I watched as my skin glowed with an unnatural purple hue. I knew my time was limited.

I gradually brought my fingers to my neck. I could feel my head pounding as I stroked the jagged scales in place of the familiar smoothness of human skin. The scaly texture sent uncomfortable jolts through my body.

I had changed. The exposure to the point of incident had finally caught up to me.

But don’t we all change? Familiar comforts had been second nature. The self from younger years only bears some familiar features to the self from present day. Isn’t it the enduring human heart, the grounded sense of belonging that mattered?

Change wasn’t the issue. My stomach lurched at the thought that I could only watch as I lost the ability to connect with other human beings.

Strange skin. Foreign textures. Unnatural silhouette. All were barriers that stood between me and society. I had seen the manner in which people treat the Tainted: the hushed whispers, the closed doors, the fervent abuse.

Avoiding their gaze, holding my tongue, and nodding in faux agreement, all had made me complicit.

Now that such a fate had befallen me, things would surely be no different. I would be part of the after-dinner talk, part of the other that was blamed for all things wrong in the world.

I could feel the imminent day society would rescind my right to be viewed as a fellow human being.

I would be Tainted.