It was in the midst of an overcast when the man in the dark coat came. He appeared from the corner of the street, his bulky somber shoes treading down the colorful chalked sidewalk as extensive clouds spat out beads of water onto the damp pavement. He walked continuously even when the low drizzle exploded into an outburst of crystal droplets. Four small children around the age of five were amusing themselves with moss encrusted rocks and dead beetles wedged in the miniscule cracks alongside houses- all belonging to an opulent neighborhood. A girl with ginger hair, orange freckles and dark blue glasses sitting atop a cute button nose was furiously punching in characters on an old white flip phone.
In a slow, cryptic manner, the man made his way to the exuberant children. His face was covered in a thin layer of soot and greasy brown hair matted was across his forehead. Heavy bags sagged under his hollow eyes. Although his face was of utmost disarray, it was only a small part of his slovenly appearance. He lifted the small ascot hat from his slick hair, revealing a filthy, unkempt face in the light, and a jagged scar ran across his brow bone and down to the tragus of his ear. Under the soot, he seemed to have a ruddy complexion. His crack- lipped smile masked the malevolent personality underneath.
From the outside, the man was a good- natured, poverty- stricken person, but on the inside lay a creature inclined to cease the existence of all human beings- young and old. His plan began on this very day as he lured the children into his hands and made them something far from human.
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He stood before us in a thick black coat and grey hat covered in grease and bird feces. The man  smelled of spoiled milk and smoke. Colby, Chrissy, Megahn and Jack were standing closely around me, their faces filled with perplexity and their small bodies tense with distress. The man’s stiff face adjusted to a softened to an affectionate expression.
He reached into one of the many pockets in his dragging black coat and pulled out five round balls of candy. It wasn’t a generic candy, like Jolly Rancher or Life Savers. Before I could stop them, the kids popped the candies into their mouths. I tried to get them to spit it out, but they paid no heed and consumed their treats with relish. I, however, inspected the metallic red sphere of hard candy in my hand. It was wrapped in gold cellophane and when I unwrapped it, a strong scent of noxious chemicals entered my nose. I glance up to see the man’s lips curl into an ominous smile and at that moment, I knew it was a ruse.
It definitely wasn’t the time to feel contrite about not having the sense to refuse the candy, because the contaminated object that had entered the kid’s systems was now taking action. The kids collapsed on the wet concrete and violently convulsed in an odd manner. The man pulled out a syringe containing a pellucid pale yellow liquid. I had to get the kids out somehow; pulling them was no use. I tried carrying Meghan and Colby- they were the lightest ones- but their hysterical jerks could not be tamed. Without thinking, I rushed into Jack’s unlocked house and shut the door tightly behind me. A cacophony of deafening shrieks filled the hushed ambience of the neighborhood.
There was an unearthly silence followed by a faint chant. It was an inaudible high -pitched chorus ringing reiteratively, produced by what could have only been children. I looked out the window to find not children, but feral beasts staggering past chalk drawings and tennis balls scattered across lawns. As they got closer, I realized that their lips formed one distinct word over and over: Fiona. Fiona. Fiona. 
The soft chanting of my name soon developed into a harsh, insistent cry. I couldn’t bare to think what had just happened, that they weren’t human anymore. I didn’t know what I would say to their parents. I glanced over again at the perturbing face of what used to be Meghan, Jack, Colby, and Chrissy. The man had depraved them and made them into disfigured beings. Their eyes illuminated like electric blue lights, and gold markings spiraled down their spines. Grey, bare backs were arched over to unveil labyrinthine veins that radiated a deep red color. Their teeth bulged out, long and razor-edged, gnashing with animosity. Heads swelled to ten five times their original size, and they advanced on rawboned legs.
The slight unease that had been bubbling inside me to a growing fear. I panicked as their angry hands clawed vigorously at the door. The paint on the door was quickly scratching off and soon, the wood itself collapsed into a pile of shredded chips. One by one they entered the house, leaving me no time to run or conceal myself. A sticky liquid ran down the creatures’ sculpted chins as they bellowed viciously. I’m going to die, I thought as their tongues dangled in hunger. I stared at them in shock, for I was about to be eaten by degenerate forms of five-year-old children. A horrible sobbing escaped my lips and a piercing pain entered my chest, accompanied by an incongruous sound of an object thrusting into my gut.

I wake to find myself embedded into a foam mattress, designed specifically to fit my scrawny frame. A light arches over my face, lightening my pale freckled face. I look around to find a handful of other people dazed and confused as I am. Several men in long black coats walk around to inspect liquids in glass vials and screaming patients. That’s when the memory dawns me: I was taken here by the man in the dark coat and the children who have turned into foreign brutes. The memory seemed so far, and now it was sinking further and further into the depths that could not be reached. I look around and the memory has completely vanished. Some patients had staid expressions; others had gone completely berserk - their veins enlarged and bulged out for their necks and sharp shrieks echoed constantly as workers hastily pace across the aisles of the lab and inject a honey-colored solution into patients’ arms. The psychotic patients roll around and pull on their restraints for hours until they are tamed by pills and potions varying in size and color. I wonder if that will be my future.
Day and night I notice subtle changes in my face and body. My knotted hair falls out in clusters and my jaw aches for no apparent reason. I have no memory of my past life and no control over my emotions. A translucent tube connected to my arm draws out blood and cleans out my system of all bacteria. I am fed a diet of thick white stew with raw duck heart and foreign tree nuts as well as bread with soft yams. Soon, I get skinnier and skinnier, having no appetite for the repulsive nourishments. Although my empty veins show grey from having all the blood disposed, I’m still alive. I live off a chip implanted to my brain to control how my body works. The eyes I once had was bright green and lively, and now they are a dull silver, hinting a sea-blue color. One day, I even notice my vision warping the image before me.
Men dressed in black coats and slick grey gloves roll my bed into an operation room and lankier, more feminine creatures enter from an alternative entrance. She lays out a tray of silver tools before me, making in unequivocal that I am about to be cut open. A searing pain perforated my neck and the room spins in irregular circles. Then I drift off into a heavy slumber.

A cold collar braces my neck as I wake up on the same hospital bed once again. A pounding headache rages inside my head. A sudden surge of energy rushes through my gaunt legs, giving them the ability to run countless hours nonstop. The monotonous days slowly go by, and with every hour that passes I find myself more and more in a delirious state. Sometimes I mutter awful things to myself, other times I scream at the top of my lungs to eradicate the pain inside my entire body; but the unbearable pain only gets worse. I thrash around on the mangled foam mattress, but the restricted space it gives me only raises my hysteria. The workers come yet again, but this time to take me away for good. They carry me away from the battered piece of foam covered in blood and saliva while speaking rapidly in an unintelligible language, one that I will soon understand.
I’m taken to another room, this one adorned with files and formulas, all of which contain an incomprehensive wording. On a small scale table is a light yellow pill and a tall glass of water, both resting on a metal tray. One of the men in coats pushes me harshly in the direction of the medication, indicating for me to ingest it. I refuse the water and swallow my medicine whole, and I am instantly altered into a hideous beast, with crazed blue eyes and milky-white teeth honed to be razor-sharp. I have a distorted figure, and my cheeks are defined with an ashy substance.
I will never again be able to know or feel happiness. I will never again know sunny beaches with crystalline waters or memorable family vacations. Love, sadness, joy, and anger are all feelings that I once knew. Life itself has been declared history. I can only sit and dream about the life I once had.
Because all of that is gone.