A Self-Study Within A Broken Mind

“Hey,” I said the next night into the library. Lila was sprawled out on top of a bookshelf, these no longer filled with lessons of my life. They looked empty without books, but it was now the digital age, and the stories remained on the laptop downstairs. “Oh, hey,” Lila sat up on the bookshelf, legs hanging off each side. “You’re back like you said. I didn’t expect you to be here the next day.” “I feel a strange need to apologize to you,” I said. “But don’t,” she replied, lifted her leg over to join the other and jumped off the height to land gracefully. “I did what I wanted to do.” “Even without beast rattling around inside me, I took advantage,” I said. “It’s fine,” she said. “And let me know if you’d even feel like trying it in the female form.” I tried to picture it, rubbing our backs together at random. Then I tried to picture how a human female and Lila could engage in sex, much to confusion. There would be a lot to figure out before it could be pleasurable. “I was wondering if ...

I came back to the library on Monday morning to find Rebecca and Finn waiting for me. They both sat reading books, but when she felt a tingle, her fingers snapped for Finn’s attention. Just as predicted, Finn had no such alert in his mind, as he was once in my mind. They both pretended to keep reading thinking I couldn’t see them. Rather than phase into what felt like a trap of some sort, I set a few of my own. The carpet was now a quick-cloth pit and a few bookshelves had hidden arms that could grab someone. With that, I phased in plainly. “Oh, hey, Jack,” Rebecca took my attention first, but I turned to lock eyes with Finn who had a grimace on his face, almost apologetic. “Hey,” I said. “What’s going on? You both feel tense. Wh-” “Ahh!” A voice behind me yelped out as a person sank into the quick-cloth trap. Another leapt from between two bookshelves, but wooden branches caught his arms and legs. The carpet had the former all wrapped up in cloth, but I knew who it was from the yel...