Chapter 1 - Changed

"Open your eyes, little one. I'm here..."

Mom? No, mom never used words like that. The voice evoked dulcet dreams of what mothers were supposed to be. It lulled me to do just what it asked. How hard would it be to just open my eyes? 

In the fragments of my thoughts, I expected to find myself in the ER with a nurse hovering over me with sweet words and calm explanations. If I were more optimistic, maybe Valerie had come to check on me. But, when the dim light met me, alien, soul-curdling horror surrounded me.

I was in a cave full of foul, inescapable odors. Enormous terrors scurried in all directions on more than four legs. They surrounded me. While I tried to hold my breath, the way I breathed made no sense. My mouth was shut and yet air still seeped in through what felt like my pores. Looking down with unprepared eyes, I saw...I saw...

Legs, my legs. So many of them. Ridges, the banded ridges of my underbelly in grotesque segments flexing and settling like squishy armor. On my back, like moist paper drying in the sun, I felt a meager shield. It cupped me like a smooth, sleek swath of paper mache, still drenched with glue.

"MOMMA!" I screamed with words and a voice that were not mine. The looming, largest one rushed over and that face of horrors intoned, "Yes, my dear, whatever is the matter? Are you hungry? I don't have much."

Before I could process its words, its questions, or anything else in this cesspool of nightmares, the creature's mouth undulated and a milky, translucent goo pressed right into my face. My first reaction was to gag and flail but, for all the suffocating, terrifying scents, the substance felt familiar. 

It tasted just like cow's milk. No, it was sweeter. Greedily, I gobbled up every last drop, My mind rebelled as my stomach begged for more. But that tiny mote, that alluring drop, was all it gave me. 

"Rest now, little one, my precious Grete. Everything is alright."

I had no clue what 'Grete' meant or why it called me that. Closing my eyes felt like an invitation to be consumed by creatures even worse than the ones that swarmed and scurried and surrounded me. Still, the touch of that beast felt so gentle, and the aroma of the milk soothed me deep inside. I could imagine its strange limbs were silken, motherly arms and that its face was a warm, welcoming smile. Everything else, all the strangeness, didn't matter. She loved me and that was all I needed. 

In a space without dreams, I slept.