith in the word of a newly reformed alcoholic who had a penchant for telling the big story, manipulating the truth, turning the truth on its head.
"So you picked up a dog but he turned into a kid," Alec repeated, giving the other man a dubious look. "Is that what you're telling me?"
When there was a responding nod he gestured to his deputy. "Get the breathalyzer, I wanna see what Daniel's levels are 'cause right now he sounds fucking crazy or drunk." Daniel protested but went along with the deputy leaving Alec to investigate the back of the van. It seemed really crazy to think that Daniel would pick up a stray that would overnight turn into a dog, it had to be a prank unless of course there was more to this than everybody else knew. Stranger things had happened, like a hurricane in Maine of all places.
Alec pulled his shades down as when he finally rounded on the back of the van sure enough there was a body underneath that blanket, a human body to be more exact. "You alright in there?"
Jamie nodded as he peeked over the edge of the blanket that he had wrapped around him. The cage was small, and cramped and uncomfortable. But he was alright. "Yeah, I- Mr Fox I-" He was embarrassed, humiliated. His arms hurt and his neck stung from where he'd been hit with the tranquilizer dart.
"Can you call my dad?" he asked, "I need- tell him I need some clothes because mine aren't- mine've disappeared." He wet his lower lip, blinking big brown eyes at Alec from inside the cage, "And can you let me outta here? I'm- It's cramped." And Jamie was over six foot tall. It was hurting to sit cramped like this for so long.
Behind them, Daniel was protesting. "He was a dog, I swear to God, he was a dog last night. I didn't put a kid in there, besides, he's huge! How would I have got him in there?" Daniel made a motion to the back of his neck, putting his finger and thumb about half an inch apart and looking at Alec in a meaningful way before tapping the base of his skull.
Well he'd be damned, it was the Jones kid.
Alec turned away to glance over his shoulder at Daniel. "Any reason you didn't think to open the cage? Clearly the kid's too big for it." He shook his head at Daniel's reasoning and just held up his hand, catching the keys his deputy threw his way. "Take Daniel to the station, would you? I want a full statement." The same would go for Jamie.
Alec rummaged through the keys and tried a couple until he found one that fitted the lock just right. " Let's focus on getting you outta that cage and down to the station first before I make the call to your dad. I don't think you want him seeing you like this."
This was going to be an interesting report to type up, it really was.
Jamie nodded, "I- yessir," he muttered, stepping out of the cage. His bare feet - bruised from the transformation - hit the tarmac of the road and he shivered. Maine was not a good place to be naked with nothing but a ratty blanket around you to keep the weather off. He wet his lower lip. His arms hurt, the muscles ached when he move, like he'd just run a million miles without stretching first. Without doing any kind of warm up.
He gave Alec a weak smile and shuffled a little closer, feeling the cricks in his back from being in such a crumpled position. He moved towards the car and pulled the blanket tighter around himself.
Alec watched Jamie for a moment before he turned away, returning to the truck to gather up a much bigger blanket for the kid that was apparently naked. "Here," he muttered as he offered the blanket. "This'll keep you warm until we can get you some clothes."
He had no idea how to explain this to Albert when he called him, but he was sure he'd figure out a way.
"I'm gonna take you down to the station, ask you a couple questions and call your folks. I'm sure they're gonna be worried about you if you didn't go home last night."
Jamie just shrugged, putting the other blanket around himself and then dropping the other one so that nothing of him other than his bruised shoulders and shins were exposed to the cool air. He probably looked like he'd been beaten with something. He hadn't, it was just the reaction to his bones shifting and twitching, turning into something else and then turning back.
"I- yeah, probably," he said quietly. "Can you not- I mean, can we miss the part where I have no clothes on?"
And with that, he slid into the back of the car and curled up against the back seat, knees against his chest. He wanted to get some clothes and go home, and work out whether or not he could find Sam. Maybe he could use this to help Sam.