Sensations become indistinct. Colors blur together. The only sounds are tearing, chewing, and screaming. Then, just breathing.

The breathing is fast, scared, frantic.

Then it catches. And somebody swallows, before starting to breathe fast again.

Colors appear in the darkness. Sounds, besides the breathing. Footsteps … buttons clicking.

Something is in front of Skylar’s face. It is his muzzle, red-furred and distinct. The room beyond is out of focus. Then Skylar looks out at it, and he can see the hospital room. The sheets are clean; his new fur is thin but well-kept. The IV is filled, and his gown is not soiled.

Something touches his shoulder and he jerks away from it reflexively, almost pulling the IV out. Staring at the thing in shock. It’s somebody’s hand … a parent’s? A relative’s? The part of his brain that can comprehend is still asleep.

“Easy there, Skylar!” a male voice says. “You looked like you were having nightmares.”

Skylar stares up at the voice, still afraid, still not comprehending.

“Can you talk yet?”

The words make sense to Skylar, outside of context. He tries to say something, but his muzzle is dry and strangely shaped. “Pluh … mleh … ” Skylar’s tongue lolls out of his muzzle for a long moment, before he figures out how to put it back in.

The person laughs, and then says something to another before reassuring Skylar that he’ll get used to it. The words aren’t making sense, though. Skylar looked to see who the other was talking to, and saw something that made an odd sort of sense … a person his age, playing a game on a handheld console. The back of it is towards Skylar, so he can’t see what’s on the screen, and the person is wearing headphones. But Skylar realizes that he knows exactly what’s going on in the game.

It reminds him a lot of his dream.

After a long moment — a few seconds or hours, Skylar’s too drugged to tell — somebody comes in and gives him a sleeping pill. He takes it reluctantly, water spilling out of the side of his muzzle. Then he lays down, drifting back into unconsciousness, looking uneasily up at the console until his eyes settle shut.