The NightTime Show

2. Mousetrap

TW: animal abuse? Death of an animal? Lab imagery, descriptions of pain, use of the word rat to describe main character

Gasping Awake, Malory looked around.
She had just fallen asleep in school due to Mr. Danes' monotone lecture about plants.

Walls of stone stood around her, boxing her in. Two buttons sat in front of her, one red one blue. The cold stone floor kissed the palms of her hands.. and feet?

Confusion swept over her, why did she wake up here? Where are her shoes?

Standing up to check her body for injuries, Malory froze.

She was covered in white fur. Her hands were pale pink instead of caramel and were missing a finger, her feet were long and hand-like and were the same shade of pale pink.

A long and almost scaly tail stretched out behind her.

It was hard to get oxygen into her lungs. It felt like trying to breathe under the ocean.

Somewhere far off she heard a shrill scream.

A cheerful voice echoed from somewhere in the room.
"Please pick one button."

Hyperventilating, Malory prayed they could hear her.
"HELP ME! I DON'T KNOW WHATS HAPPENING TO ME!" She tried to scream
All that came out was a drawn-out line of squeaks.

"Please pick one button." The voice repeated

Malory tried to even out her breathing as she walked on two legs towards the red button, pressing it.

A rumble filled the chamber as a wall was lifted up to reveal an identical room on the other side.

"Thank you for choosing to participate." The voice sounded like it was smiling.

Malory walked to the next room with caution.
Once on the other side, the wall came back down.

Another set of buttons awaited.

'What the hell is happening?!' she thought to herself.

"Please press one button."

Red and Blue, just like the buttons before.

Malory placed her hand on blue, it made a slight clicking sound.

Pain ripped through her body, making her scream, or rather squeal.

'Did it just shock me?' She thought, holding her raw feeling hand.

"Please pick one button."

Malory tentatively placed a hand on the red button.

Once again, a wall lifted up to another room. But it wasn't identical.
The floor was a black mat, and there weren't any buttons

The minute Malory put a foot on the mat an electrical current ran up her body, pain spiderwebbing out inside her.

She tripped over herself as she tried to scramble away.

"Rats walk on all fours."

"WHAT KIND OF SICK JOKE IS THIS?!" Only chitters and squeaks came out of Malory's mouth.

"Rats walk on all fours."

"IM A FUCKING HUMAN!" She squeaked.

"Rats walk on all fours."

"IM NOT A RAT!"

The wall from the previous room began to slide forward quickly, pushing Malory onto the mat.

Another electrical shock passed through her body but it stopped when she gave into the demand from the voice and stood on all fours.

The next room opened up.

Malory skittered into it.
The buttons didn't have a color, they just said "a human" and "a rat"

"What are you?"

"IM A HUMAN YOU PSYCHOPATHS!" She scampered over and slammed her paw on the button.

The shock was more painful this time.
Malory swore she could feel her heart stop for a half second.

'I don't think I can survive another shock.'
With defeat she pressed the other button.

Malory was cautious when entering the next room.
Another rat was sitting behind a plate of glass, eating a brown pellet.

"You can save your kin and sacrifice yourself or sacrifice your kin and save yourself."

'I'm not going to leave an innocent animal to die! I don't want to die either!'

"Failure to choose will result in death."

'What if they're another human turned into a rat?'

"Five."

'What if it's just a test?!'

"Four."

'This has to be a test!"

"Three."

'I don't want to be responsible for another creature's death!'

"Two."

'Wake up Malory, WAKE UP.'

"One."

The ceiling opened up and a hand descended, picking Malory up in a steady grip.

The lights above burned her eyes as she was placed on a table.

'This is just a dream. I'll wake up soon.' She comforted herself even as a cold needle pricked her neck and she felt her brain going dark.

"Subject 35 terminated."

Originally written by AngelicJack in 2020 on Skinseed.
Posted on Wattpad 6/28/2022
Do not repost without explicit permission.