Crimson Red-A TomTord Fanfic

I Am Not a Monster

Chapter 1

***********

Tom's POV  

I wake up to the sunlight cradling me in its warm arms, as I attempt to pick myself up from the floor with my boney limbs. I buckle and fall into a puddle of my own filth. Purple and red mixing together on the pavement, sticky, covering my arms, which are slashed in cuts, followed by dark bruises of various shades.

I feel along my body, looking for scales, fur, anything that might be left over from last night's craze.

I try to get up again, but I fall once more into the quicksand-like substance that covers my body. My hoodie is still ripped, my hair matted with blood. A memory makes its way into my mind as my non-existent eyes struggle against the light of the sun, which peaks over a tall building to my left, partially shading the alley I reside in. 

Flaaaa-shhhh-baaaackkkk

I don't remember exactly what triggered it. A warm, burning sensation that ripped through my back and boiled my veins, an identical pain seizing my brain. From my pale flesh emerged a thick purple tail. Ears unfurled from my hair which was slick with product, one on the left, the other on the right.

Horns framed my head and a lump caught in my throat as I acknowledged the familiarity of this situation. I had been here before, had cursed myself for it. I had almost killed myself then. All because of wretched Tord. That punk. He'd nearly killed all of us. All for what? So he could take over the world?

A dark, iridescent sheen spread across my face and I clawed at the covering, hands covered in muck, my muck. Oozing out of me. Puddling beneath me.

My arms bulged out of my blue hoodie, thick hair sprouting up my arms and disappearing below the ripped cloth now sitting on either of my shoulders. A crimson red tinted the frayed cloth, but I had no clue as to where it must have come from. 

I was all alone, becoming a creature I had had nightmares about. A creature I'd dreamed about-or at least hoped I'd only dreamed about. This madness only confirmed my speculation was wrong. I found myself standing up, slightly hunched over as my limbs bulged and my face become something resembling a sea monster's. Fangs dropped from my gums and stuck out of my mouth, dripping goo.

What am I? Why is this happening? What have I done?  I asked myself, dazed.

I looked around the alleyway...

A conveniently-placed bottle shimmered nearby, and as the last details of the creature I was set into place and a purple storm overtook my frail body, transforming it as it crept up my blue garment and to my heart, I  picked up the empty glass and stared into it, wishing quickly that I hadn't.

A distorted image of my even more distorted face played out on the reflective bottle and I let out a scream.

I'm a monster

I clawed at myself, literally, as I had long talons poking out from my large hands and feet, and collapsed on the ground. I crushed the glass bottle between my claws and it shattered, a soft tinkling sound ensuing; shards sliced at my hairy palms but I didn't feel anything. All my pain was internal.

"The Tomster is back," I growled, but it wasn't me speaking. The voice that filled the alleyway and echoed off the cold brick walls was something otherworldly, unlike anything that had ever left my fang-filled mouth. It was his. 

I tried to reach back and grab my hood, pulling it over the horns that had grown from my head, trying to hide the monster I'd become, but before I could pull it all the way over to shield my forehead, a ripping sound indicated the garment was too small. 

Power ran through my limbs and I thought I could conquer anything, absolutely anything that came for me. My anger burned for Tord, that Red Leader who'd ruined my life. So, nostrils flaring, I got to my oversized feet, feeling nothing like myself, and began sniffing him out, not before a pain attacked my heart and I fell to my knees, screeching in pain.

***********