You trudge home, your head full of disjointed thoughts. Somehow, you have to hide this from everyone: your friends...well, there weren't any yet at school, so that wouldn't be a problem, and most of your old friends are busy at their own schools, so it's not like you'd see them for a while. But what about your family? Your mother, your little brother...As long as you were wearing some article of your clothing you would be fine, but what if something happened and you had to go to the doctor? What kind of horror show would that be?
You sighed as you plodded up the steps and opened the front door. You could hear the game show on the television, probably where you little brother was sprawled out with a book or some other activity. You stepped into the kitchen and saw the note on the kitchen table: Dinner's in the oven. Love you! Apparently your mom had already left for work. That was one problem solved, or at least, put off until a later date.
"Hey, sis," Leo says over his shoulder as he looks up upon you entering the living room before immediately going back to his homework.
"You know mom said no TV while doing homework," you frown a bit, not really angry but trying to act normal.
"It's just a game sheet," nine-year-old Leo says in a slightly whiny tone, "They don't give real homework on the first day of school."
"Fine," you reply, too distracted to care, while Leo happily goes back to alternating his attention between the TV and the paper. "Finish up before dinner, I'll be down in a bit."
You head upstairs to your room, and after a thought, lock your door. Leo normally knew better than to bust in on you, but better safe than sorry. Dropping your backpack, you walk over to the mirrored doors of your closet, take a deep breath, then slowly begin to remove your clothes. As you unbutton your shirt, yeah, there it is under your bra, the suit in all its glory. It wasn't just a bad dream. Crap.
Removing the last of your clothes with a deep exhale, you watch the suit quickly creep across your skin and face, converting you into...something? A chimera? A mutant? Finally getting a chance to really see yourself, you're not really sure what you are. You have bits and pieces of various animals, just like the suit looked. Triangular pointy ears at the top of your head, kind of like a cat or fox. A furred face with a slight muzzle, the only thing you could compare it to was really, the wolf-man. You even had fangs in your mouth. You still had a shock of orange hair, but its texture was more fur-like. It reminded you of a lion's mane. Grayish-blue scales patterned across your chest under the weird jumpsuit bit, which was flat now that you no longer wore a bra, giving off a lizard-y vibe. Before you could inspect any more, you hear the clock downstairs chime. You know you normally cannot hear that from your room...must be the ears, you gloomily think. Hurriedly putting on your t-shirt and shorts, you again see the suit completely hide under your clothes, as if it was a creature with a mind all its own.
Dinner passes uneventfully, although you spend most of it ignoring Leo's prattle about his day at school. You are not usually so cold to your little brother, but luckily your disinterest doesn't seem to faze him. Finally, Leo is cleaned up and tucked into bed, and it's your turn to take a shower. You take a deep breath and step into the bathroom.