Una's Unexpected Transformation

I'm unaware how long I've been sitting here. Perhaps that is the intention, after all. I can't say that I am certain when it started. It never ended, so I could have had my head down for days...

A shrill buzzer pierced through the fog of my thoughts. My head shot up as if it were on a string, following the sound towards its source. A woman stood in front of me at the end of the aisle, her back turned to me as she rummaged through her purse, her heels clicking against the tile flooring. She had not seemed to notice that I was sitting next to her.

I looked around slowly. The train was dimly lit and empty except for the two of us. Every seat was turned to face the wall, and there were no advertisements or signs anywhere. I was certain that I recognized this train line, but it was hard to tell with all of the twists and turns it took as it wove its way through London's underground system. And yet, there was something about this spot that made me uneasy.

My eyes stopped on a small piece of paper that rested on top of the seats in front of me. It had been folded into a neat square, and a word had been hastily scribbled across it in black ink: Una!

I reached out slowly to pick up the paper, watching carefully to make sure that the woman hadn't noticed me yet. Her purse rustled loudly as she dug through its contents. She must have forgotten something important if she was willing to travel all this way without checking her belongings first...

I unfolded the paper carefully and held it up in front of me so that she couldn't see what I was doing. My heart nearly stopped when I read what had been written there: Una!!

The exclamation point filled me with dread. How could someone know my name? Was this some sort of prank? Who would want to play such a cruel joke on me?

"Una?" The woman said suddenly from behind me, her voice piercing through my thoughts like a knife threw butter. My head whipped around again at lightning speed--far too fast for my neck to handle--and pain shot through my head like an electric shock. Stars danced across my vision before everything went black...

When I woke up again, we were still on the train together. But things were different now; everything had changed--especially myself. I sat bolt upright and sucked in a sharp breath through clenched teeth as pain shot through my spine once more, sending jolts down both legs and arms before finally subsiding into dull aches throughout my entire body. I could feel my heart beating erratically in my chest as I took stock of myself: everything felt different somehow; lighter than before, but heavier at the same time...

"What... What happened?!" My own voice shocked me; it sounded strange to my ears! But why?! My blood ran cold when I saw that my hands and arms were covered in bandages stained with blood! Had someone attacked me while I was sleeping? And who could have done such a thing?! And where did they go?! Had they hurt anyone else besides me? Why didn't they take anything!? Were they even human...?

"Oh! Well thank goodness you're awake!" The woman said brightly from beside me before clapping her hands together gleefully and pulling them apart again quickly, "I thought maybe you'd be napping forever!" Her words rang out unnaturally loudly in my ears, making them ring painfully for several seconds afterwards--and yet she spoke so casually, oblivious to any effect she might have had on me! There was no way she could be so insensitive! Or maybe there *was*... "It must be nice getting some shut-eye every once in awhile!" She continued cheerily as if nothing unusual had happened at all! Could she be pretending not to notice how uncomfortable I felt?! Or how strange things sounded!?