Meghan walked into the house all alone. She sat down on the couch, put her legs up on the coffee table, and sighed. She wished Julia hadn't run away, she had a whole afternoon to herself now. Lucy wouldn't be home from college for another two hours, Grace was staying at a friend's house, and Zoë and her mom were running errands. Maybe she shouldn't have turned down Eric and Murphy's offer. Still, it was irresponsible to go to a practical stranger's house, even if you loaned them beer.
I think I’ll just go on a walk, Meghan thought. She grabbed her backpack and went up to her room, grabbing a jacket from her closet. But it didn't quite fit right. It felt a little... small. A little tight around her neck. And her pants. They felt a little tight around the hip and butt area. It was barely noticeable, but still. Shaking her head, Meghan grabbed a new jacket, changed into some sweats (careful to leave the tooth necklace on) , snatched her house key off of the nightstand, and started off.
Despite the sun, the mid-September afternoon was chilly, a premonition of the undoubtedly cold winter to come. Meghan's family lived on the outskirts of a large city, about two miles from the main drag. But today, she wanted peace and quiet. So she headed directly across the street and into the paved path through the woods. It was rather foresty around Meghan's neighborhood, and the woods were full of paved hiking trails for walking, biking, and jogging. The trees were still green, but the cold had brought out a few stray autumn-colored leaves. Birds called. Crickets chirped. Frogs croaked. The forest was alive around her as she walked.
Suddenly, something snapped in the forest off the Meghan's right. Her head snapped over to the spot where the sound came from. It was a short but steep slope, leading up to a line of trees. It snapped again, and she felt the sudden urge to follow the sound. She left the path and jogged up the incline, sneakers slipping on the wet grass. She reached the top and saw a field of brown, dead grass, with houses on the far end of it. A dog was standing in the field, panting. A red collar was around it's neck, tags jangling. It barked happily and bounded towards Meghan, obviously wanting a pat on the head.
Meghan felt a wave of anger wash over her. This creature wanted undeserved love and attention. What had this lazy, dumb animal done to deserve her respect? Her eyes suddenly flashed, becoming yellow with black slits for pupils. She felt her fingernails pushing out, growing into sharp claws. She slashed in the direction of the dog. It jumped back just in time, the claws missing it's tender face by a few inches. Whimpering, it's tail dove between it's legs and it turned tail, running in the direction of the houses across the field.
The prey was getting away! A thick, snarling, animal noise droned from Meghan's throat, no human in it at all. She opened her mouth and let out a loud, animalistic roar. She leaned back, then started sprinting after the dog at a full sprint. The dog looked back and saw the rapidly-animalistic girl running after it. It let out a yelp of fright and ran faster. Meghan felt her clothes grow tight and something pushing at the seat of her pants. It squirmed it's way down her pant leg like a worm and tickled as something furry grew all over it. Her clothes grew tight and she felt her ears shift. Her shoes were straining as her feet lengthened and toes shortened and merged into three-toed paws. The same thing was happening to her hands, but in a less severe sense. She was halfway across the field when she felt pressure on her face and something appearing at the front of her vision, but she pushed it into the back of her mind. The only thing on her brain right now was prey. Running down and devouring the prey.
The dog was running frantically across the field, a good 50 yards from the safety of his master's front porch. He looked back one last time and yelped in pure terror. An anthro lioness was running after him in the field, her yellow eyes glittering like amber in the sun. This pushed him over the edge, and pure animal fear took over. He ran as he had never run before, and reached the porch a good two minutes before "Meghan" did. He yelped in fright and scratched at the door frantically.
His owner, Ms. Rosewood, was in her late 30's and had very bad eyesight. She couldn't see more than three feet in front of her without her glasses. So when she heard her dog scratching at the porch door so frantically, she jumped off the couch without grabbing them. She ran across her kitchen and threw open the door. Her dog dove into her arms and whimpered, shivering, fur bristling. "Hey, boy, what's the matter?" she asked soothingly. "You look like you've seen a ghost!" She looked out her door and saw a yellow-colored shape running towards her porch.
Meghan's enhanced feline eyes spotted the human in the house. That drove every thought of prey out of her mind. She let out a feline yowl of terror and, unsure of her feline-like legs and paws, tripped, falling on her side and tumbling in the grass. The changes quickly reversed themselves as she tumbled, until she landed at the base of Ms. Rosewood's porch steps, panting.
"Were you chasing my dog?" Ms. Rosewood yelled from the door. She got up quickly and marched out, seeing Meghan at the bottom of her steps. "Meghan Davis? Is that you?" she asked in an angry tone. Meghan quickly got to her feet and backed away. "No... you don't understand...I...." she looked at her hands, but they seemed alien and foreign, like she was in someone else's body. "I'll have you know that I'm going straight into my house to call your mother about this behavior. I expected more fro..." Ms. Rosewood's lecture was cut off my Meghan's whimpering and tears running down her face. Then she screamed loudly and ran off across the field towards the trail. Ms. Rosewood watched her go, speechless.
Meghan walked a long time to think over the... thing that had happened to her in that 90 second run across the field. By the time she felt comfortable enough to go home, it was twilight and the sky was dark gray, verging on navy blue. The first few stars had come out. She opened the front door and was greeted to her mom, standing by the threshold with a cell phone up to her ear. She quickly shut it, put it in her pocket, and yelled, "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? ME AND YOUR SISTERS HAVE BEEN WORRIED SICK ABOUT YOU! NO NOTE, CELLPHONE AND BACKPACK STILL HERE, WE THOUGHT YOU'D BEEN KIDNAPPED! AND AS FOR..." Meghan simply walked past her and up the stairs towards her room. "WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING, YOUNG LADY? WE STILL HA...." her voice was cut off by the slamming and locking of Meghan's door.
She went to her desk and stared at the frat house across from her window, at the deserted back deck and hot tub. About twenty minutes later, there was a knocking at her door, but she continued to stare at the house. Five minutes later, the knocking stopped. Meghan got into bed soon after, falling into a troubled, dreamless sleep.