• Rain pounded on the windows, the curtains drawn so he wouldn’t have to see the violent flashes of lightning that streaked across the sky. It was late at night and shadows from the candles flickered like the warm little flames across the frayed carpet. A man in an expensive suit sat in a dark corner, hugging his knees and rocking himself a few feet away from an unused hotel bed. His eyes were brimmed with tears and his forehead rested against the wall, his back to a room containing a pair of aging armchairs and a broken table missing a leg. He whispered a mix of sobbing prayers to a god he had never before acknowledged and pitiful complaints about things he should’ve done but never did.

    “I’m sorry, god, I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have ignored them all their life, like I ignored you. You’re a good god, a great god! Please don’t let me die, please!! I don’t wanna die, I don’t deserve to die! I’ll give them all my money. Yes! All of it, that’s right. I’ll be the father I should’ve been, I’ll…….”

    His pathetic whining droned on as someone stepped silently out from behind the corner, a sizzling fire poker being carried behind their back. The man’s bawling masked the sound as the person approached from behind. They were careful where they stepped, but a creak in the fragile floor still revealed their presence and the tear-streaked face of the man spun around with a horrified look.

    “Oh…” the man in the corner said in relief “I thought you were someone else. I’m so glad it was you and not who I was expecting though. Listen, can I use your phone? I need to make an urgent call. I’ve never been so glad to see you in my life!”

    “Nor have I to see you.” The person said calmly with a smile. Ignoring his hand, they reached behind their back as if to pull out a phone but instead exposed the poker.

    The man in the corner gasped, retracting his hand, and immediately his chubby face began to shrink. His flat lips and round cheeks rapidly transformed into a little pink nose with springy whiskers jutting from the sides. His hair smoothed and slicked back, darkening until it was the same color as the black carpet then enveloping his entire body. His ears became small and circular as he took on the form of a frightened guinea pig and made a run for it.

    He scurried about the room, squeaking with fright as his tiny feet pattered against the floor. Because of his new size and color he was fast and hard to see. He went through the legs of his attacker and hid. The intruder jumped around and looked for movement; an ear twitched in a shadow.

    With a quick jab, the poker pierced the petrified, miniscule body and the person laughed sinisterly. The process went in reverse as he quickly became human again, his eyes rolled into the back of his head in fear and pain. He started to thrash and the poker was driven deeper into his chest each time he did so, making the wound larger and the man moan a bit louder. Eventually he stopped convulsing and the killer pulled the weapon from the man, the poker still hot and spotless since he didn’t bleed.

    Taking a step back, a silent, mental battle cry burst forth and the searing metal was thrust in between the man’s eyes. For a second nothing happened and the person thought that it hadn’t worked, that they had been misinformed. But then the man’s skin burst into flames and within seconds it charred and peeled from his body to reveal a fresh layer of skin. This layer also was engulfed and more skin was revealed. The process continued, though the man didn’t seem to lose any body mass, and each section burned then exposed a new section. Finally a sheet of glowing scaly green skin was uncovered and the flames were abruptly quenched.

    All the candles in the room suddenly extinguished, leaving only the florescent skin to light it. The skin slowly began to dull and then evaporate, leaving only a dark room and a dead, unburned man with a hole in his torso. Without regret, the killer walked away, swinging the poker dangerously and crazily laughing to themselves, knowing that the police would only see the man as human and not what he really was, a shapeshifter.