Mary probably would have continued playing around in the tree's limbs for hours, if she hadn't heard the someone calling out from below. Pausing in her revelry, she peers through the branches back down to the trail. A woman stood there peering up at her from behind the wooden fence.
"Hey!" she called, "Are you alright up there?"
Embarrassed and shaken from her climbing fixation, Mary slowly climbed down from the tree, trying to avoid her gaze the whole while. She reached the bottom branch, hanging from it for a moment before dropping down and rolling, somewhat gracefully, before standing up. To her horror, the woman had followed her progress and had walked to stand near her tree on the trail.
"Oh, don't mind me!" Mary said uncomfortably, quickly walking to stand behind some tall grass near the fence, shielding her strange feet from view as the woman approached. "I was just..." she trailed off, not able to find a satisfying way to explain her mad scramble up the tree.
"Having some fun?" offered the woman, tilting her head slightly as she looked up through the branches.
"Haha yeah," said Mary awkwardly, rubbing her neck before getting a proper look at the woman.
She was short, around 5'3", and of Asian descent. Her dark hair framed her pale face quite nicely, stopping just past her shoulders, and her warm brown eyes caught the light of the morning sun. She wore a simple outfit comprised of an unzipped denim jacket over a white tank top and a black pair of leggings that clung tightly to her slim legs. On her feet were white sneakers, equally white crew socks stretched out from them, stopping a third of the way up her calves, leaving a small gap of skin between them and her leggings.
"I've been trying to get into better shape, wanted to see if any of my working out paid off," she said quickly, settling on a story.
"Sorry if I startled your workout," the woman said sheepishly, "I just don't often see many people on the trail this early, let alone people climbing trees!"
"It's no problem," Mary said. "I should actually be thanking you. I should stick to the gym and not the treetops!"
The woman chuckled softly and smiled. "I know we're not supposed to leave the trail here, but I won't tell anyone. I had just gotten back to my building when I got kind of an emergency call, and I ran over to the trail to take care of it in private. Once I was done I heard a lot of rustling in the trees, followed the sound and...voila!" She gestured at Mary.
She peered more closely at Mary for a moment. The slowly changing girl was suddenly worried that her increasingly simian appearance might have become noticeable, but then the woman pointed through the trees in the direction of the nearby aparments, where Mary also lived. "You look familiar. Do you live around here?"
Mary suddenly remembered the woman. She lived on the same floor as her, and Mary thought she was very attractive. But she had never found the courage to ask her out. "Yes, we live in the same building."
"Of course, now I remember," said the woman. "My name is Jane, by the way. Jane Chang."
"I'm Mary, " she said. She had reached the gate, opposite Jane. She extended her hand, and Jane shook it.
Jane though that Mary was cute too, and had thought about asking her out herself. However, she had just been too preoccupied with work lately for any other kind of relationship. Besides, when she had occasionally seen Mary in the hallway, she seemed a little cold and distant, avoiding eye contact. Meeting her up close now, she realized that she was just really shy. Before Jane shook her hands, she hadn't noticed how large they were for the woman's size. Mary's palms seemed a tad wide, her fingers long and the fingernails were thick with a slight black sheen. But she was a nice girl, so Jane tried not to stare.
"What was your emergency?" Mary asked, quickly clasping her hands behind her back, trying to look relaxed.
"Well, it was a work thing. I work as a veterinarian for a living, and I'm supposed to be off today, but sometimes there's an issue at work so important that they need to consult me about it. Happens at all hours unfortunately."
As if on cue, her phone began to ring. "Not again. Probably someone. Sorry I'm going to have to leave."
She paused for a moment. "Oh! Before I forget, I think this is yours. It fell down as I was walking up." Jane held up Mary's black beanie.
"Ah thanks" Mary said, quickly snatching it and returning her hand to behind her back.
"Thanks again for coming down to chat, "said Jane. "It's nice to be able to talk to a neighbor."
The woman paused, steeling herself, "I-If you ever want come over sometime, I'd be happy to hang out," she said in a rush.
"I might just do that," said Mary with a smile. She turned and looked to the apartment complex. Jane noted that she appeared a little anxious.
"Well, you know where I live. Come over anytime," said Jane again with a warm smile that only faltered when her phone rang again. She grumbled to herself, turned and walked back to the apartment complex.
Mary waited for Jane to disappear along the trail before letting out a sigh of relief and allowing her arms to hang at her sides. She looked at her feet; they appeared even larger now, and her toes appeared thick and long, halfway to being fingers. Her big toes looked even more so like thumbs than when she had started climbing the tree. Her toenails were much thicker and appeared as if they were covered in black nail polish, matching her fingernails. There was no way her sneakers would fit now. She grabbed her shoes and quickly ran home, curious to see what other changes were in store for her.