Seriously Weird: People of the Mist

"You won't tell anyone about me will you?"

"No," said Carlee, "I'd like to though, but I was thinking - you seem to have a very special relationship with your mother out here, and she's obviously trying to keep you isolated out here, so it wouldn't be nice to go telling everyone!"

Ral went with Carlee for several miles until they finally parted company. During that time she talked about her own country, and the size of cities. She tried to explain how airplanes flew, and why men wanted to reach the planets, but Ral hardly understood a word of it.

"What you tell me sounds like the ancient stories," he said, "The fairy tales of my ancestors?"

"You mean my science sounds like your mythology? That's funny!" laughed Carlee.

And then she was gone, walking towards the sun away into the dry valleys and hills where Ral never ventured. He watched until he could see her no more, then he turned and began to walk home.

But as he walked he realized he was different now. A strange stirring had begun to boil up inside him. The skin on his arms and legs was beginning to tingle. He looked at his chest and saw tiny hairs, white and pointed, beginning to push through his skin.

By the time he was halfway home, he was having difficulty walking. His arms had grown longer, and his fingers were beginning to stick together. His toes had become webbed. He stumbled and fell forwards, striking his face on the hard ground, skinning his cheeks. He stood and ran, awkwardly, stumbling and teetering, all the way to his home.

"Mother!" he cried, "Help me!"

But she was too far away to hear his call.

Desperately, Ral tried to reach the door. Now his shoulders were swelling. New limbs grew from them, and his arms moved down to his waist and hung like two heavy weights to the ground. His back stretched, and his hips turned. He groaned as he felt hair pushing outwards from the skin of his lower body.

He began to scream.

His legs were now twice as thick, and the toes had grown together to form one huge nail on each foot. His arms were now covered in hair, with large, solid bones in them, and his hands had changed into nails. The