Life As Ono

Ono?

A familiar voice called out from the darkness.

I followed it along, blindly touching metal bars to get up. I felt groggy. I couldn't remember much. As I got up, I slipped on something slimy - a banana.

I fell to the floor as memories came clouding back to me.

I did my best to hold them. But, tried to remember:

A video. A recording. The project. My project. The drive. That long drive to a place. The place; my place?... I paused before getting up again.

Then remembered it:

Safe Haven.

I gripped the bars again.

"Ono? I hear you. This way." The voice continued. There was something so familiar about it.

I pulled myself back up, carefully this time. My head tapped something that felt like a ceiling of some sort, so I couldn't fully stand upright.

In a crouched position, I prepared myself to take a few stops forward.

Once I got up, I felt something heavy shackled to my foot. It felt heavy when I inched forward to move.

The shackle hit the bar and a sound came: CLANK.

"Ono!" The voice yelled, pulling my attention forward.

I stammered toward it, one foot at a time, in this crouched position.

Once I got a few steps in, it didn't seem so tough. I thought about myself as though I was in a maze of some sort, I must've been playing some silly game like hide and seek and got lost.

As I continued onward, I squinted to see a light flickering in the distance. Excited to reach the end, I started to pick up my speed, and hurried myself toward what seemed to be the exit.

"Ono," the soothing voice felt so close, so soothing, so familiar... And in that moment, a light flickered on, then off. On and off.

Then a jolt on the shackle around my foot, which sent me to the ground.

A light turned on for a flash, showing a familiar smile, and that voice came close as it softly said, "Oh Ono..." and I faded off.

* * *

The next day, I awoke. This time it appeared to be daylight, but I didn't know where I was.

"The subject must be willing, the girl's papers say. Boss says this counts as she came this far," A voice said to someone, both of whom I could not see.

I blinked a few times to catch my barrings. Where the hell was I?

A slot of a machine was rung and something came falling into a bucket. It smelled.. Good?

I didn't know how long I had been out but I was absolutely starving. I walked over and, without being able to see, started munching on something that felt like pellets in my hands but absolutely amazing to taste. Like the cereal I was never allowed to have as a child - sugary and filling. I felt out of sorts but also okay, in my own state of being, and rolled down to go lay down with a stomach full and a head fuzzy.

A jolt. Darkness.

"Oh Ono..." Were the final words I heard, as my mind drifted to black.

I awoke to the sound of hay. I didn't know how long it had been. The familiar sound of a machine whirring came. Pellets poured out into a familiar bucket. I must've been out for a while, because I was absolutely starving. A trough of water hung nearby. I was so thirsty, I ran from bucket to trough on all fours, feeling weak.

"Ah, look who's finally awake..." Said a voice in the distance. "Looks like somebody has been hungry, huh?"

I looked toward the sound, trying to find where the voice was coming from. But it was so dark. A red light insinuated a camera was above me perhaps, but I couldn't be too sure.

"Aw, Ono. Sweet thing. Are you confused?"

I was confused. Completely. I just kept looking around, my mouth stuffed full.

"Let's raise this," the voice continued. "You, come here get this risen."

Just like that, a sheet of sorts was raised, letting in so much light I hadn't seen in what felt like forever. I felt blind. I reached around, trying my best to adjust my eyes. Reaching forward, I felt the metal bars and grabbed hold.

"Give her a moment. How many months has it been?"

Months? I wondered to myself. It felt like a few days. But then again, I kept finding myself knocked out. What was going on?

As my eyes adjusted, I started to see, blurry at least to begin. I peered to see metal bars in front of me, and the bright light coming at me. I could barely make out who was on the other side, clouded in light like some holy image, in the shape of what appeared to be a man. The frame of him made it look like he must've been wearing some sort of a coat - a lab coat, perhaps?

Ouch, I held my breathe as I felt something injected into me.

"Well done, men. Give us a moment," the man said, footsteps suggesting people were walking away. I shook my head, things becoming a bit... Clearer.

I was in a cage, or so it seemed. The man was walking closer. All of this was a lot to process at once, I wasn't sure how to react. Had I gotten lost? Did I put myself here? Where am I?

Just as I began to question and anxiety ensued, the man came close enough for me to see - it was him.

"Ono, Ono, Ono..." He began, pointing his finger. He had a smirk spread across his face. "Now, how are we feeling today?"

I shook my head, still confused. But I was starting to feel more in my body. But something was different from before. My long hair didn't fall and shake from side to side like it normally did. Rather, it felt like I had hair but it wasn't moving. Did he, did I, was my hair cut?

"You seem confused. Here, let me help you." He dragged a large mirror that rolled to his side. He placed it in front of me, but the glare of the light threw me.

"Look forward Ono."

On cue, as commanded, I looked forward. What the hell was I looking at? In front of me, in this mirror, was a beast. Covered head to toe in what looked like fur or thick hair. All that I recognized of myself were my blue eyes. The rest of me was just... hair. Short, tufted hair. My stomach had gotten fat as well. I wanted to scream but I was paralyzed. This had to be a joke, a hallucination, a dream.

"Hypertrichosis. It worked, just like your research said. But we decided to take it a step further, so long as you were a willing participant," He explained, motioning toward the bucket, now empty, that I had scarfed those pellets from. "We've been injecting you with a DNA serum every day - that of a monkey. Well, an ape to be exact. And, in that food and water, we've had a manufactured virus to control your hair growth cells to give you Hypertrichosis."

This had to be a joke. I tried standing up, to jump forward, to release myself, but I found myself in an awkward, crouched position. I moved my hand to grab the bar, only to notice it was leathery, thick... Not, not normal. I wanted to cry when --

The sound of a peel. Something in me, not me, some inner part of me instinctively was intently focused on this. It was like a trigger. The peel continued, focusing my attention.

"Oh, do you want this?" The man said in a cruel, mocking way. But I did. I wanted it. It's all I wanted. He came closer, and immediately I saw it, what I craved: A slightly peeled banana.

"Get it, Ono" the man said, reaching it toward me. But my arm couldn't reach. My instinct took over, and I pushed my leg out. My foot, or what once was a foot, moved through the bars. It grasped the banana with ease, like another hand. As I pulled my leg back with it, the man pet my leg. As I moved my leg back toward me on the other side of the bars, I caught sight of this in the mirror. He was petting me. My naked, fur covered body.