The Disease
It starts with a fever. One day the child could be feeling perfectly normal, and then the next day he/she has a temperature of 103. The fever makes you dizzy and the dizziness causes headaches. As time passes the dizziness and headaches will become worse which in turn destroy the appetite. Because the fever is so high and the appetite is so low, the child will rapidly lose weight. At this point, the water in the system will begin to evaporate. You become dehydrated and so your throat feels parched and hot. At this point the paralysis sets in. The child will be unable to move and will lay there unable to sweat because the dehydration is extreme.
The child will more than likely be unable to comprehend any of their surroundings. All the family can do is keep the child's skin wet while he/she fights the change. 1 out of 100 children experience this change. IT occurs in replacement of puberty and 9 out of the 10 children don't last into the next stage of the sickness. Stage 2 is delirium. The paralysis will have went away and in its place will come hallucinations and violent behavior towards anyone who touches them. If the child has made it to Stage 2, it is advised that you leave them alone. At some point during Stage 2, the child will attempt to leave the house.
When this occurs, it is advised that you let them. At this point in Stage 2, the child is no longer a danger to society. The child will more than likely leave the city to go somewhere that has a large body of water. This is normal. The near death from dehydration triggers this behavior. At some point after the child has reached the water, they will hit Stage 3. Stage 3 is when the body tries to accept the change. During this phase 50% of children die. The cause of the disease is unknown, so all survivors need to be brought in for further research under quarantine. The name of the disease is Caetus Shriek. If your child survives Stage 1, then please report the child to your nearest police office so we can observe the child from a safe distance.
3 times a day. Just like clockwork. At 7am, 7pm, and noon the disease control ad interrupts all stations on tv, stops all radio broadcasts, and sends text messages on your phone. They wanted you to know about this disease. It's not like you could forget it though. Afterall, children die. Everyone was aware of how serious it was. Especially because the disease has been around for so long. They aren't any closer to figuring out the cause than when it was first discovered 100 years ago. Of course parents were worried, but no one was more worried than the prepubescent. Puberty can hit at any age before 16 and you wouldn't know if you were different until it was already too late. The only thing that could comfort you was growing hair in awkward places and your voice changing. Girls have that obvious change. You either have a satanic sacrifice in your nether regions or you die. The disease is pretty much a death sentence, so the older you get, and the more likely you are to start changing, the more on edge you feel. Riley had just turned 13 when she woke up with the fever.
And just like they advised, her parents kept her skin wet. The parents even tried to go as far as to force feed her. That was not recommended, but they didn't listen. So when Riley threw up everything it occurred to them that feeding her would just make things worse. So they kept her in a bathtub and watched as their little girl fought for her life. Weeks passes with no sign of Stage 2. Riley's once vibrant skin had sunken and turned brittle. Her lips became white and chapped. Her chocolate brown hair turned into the color of ashen mud. The crystal blue eyes that everyone adored to excess looked more like that of a dead fish's eyes. Riley was in so much pain. The scientists could describe the symptoms all day but nothing could describe the pain Riley was in at stage 1. The closest comparison would be to imagine lava coursing through your veins as every single part of your being fought a killer inside of you. When Riley successfully entered Stage 2, her parents immediately reported it to the police to put her under surveillance.
Riley's chances of survival just went up. Her parents waited. Everyone waited while Riley envisioned the ocean and swimming in it's cool waters. 2 months had passed since Riley first caught Caetus Shriek when she took her first steps towards the outside world.
Riley stumbled to the door in her delirium. She walked with shaky legs and bare feet down the street with slowly progressing confidence. Her stumble became a shuffle, which developed into a walk, and then into a run. Riley was suddenly moving with a burst of energy like she was at full health. Riley could feel the presence of water. The swishing liquid roared in her ears and she could almost feel its caresses on her body as she ran with everything she had. Only one thought was in her mind as she crossed the city. Water. She eventually hit the city park and discovered the man-made lake in its center. She jumped in and sunk to the bottom.
This is when she hit Stage 3. No one talks about it. The only people that know about it are those that work for the government. Riley was not prepared for Stage 3. Stage 3 was the change, and the pain was beyond comprehensible. It was like Riley's entire brain had decided to scream. All of the nerves in her body pinched into one taut muscle and she could feel her bones shifting. Riley was sure she was going to die, she couldn't swim to the top for air, every part of her was filled with shock waves of agony. Riley was quickly losing air and her vision was becoming fuzzy. Just when she was about to give up and just let it all go, Riley was suddenly able to breathe. She swam to the surface and emerged into the open air from the middle of the lake. Her entire body was sore and different. She felt amazing. She admired her newly changed form.
Riley's hands seems to extend into this half human half fin structure. In between the bones were webbing and long claws extended out of her finger tips. The same thing occured on her feet, and her previously ashen skin from sickness turned a sheet white like the underbelly of a great white shark. Her eyes were a foggy light grey with the slits of black reflecting the dark abyss of the ocean. The brown hair was completely gone, and with it replace a cobalt blue that blended in with the water at night. The gills on her neck were barely noticeable, unless she took in a deep breath of air which caused them to move. Her nose had dissolved into her head, leaving holes in replacement of a nose. The once omnivorous teeth inside of her mouth became razor sharp carnivorous shark teeth designed for tearing flesh. For some reason this new transformation didn't scare Riley. It felt like the most natural thing in the world.
Riley felt this creeping predatory instinct rise inside of her as she let out a war cry that reverberated throughout the park. Immediately after her scream, a boat pulled up. The boat was filled with people, with humans that wanted to capture her. Riley could sense this and attempted to swim away but it was too late. The nets enclosed around her. Riley squirmed, she fought with everything she had, she tried to wriggle free but it just made the net tangle more. She was dragged into the boat. Riley suddenly couldn't breathe. The air wasn't natural for her anymore. She needed water. The owners of the boat shined a bright light in her eyes.
"We have a Shrieker." The man with the light said.
They threw her in a tank filled with water and made their way to shore.
Riley was thrown into a large pool of salt water. There was a long sidewalk around the pool but other than that, the room was dark and empty. However, she could see as if the room was dimly lit. She felt the weight of a collar on her neck and touched it wondering what this was for. She tugged on it slightly but forgot about it and continued to survey her surrounding. She noticed an intercom in the corner and a nightvision camera but payed no mind to it until the horn turned on.
"Before you are allowed to interact with anyone you are to learn to change back into your human form."
Riley looked around confused, unsure of how to do that. Even so Riley didn't want to change back. She felt comfortable in this form. She felt like her entire life led up to the moment when she became what she was meant to be.
"You will need to learn how to transform on your own. The process starts with you wanting to learn how to change. It requires focus and determination. In order to insure you are motivated to change we will give you shock therapy. If you fail to transform in the next 10 minutes you will receive a high voltage shock of 16 milliamperes. After the voltage we will wait 1 hour before you receive your next shockwave. We will continue that cycle until you transform. The only time you will not receive shock therapy is during your 7 hour sleep time with which you will hear a high pitched noise until the very end. This noise is meant to keep your brain stimulated until you change back into your original form."
Riley didn't quite understand what he said. She didn't know what 16 milliamperes were and she didn't have the desire to change. For all Riley knew she could handle the pain. Afterall the transformation was probably worse than anything they could do to her, so she just went under water and waited.
When the shock came she felt it again. The pain was exactly like what her change was like. Her body went into a state of paralysis, she couldn't breathe, and for a few seconds it felt like her mind was consumed by agony as she felt herself begin to shut down. When the pain stopped she floated to the surface, unable to control her body.
"You have one hour." The intercom made a clicking noise and went off.
Riley didn't know how long she had been in that room. She stopped counting the shocks a long time ago. She tried to change. She really did, but it felt like her entire body rejected it. Her mind was ready, but her body was not. Sometimes she swore she could feel her fingers tingling and shifting but nothing would happen so she brushed it off as the effects of the electric volts coursing through her body. Sometimes Riley was ready to give up, but then she would get motivation in the form of the "therapy" they gave her. Sometimes she would focus so hard on becoming human, veins would pop out of her head. Unfortunately, it was always in vain and every now and again she would feel that mind numbing, brain melting, skin burning torture. It always ended with that same robotic male voice saying "You have one hour." Or "You have 7 hours of sleep." Sometimes Riley didn't even try to sleep. She would instead use that time to make herself normal. It was during this time she came the closest to changing. She saw it too. At first she focused so hard, and concentrated on making her hands retract but nothing happened. Riley sighed and looked at her hands with a defeated look. In that moment she stared at her hands and gave up. Truly gave up. She just let her mind wander and let her body take over her mind. Almost instinctively her hands changed. The moment Riley snapped back into reality to stare at her human hands, her normal webbed ones grew back. Riley knew then and there she could do this. She just needed to rest, so she wouldn't pass out before she finished. As she drifted into a deep slumber, Riley promised herself she would be human tomorrow.