Be careful what you read

I wandered through the seemingly endless maze of the colossal bookstore, looking for an interesting book. The store was holding a closing down sale, and I was hoping to pick up some cheap books.

I wandered seemingly aimlessly from shelf to shelf, hoping to find a nice book. Soon enough, a book with an interesting cover caught my attention. On the cover was the picture of a blue biped dragon looking out at the horizon from a cliff. The scene was rather cliché, but the picture itself was beautifully rendered, I reached over and picked it up.  Like the other books in the store, its price had been slashed to a fraction of the original value.

Interested, I read the synopsis.

"I used to be human. used to. Now, I'm a dragon, and this is my story, a day-by-day, scale-by-scale, account of how I went from human to dragon in a matter of weeks."

That was all there was to the synopsis. However, it did promise an interesting story. I bought the book, and went home.

Considering that I was rather fond of dragons, I showed discipline by finishing my schoolwork first, then reading the book.

-------------------------------------
Chapter 1 [excerpt,]:
I was a young college student when it all started. I had found an interesting book about a dragon in a random bookstore and jumped at the chance to buy it.
…
I spent the rest of the day reading it, and by the time I had finished, it was already night, so I went to bed. During that night, I had some rather strange dreams, but I dismissed them, as I have been known to have an overactive imagination. However, the dreams were no fantasy, as I soon realized. They were a precursor to what was to come.
…
The changes started the next day…. Very efficient creatures, these dragons.
-------------------------------------

I raced through the book, reading chapter after chapter, on how the main character slowly turned from a normal run-of-the-mill human into a dragon. It was very well written, and I was absorbed in the story, as if I was living every word. Soon enough, the clock chimed twelve. Midnight. I finished the last few pages, and went to bed, for there were lessons the next day.

----Day 1----

I woke up to find my neck itching for no reason at all. Assuming that it was an insect bite, I spent a good half hour scratching and poking at that recalcitrant itch to no avail. I ended up with a very red spot on my neck that still itched.  Knowing that any more attempts would probably result in the opening of a wound, and that I was due to go to school anyway, I gave up and slapped some soothing cream on it, then grabbed my school bag and left for school.

Other than the fact that the spot kept itching for the remainder of the day, everything was just business as usual.

Later that night, I tossed and turned in bed, that accursed itching refusing to go away. All I could do was to slap on a generous helping of the cream and attempt to go to sleep.

-------------------------------------
Chapter 2 [excerpt, part 1]
Later that night, in the wee hours of the morning, unknown to me, several changes occurred within my body, but there was no external change, except for one small detail.

Where the itch once was, there was now a scale. Blue and iridescent it was, and as tough as steel.

However, one good thing did come out of it, which was that the itch was now gone.
-------------------------------------

----Day 2----

I woke to find my pillow a sticky mess, no doubt because of the excessive amount of lotion that I had applied the night before. Some of it had even gotten into my already naturally messy hair, making it into gunk. I felt dirty, and proceeded to have a bath. As I scrubbed my neck, my arm went over something hard and smooth.  I froze. Could it be?

I quickly poked my head out of the shower and glanced at the mirror, the story hanging in my mind. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw a scab. Apparently I had scratched the itch in my sleep, and ended up opening a wound that must have had clotted. I berated myself for being such an idiot… It was just a story afterall…

I then went to school. However, I did feel strange the entire day. I couldn't quite put my finger on why…. I just felt…off…

At the end of the day, I calmbered into bed again, after pasting a plaster on the scab to prevent myself from reopening the wound the next day.

-------------------------------------
Chapter 2 [Excerpt, part 2]:
I spent the next few days just going about my normal business, assuming at that time that the scale was a growth of some sort.
…
During the next few days, there were more changes. Two bulges appeared on my back (Those developed into wings eventually), and a smaller bump just above my bum (That was the tail)… However, strangely enough, the number of scales remained constant…
…
However, the bumps were growing, and grow they did, to the point that baggy clothes could no longer hide them. The bump above my bum eventually did develop into a tail, but the two parallel bumps along my back just got bigger and bigger….
…
My mind was also slowly altering, and I began to view the world in a different light; the perspective of a dragon.
…
Considering that I now looked like the hunchback of norte dame, I took leave from school, pleading illness
-------------------------------------

----Day 3----

I woke up for school as usual, and took my usual morning bath. Having forgotten about the plaster, I left it there as I stumbled into the bathroom, still half-asleep.

As I bathed, the plaster's adhesive became waterlogged, and eventually fell off as I rinsed myself. It landed on my foot. As I toweled myself off, I picked it up, wanting to toss it into the bin, for letting it go into the drain with the water may lead to the drain getting clogged up.

As I walked out of the bathroom, tossing the plaster into the bin on the way out, I caught sight of myself in the mirror. On my neck, where the scab once was, there was now a scale. Blue and iridescent it was, and as tough as steel.

I made it a point to wear a collared shirt to school that day. Luckily for me, the collar was high enough to cover the scale, which remained unnoticed by my schoolmates…

As I changed into my sleeping clothes, I felt a slight itching on my back. I reached behind and scratched, to find two parallel bumps running some length down my back. I felt around below those bumps to find another one just above my bum…. Luckily for me, the bumps weren't that obvious. In fact, they were rather small…

It took no Einstein to find that current events were mirroring those of the story, and I found that highly disturbing….

-------------------------------------
Chapter 3 [excerpt]
Finally, one restless night, the three bumps started having this insane itching sensation. It felt like ants were crawling all along my back with feathers taped to their feet.

I resisted the temptation to scratch as long as I could, but alas, my control was overcome eventually. I found myself scratching lightly at first, then harder, and harder, up to the point that I had rolled off the bed, onto the ground, so hard such that I ripped the skin covering the bulges apart. That was when the pain stopped.
… …
Now there was no way I could go back to school...
-------------------------------------

----Day  8----

The bumps had grown to the point that going to school was no longer an option. Furthermore, one of the bumps had grown and developed into a tail, which was of course, ridiculously obvious and impossible to hide. My nails had also begun to get harder and longer, and for some reason, every time I trimmed them, they simply grew back to their previous length the next day… People had begun to ask questions. Questions that I didn't care to answer. Hence, I took study leave, saying that I had an illness, and I had a feeling that the truth wasn't that far off…

I had arranged for a good friend of mine to scan and email me any work or notes, to ensure that I wouldn't fall behind. The thought of seeking medical had occurred to me, however that thought had also led to me realizing that I would probably end up being experimented upon, and that I didn't want. Besides, humans weren't to be trusted…

----Day 9----
I woke up in the morning to a ridiculously strong itching sensation in my back. All I had to do was twitch, and it would get worse. I reached my threshold when I got out of bed. I reached behind and scratched like I never scratched before. I scratched till I fell forward, onto the floor, but I cared not. I just wanted to get rid of that accursed itching, even if it meant ripping my back apart….and rip my back apart I did.

I scratched to a point that my back burned, but the itch persisted. Eventually, the skin at the bulges split, and began to leak a sort of clear fluid. Soon, the bulges ripped apart, as I felt something pushing its way out from the inside.

From my back, out came a pair of wings. They were bat-like, with two talons at the main wing joint. The same fluid that had been leaking from my back dripped off the new appendages. Seemingly out of pure instinct, I unfurled them, and let them dry. They were a magnificent sight, and when fully unfurled, I could use them to touch both ends of my room. The membrane of the wings had a slight yellowish tinge…

-------------------------------------
Chapter 4 [excerpt]:
The days wore on as I stayed at my home. Alone. I didn't dare let anyome see me, and rightly so.
…
Over the next few days, the wings and tail continued growing, along with the rest of my body. I grew a little taller, and my slim frame acquired some muscles, making me look more intimidating. Also, the scales had begun to multiply and spread all over my body, which I could no longer recognize as my own anymore. My skin had also begun to change colour
…
-------------------------------------

----Day 14----
Present events had begun to follow the exact same sequence as those described in the book. I was indeed turning into a dragon. I had been growing, more in muscle mass than in height. I still stood at 1.73m, which was a modest enough height. Any taller, and I would be bumping into doorframes….

I had also begun to change colour, literally. My skin was acquiring a darkish blue hue in some places, while my chest, and the underside of my tail turned a mild yellow colour, matching the colour of my wing membranes, and stripes that were the same colour as my underside had also begun to appear on my arms and legs. There were six stripes on each arm, and five on each leg. My underside now looked as if someone had splashed it with yellow paint. Even my hair wasn't spared. My hair had turned blue, while yellow fur had begun to sprout on my tail, which was also slowly acquiring an arrowhead-shaped tail tip.

My head had begun to elongate, presumably into a muzzle, gradually beginning to dissolve my nose. A rich purple streak was also appearing behind my eye, looking as if someone took a paintbrush and swiped it across my face right there.

Three circles, arranged in a pyramidal pattern had also appeared on each of my thighs, of the same colour as the streak of my eye.

My four fingers had begun to fuse into three while my thumb remained. My five toes also began to slowly fuse into three, and my feet were shifting from a plantigrade stance to a digitigrade one.  My finger and toe nails were also slowly elongating into claws. They were shorter on my hands , and longer on my feet.

The scales had also been hard at work multiplying, and had already claimed my neck, shoulders, half my chest and most of my arms.

It wouldn't be long now…..

-------------------------------------
Chapter 5 [excerpt]:
Within the next few days, I watched as the last of my humanity melted away…
-------------------------------------

----Day 20----
The changes had slowed, indicating that the changes were almost complete. My face had elongated into a draconic muzzle, but strangely enough, I still had molars, indicating that I was still an omnivore. The scales had all but covered my entire body, with only a few nooks and crannies left un-covered. My tail was now a very flexible and useful appendage, and I somehow knew that it would be essential for flying… My wings had grown large enough to fly, and I had begun to develop some new instincts, including a seemingly infallible sense of direction. My senses had also increased in acuteness.

As a side note, it was also getting harder and harder to think like a human, and frankly, I couldn't understand why I even bothered…

----Day 21----
I woke to find myself in my bedroom. It was sadly inadequate for one of my kind, and I knew that my changes were complete.

It was time to leave.

-------------------------------------
Chapter 5 [excerpt, Final paragraph]:

I stood on the roof, looking down on the human city. I was now a fully formed dragon. Needless to say, I needed to leave this place. Although I do adore company, human company is something I will pass on. I spread my wings, and flew, leaving behind my old human life, and beginning a new one…

[Publisher's note: The manuscripts were found in a flat belonging to a missing person, along with a note requesting for the story to be published. The manuscripts were sent to this publisher by the person's relatives, and were put into print. All proceedings from the sale of this book will be channeled to funding the search for this person.]
-------------------------------------