More Than Human

My skin began to itch one day

and I thought nothing of it.

I scratched for some relief,

but it persisted. Days

marched in file until they 

became weeks. I began 

to scratch harder and harder

until I drew blood. Soon, 

even that was not enough. 

One day I began to scratch 

past the pain of the blood, 

my skin began to crack 

at my arms. A black sheen 

peered back. I pulled my skin 

only to see more and more 

of it underneath. I touched it
and felt a furred luxuriousness.
I tore at myself until I could see
a pile of skin at my feet as
my body felt the ecstasy of relief.