Noticing 3 second draft. W.I.P (Patreon)

"Thats odd, when did i paint my lips black" Megan thought. "I don't even own black lipstick".

Megan decides to leave it, she's already late for uni. She carries her new friend downstairs to an animal control van outside. The fox seemed anxious and clingy as she handed it over but she thought nothing of it, the sooner it was gone the less chance molly would get in trouble. She signed a form and took another glance at the fox, it whined in response as the van door closed. 

Megan was late but at least it was for a good reason. "Sorry Tim i found an injured animal and called the RSPCA" she thought to herself as she walked the promanade. It was a chilly november morning on the south coast of England. Her journey to University took her along the sea front, the slightly dower sea front properties offering a post-imperial nostalgia to the world, Megan ponders to herself the history of the sea side town boom of the 1800's to distract herself from the long boring hill climb up to the stark gleeming edifice of the unversity. 

Walking through to door Megan opens her coat, the sudden wash of heat instantly makes her uncomfortable. Megan crosses the atrium the high windows painting the ground with the pale morning light. "Hey what's with the lips Meg", Dan starts sharply. "Hey Dan yeah thought i'd try a new look today". They both enter the elevator, "thats what you get for hanging out with Trisha i guess she's going through yet another goth phase." Dan mutters to himself. "i think you messed up though", "What?" Megan said. "Your top lip" he gestures with his finger, "You must of slipped while doing it. There's a line pointing to your nose". Megan looks behind her in the mirror, was that there before? she thought. "oh yeah, oops!" She didnt get a good look at it before she left perhaps it was like that. "anyway catcha laters, im gonna have to sneak into biology through the back." "Laters Dan" Megan says fixated on her face. The doors started to close and she pulls herself away.

Megan explained herself to her tutor Tim and was let off with a warning, "call ahead next time" he said, "go catch up". Megan pulls the seat away from her usual space. The heat is unbarable in here, she takes off her coat and jumper. "Hey Meg been listening to Crade of filth?" Meg starts up "Huh?" Her friend Sandy say's "the make up, whats this about?" She circles her own face with her index finger.  "Oh i just felt like it today, fancied a change i guess" Megan rubs at her top lip again. "Well i suggest getting rid of it, you look weird". "Lab is today and you know how Professor Mason like to pick on people", Sandy say's coyly. "Ha yeah i'd better go clean it off" Megan says.

Megan and Sandy settle the weirdness and make notes on yesterdays results, 20 minutes later they are dismissed for a coffee break. Megan heads straight for the toilets. She draws a couple of stares from some of the less subtle corridor inhabitants. Megan enters the toilet, its empty. She approaches the mirror she reaches into her bag and pulls out a pack of wet wipes. bunching a few she presses her lips tight and rubs vigorously. Nothing happens, she rubs again this time with more care. Still nothing, "What the fuck" Megan mumbles to herself. She looks closer at herself her lips were blacker than before if anything. When she left they'd been merely a dark grey now they glistened jet black. She licked them trying to figure out what was on them, no flavour. The line in the top middle was still there infact it seemed longer more pronounced. She rubbed at it with the wipe in an attempt to get rid of it, Still nothing. The wipe on all attempts has come away clean. She pouted. "Well i guess if i cant clean it i can at least cover it." Megan thought to herself. Meg pulled out a small make up bag and selects the most natural tone she has. The lip stick covers her lips well enough, a little foundation on her upper lip and she looked normal. One last self check and Meg leaves the Toilet.

Meg didnt go for a coffee she didnt want to smudge her new make-up, back at class Sandy gives a thumbs up at her friends new but less vibrant fashion choice. "thats a lot better, next time stick to this". Megan fakes a smile, she would be ok for now but when she got back she really needed to find out how to remove the black gloss.

Class end an hour later, Megan and sandy walk to their next class when they run into Dan again, "Yo Meg like the new look, still cant believe what you had this morning ha". Megan fakes a smile.

"So where're you girls off to now?" asks Dan. "Lab" responds Sandy. "Mason?" Dan asks again. "Yep" both girls respond. "good luck with that" Dan say's with sympathy. "i just had him he's his usual self today, so... awful." 

Notes for the rest of the story......

Mason's class: Megan feels odd, she's slower on her lab work and needs constant prompting from sandy, Mason notices and picks on Megan, Megan convinces herself she needs more sleep.

Lunch Time: Megan notices the line above her lip is showing again and goes to cover it when she notices her nails look discoloured, were they like that before? She paints her nails.

Maths class: Megan really struggles, the problems she's given to solve swim in her vision various symbols look alien to her. As she tries to work her head aches and she is asked to be excused.

Sociology: Megan confides with Sandy she's not feeling right today and tells her about her struggles with classes but hides the other oddities. Sandy decides that on their day off tomorrow she'll work  to help her. Megan finds herself losing track of the lecture, her mind drifting off to thoughts of food.

Gym: After college Megan decides a session at the gym and a good nights sleep is what she needs to sort herself out. She notices her toe nails are also discoloured and ignores them. At the gym she finds she has way more energy than normal and jogs 10 km on the treadmill.

Bed time: As megan gets ready for bed she notices that her lips are still glossy black and the line has spread to the base of her nose, this worries her and she googles her symptoms but finds nothing, she makes a note to see the doctor.

Day 2: morning: Megan awakes to find that everything is as it was last night, she tries again to remove the lipstick only finding her skin rubbed raw from yesterday's attempts. Her nose remains sore, her nails however though still the same painted colour have grown longer and to a point. She cuts them back finding them thicker and norrower than before, The changes continue to worry her but she applies her make-up and carries on with her day regardless.

Coffee shop: Sandy asks megan if she dyes her hair as megans "ginger" roots are showing. Megan aggree's uncertainly, They make plans for their homework for the day and decide a movie would be a good idea to clear their heads after. Dan arrives and invites the girls to a party tomorrow night.

Library: Megan again struggles to wrap her head around their lab results from yesterday, just copying her notes seem to require enourmous effort, words keep escaping her and need teasing out, she tries not to let it show but sandy catches on and expresses worry, they talk and Megan makes more excuses while secretly she begins to panic

Library 2: After a long awkward time Megan finally finishes her notes and moves to Maths where nothing makes sense, the numbers themselves look like foreign figures and abstract shapes, with determination and a stress headache Megan counts out the numbers faintly recognising the shapes and blusters her way though, by the end she just pretends to answer the problems.

Home: Megan decides against a movie, a worried Sandy agree's. Megan arrives home throws her bag to the floor in frustration, she calms herself down with a couple shots of rum, in the bathroom mirror she spots her ginger roots that now seem to have spread in streaks though her hair.

Slightly pissed she grabs her bag and heads to the corner store to buy hair dye, the cashier looks at her oddly, and remarks that coloured contacts are bad for her eyes, drunk Megan ignores the advice heads home. 

Megan applies the dye, its not quite the same but it looks passable, the ginger roots and streaks have gone. it's then Megan notices her eyes, large dark pupils with a halo of amber the traces of her blue clinging to the edges, Megan cries in confusion a whine escapes her throat. She downs the rest of the rum and passes out.

Day 3: Megan awakes to a throbbing in her head, she's on the floor of her living room, unaware of what happened the previous night, she gets up to make coffee, the cup slips from her hand and smashes, the skin on her palms is think rough and dry, she has to firmly grip the next cup to keep it. Megan remembers, she cleans herself up and inspects the damage. She calmly examins her bewildering changes; fear, panic, confusion, hangover and exhaustion drives her to a strange clarity enabling her to look at herself in a collected manner. She notes her changes to herself aloud.

Megan calls sandy to help her out with some things, Sandy arrives to find Megan with her back to her. Megan warns Sandy before slowly turning around to reveal her changes. Pleading her not to laugh or scream. She explains the problems she was having yesterday and the day before. Sandy assuming it was some kind of prank looks around for a camera or someone else hiding ready to jump out.

Megan grabs her she then notices that the red in her friends coat looks faded, all the red in her vision looks washed out, she bursts into tears. Sandy realising something was actually wrong comforts her friend but is reluctant to believe her.

Megan does what she can to prove to Sandy that everything is real and shows her hands/claws, Sandy hugs and assures that her secret is safe and she'll help her out.

Coffee shop: Megan and sandy decide to skip the morning lecture and have coffee, Megan wears red tinted circular glasses, she's re-trimmed her nails and the rough skin on her palms isnt that noticable, make-up applied. She looks normal if a bit pretencious with her glasses. They discuss whats happening to her when yet again Dan passes by, points at Megan's glasses and pulls a confused face from the otherside of the window, before rushing off to class.

In their afternoon classes Megan and sandy are seperated, Megan decides to wing sociology despite her problems. She finds herself easily distracted, the window holds her attension the birds in the tree's hold ininfite facination for her. she finds herself staring intently at one in particular when the person sitting next to her nudges her arm to make her aware that the professor has asked her a question. She makes an idiot of herself.

Sandy runs over to megan in the hall, shuffling megan's hair, Sandy quietly tells her to remain calm but she thinks her ears have grown since that morning, they're pointed and stick out of her hair. Sandy now wholly convinced her friend isn't making this up escorts her out of the hallway. They both examine her ears in a toilet cubical still relatively normal in size but a prominent point and the dissapearance of her earlobe makes them look very odd to anyone who saw them. Sandy tells Megan to wait while she runs to town and buys a hat.

Hat adorned Megan with her red shades begins to look like a hipster, they both decide college is a bad idea and leave. At home Sandy googles Megan's symptoms, Megan tries to use her laptop but finds the keyboard impossible to use, the letters seem to have devolved into a mass of abstract shapes. She tried typing what she thought looked right but the squiggly lines on screen didn't reveal anything. 

Sandy doesnt find anything useful apart from ancient lore and fairy tales.

The small blocks of text are just story notes and are not actual finished pieces. They'll be fleshed out into character interaction and character thoughts later.