Tyler: What happened

I feel a little silly typing this, but not half as silly as I probably look... well, silly is definitely not the word. Anyway, if I've got things figured out, I'm probably expected to write about all this. Things are starting to add up: why the Inn is so creepy, why nobody would talk to me, and where there's a dumb guestbook online that I'm supposed to write in. Okay, you want to know? I'm going to try to give you just the facts.

I woke up this morning before 7 AM. I didn't sleep great. I had a dream where I was on fire, which I guess... makes sense. I was sleeping on my stomach and I felt this painful, painful pinch in my chest so I rolled over onto my back. It's hard to tell what I noticed at first. I wasn't even processing it. Too groggy, maybe? Maybe it was the feeling of extra flesh bobbing around under my shirt, maybe it was the length of hair pooled behind my head. I don't know how I missed any of it, but I'm sure not ignoring it now.

Whatever. Ignorant me sits up in bed, feels more than slightly off, swings his legs over the side of the bed to get up and... oof. It's like when you miss the bottom of a ladder. No harm done, but now you're really shaken. And boy was I, because in that moment, the hair, the jiggle, everything just... went.

I feel my breath catch in my throat when I let out a squeaky "Ah!" I look around the room. I think "Was that me?" My voice sounds like a kid's.

I must have stood there frozen for a good minute or two, not looking but slowly coming to realize something happened to me. Shrank me. Changed me. I am having, like, a total out of body experience. Except I'm in somebody's body. I get into an alert stance in case they come back, whoever they are.

But there's nobody.

I hear nothing. I see nothing. Just the parts of my own body that are visible to myself surrounded by an otherwise empty room at the Inn, the same one I fell asleep in. I see "my" thin little hands, which are skittering across the keyboard as I type this. The dainty little feet at the bottom of sticklike legs. There's something else different too. A few somethings.

I raise my hands slowly to the collar of my crew neck tee. I shut my eyes as I let my fingertips examine over the fabric, smoothing out over my chest... which has taken a distinctly rounded form, confirming what I figured would be the worst case scenario.

Immediately, like being shocked, I pull them away, arms in the air like a criminal who's been caught. I start to pace. I am not prepared for this, but who could be? My heart starts racing as I place my hand idly over my mouth and feel a jaw that is smooth and slight and lacking any growth of stubble.

I don't want to, but have to go to the bathroom mirror and see my reflection.

It's a girl's face that greets me. After catching the first glimpse I can't even look anymore. There's a stranger in the mirror and I feel somehow exposed for even looking at her. I decide to be an ostrich and stick my head in the sand, because if I can't see it it's not real. Something happened, something changed me into another person.

I know I'm still alive so I take stock of my situation. My clothes, the ones I went to sleep in - a tee and boxer shorts - are hanging off me, which means this strange body's lower half (which I was frightened to even consider having) is in danger of letting my shorts slip right off. I grab a towel and wrap it around my thin waist. "Hello?" I call out, trying to rasp my own voice to disguise its girlish quality. "Anyone there?"

I poke my head out the door of the room, cautiously. There's nobody in the halls.

I weigh the options. Do I start knocking on doors? Do I ask for help or see if anyone has a clue what has happened to me? Should I worry about being seen like this? What do I even tell them? Has it happened to them? It's moot, though. There's nobody here.

Everybody has left the Inn and I'm alone. Cars are gone from the parking lot. Whatever happened, they must have known about it, and I wasn't in on it, so wherever they went... they went together. Quickly.

Suddenly, my confusion mixes with anger. Who did this to me? Why? What did I do to deserve this? And for God's sake, how?

So I've written all this and it's helped put my feet on the ground, but I'm still anxious to figure out my next move. I'm eyeing that luggage in the closet and I sense it's there for me. When I decide it's time to make my next move I suppose I'll investigate. For now I just needed to take a breath. Somehow writing this makes it all seem less insane.