I woke up that morning feeling like any other that break. I looked at the wall clock in my bedroom, ‘Dumbass It’s broken’ I thought to myself. I leaned over and grabbed my phone. It was 7:30. That was early for me.

I couldn’t believe I’d woken up and was trying to figure out why when I looked down at my arm. Instead of the lightly tanned Caucasian skin I was accustomed to seeing, there was greyish brown fur running up the length of my right forearm. I looked at my left, nothing. I was about to go back to sleep when I was forced into a ball by immense pain in my back. “Holy Fuck!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. Whatever it was, the pain emanated from only two regions on my back. The pain was almost mind-numbing, but I was still able to feel the strangest feeling I’ve ever felt. From those two regions, it felt like something was pushing out from my body, trying to escape. The pain felt like the same brand as when someone gives you an Indian rug burn, like my skin was being stretched to breaking point. Then utter relief as the tension in the skin on my back was gone. There was still a strange tingling feeling back there, but I thought nothing of it.

I uncurled out of the ball and again looked at my forearms. My left had sprouted fur and my right arm was furred up past the sleeve of my t-shirt. Speaking of the t-shirt, it was pulled taut against the front of my body. I started itching all over. I had a feeling it was the fur. I was almost to point of tears from the residual pain from my back, which still was tingling and felt like the points were continuing to grow out stretching the fabric of my t-shirt further. It finally ripped open.

Then, as I was putting my feet on the floor to actually try and get ready for the day, my face started changing. A huge amount of pain started emanating from around my mouth and nose as the bones broke and reformed into that of a wolf’s muzzle. I looked down at the protrusion and thought, ‘Is this really happening?’ Just then my ears started to morph, along with the rest of my head started to change its shape. The pain I felt was indescribably fierce, worse than the pain I had felt when I had broken my left forearm in the fifth grade.

I was about to scream again when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to look at the one who had tried to gain my attention. I looked and there was a blonde-furred wolf with golden eagle wings looking at me, my mother. She looked at me with tender eyes, obviously knowing the pain I was going through. “Everything’s going to be okay, Nick! Dad and I completed our change an hour ago. Chris just called and said that he and Mark changed as well. Same story I’m hearing from everywhere.” She said, trying to comfort me. My skull stopped its change and I could hear better and smell better than in any other day of my life.

I thought I was done, but then I remembered that wolves had tails. ‘Fuck!’ I thought, ‘more pain.’ Then my mom gave me a look and I knew, even if I was in pain, I wasn’t alone in this. My change wouldn’t happen, while I was alone. I relaxed, apparently, that’s all my tail bone needed to mutate into that of a wolf. The feeling was strange. I had no pain. Instead it almost tickled. The feeling went away quickly. I smiled at my mom. She smiled back. “Morning, Mom.” I said.

I took off my shirt and looked down the fur had gone on to cover my entire torso and my legs. My hands and feet had changed as well, becoming more lupine in appearance as well as my fingernails turning into claws. I couldn’t believe it, I was completely changed into a wolf. I looked back and behind me were two giant wings, as black as the wings on the bald eagle. I looked at my mom again, “Come and eat breakfast, wum orimaya.” She said, and somehow, without ever hearing the language which she spoke, I understood that meant ‘my son.’ I grabbed my phone and looked on twitter, everyone was changing it appeared. No one could explain why this was happening. I just stared. Why this had happened didn’t matter to me. I finally felt fully myself and pleased with who I was. I went over to my closet and grabbed my cocktail pants and walked downstairs happy as could be.

“Wum orimaya, gye manai,” My father said to me as I walked in to the room understanding the greeting as good morning. His fur was black as night except for around his face, which had the appearance of being greyed out, not to different from the way our dog’s face appeared before she was put down. I looked at his feet and there was Sadie, our newer dog, panting and looking as happy as ever. My mom spoke to her, but not in English or that strange tongue that they’d addressed me in, but something akin to barks and growls, I understood something like, “Go say hi to Nick.”

Sadie ran up and barked “Good morning sleepy head.” She looked up at me and smiled.

“Shall we eat?” I asked and sat down at the table, my head still sore from the change.

My parents agreed and served me breakfast on a new day. My father turned on the news to see what had happened. News reports were talking about death tolls and numbers of humans left as well as the effects of what all the stations were calling ‘The Event.’ Apparently, not only had we been changed into furries and scalies, but there were new people who hadn’t existed before and companies that hadn’t existed before, mostly on the west coast. It appeared that something stranger than just a world-wide mass transformation had taken place, apparently multiple different realities had collided with this one. That’s when I heard about Koopa Suites and Bowser Koopa and his family.

I knew this would be an interesting change and interesting to see how it changed our lives. “Well this’ll change a lot of stuff.” I said.

“Let’s hope not too much” my mom responded.

“We’ll see…” Said my father.