What is this?

Who am I?

What am I?

More questions I don't know, I know nothing. I feel something hard and rough beneath me. It's cold. I don't like it. I can feel the air above me, it's cold too. Everything's cold. Why is it cold? Why is it cold?! I HATE THE COLD.

I try to move, I only slosh around. I feel things, I know things, but how do I know them? That doesn't matter right now, I need to get away from the cold. But where can I go? I'm just a…

What am I?

I can feel, but it's a different kind of feel. I can feel the cracks and the roughness of the ground explicitly. I'm in some kind of a liquid form. Wait, liquid? That can't be right, I'm supposed to have something sold in me right? So what am I doing as a liquid?

I can move, but only a little. I don't have the strength to move a lot as a liquid. Don't have the energy. Maybe I should try to bring myself together, in some kind of solid form? I pull the edges of my 'puddle' closer to my center. I pull the inside closer. I pull my bottom center up. I have legs. Or partial legs. They support me, I lose my balance. I fall forward.

I hit the ground with a slap. It hurts, but only for a moment. I spread apart from the fall. I get colder. I bring myself together again. I feel less cold. I have to get out of here. Out of the cold. I pull myself up, I have legs. I don't want to fall again. I don't lose my balance. I stand.

I feel an appendage on each side of my 'body' parallel to my legs. Arms? I think they're arms. I have arms.

I'm solidifying, but I'm also still a liquid without much shape. What should I look like? I only have one from, one body in mind. I pull myself closer together, my form taking shape. My senses begin to develop. I feel my eyes. I can't see. Something is blocking them. I draw a paw up. There's a layer of skin over my eyes. Eye lids. How do I know that? It doesn't matter. I just have to open my eyes.

And so I do.

It's dark.

It was night-time. That's why it's cold.

I look down at my paw. There isn't much to describe. It's just a paw. I return my paw to my side. I look forward. I look around. I'm in a city alleyway. Directly in front of me is a side walk down a way. I need to get out there. I could find someplace warm.

How do I get there?

Walking! I don't know how to walk. Well I do. But I've never walked before. I look down my legs. I notice I'm naked. That's why I can't stay warm. I lift a leg. I place it down in front of me. I put weight on it. It feels solid. I lift the other one. I place it in front of me. I walk. I feel myself leaning to my side. I fall.

I reach my paw out to stop the fall. It rubs on the ground. Pain. It hurts. It hurts! Oh it hurts! Red liquid leaks from it. I calm myself. I reach out to the liquid, pulling it back in. Like when I first pulled myself together. It doesn't hurt anymore! But now I feel weaker. I stand back up. I walk toward the end of the alley. I'm more careful this time. I don't fall. I make it.

I look around. Animals are walking across the street. Should I go to them?

No.

I'll let them come to me. That is if they want to. I'll stand here for a moment. Hey! There's another animal coming toward me! She looks like a… fox? How do I know that? It doesn't matter. She walks up to me. She asks me who I am, what I'm doing out here, where my parents are. I respond "I don't know," to each question. She looks at me with sadness.

Then I feel it.

The red liquid that I was originally, it was flooded in her system. I can hear her heart beating. She stretches her arm out to me. I take it in my paws. I don't notice her look. I sniff the arm.

I bite it. She screams. I begin to drain the life-giving liquid. Not a lot. But after that I don't feel weak anymore. I let go. I smile at her. I notice her look. Fear? Is that fear? Is she afraid of me?

"You monster."

Monster? She thinks I'm a monster? I'm not a monster. Right?

"YOU MONSTER!" She runs away, clutching her arm. The arm I bit.

She's gone.

She ran away.

She left me alone.

I still feel the warmth of her crimson inside me. It feels so good to be at least a bit warm. It won't last. I will need more. How to get more? I'll need help. Won't be able to get that close to someone without them thinking I'm a monster. I don't want to be a monster.

But I will be one if it means survival.

I will be one to live.

I will be one, to stay warm.