A disease spreads with very severe symptoms. Fortunately, it is very easily cured. The main character becomes sick, but they don't take the medicine and recover naturally. They're not the same as they were before. - Lynn(mod) - writing-central

Days ago Mark was lying on his death bed, he knew he had the disease. The symptoms were showing, high fever, cold sweats, sore throat, coughing up blood, the list went on. He knew it could be easily cured but he didn't have the money to pay for it, working two jobs to barely make ends meet. But miraculously he was able to recover. He didn't question it, he had to work tonight to cover for the days he took off to recover.

He went to work like any normal day at a little diner. It was tradition on every Friday night to set the mood for all workers to dress as if it were a high class restaurant, baristas, servers, everyone was in formal wear. Today Mark was working as one of many waiters, the diner had supplied their staff with their uniforms for the evening. When Mark walked through the front door, he was greeted by his coworker, Alison. But it wasn't the typical greeting, oh no it wasn't normal at all. She was blatantly staring at him. Mark shrugged it off and made his way to the backroom to change his attire.

Minutes later just as he was stepping out of the employee locker room. Alison was standing there in front of him blocking him from leaving. He raised an eyebrow at this, "Is there a problem, Alison?" His shift was about to start and he couldn't afford having anything go wrong. His employer was very gracious to give him those days off last minute. "Have you looked at yourself in the mirror recently?" She asked without missing a beat.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mark replied confused and slightly offended. She sighed and grabbed his hand, pulling him back in the room. "Hey!" Alison dragged him to the employee only bathroom, quickly turning on the lights she pulled him to stand in front of the mirror. "What's this all about?" He asked looking at Alison, not even sparing a glance at his reflection in the mirror. Frustrated she reached up and took his chin in her hands, forcefully turning his gaze to the mirror. He didn't see anything wrong at all, it only made him more confused. He removed took hold of her wrists pulling her away from him, "I don't get it. Is this some kind of sick joke?" He was easily becoming more frustrated by the second.

"No! I saw it, I swear to god!" Alison yelled back, she sounded honest enough. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm down. He loosened his grip on her wrists, Alison immediately rubbed them. Once he was finally calm he spoke to her again, "Explain, what did you see?" He put his hands on her shoulders as he made eye contact with her. It was her turn to take in a deep breath, she closed her eyes as she did this. When she opened them again, she was met with glowing ones.

"There it is again!" She pointed directly at his face and this time he looked into the mirror. His eyes were no longer the dark brown they were normally, they were glowing bright blue. Fuck. He blinked really hard and hoped they went away. As he slowly opened his eyes again, they were their normal color. He let out a breath of relief. But it was far from over. He looked towards Alison, "See it's all good." He grinned.

She shook her head, this time pointing at something behind him. He didn't think it was possible, but he craned his head to look at his behind. He grew a bushy tail! Immediately he's spinning around in circles trying to catch it. Alison is in a fit of giggles, Mark looks like a puppy chasing it's own tail. Finally he stops, but only because of how dizzy he has become. He grabs onto the sink to steady himself. "Ugh."

"Hey." Alison calls for his attention, "Were you out sick the past few days?" He scrunches his eyebrows not understanding the correlation but nods anyways. "Experience any symptoms like high fever, cold sweats, or you know coughing up blood?" He slowly nods again, "What does that have to do with anything?" Alison sighs, "You didn't get medically treated, did you?"

Mark turns his whole body to her to give her his full attention,"No ..." He speaks hesitantly, "Why?" Alison clenches and unclenches her fists, showing Mark her claws. "This, you and I are the same." She retracts her claws and steps closer making Mark back up against the bathroom wall. "Lycans." She whispers in his ear.

"What?" He flabbergasted. A werewolf? But he's been a human his whole life. "I can see the wheels turning in your head. You see, it's not a disease actually. Everyone is a Lycan a birth. It's just not everyone can handle the transformation phase. The people who get treated are merely delaying the inevitable and actually making the chances of surviving slimmer." Alison says taking a step back. Mark looks at her in awe, "How do you know all of this?"

"That's a story for another time." She winks, just as they hear their manager bangs on the bathroom door. "Come on, we have to get out of here."