"So, what are you?" A long silence followed, Regina looked around the living area, expectant of a reply from herself. Regina began pacing around until she stood in a more open space between the apartment door and the ragged couch.
"I'll show you," said the voice sharply, a sudden discomfort shuddered all over Regina's skin. Purple mass erupted from the pores of her skin and wrapped around her forearms, tightly encasing them in a living purple mass. The shock made Regina scream violently.
Tendrils dove into her gaping mouth muffling her for a moment. Regina couldn't breathe, she tried to gag a response, a plea for help, but it didn't come. She only mustered a low stifled moan. Her mouth and teeth warped as the creature added ferocious fangs to a gaping maw. Regina shut her eyes tightly, trying to hold back the pain and tears that began to well up.
'Someone, please, help me,' she begged silently in her mind.
"No one's going to help you!" said the malicious voice in her head. Regina tried hard to block out the voice, but it was useless. It was in her mind, in her body, everywhere. She was trapped by this beast's assault on her body. The mass weaved in and around Regina's skin like thread on a needle, puncturing her flesh, masking her beautiful body as it went.
Regina crashed to the floor as she vainly tugged at one of her forearms with the other, disgusting, purple hand.
"Off! Get off of me!" she managed to wail, stifled, through her new mouth. Pulling on the mass was like tearing her skin from the bone, the mass was tightly stuck to her skin, both warm and sticky. As a result, she was literally trying to shred her own skin. The creature was not pleased with this and sought to rectify it.
Suddenly, Regina's fingers elongated. More mass on her digits expanded to create terrible talons, sickling from the knuckles. Regina could no longer tear the purple flesh off now. Not only was it stuck to her, but clawing at her arms would surely do more damage.
Regardless, she tried anyway.
"I want you off!" The creature was amused. Regina's efforts fuelled the creature's desires even more through her acts of aggression and desperation. As she dug claws into the purple flesh, Regina could feel the pain spark. This was no longer an alien; it was a part of her. She was actually shredding her own skin now.
More of the purple mass expanded from her forearms and up her bicep, creeping underneath her loose shirt. Regina futilely tried to prevent the expansion by rubbing the mass off her purple arms. Everything she tried was useless now, but that didn't stop her terrified self. She wanted it off.
However, Regina still failed to understand that the purple skin was her own now. Each time she placed her hand on the mass to remove it was like rubbing her own naked skin.
Even though the mass had crept under Regina's shirt, some clumps latched onto the clothing. It was memorising the structure of the material, understanding how to replicate the molecules with its own genetics.
Once it was satisfied, the shirt seemed to disintegrate. The creature was absorbing the material in order to retain the knowledge it had acquired. Soon, Regina's shirt vanished completely, revealing the remainder of her bare body. Her arms were completely covered in purple, her mouth, jaw and neck also.
Strands webbed from her shoulders slowly down her naked chest and sharp threads speared her head, latching tightly to her ears and hair. Regina was exposed and absolutely terrified, she just wanted the ground to open up and swallow her.
In one final act of desperation, Regina staggered to her feet and stumbled towards the phone.
'Bryan, help me!' she thought. More of the mass crawled over her skin, covering her back and rear before tightening around her waist and hips. Regina reached out for the phone after her legs would move no more. Behind her lay a trail of tendrils. Each one, coming from her back, latched to the floorboards and walls behind her.
"Let me go!" Regina growled. The voice was not her own. But she didn't notice. The floorboards creaked as a new found strength almost tore them up from their foundations. Suddenly, the tendrils snapped from their anchors and Regina flew forwards, collapsing right on her chest.
The tendrils lay limp over her body as Regina coughed from wind. Rage built up inside, rage against this creature. The emotion excited the creature more. It savoured the host's negative emotions. All the anger, the uncertainty, the fear, it lapped it all up.
By now, Regina's lower body was wrapped in the creature's embrace. The last of her toes were covered. Regina looked down, disappointed somehow.
"Allow me," said the voice. And, just like her claws, her toes elongated like the talons of an eagle.
"Excellent," Regina concurred, surprisingly. Her mind must have given up and accepted fate. She realised that this creature couldn't be all that bad. Fear turned to intrigue. However, pain still remained, but Regina contained it as best as she humanly could.
The mass crawled down the remains of her torso and up her belly like a dozen spiders to meet. Her bare breasts were tightly encased and her cute belly was covered.
Finally, the world went dark as the last bulk clawed over her eyes, stinging her slightly. Soon her vision returned as a goggle like membrane emerged from the darkness, enlarging, bringing the world back into focus. Regina shook her head wildly like a lion adjusting its mane and released a relieved sigh.
"Much better," she sighed gleefully, still failing to notice her new voice. Now she didn't want to call Bryan. Regina was in awe at what she had become.
She gazed at her claws and ran them over her face. This was her new face. She could feel the slimy skin of the creature, her skin. She ran her hands over her head, feeling the clump of tendrils that had become her hair. She was interested in seeing how she looked. What warped being had the creature turned Regina into?
Back in her room a tall second hand mirror stood upright in the corner. Shards were missing and a few cracks splayed from the frame.
Regina gazed upon her reflection covered head to toe in skin tight purple. The mass ultimately had thickness to it, as Regina appeared slightly bulkier than she recalled. Tendrils sprouted from her head forming living 'hair' and more appeared behind her, flailing from her back.
"This is me," Regina paused a moment, "wait...my voice!" Finally, she realised the creature had warped her vocal cords, she now sounded exactly like the voice inside her head.
