One can only imagine, what horrible things can an animal go through, to survive. Does it feel any fear? Anxiety? Thinking about their loved ones, especially near the dire end? Those questions are often left unanswered, although there was a chance to at least try.

Misty, a rather petite-sized young girl moved around the abandoned zoo grounds, which once was filled with many kinds of friendly critters and other ferals, having safe life in the enclosure, although probably not as happy as in the freedom. She often asked herself, if it was better to live longer in a golden cage or have a short life in the wild. Always wanting to be close to animals, Misty had many more questions about their existence.

She walked through the overgrown path filled with tall grass since nobody was caring about the well-being of this place, but at the same time happily took money for renting this place out for any reason the people see fit. While Misty had no idea why anyone else would need this place besides demolishing it and building a parking lot in its place, she was only interested in a single exhibit.

Fox enclosure.

Her heart filled with sadness, seeing empty cages and a rather small habitat, not large enough for a single fox. Misty sighed, feeling their pain, even if none were there anymore. With an old key provided by the owners, she opened the gate and stepped inside the enclosure, violently shuddering once her foot get past the fence. A sudden chill went down her spine.

She looked around, but the sight of all those empty pens only made her more upset, not being able to ‘talk’ with any of the previous habitants. But she already knew it wasn’t possible, that’s why she came here well prepared. Misty took off her necklace, right before opening it to reveal a perfectly spherical-shaped amber. She had second thoughts about its supposed powers, but if it worked, she would have her answers. Or perhaps it was all metaphorical.

The short girl picked up the gem, holding it tight in her hands with her eyes closed shut, focusing deeply on all the animals that were previously roaming in this enclosure. While the amber was getting strangely warmer with each passing second, almost melting in her palm, she eventually had a glimpse of a vision. Barely there, but Misty was on the right path.

In her mind, she watched several young foxes, jumping and running around within the premises, happy and playful. Although whenever they approached a fence or tried to interact with a human, they felt confusion and sadness. A single tear trailed down her cheek, understanding their pain.

The gem burned into her palm, but she barely felt any pain, deeply focused on a plethora of different images filling her mind, making her feel small under all of these feelings. But when she eventually opened her eyes, it wasn’t only in a metaphorical sense. She was getting smaller, period!

Misty gasped, looking at her hands. The gem was gone, but her fingers were getting visibly shorter, curling into a fist that slowly become a paw, although completely bare of any fur. Her usually short, dark hair grew much thicker and longer, going towards her back like an unstoppable wave, getting heavier and heavier, eventually sticking into her skin. The hair itself turned ginger, quickly covering the rest of her body. Unable to stand on her twisted legs, Misty dropped to all fours, panicking.

She tried to call for help, but instead of her voice, only a peculiar lip escaped her maw. Misty couldn’t see her reflection, but looking at her paws and moving her newfound tail made her sure that the transformation was complete. No one told her that it was supposed to happen, treating everything said to her as metaphorical mumble-jumble. Not… this.

Misty had no other choice but to find herself in this new, difficult situation. She could clearly hear voices of the past, see shadows of the foxes, run around the habitat, or simply lie down in boredom. But there was one male different than the others, which acted suspiciously. As if it was deadly ill.

With eyes of her imagination, she watched that fox, walking around in apathy with a lack of will to play with others. He often slumped over his legs like he was intoxicated before something was dripping out of his mouth. Misty focus deeply on that image, finally noticing something that made her shudder.

Foam.

Right afterward, the vision disappeared into thin air, leaving nothing but a closed and empty habitat. Her new ‘home’ for time being. Although she did all of this willingly, Misty still felt entrapped with nowhere to escape, left to blame none other but herself, filled with unfamiliar emotions of foxes from the past. She let out another, sad yip, upset that animals had to go through such a life.

Misty licked her lips, feeling dehydrated, looking around for anything to drink. After finding a dirty old bowl, she found it filled with rain water, quite surprised at such a convenience. Getting thirsty, the vixen didn’t want to make a fuss about it, quickly extending her broad tongue to lap the water out like a dog. But the more she successfully drank, the more made her parched.

After leaving the empty bowl, Misty felt awful inflammation in her organs, making her sweat profusely through her toes. Unable to find anything else to drink, she prayed for the transformation to finally end, turning her back into a human. But nothing worked and the gemstone was long gone, leaving Misty hopeless, not having enough water to shed a tear about her pathetic existence.

She tried to walk around, suddenly finding clear difficulties to move her left hindleg like it was paralyzed. Misty limped, while the chilling sensation traveled through her lower body, engulfing it with numbing cold. But Misty didn’t want to just lie around and idly wait, twiddling her thumbs around, if she still had them.

Hoping that it was just a temporal inconvenience, Misty kept walking, or rather trying to, thinking about the sick fox she met in her visions, and how he had to suffer without deserving such pain. It made her understand it more, at expense of her well-being and perhaps life itself as well. But even after all these awful things happening to her, she still was full of empathy towards that unnamed fox.

Her condition worsened visibly, acting like she drank a whole bottle of strong spirits, often falling on the ground after barely making a few steps forward. Misty staggered, looking drunk even if no alcohol could be found flowing through her veins. The vixen wheezed loudly, smacking her lips and silently begging for a single drop of cold water, knowing well it will not quench her thirst.

After a few long minutes of limping, Misty finally realized she walked in a circle, unaware of her close surrounding, trapped in her mind like she tried to escape from the invisible fog that only existed in her confused mind. She eventually stopped, looking at her new, vixen body. She didn’t even have time or will to admire its beauty, the adorably shaped toes, and a fantastic, fluffy tail.

That tail…

She showed her fangs, staring at the fluff protruding from her backside, waving from side to side in an intimidating way. Her tail mocked her with just its existence, laughing at her silently. Misty growled, trying to warn it before an attack, forcing it to stop this nonsense. But the moving body part didn’t listen to her threats, keeping to mock her, sweeping the ground around them.

Fed up with this, Misty finally attacked, her razor-sharp fangs cutting through the air with an audible snap, catching the insolent body part in her grasp. A whole set of teeth sank deep into the fur, hitting the flesh beneath while drawing several drops of blood. The pain she felt was nothing compared to the absolute hatred she deeply felt towards it.

The tail stopped moving, making Misty look for another target. Feeling a sudden itch in her right front paw, made her look towards it, growling deeply once more, like her leg was silently challenging her. Not holding punches, Misty hissed right before the city, closing her maw right above the paw, forcing more of the crimson fluid slowly flow onto the ground, painting it red.

It didn’t make her even partially satisfied, yapping loudly at the fence afterward like the whole enclosure around her was a villain, responsible for all the pain and evil of her world. In her mind, she heard the laughter of human children and saw aggressive flashes coming from the cameras. And felt their ignorance toward animals suffer.

Vixen gnawed at the fence, her teeth barely grazing along the cold metal, only leaving an awful aftertaste in her mouth. But while she still felt dehydrated, her mouth suddenly felt strangely moist, when an unfamiliar substance gathered inside her. And it wasn’t her saliva. After looking down at the sound of peculiar splashing, she saw heavy drops of foam, dripping next to her paw.

She was too tired to feel any anger anymore, simply lying down on the ground in complete defeat and total apathy toward her fate. Once incredibly aggressive mere seconds ago, now was unnaturally tame, like the incoming death was the only way out. Misty welcomed it with open arms, saying farewell to all the foxes of the past she sadly couldn’t meet.

The vixen curled into a ball with eyes closed, in her mind seeing all those ginger-colored friends, happy to see her. She hummed to herself, sounding strangely human for an animal, singing a lullaby to herself, while the inflaming sensation slowly went away, taken by the numbness. The chilling sensation was no more as well. Only silence.

Misty finally opened her eyes with a sudden gasp for air. She looked forward, not seeing her paw anymore but a pale-colored hand with all of her fingers unscathed, although quite cold and slightly numb. She couldn’t believe what she went through, wondering if it was just a nightmare and she simply passed out for no apparent reason.

The girl stood up, seeing something flickering in the grass. After picking it up, it was nothing else but an empty necklace without the organic gemstone in it. The visions were gone and she couldn’t feel anything else besides thirst like foxes of the past didn’t ever exist in the first place. Feeling empty inside, she had no other choice but to leave this place, treating the previous encounter like a crazy dream. With a violently shaking hand, she tried to open the gate, realizing how difficult that simple task was. Even walking on her trembling legs felt almost impossible.

Outside of the enclosure, she dropped on all fours, trying to say something but only an unnatural hiss escaped her lips. Still a human, in her mind she felt like a vixen again, the previous trauma returning to her like a hit of a sledgehammer. But with one, important exception. ‘Vixen’ girl was now free.

She crawled towards the woods, completely ignoring the moisture coming out of her mouth, forming into foam, dripping along her way.