Dreams 2
A Winds of Change story

by: Lance Holloway


	I wasn't sure which hurt worse.  Ross's teeth marks in my tail, or
the fact that I had a tail to begin with.  I had accepted being a
stegosaurus morph as part of my dream.  But, now that I knew I wasn't
dreaming, I wasn't so sure how I liked it.  I started examining my new
body closer.  I was taller and thicker than I was.  It wasn't really fat
though.  My back made a huge arch.  My skin was tough and green.  It was
a lighter green on my stomach and a darker green mixed with gray on my
back and limbs.  I had always wanted to change into something.  Now I
have, and I'm not accepting it.  I decided that I should be happy that I
was changed at all.

	Ross and Brian were staring at me.  I hadn't said anything in the
past ten minutes while I was looking at myself.  "How did this happen?" I
asked breaking the silence.

	"We don't know," Ross replied.

	"The news said that everybody has changed.  Kids that haven't
reached puberty seem to not be affected.  But everyone else has become
part animal," Brian answered.

	"Some have changed completely into an animal.  Their minds seem to
not be human anymore," Ross added.

	That scared me.  This morning I dreamed that I had turned into a
moose.  I though I was a moose.  In the kangaroo dream I was still me.
But, when I was the moose, I WAS the moose.  I wonder if that was what it
felt like to have changed totally.

	"Watch this," Ross said.  His body started changing.  Suddenly
there was a real bear in his place.  He didn't have to change too much.
He looked a lot like a bear to begin with.  Then he changed back to his
half way form.  "Cool, huh?"

	"How did you do that?" I asked.  

	"It's easy," Brian replied before changing fully into a razorback.
He changed back after a few seconds.

	I stared in amazement. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
First of all  everybody was now part animal.  And second the people in
front of me just changed into a real animal.

	"Why don't you try it?" Ross asked.

	"I don't know...."

	"Come on, Lance.  It's fun," Brian said.

	"I don't think a real sized stegosaurus would fit in the office,"
I said.  If I remember my dinosaurs correctly, a stegosaurus was about 20
feet long.

	"Then, let's go outside.  It's a wonderful experience," Ross said.
They grabbed me by my arms and pulled me down the hall toward the outside
door.  Once outside they let me go.  "Ok, just think about changing.
There is sort of a mental barrier.  Just push through it," Ross
explained.

	I closed my eyes and concentrated.  I pictured my body as it was
now, or at least as well as I could remember it.  I had only had it for a
few hours now.  Then I sort of felt a barrier.  I imagined pushing
against it.  Then I felt a strange sensation.  I opened my eyes.  I was
growing.  I could no longer stand on two legs, so I fell to all fours.  I
continued to grow more.  When it felt like I stopped changing I saw that
I was a stegosaurus.  And, I still remember who I was.  My mind didn't
change.  Fortunately, too.  A stegosaurus had a brain the size of a
walnut.  That made me wonder.  Was my brain the size of a walnut now?

	"Wow," was the reaction from both Ross and Brian.

	I looked myself over.  My sheet had come loose when I expanded and
fell to the ground.  Luckily it didn't rip.  I was impressed.  I was
huge.  And it felt wonderful.  I liked being a stegosaurus.  A real live
stegosaurus.  I got hungry.  The grass and trees seemed to be appetizing.
I moseyed over to a grassy area near the sidewalk and started munching.
It was delicious.  But, not filling.  I started looking for more food.  I
heard something.  I saw two creatures following me.  They seemed
familiar.  But, I was hungry.  One of the creatures grabbed my tail and
bit it.

	That jarred my memories.  I had though I was really a stegosaurus.
I quickly closed my eyes and tried to find the barrier I had pushed
through before.  I found it and changed back.  "Thanks, for biting me
again, Ross," I said.  "I guess the small brain I had as a real
stegosaurus didn't have room for my human part."

	"Did you not understand us?" Brian asked.  "We were telling you to
come back.  We tried to tell you how to change back."

	"I didn't even know what you were," I replied.  "I was determined
to find more food."  We headed back inside the building.  "I don't think
I'm going to do that again." I said.

	"We haven't had that problem before," Ross said.

	We went back to the office.  No one else had arrived yet.  They
probably weren't going to come.  It was summer school, and everybody was
eager to take any kind of holiday.

	Then Stacey, the secretary, came down to our office.  "The news
just said the some people have developed super powers.  Most can just
change into their animal, but some have extra powers."

	"I wonder if we have any powers," Brian said.

	"How would we know?" I asked.

	He just shrugged.  Brian and Ross tried to find if they had any
powers.  I decided not to, considering what happened when I transformed.
Neither of them found anything.  About 1:00 we decided to go home.  Not
many students showed up for their classes.  And, I wanted to see Meghan
and David.

	I walked home and saw several people.  I didn't recognize them.  I
was used to walking though campus and always seeing a familiar face.
Now, even my face isn't familiar.

	Walking barefoot wasn't bad.  It felt comfortable.  Even on the
rough parts of the sidewalk.  My leg didn't get tired going up the hill
either.  Every now and then my right knee would act up, and my leg would
tire out going up the steep hill.  But, now I didn't even notice my sore
knee.  It must have healed when I changed.  I'll have to find out the
next time I sit in a movie theater.  It starts jumping if I keep it still
for very long.

	The sun was warm and bright.  I don't know if I have to worry
about getting sunburned easily now.  I used to be pale or red.  I could
never get a tan.  When I reached my dorm, I opened my door and put my
backpack on the floor.  I then knocked on David's door.  He was still in
there.

	"Still dreaming?" he asked.

	"I know I'm not dreaming now," I said.  "It seemed so much like a
dream though."

	"Well, it isn't my dream to be a donkey," he said.  "Although
Meghan thinks it's so cute."  He said "so cute" in a mock sweet voice.

	"Have you seen Meghan yet?" I asked.

	"Yeah, she's here."  David pointed to his room.  I looked in.
There was a walrus watching TV.  She hadn't changed to the degree that
David and I had, but she was definitely a walrus.

	She looked up at me.  "Lance?" she asked.

	"Yeah, it's me," I said.

	"You make a great dinosaur," she said.  "Now,... what kind are
you?"

	"A stegosaurus," I said.  I turned around so she could see my two
rows of plates.

	"See, he gets plates," David said.  "I just get to be a donkey."

	"Let me tell you.  These plates aren't great," I said.  "I can't
sit back in a chair anymore."

	"Oh, David.  I like you still.  You're really my little Eeyore,
now," Meghan said getting up and hugging him.  

	I left them alone.  I knew that David need Meghan's support right
now.  He doesn't seem to like what has happened.  I'm sure a lot of
people don't like what has happened, but I've seen many have already
adjusted in the few hours it has happened.  I went into my room and
turned on the TV.  Maybe the news would have something on about the Change.

	The anchor man on the news was an elk.  He was saying that this
has happened around the whole world.  Nobody knows the cause of it.  One
guy, who was a tiger morph in India, said that he knew of a way to reverse
the Change.  There was something about him that I didn't like.

	I sat there continuing watching TV.  I eventually drifted off to
sleep.  It was 3:00 in the after noon and since I had to get up at 6:00
in the morning I needed a little nap.  The dream I had was so real.  I
was in my room.  My room looked real.  I didn't feel real.  I looked at
myself.  I wasn't a stegosaurus anymore.  I was a moose.  Not a complete
moose, but a moose morph.  It felt so real.  I looked around the room to
see any discrepancies with the real world.  I found none.  Then I saw
myself.  I saw my stegosaurus body sleeping on the couch where I fell
asleep.  But, I wasn't in my body anymore.  I wondered if this was what
they call an "out of body experience."  I decided to test it out.  My new
moose body seemed real, but not real at the same time.  I reached for the
door knob, but my three-fingered hand went through it.  It was like I was
a ghost.  So, I decided to just walk through the door.  And I did.  I was
out in the hall.

	I decided to pay David and Meghan a visit.  I went into David's
room through the wall.  "Hey, how did you get in here?" David said when
he saw my moose head poke through the wall.  "How did you do that?"

	"What?" I asked.  "You can see me?"

	"Yes, who are you?" David demanded.

	"I'm Lance.  You know the stegosaurus."  The next thing I know was
that my moose body disappeared and I was in my stegosaurus body again.

	"How...?" Meghan trailed off.

	"I don't know.  I fell asleep watching TV.  The next thing I know
I'm awake, but I'm still sleeping," I said.  I concentrated on changing
again.  It worked.  I wasn't in my stegosaurus body, I was now a lion
morph.  "I can change my shape this way.  But, I'm not really here."  I
jumped through the wall and back again.

	"I don't understand," Meghan said.

	"Come, I'll show you something," I said going through the wall.
David and Meghan opened the door and followed.  I went into my room.  The
door opened behind me.  They entered staring at my sleeping body.  "See,
I'm dreaming."

	"But...." David began.

	"This must be my power.  I can cast a projection of myself.  I
think I'm sort of like a hologram."

	David looked interested.  He reached out and passed his hand
through me.  I didn't feel anything.  He didn't either.  "You're right.
You aren't really here," he said.  He then walked over to my sleeping
body.  Before I could stop him, he shock it.  "Wake up."

	I woke up from my sleep.  I was in my real body.  David and Meghan
were standing over me.  "That was weird," I said.

	"You're telling me," Meghan said.  "Your 'projection' disappeared
as soon as you woke up."

	"This is a neat power," I said mostly to myself.  Most of the
powers people got were like comic book hero powers.  Mine seemed unique.
The rest of the day I experimented with my gift.  I discovered that when
I was asleep that I could project a "hologram" of myself.  I could change
the hologram into any form except human.  I tried that , but I just ended
up in my stegosaurus form.

	I "walked" all over campus as my projection of my stegosaurus
form.  It was a strange sensation.  I could speak with people, but I
couldn't physically interact with them.  I went clear across campus.
Then I felt like the world was fading.  I started walking back toward my
room.  The world was solid again.  I walked the other way again.  The
farther I went the more the world faded.  I continued walking.  Suddenly
everything was gone, and I woke up in my room.  "I guess I found my
projection range," I thought.  The place where I my projection vanished
was about a mile away from my room.  I figured that I could only
"project" within a one mile radius from where my body was located.

	I got tired of sleeping.  I was wide awake.  So, I checked my
e-mail.  It was harder than I thought to type with my new hands.  Having
only four clawed fingers on each hand was difficult to get used to.  But
I managed.  I logged on and started reading the hundred messages that was
in my in-box.  Most of them were from the TSA list.  "I wonder what
everybody was now."