The Warning whose lyrics are used as part of this work was written by Nine Inch Nails All rights reserved Nine Inch Nails.

I included the entire song lyrics in the story, in order, without changing a word. I just added 'context'.

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Prologue

I looked down at the summons. I knew what my ex-wife wanted, she wanted more money. "Well if she wanted more, then she should get a job and earn it," I thought angrily. "It's a good thing I got rid of her. She was a leech, spending all my money when we were married. Now we're divorced and she still wants my money. She isn't getting more. She should be getting less. Wait...what's that?"

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Some say, "It was a warning!"

Some say, "It was a sign!"

I was standing right there. When it came down from the sky.

The way it spoke to us. You felt it from inside. It said "It was up to us...up to us to decide. You've become violent, this keeper of this host. We been watching you with all of our eyes, and what you seem to value most."

It was some sort of flash of light, or was it just a flash of understanding. I didn't know what it meant. Something was giving me a choice notwithstanding.

I just didn't know what. Not that I wasn't up to the task. It wanted something out of me, I just wished it would be more direct and ask.

"Decide? What was I supposed to decide? I made decisions in my job that effected lots of folk. None of them thank me for it. I should be paid double." If it wasn't for me, they'd all be broke.

"...So much potential, or so we used to say. Your greed, self- importance and your arrogance, you piss it all away."

I wasn't the only one who turned to look, when I heard a wail. I saw a woman in her forties, well dressed, pretty, just a little bit frail. She crumpled to the ground. Her thumb smeared with lipstick from when she sucked it moments ago. She tossed her shoes, thrashed about which put runs in her sheer pantyhose. She was on the verge of exposing herself, not that she cared anymore. Most of her worries were completely gone. All she wanted from now on was a full stomach and a rear that wasn't sore.

She was weeping. Eyeliner stained tears rolled down her cheeks. Sobbing like a infant, I could hear her loud shrieks.

I took a step towards her. I could see the tears. Her eyes were vacant. There was a look of her intense fears. But also an innocence to them. It was like a toddler who woke up in the middle of the night. An infant who didn't know where her mommy was. You couldn't blame her for her fright. A puddle was slowly forming beneath her. It was breaking my heart. I wanted to help her, but I didn't know where to start.

The announcement continued unabated, that I cannot deny. I tried not to hear, "We heard a cry. We have come to intervene. You will change your ways and you will make amends. Or we will wipe this place clean."

The weeping woman reminded me of when my Mommy allowed me to assist her. When she allowed me to help take care of my little sister. She is only two, but sometimes I saw her have a look like that. I'm thirteen now, I think I'm old enough to babysit for the little brat.

As I moved closer to the woman, I saw something that I couldn't understand. "This isn't like right, they are so big and hairy. I'm a girl in junior high school, this shouldn't be my hand." Once I noticed my hand, I couldn't help but to scrutinize my sleeve. I'm wearing a men's suit jacket, that is what my eyes perceive. I wasn't wearing a suit today, not when I left my house. Mommy insisted I wear a dress, or at least a skirt and a blouse.

My Mommy would never let me wear pants to school, I told her I wanted to dress like my friend. But now that I was wearing a man's suit, I wished that this nightmare would like just end.

"This is like so totally grotty. It's like something my dad would wear." I shouldn't have said it out loud, not that anyone would care.

I'm different now. The voice said, "You will change your ways."

My body had changed, my clothes too. If it wasn't happening to me. I would be amazed.

I had forgotten that I could use my phone to see what I looked like. My large hands instinctively flew towards my face. I was hoping to find the smooth skin of a middle school girl, but in its stead I found a beard in its place.

"Like, this isn't me!" I thought as my hands dropped to my chest. "Before hardly developed now they're like gone. They were like totes my breasts."

I realized something else, when my hands dropped towards my waist. I knew I had something there I never had before, I knew what had been replaced.

The voice was gone from my head too. I couldn't feel it anymore. For me the curse had just begun, leaving me a life I would have to endure.

There wasn't anyway for me to know, that the message I felt was scripted just for me. Others got a different directive that they wouldn't like. If I knew I would guarantee..

For others the feelings in their beings continued. Soon they would have to pay. For me this is just the beginning. As for everyone else, "Your time is tick-tick-ticking away. Your time is tick-tick-ticking away. Your time is tick-tick-ticking away. Your time is tick-tick- ticking away. Your time is tick-tick-ticking away. Your time is tick-tick-ticking away..."

I knew my time was up, a final decision had already been made. I don't know what I should have done. I don't know where I strayed. Mommy told me 'I'm a good girl,' She says I'm a good girl most of the time. Maybe if I was always a good girl? Maybe if I knew my crime?

I couldn't help myself. I BEGAN TO CRY.