Delirium

Delirium

Lynx had always had a vivid imagination. He began to suspect that he had more than just an overactive imagination when he started seeing girls near his home and in his school. He didn’t go to an all boy’s school or anything, so seeing females wouldn’t normally be strange. But this was different, it wasn’t the fact that they were female; what caught his attention, was the fact that they were not human

Lynx’s hallucinations; which he really believed they were, kept appearing with more frequency. As he saw them more often he noticed different things about them. His first shock was that they were humanoid, just not human. Anthropomorphic. It took him three days to find that word, which perfectly described these beautiful figments of his imagination. One, a wolfish looking girl with grey fur, always seemed to notice him, but just to look right through him. Determined the not see him. The other, a fox with whitish-yellow fur and what looked like multiple tails, seemed to see him an often would smile.

The only person he felt safe to confide in was his girlfriend, Lucy. She was the only one he felt would not judge him. Or try to commit him.

“I don’t know! It just seems that every time I turn around, one of them is there. One looks right through me, as if she sees me, but doesn’t want to. The other one just smile’s at me. At least I think it’s a smile.” He exclaimed to Lucy in exasperation.

“Baby, I don’t know. Maybe you’ve just been working to hard studying for the finals next week.” She said in a smooth, comforting tone, wrapping her arms comfortingly around his shoulders.

“Maybe, but I don’t think so. It started before I even started thinking about the exams. But, maybe you’re right. Please don’t tell anyone about this okay? I don’t need everyone thinking I’m crazy. Well, crazier.”

“Why would anyone think you’re crazy?” Lucy asked with concern.

“People think I’m crazy, because I’m dating you. I must be sick in the head.” He quipped with a mischievous grin.

“You bastard!” she laughed, hugging him tighter.

One of the reasons Lucy is able to placate Lynx so easily is because she is anything but ugly. Standing about 5’7’’, with an athletic build and a strong figure, most guys at Lynx’s school were justifiably jealous. Her other features only seemed to compliment her figure, long jet black, perfectly straight hair ran down to her lower back. Her breasts were large, but not ridiculous. About a high C-cup, and showed no signs of sagging. Her dark hair seemed to brighten her sea green eyes to the point where they nearly glowed when she looked at you. Lynx once commented that her eyes seemed to bore into your soul.

Lynx looked like the perfect complement to her. At about 6’2’’ he stood just a head over her, and with his athletic build, they looked like the perfect couple. They pretty much were.

Lucy knew he was not convinced, so she tried to make him happy in the best way she knew how. The first time they had sex a year ago, when he was 16 and she had just turned 15, Lucy had tried to use sex as a way to become closer to Lynx. Not just physically, but emotionally as well. They had been close before, perhaps it was because they were each other’s firsts. But now they were nearly inseparable, and she knew how to make him happy, even without sex. But she wanted to have some fun as well.

During the next week at school Lynx tried to push the anthro girls from his mind, and he almost succeeded. He saw less of them until Friday afternoon. It was the last class of the day. He thought to himself almost done, if I can make it through the day I’ll have gotten over my craziness. It almost worked. Until,

“Hi! I’m Becca.” Said a voice from behind. He turned to respond in kind.

“Hey I’m- oh my God!” he gasped in surprise. “You- your- you are,” it was fox girl, in the flesh talking to him.

“God? Well, no. I’m Becca.” She laughed at his reaction. “Who did you think I was?”

“To be perfectly honest, a figment of my imagination.” He replied, proud that his voice did not waver.

“Well no, I’m not but only you can see me. Other people just see another regular girl. Only you can see me for who I really am.” She replied.

Lynx was in no way prepared to deal with this revelation, or the consequences that would stem from it. All he knew right now, was that he needed medication, and fast. He looked around; searching for some other confirmation he was loopy. A purple dragon sitting at the desk next to him perhaps, or maybe his teacher sprouting wings. Nope, everything was normal, except, obviously, Lynx.

“Okay, let’s just assume that this really is happening, and the men in white coats are not going to cart me off to the happy hotel. Why can only I see you?”

“Well, we don’t really know. Very few people can see us and most that can are institutionalized, or just try to forget us and blame it on stress or bad mushrooms. Trust me; you are not crazy, just different. We would really like to know why, that’s why we have made ourselves known to you. We can hide ourselves, but we knew you could see us, so I’m here to ask a favor. A really big favor.”

“You keep saying we. Who is we?” Lynx asked with caution.

“My sister, Gracy, and myself. She is the other, uh, person like me you have seen.” She replied.

“Gracy, you mean the wolf girl? Her name is Gracy? And for that matter who are you, really? Not just your names.” He asked again, now come, now completely overwhelmed.

“Our people have walked beside yours for thousands of years. As I said very few people can see us, but some can. We have unintentionally influenced your people for millennia. The Egyptian god Anubis for example was based on one of my ancestors. We are very similar to humans, and yet so different. Our people have worked, played and even married with yours. But now, there are so few of us left, there is little hope for my people.” She said, with such great sadness and bitterness in her voice that Lynx began to believe, and to pity.

“You said you needed a favor?” Lynx asked with more than a little trepidation.

“Yes, well. You need to meet my sister before we discuss that.”

“Okay, where is she? Actually, I’m not sure I can handle any more of you showing up. Oh, too late.” He sighed resignedly as Gracy walked over towards them.

She was about to speak when the teacher told us that class was over, if we hadn’t noticed and we needed to take our conversation outside. Lynx was so grateful for the intervention of another fully human person it must have shown on his face.

“Are you alright dear?” my biology teacher asked, concerned.

“Yes Mrs. Carlson, I’m fine. Just tired.” He said with absolutely no conviction.

As Lynx finished speaking Becca grabbed his hand and lead him outside to the parking lot, then to his car. Lynx was relieved that Lucy was out today at a doctor’s appointment as she usually rides home with him, and he didn’t feel up to explaining this to her yet. Hell, he couldn’t even explain it to himself.

As they stood by Lynx’s car Gracy outlined how their people had been living alongside humans for centuries without incident. She spoke of how their numbers had dwindled over the years to the point now where there were so few that they were in serious danger of extinction.

“Wait; is there some disease that makes you sterile? Is there some reason the birth rate has declined so much as to make you an endangered species?” he asked, trying to make sense of all he was hearing
.
“There is”, Gracy continued, “there are no males of our species .There never have been any. The only way we can reproduce is by mating with a true sighted human male. There are few of those left. We have scoured the world and found only four. The last three were unsuitable.” She said, staring at Lynx as comprehension dawned on him.

“Wait, you mean, that I, um, me?” he stammered, “You need me? This has got to be some kind of trick. Who are you, really?”

“We have not lied to you. We only ask that you hear us out and do not judge quickly or without thought. Can you do that?” she asked, deadly serious.

“I, uh, yeah. Yes, I can.” He managed to choke out.

They both looked him over carefully. Becca a.k.a. fox girl looking intently into his eyes, while it seemed that Gracy, a.k.a. wolf girl was looking him over as if looking for a weakness. After what seemed like hours, though was probably only a minute or two, they finished their inspection. Lynx wondered if he was suitable compared to the others, and how exactly they had failed the inspection.

“Is there a place we can talk? Privately?” asked Becca, back to what Lynx considered her normal bubbly self.

“Yeah, my parents are on a cruise for their anniversary. They won’t be back or a few days. I’m the only one in the house. But, Lucy will be there tonight at 7:00, and I really don’t know how to explain all this to her. She knows I’ve seen you, I felt like I could tell her and she wouldn’t try to send me off to the funny farm in a straightjacket. Was that bad?” he asked, now fearing he had really screwed up.

“No, it is not ideal, but not irreversible. How much did you tell her?” Gracy asked guardedly.

“I only told her that I had seen two girls that looked like, well, a fox and a wolf. She tried to write it off as exam stress. At least she didn’t think I was certifiable.” He replied, relieved he hadn’t caused to much trouble.

“Who is this Lucy?” Becca asked, “Is she your sister?”

“No. Lucy is my girlfriend. Why?” he asked, sensing a problem.

“It’s not really a problem,” Gracy replied, “It’s just that you know, even if you haven’t said it. You know why we need you. A human girlfriend could complicate issues.”

“Oh, yeah, I see what you mean. She definitely will not like this. But I need to tell her, we have no secrets from each other.” He said with more confidence than he felt. He knew he would tell her, even he was unsure as to how she would react. Seriously, how would your girlfriend react if you told her “Baby, I have to bang these two incredibly hot chicks because their part of an endangered race and basically I have to knock them up to save their people. You ok with that, honey?” Yeah. Lucy probably won’t react well either.

Lynx took a shaky breath to orient himself. He was home. How did that happen? Then he realized that while Gracy was talking he had subconsciously driven home. Glad I didn’t get into a wreck, he thought. He’d have enough trouble explaining all this to Lucy, much less explaining to a cop why he wasn’t paying attention on the road. “Sorry, officer. I was distracted by the two half woodland creature girls in my car telling me about the extinction of their race.” That would go over about as well as when he had to tell Lucy.

“Any thoughts on how to explain all this to my girlfriend, who by the way, will now be convinced that I am completely out of my mind?” he asked, without much hope.

“Well, we have a way,” Becca said slowly.

“Becca, quiet! I would really rather not do that. It can cause more problems that it would solve.” Gracy cut her off.

“What are you talking about?” Lynx asked, “Is there a way? Please tell me.” He looked at Gracy pleadingly.

“It’s just that, it may not convince her of your sanity. It may only serve to convince her of her own insanity.” She went on carefully.

“What is it? I mean, if it’ll make her go nuts I’ll talk to her on my own. But if it can help, why not?” Lynx inquired.

“We can show ourselves to humans who would otherwise not be able to see our true forms. We don’t do this often for obvious reasons.” Becca stated.

“You mean, she’ll be able to see, what I see. Fur, tails, and everything? That might actually work. But I can see why you don’t want to.” He said, still deep in thought about all he was learning.

“Lynx,” Becca said, he realized using his name for the first time, “We need your help. You said that you would tell her. I don’t want to stop you. But please, just think about how you should explain the situation. We need you. You are the only one who can save our people. You are literally our last hope.” As she said this she looked deep into his eyes, and reached out and took his hands in hers. “Our last hope.”

“Alright, tell me, what do I need to do.” He asked, resigned to all this craziness being real.

“As I said,” Gracy said nervously, “We need you to help us rebuild our race. We are not the last, but there are so few of us left, it might be too late for anyone to help us.”

Lynx got the feeling that Gracy was holding something back, but he could think of what she would be hiding from him. He knew what they were asking, but he couldn’t bring himself to admit it. Him? Lynx Connor, just another small town high school student, he was supposed to rebuild an entire race with these two incredibly beautiful girls straight out of a Japanese anime? How was he supposed to do that anyway? He wasn’t the smartest in his biology class but he knew three individuals did not exactly constitute a viable breeding population. But, he had to get it in plain English,

“You mean, you need me to basically rebuild your race. With you two? Okay, I’ll just come out with it. How the hell am I supposed to do that exactly? I mean, I know how. Just exactly how is that supposed to work? If I’m reading this right, three, or maybe two in this case, individuals does not make a breeding population. Besides, this is just a little, actually a lot, past weird so forgive me if I’m skeptical or just in denial.” He said, still embarrassed at what they were asking him to do.

“We know this is difficult for you”, Becca said soothingly, “but we have done a lot of research and discovered a way to create a larger population. The offspring of a true-sighted human male and one of us has two possible outcomes. It will either be another true-sighted male, or a female of our race. You are right, it will not be enough, but it will be a start.”

“Okay, just what exactly does that entail? I’m pretty sure that I’m schizophrenic at this point so say whatever you need to say while I go steal my mom’s Prozac. Oh, maybe my dad left the liquor cabinet unlocked.” He said, half out of an attempt to add humor to an otherwise very serious situation, half hoping they would confirm he was crazy and this was all a figment of his imagination. No such luck.

“You ask what that entails. I thought it was obvious.” Gracy said, somewhat condescendingly.

“Its okay, Gracy, he’s just overwhelmed. Understandable under these circumstances. Lynx, we need you to impregnate us to start a new generation of true-sighted humans, and us.” Becca said, trying to sound unemotional, but Lynx could tell she was making a great effort to remain in control. He could no longer keep from asking why they had both been getting tenser as their conversation continued.

“Why are both of you so tense? Other than the obvious reasons, what we’re talking about probably isn’t helping. But I can’t shake the feeling you’re keeping something from me. If I can help tell me. I’m already waist deep in this.” The he grimaced, “Possibly not the best choice of words.”

Becca and Gracy met each other’s eyes for a moment, having a silent conversation. Eventually they reached an also inaudible decision. They turned to Lynx, with an expression of trepidation and something else, fear, worry? The way they looked at him made him think that they had been hurt before. A deep emotional scar seemed more evident with Gracy, whereas Becca seemed more at ease. She either hid it better than her sister, or she had not been as painfully affected.

“I am not the first person you’ve asked to do this am I?” he asked, already knowing the answer. “The others like me, you said that they were unsuitable. What did you mean by that?”

“You are not the first we spoke to”, Becca said, losing some of her poise. “The others were unsuitable, not because they was anything wrong with the physically, or mentally. They were unsuitable because they did not pass our inspection. A few of them did not take the rejection well. They did not care about the plight of our people, all they wanted was sex. When I looked into your eyes earlier, did it feel like I was looking further? Into your soul, you might say.”

“Yeah, it felt like you could see right into my mind,” he said, the memory making him shiver, “it felt like I was a lab specimen under a microscope. To be perfectly honest, it wouldn’t offend me if you didn’t do that again, whatever it was.”

“That was our inspection. You passed, which makes you our last hope. We have searched the entire world, showing ourselves to true-sighted humans. We found only four. One in England, one in Germany, and two in America, you are the last. The two in Europe did not pass because of the sexually transmitted diseases they already had contracted. The other in America failed because of his sadistic, possessive behavior. He did not take rejection well. He tried to hold us prisoner, but we are not as helpless as we may seem.” Gracy said, with a hint of venom in her voice.

“So I passed? What exactly where you looking for? If I’m secretly a crazed axe murderer or if I’m the next Jack the Ripper?” he asked, trying to understand the pain that these two girls had been through.

“Something like that, also if you were responsible enough to undertake this endeavor. Only the most responsible humans are up to the task. That is one reason our race is so scarce these days, not every true-sighted human has what it takes. Our looks are not the only thing that makes us different from humans.”

“Oh, great. What else is there?” he asked not sure how much more he could handle in one day.

“We not only look different but our minds work in vastly different ways. To be blunt we can, to an extent, control the minds of humans that cannot see us. We can’t use this effect of true-sighted humans. We try to use this ability as rarely as possible because we don’t want to be invasive and controlling, it’s just not in our nature. We can place suggestions in the minds of humans, and then manipulate the actions and thoughts taken from that suggestion. It works best with eye contact, but it can be done without. You experienced what happens when we attempt it on true-sighted humans.” She said delicately. She was trying her best not to scare him too much. This was the most stressful part. They knew that this was a delicate subject. Many true-sighted humans were lost to the cause when they learned this. Some are unable to cope with that particular revelation.

“You can control people’s minds,” he asked, mortified. “You can make people do anything, against their will?”

“We can, but we don’t. Please believe me. We have the ability but have no inclination to use it unless we have no other choice. We ourselves have only ever used it once in all our lives.” Becca said pleadingly.

As Becca was speaking he barely heard her. He believed her, but was that because he really believed her, or was she lying to him and really controlling him? He couldn’t decide. Then, a strange thought entered his mind. Something that had not occurred to him before. How old were they? You really couldn’t just look at them and tell as with people. Their animalistic features made any age gauging difficult.

“You whole lives,” he said, barely comprehending, “How old are you two? I never even thought about it before, but I just can’t tell.”

“I am 24, and my sister here is 26.” Said Becca, grinning. “We don’t age at the same rate as humans, and our life spans are longer.”

“You’re in your twenties?” he asked, somewhat perplexed.

“Yes, we are. We’ve been looking for true-sighted humans since we were ten. It’s been a long and difficult search, but now I think it is finally over.” Becca said with an engaging smile.

“So you really think that I’m supposed to be the savior or your race and I’m going to repopulate your people? Maybe I’m not the one that’s crazy. What makes me so special?” he asked, unable to understand why they had chosen him, of all people.

“We have chosen you because we believe you have the best chance of saving our people.”Becca grinned, “And because I like you.”

“Well, thanks.” He blushed. To be honest he liked her a lot too. Though Gracy was a bit distant. But then he thought about Lucy wondered what she would say.

“Lucy!” he exclaimed suddenly.

“What time is it? Lucy will be here at 7:00.” He looked at the clock on the wall in his room.