This is art by  TheOther-Side of me suddenly turning into a Raptor a while back.

Hello Dear Reader!
I was a Human like many of you are, but like me, some of you might not be. Since last December, I have sorta been, well, a Raptor. Not by choice of course, but chance. For many reasons, I'd much rather be a Human again, and am still trying to figure out how to change back.

Don't worry, I'm not dangerous or anything. In fact, nowadays, I try to be much more cool-headed and less snappy than I was as a human. You have to try to be self controlled if you have razor-sharp teeth and claws and a tail that tends to knock over fragile items if one isn't careful.

It is difficult typing with only three fingers/claws on each hand, but I thought it would be a start to at least provide some background as to what I know about my sudden transformation last December since I at least have something resembling fingers to type with.

I have had difficulty in attempting to vocally talk about the subject as one might imagine, and have had no luck trying to learn or communicate using ASL in the absence of two digits on each hand. So I am left with no choice but to type or write like a five-year old since I lost my opposable thumbs in the transformation.

You probably get my point now. Being a Human stuck in a Raptor's body has its many detriments. So how did this happen to me?

Short answer:
I still do not know for sure.

Long answer:
Last December, I was walking down the neighborhood trail on a strangely warm winter's afternoon wearing my favorite shirt. I had just finished my last final exam for the fall semester and wanted to begin the break with a nice walk to put my brain on break mode before the weather got unpredictable (as it often does in Texas).

It was a nice walk too! The eastern half of the afternoon sky was clear, while in the western half, there were a few cirrocumulus clouds dotting the sky like rain droplets on a windshield. There were a few Blue Jays and Cardinals flying across the path (the winter migrations began unusually late this year), and a few Mourning Dove calls added to the ambiance of a soft eastbound wind, the sounds of dogs barking in the distance, and a chorus of swaying branches laden with red and yellow leaves that survived the autumn. Along the way, a few startled squirrels crossed my path and made for their dwellings somewhere up in the nearby oak trees.

I was going through the motions of enjoying the walk for what seemed like a good 35 or 40 minutes down the trail until my peripheral vision detected a familiar little patch of grass to my right which bordered the tree line; behind which was a small stream. Upon looking at the grass patch, I expected to see an ordinary tire-sized rock which I often used as my "turn back" checkpoint (The rock literally had the words "turn back" etched on it), as moving forward just led deeper into the forest; and trouble if the local stories were true about someone with "abilities" living there and punishing trespassers who moved beyond the checkpoint.

I did not believe in those stories of course, but unlike others my age, that did not mean I was willing to test fate and mess with them like some ghostbuster to find out if they were true in person. Maybe it is my religious nature or cautious personality, but I had no inclination to involve myself in unnecessary adventures when I had other prospects in life to focus on, like not investigating the house of a mythological evil sorcerer or whatnot. I had no reason to believe this particular local legend to be true either, as it has been proven that the supposed dwelling of this gifted individual never existed when police went through the area chasing a fugitive some years prior.

Anyways, the checkpoint rock I mentioned was not there for some reason. At that moment, I payed the absence of the checkpoint rock no mind, and made to turn back anyways, since the patch of grass seemed to be enough of a recognizable checkpoint for me. But as I turned around, I jumped at the sight of a dark shape 4 to 5 meters in front of me. My stomach still ached from the jump when I realized there was nothing to worry about. When my eyes focused again, I realized that it was just a black cat trying to get from the treeline to my right to the other treeline on my left. It paused for a half-second upon my noticing of it, then it finished its brief trek across my path back home with no sound at all after giving me a brief glare from its sea blue eyes.

"Screw this," I said to myself as it became ever more apparent that the pleasant phase of my walk was over. Then I realized how loud my voice sounded even though I only quietly mumbled to myself. There were no sounds of birds chirping, dogs barking, wind, or...anything. In addition, the sky was suddenly overcast; leaving a sea blue tint mixed with a suddenly cooler air all about me. Again I mumbled "Screw this" to myself, but only in my mind, as I picked up my pace from a leisurely walk to a half sprint. The trail from the checkpoint to its entrance was about two to two and a half miles, which meant I could easily get there in less than 20 minutes if I jogged.

“Problem solved!” I thought to myself; “I’ll just turn this walk into a jog and ignore anything weird.”

I am not going to go into much detail about the next 10 to 15 minutes since you are probably tired of the lengthiness of this recounting already. So for now, let’s just say that I end up seeing nothing familiar about the trail on my way back. I was supposed to cross a red bridge over a stream a few minutes after turning back, before going down a few twists and turns, then heading straight for a little while before crossing a rusty grey bridge which led to a tunnel under a road and off of the trail.

However, I spent that amount of time going straight before turning left, then straight for a smaller distance before turning right, then straight for an even smaller distance before taking a left again, then right again, then the trail just seemed to zig-zag for a bit, before each successive turn began to become less sharp, and more curved. Then finally, these curves became longer and longer, until the trail seemed to straighten again. All the while, not a hint of life could be seen anywhere.

It felt like hours had passed before this had ended and I was beginning to think I was lost. However, when I looked at my watch after the path had straightened, I had realized that no time at all had passed since I was at the grassy patch. It was 3:03 pm, just like before! Also weirdly enough, I was not sweating even a bit after all that jogging, nor was I out of breath. In fact, it was like I never jogged at all. I looked above, and the sky was still overcast, yet no less bright than it was when the clouds first appeared. With the clouds blocking the sun, it was still hard to tell if the day had actually progressed, and if my watch was lying to me. “I guess this watch is broken,” I said to myself. With that, I took off the thing and put in in my pocket.

But as I looked up again to proceed forward, a bright flash of light suddenly engulfed my vision, and a loud thunderclap went off with a bang.

When I opened my eyes, my ears were still ringing, but I could hear birds chirping, dogs barking, and I could see squirrels running about again! Even the sky suddenly seemed back to normal as well! But then I looked ahead of me and saw something familiar. Several meters ahead of me and on the side of the trail to my left, there was the grass patch again. And this time, the rock was there too! But oddly enough, the word “back” was missing from the “turn back” phrase on the rock.

The only word left was “Turn.” Seeing nothing better to do, I cleaned my glasses with my shirt and put them on thinking there must have been a smudge on my lenses. But the word “Back” was still missing. But that was not the most shocking part.

The rock I was seeing was actually the lower jaw of a Dinosaur Skull!

After looking closer, I jumped back in fright upon realizing it, as I had an infamous phobia of predatory creatures; extinct or not. My siblings always poked fun at me for it, especially at all the movies we have watched together involving dinosaurs when I would always get jump-scared- uh….anyways, I’m getting off topic.

After my fright-induced jump, I fell on my back and began to feel strangely sick to my stomach. At that very moment, the sky was again overcast and all other noises had ceased. Electing at that moment to hurry home and never come on this trail again, I had begun to get up once more and jog towards the trail entrance, which was now a permanent exit as far as I was concerned.

Then the change began, and it happened in seconds. First it began with my nose, which felt like it was changing in shape and becoming noticeably larger before my eyes. I thought it was just a trick of my outdated prescription before I felt my pants burst. It felt as if I had a new appendage. Following that, I exclaimed in shock and confusion as my face began to contort.

After that, the pain began. It felt like typical growing pains except dozens of times worse. I tripped over my own feet as they adopted strange new shapes, with my neck simultaneously growing larger and longer. Next thing I knew, I was on all fours, and my face elongated into a snout, creating a blind spot below my jaw and directly in front of me. All across my scalp, the back of my neck, my elbows, the back of my ankles, and finally; atop the new appendage (or tail) I now had, I could feel something akin to getting several flu shots as purple feathers of many shades sprouted suddenly in these areas. My favorite shirt began to tear along with my pants and shoes as everything below my stomach seemed to grow much larger, with my back naturally beginning to arch as if I was leaning forwards. My legs and new tail in particular grew much larger relative to the rest of my body, while mostly everything above my waist was almost as skinny as it was before.

Finally, as the remaining shreds of clothes and my now obsolete glasses fell off of me, my skin seemed to crack and form Turquoise reptilian scales with dark stripes all over me. Once it was all over, I naturally stood up again on two legs almost like before, but not quite like before.

The environment around me appeared to suddenly be the same as it was before I saw the dinosaur skull, with the overcast sky gone once more and the silence drowned out again by many outdoor noises. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary….

…..except for me.

Immediately when I opened my eyes again, I noticed all sorts of things in milliseconds. First of all, my glasses were gone, and yet I could see perfectly. In fact, it seemed like all of my senses were enhanced; especially hearing and smell. My ears were filled with the voices of what seemed to be thousands of creatures for at least a mile all around. My nose picked up scents ranging from animals, to trees/plants, and other things I was unfamiliar with.

At that moment, my mind still had not accepted what had occurred as I was still unsure about what had actually happened to me, or why I could suddenly smell, hear, and see better than before…

I looked to the ground (which seemed much farther below me than usual) and saw my prized Texas flag shirt in tatters, and on either side of its remains were two frightening-looking clawed feet which made me lift my own foot in shock (I was surprised simultaneously by the claw and the realization that I was completely naked). Then the left claw was lifted up in unison with my supposedly moving left foot. I then whipped around to see what creature was behind me and saw what looked like a feathered tail sway back to my rear. No matter how much I turned around attempting to discover some other owner of the thing, the tail kept ending up behind me and stayed there. I was only able to confirm that it was mine by bumping it into tree trucks to see if I could feel anything. Then I did a similar test with my legs, my arms, and my hands (which were now reduced to three-digit claws). When all of my fears were realized, and I could indeed feel with those new body parts. I went towards the stream behind the patch of grass in the trees. As usual, the water was clear and as reflective as any mirror.

After some hesitation, I glared into the water, hoping (in spite of how weird it would look with the rest of my body) to see my once-human face, but was disappointed to see a dinosaur’s equally disappointed-looking turquoise face staring back at me with a purple feathered plume on its head (which replaced my brown hair), a long striped snout, and wide brown eyes (perhaps the only thing that looked the same about me). My mouth was also agape, revealing several sharp teeth which lined both my upper and lower jaws.

“A R-raptor?” I attempted to say with a shivered, questioning tone, but nothing came out except a few confused chirps.

Then I whimpered upon realizing I could no longer form consonants to speak, and began to run again towards the trail exit. “I really really hope I can explain this to everyone!” I thought to myself as I sprinted down the path out of the forest.

My mind was made up. Being seen like this by everyone was better than staying here!

Thanks again to  TheOther-Side for this amazing artwork!