Reptile - Janus Angst

Chapter Two

Janus trudged back down the corridor to the darker part of Thomas' mind where his room resided. After five hours of recording, he was worn out and ready to sleep for a bit before Patton would come knocking on his door, inviting him to join the others for lunch as he had been for the last two weeks.

Janus opened his door and stepped inside. He let a quiet sigh of relief escape him as he looked around his room at the gently drifting constellations behind the glass of his floor and ceiling.

Sometimes, he thought, there are advantages to being a fragment of someone's imagination.

He took off his shoes, hat and gloves. He put his hat and gloves on the desk and tucked his shoes under the bed before collapsing on it. He looked up, eyeing the Aquarius constellation as it gently floated past the Capricorn one. After a moment or so of this, Janus drifted into a light sleep.

Knock, knock.

Janus was pulled from his slumber by a light tapping on his door. He opened his eyes and let them drift towards the sound.

"Janus, kiddo," came Patton's voice from the other side. "It's lunch time ok? You coming?"

Janus slowly sat up then was suddenly hit by a wave of goosebumps as the temperature around him seemed to significantly drop.

What in the name of-

He rubbed his arms quickly, trying his best to keep his body from getting any colder.

"Janus?" came Patton's voice again.

Janus' head snapped up towards the door.

"I'll be down in a minute, Patton," he called.

He heard the sound of footsteps moving away from his door. As soon as they were gone, he got down from the bed and kneeled next to the fireplace. He got a flame going and immediately felt better as the heat hit him.

He sat there longer than the minute he'd told Patton. With a sigh he got up and went over to his desk to put his hat and gloves back on.

The second he stepped away from the fire, the cold was back. It was bitter and stabbed at his skin through his clothes like a blade as he pulled on his gloves.

"Ignore it," he told himself. "It's not particularly warm today anyway. It's probably just-"

He stopped and stared at his hand. There was something sitting in his palm, shiny and green. It looked like a scale.

Wait.

He sat down at his desk and checked himself in the mirror. On the left side of his face, scales were falling off.

Confused and, admittedly, panicking a little, Janus gingerly placed his gloved fingers on his face. A larger clump of scales peeled off as he did so.

"Agh!"

He winced and quickly moved his hand away. It... hurt? What was happening?

He thought about it as scales continued to come off. Then it clicked.

"Am I shedding?" he asked no one. "I can shed?"

He got up from the desk and leaned against it. He ran a hand through his hair as he tried to come to some logical conclusion.

Why in the world would Thomas give me the ability to shed? What other bullshit can I do? And-

"Agh!"

He'd touched his scales again, causing another clump to peel off and causing another surge of pain to run all over the left side of his face.

"And why does it hurt so damn much?!" he shouted, letting his frustration and confusion get the better of him.