A small red blur was on my face, waving its blurry paws in front of me. "Hello, helloooo." A voice called. I blinked, but nothing was clearing up. I blinked some more, and then just kept my eyes on the red blur. Its tiny paw, holding something pink and clear, placed the tiny thing on my face. And then, I could see clearly. And then I knew why. I wear glasses. The red blur cleared up to be... a rat with black wings? "Ah, great you can see me now. Hey kid." The voice was coming from the winged rat, turns out. And even though I knew that I was gonna die soon, despite me being 18, I screeched. The winged rat held a look of surprise and uncomfortability, and I think he tried to calm me down. How do I know this was a guy? Because he tried to pacify me with a bracelet. Like how my brother did when we were younger and I got hurt. Those accidents were not his fault, yet he felt as if he had to comfort me. I resent myself for that. Anyway, after I calmed down, which took around ten minutes because I'm not that zen in my sleep, the rat told me about a cat who was named May. And that she was going to control my body for a day. I felt a bit uncomfortable about this at first, but when this rat told me that this 'May' would change my life for the better, I accepted the deal and went back to my dream place. My only other concern was if that cat the rat was talking about would accept being a fox for a day...
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May's POV
I woke up, with blurry eyes and a bushy tail. 'Out with the last one, then I can get my life back.' I thought as I put on my glasses. Wait. Glasses? It must be a part of the new vessel I'm controlling. Oh well. "Rise and shine, kiddo. Ready for your last day as someone else?" Imp chuckled. "Yeah, I guess," I responded with a smile.
Even if Imp annoyed me half the time during this crazy rollercoaster of an adventure to get my life back, I was sure gonna miss the guy. All the good times we had. But now wasn't the time to reminisce. "Alright, who're we helping today, Imp?" I asked the winged rat with enthusiasm. "This kid's name is Tanya. She lives in a family of eight, and is kinda like Ivy, except Tanya doesn't have the choice to leave." "So, she's trapped in a failing relationship?" "Sort of." "Imp. Tell me the truth." "Look in the mirror first, kiddo. You'll want to know what you look like before you continue." I did as he said, and immediately regretted it. "I'm a fox?!" I yelped out in surprise. "Yep! Fun, right? I thought you needed a bit of changing pace, so I got a fox!" "Imp, I swear to god what did you do?!" "Relax, kiddo. You'll be fine. You've dealt with abusive parents before, right? Right?" "I'll just look into her memories before you say any more, Imp." And so I did. 'Tanya has vivid memories, that's for sure.' I thought before continuing. The first memory I viewed, was six small foxes playing around in a field. Tanya was one of them. The six were all different colors, though some had common colors with others. Three, including Tanya, had glasses. Three did not. A larger fox started walking into the middle of the circle that the fox pups were creating, and he grabbed Tanya by the scruff. The other pups didn't notice, I guessed he was slimmering. He dragged her over to a secluded meadow surrounded by bushes, pinned her down, and started to... 'Oh, sh*t.' He did it, again, and again, throughout her memories was the same event over and over, and it was horrible. Then there were memories of clawing and beating, blood being spilled over the meadow. I stopped for a few seconds, trying to comprehend what just happened. And then I kept viewing. There were also happy memories, but they were only of Tanya's siblings and mother. No viewings of Tanya's memories of her father were happy. They were either abusing, neglecting, or r@ping. And all of them were very vivid. And then there was another memory. A happy one, too. It was one of the foxes from the earlier memory, giving Tanya what looked like a similar bracelet to what she was wearing now. Just as if on cue, there was a knock at the door. That same pink and white fox peeked in. "Hey, sis." A scruffy, but high-pitched voice barked. "Everyone's waiting for you. We're about to start breakfast." The pink and white fox smiled, and exhilaration seemed to flow through me. "I'll be right there, brother. Just have to finish up with something." The vessel seemed to answer for me. "Alright, I'll see you down." The fox closed the door, and footsteps told me he was heading downstairs. So, I finished up learning about Tanya, and headed downstairs. The rest of the family was at the table. Quartz, the mother. Nicholas, the father, and the one that Tanya is stuck in a relationship with. Elliott, that pink and white fox from earlier. Fleur and Charlotte, the opposite olders. And Rudy and Thomas, the twins with different colors. Rudy was humming a little song, tapping the table with her orange paws, until Thomas held his paw up. That caused Rudy to silence herself and raise her paw as well. The rest of the family, except for Nicholas, did the same. Nicholas was then staring at me in disgust as if he saw a bug on my face. So I raised my paw as well, even though it wasn't really my paw, and he stopped looking at me. Quartz said a few silent prayers, and then the family decided to cut into their breakfast. I pushed away from the breakfast that was offered to me until Elliott tapped my shoulder. "Eat up, sis. You're gonna need it for today. Dad's taking you out again. Lucky." He started to grumble unintelligible words, until Nicholas held up his paw. The rest of the family, even Quartz, did the same. And then, Nicholas threw away his breakfast. This ritual was not only creepy but also boring. I could sense that Tanya grew nervous, in the way her shoulders started to haunch. The poor thing, afraid of her own family. Like Rose, but more extreme. Plus, couldn't most of the vessels, if they were here, agree that Imp could've given me something easier? Like a mother with triplets and a dead husband? Oy. Anyway, after more eating and whatever the ritual was supposed to be, Fleur tapped me on my shoulder with an excited look. Nicholas was staring at me with a terrifying glare. Jeez, his yellow eyes are that powerful. He stood from his chair, and padded out of the room. I followed, seemingly because I was supposed to, and he opened a gray, wooden door that led to beautiful grasses and meadows. I almost forgot why I was out here, too busy admiring the view. Until Nicholas yanked my ear and huffed. "Come on, you runt. It's time for another session." He snarled, dragging me towards a shrubbed area.