Title:           Ch. 2.1
Author:          Anonymous
Pastebin link:   http://pastebin.com/M4WaN4cs
First Edit:      Thursday 2nd of August 2012 12:33:44 PM CDT
Last Edit:       Thursday 2nd of August 2012 12:33:44 PM CDT

Creak!
Clip-clop clip-clop clip-clop clop-thp…
 
“Um, hey. Are you awake?” A sweet feminine voice whispered out.
 
‘Me? Am I awake? Maybe. I don’t want to be.’ I tried to drift back to sleep but there were too many distractions. ‘Just a little longer please…’ The tv was still on. I couldn’t make it out but didn’t really want to.
 
“I guess not.” She whispered back, oblivious to my inner thoughts.  “Alright.”
 
The sound from before returned moving closer: something tapping against a wooden floor. I tried to ignore it but I was still awake enough to guess the sound as hooves on floorboards. It made sense somehow. The events leading up to my loss of consciousness were creeping out again but I refused to dwell on them too much. The sound transitioned into soft steps on a carpet floor with the occasionally groaning of a loose floorboard. She was walking towards me.
 
I could sense her standing between me and the annoying noise box above and to the right of my head. I became more aware of my position on the floor.  I was lying on my right side with my back to her and all limbs but my wings pointing, more or less, towards where I remembered the couch was. I could feel my tail curled over my hind legs. My right ear was folded uncomfortably against the rough carpet. My right wing didn’t bother me nearly as much being crushed against the floor, and it had the full weight of my body to deal with.
 
 I was also still naked. I felt a shiver run through me and tried hard not to let it show, not to move.
I was strange, alien, I was wrong! I felt sickened by my form in a strange way. It wasn’t the inhuman feeling but also the loss of my gender! I wanted nothing more than to hide, not lay out with my fuzzy form exposed to the world. Still I didn’t dare move. I couldn’t let her to know I was awake and listening. I wasn’t ready to deal with anyone just yet.
 
I felt her move behind me. My heart was beating faster but I kept my breathing slow and calm. She leaned over and I sensed two inhuman legs being placed cautiously by my exposed stomach. One of them then lifted and seemed to be pawing at something. I had a good idea of what she was, I remembered the news.  I was a little worried though about who she was, and why I was in what I assumed was her home.
 
After what seemed like a short struggle of something with something else, she sighed and shifted her weight onto what I figured to be her front hooves, both again resting in the space between my own outward facing legs and stomach. I heard the sound of fabric being moved as she then stepped back over me. She had just pulled the blanket off the couch and onto me, pulling it up to my neck.
 
Something was strange about all that. ‘Did she try grabbing the blanket with her hoof maybe? Obviously that wasn’t working. Did she just grab that in her teeth or something?’ She must have with both her front legs on the floor.
 
An ominous feeling crept through me as I considered the implications of a life without hands. I wondered how much I would be forced to resort to the same. ‘Maybe my wings would be useful for something, like carrying things somehow. Is walking on two legs is still an option at all?’
 
I heard her giggle a little under her breath. She seemed to stand there for another full minute before moving away. I sounded like she was having trouble walking in reverse though.
 
A door creaked in the direction I had first heard her hooves clopping in from, followed by careful footsteps. Feet not hooves. Soft steps on creaky wood.  Two legs not four. The horse girl behind me was turning to the sounds.
 
“Lizzy?” A new voice said as both sets of foot and hoof steps came together and cease. “What are you doing up?”  The voice was also female, but older and tired.
 
“I couldn’t sleep. I still feel too… weird. I wanted to check on her too.”
 
‘Her. She meant me.’ The word seemed so strange being applied to me.
 
“Why is she on the floor? Did she roll off?”
 
“I don’t know, I found her like that. Maybe her tail was keeping her awake too…”
 
“Well let’s hope so. That would mean she’s just sleeping normally now. I was worried when we couldn’t wake her, if she got a concussion from the accident it could cause long term damage or put her in a coma or-“
 
Lizzy cut her off, her voice rising above the whisper they had both been speaking in, she sounded younger than I had thought. “I know mom, I know. You said all this like a thousand times on the way home.”
 
Her mother shushed her a little halfway through so she’d go back to whispering. They paused their conversation, possibly to see if I had woken up.
 
The mother broke the silence, “I’m just worried is all. They were just being stupid at the hospital. I know they were busy and everyone wanted in, but they shouldn’t have said they were letting in only people in obvious need, only for the police to turn away every car that came by, twice. We drove all that way, It’s not right.”
 
They were both silent for a minute or two. I heard what sounded like the two settling on the floor near the hallway.
 
The mother spoke again, “So your tail was keeping you up?”
 
“Yeah.” Lizzy said. She paused before continuing, “It’s all just so… weird. I don’t know how to feel about any of this.” She paused again. “None of my clothes fit. I didn’t try very much, it’s hard enough not… not having hands. I’m not even wearing anything under this robe, and it’s hard enough walking like this without loose clothes to trip over.”
 
Her voice started to break up a little. It sounded like she was crying. “I don’t have hands mom. How am I supposed to do anything! I couldn’t even open the door. I couldn’t even get undressed. I couldn’t even get my bra off, even though it was so loose, it got caught on my w-wings and pinched my hair and I broke the clasps. It doesn’t even matter, I barely needed one before but now I never will. What am I gonna do?” She was sobbing now.
 
‘Oh great now I feel like crying.’
 
“It’s alright.” Her mother said, “It’s all going to be alright. You’re not alone. Just remember that. There are people all over the world right now trying to deal with the same problems you are. There’s even one lying on our living room floor. What sort of panic do you think she was in to crash into us? You’ve been dealing with this bravely so far and I’m proud of you. Just hold on. Things will get better, it will all get easier in time. And I’ll be here for you too, whatever you need.”
The girl was trying to keep her sobbing under control as her mother shushed her a little.
 
“I love you mom.” Lizzy said sniffling.
 
“Love you too my Lizzy-beth.”
 
‘And now I’m crying too.’
 
They went quiet again, except for the occasional sob from the little horse girl. I felt a slight ache in my chest. I almost felt like crying too, but more than anything though the scene tired me.
 
Closing my dripping eyes again I fell back to sleep.