A Rooted Reality [OSC story]

Chapter 3: Spikes

As I returned to Earth I felt drained of energy. I lied on the ground and as soon as I noticed I was back to normal I just kept laying there. I didn't want to get up as my body just felt weak.

"Oscar? Are you alright? What happened?" Noelle questioned in a worried tone.

Mr. Winn handed me his hand and dragged me to my feet. I leaned into a chair next to him and breathed in. I couldn't tell them I didn't like this, they would kick me out or think I'm ungrateful! I'll just explain what happened and maybe they will agree the machine is not ready.

"What did you see?" Mr. Winn asked with a serious face.

"It was exactly like earth, snowing there, I would suspect that the seasons are flipped.. not entirely sure. There was mountains, a forest, even a house." I said slowly catching my breathe.

"That's amazing! Did you get a chance to see what life forms are there?" Noelle said and started writing in a journal.

"..yes I did, there was a strange looking variation of a horse and well the thing that rode the animal was strange.. it almost seemed impossible, she was a lily pad but with limbs, mouth, and eyes! She spoke English too." I explained as I fidgeted with my shorts.

"That's interesting. Ah! If we could bring one of those creatures here and see-" Noelle started but I soon cut her off,

"You cant. At least I'm quite sure you can't, when I entered there it- it changed me.. I wasn't human, it was terrifying. Seeing a body I possessed that wasn't my own." I mumbled flatly.

"Interesting." Mr. Winn spoke up. "What did your form look like?" He asked intrigued.

"It was a cactus, a plant, just like the other creature. I thought I was going to be stuck like that." I spit out in fear.

"Hm. Noelle, could you go grab a cactus from the courtyard?" Mr. Winn stood up from the chair they were in and flipped a switch to turn off the machine.

I was distracting myself by fidgeting with my hands, I put them on top of each other and tapped trying to free my mind space.

I grabbed my journal from out of a small bag I brought in from the start of the day. I wrote down what happened till I heard the door reopen.

Noelle had teal gloves on holding a brown pot with a small cactus planted in it. A flower bloomed on the top of it.

"Thank you, Mrs. Johnson." Mr. Winn nodded and grabbed the plant. "Mr. Cecil, point on the cactus where your limbs connected too"

I jumped up in my seat and bit my limb nervously. "They were- Ow! I didn't see any spikes, what was that!" I yelped

"There is indeed no spikes." Mr. Winn stated and rubbed him hand over the cactus to demonstrate.

I then felt a sharp pain in my side. I fell to my knees and gripped where I felt the pain. I soon felt a throbbing pain in my head, I closed my eyes and screamed in pain. It hurt like hell, my body felt like it was on fire, the pain was unbearable.

"Oscar! What's wrong!?" Noelle shouted worried.

"Mrs. Johnson, please step back.." Mr. Winn mumbled and pulled her arm.

I couldn't tell what was happening, my vision was all blurry and my ears were ringing. All I felt was pain, what was happening.. I started weeping and then I blacked out.

—

"Is he ok?.." I heard Noelle say in the distance.

"It should be fine." Mr. Winn replied sternly.

I opened my eyes a bit, I was laying down. What happened? I couldn't recall anything since I got out of that portal..

I looked around and saw I was on a pillow of sorts, the room I was in was my apartment. They must've took me back. I groaned and noticed the two were sitting at the small area in front of my bed.

"Agh, what happened?" I mumbled.

The two got startled to see me awake. Everything seemed a bit bigger from my perspective. I rubbed my eyes hoping to fix my vision, but it was still the same.

"It's awake.. quite fascinating if I do say." Mr. Winn said and walked over to me.

Was he referring to me? Oh god, why does he look so much bigger- I couldn't notice from afar but the size difference is strange.

He reached out and grabbed my arm. I looked at my hand and I soon noticed I was in that cactus form. Am I really this small? I was about half the size of Mr. Winn.

He tugged my arm a bit "ow! Can you not pull on me.." I mumbled.

"I can do what with you, don't talk back." The man retorted and continued touching my other limbs.

When he said that I got a feeling of fear in my stomach. What does he mean? Just because I changed forms doesn't mean he can just treat me like some object.

Noelle stood in the back as she was shuffling her hands together nervously. She was scared of me.

Mr. Winn then grabbed the pot that was part of my body and held me up with ease. He looked around my body like I was some sort of lab rat. I was uncomfortable, I didn't want this. This day was supposed to be amazing! This is the opposite of what I expected.

"That other cactus must of triggered its transformation. I really wonder how it works.." he said to no one in particular, "ah, You can stay in this form for 3 days and I'll see how things work." He looked at me in the eyes.

I looked to the side and then back at him. "Yes sir." I whimpered.

He dropped me back on the bed and smiled. "This isn't something we normally do but to examine a creature alien to us is an amazing opportunity for us. Mrs. Johnson, you keep an eye on it." He said and walked out of the room shutting the door with a bang.

I started to look at my own body, my hands were almost paw like with a thin layer of fur on them almost like a cattle. My legs were shorter and were hard at the bottom like a deer but it had a 'human' look to it. My body was a blue pot while my head was a light green cactus. It felt strange yet didn't bother me at all. If anything I just felt tired.

Even though I just awoke from the blackout I experienced, my body still ached a bit.

"Are you ok?" Noelle finally spoke up in the silence.

"I- I don't know. This all is so.. not what I was expecting" I laughed.

She kept a straight face and nodded slowly.

I looked out the window from afar and saw it was late at night. I sighed and flopped down on the bed. "You can leave, I think I'll just sleep for right now.." I mumbled.

"Are you sure-?" She half asked, I expected me to answer but as soon as I looked up she was gone.

I stared up at the ceiling, at least it couldn't get any worse. Things will get better I bet! Maybe I'm thinking about this is wrong way. I can provide information about a creature we know nothing of. This can be good!

I soon shut my eyes and fell asleep soundly.