There was a distant ringing in Marcus' ears that was growing steadily louder and louder. He tried to will it to go away, but it wouldn't. Stupid alarm clock, he thought to himself, barely coherent. But no, he thought again, that didn't make sense. His alarm clock played songs from the radio, not a shrill droning sound. He tried to open his eyes and a wave of nausea rolled over him, accompanied by dizziness. He groaned, and the sound came out weak and strained. Mustering all his strength, he rolled over on his back, and that was when every cell in his body became alive with pain.
It was excruciating. And what was more, nothing felt right. Nothing was right inside his body. He was cold, but didn't feel cold. He was humming with strength, but he didn't feel strong.
The memories flooded back all at once. Yes, he thought, and a different wave, one of despair, crashed over him. The transformation. It had finished a few days ago, but he still awoke this way, sore and aching, wrong and right. He supposed he had to credit his brain at least a little, for trying to help him forget what had happened to him.
He lay there for a few more moments, getting reacquainted with his surroundings. He was laying on a carpet, he gathered. He felt out with his leg and bumped into the post of what must have been a table or a bed. Gradually he worked himself up to opening his eyes, and sat up, his body protesting, until he was in a sitting position. His head was swimming. He was in a bedchambers of some sort, he gathered. It looked as if he'd been on the bed and had rolled off in his sleep, probably thrashing around. He'd had night terrors, even as a human (the thought was so strange to him) and now they were even worse.
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