Nate looked over himself. No changes yet. He let out a deep sigh. Clearly this wasn't going to happen again. There was a knock at the door.
"Hey honey, you want to come watch some t.v with us?" asked his Mom.
"Sure," replied Nate. He stood up and went downstairs, joining his mom and his brother. Nate sat down in his favorite seat, the recliner and started watching the show. As he became more and more engrossed in the show, he didn't realize the subtle changes that were happening to him.
His mom looked over to him and smiled. She noticed his five o'clock shadow. "Oh wow, honey, I think you need to start shaving."
Nate's heart leapt for a second. He tried to remain calm. "Really?"
"Yeah, I'll pick you up a razor tomorrow." She turned her attention back to the T.V.
Nate slowly looked down at his hands, seeing his fingernails slowly growing out into sharp claws. He calmly got up and walked out of the room.
He ran upstairs and into the bathroom. He closed the door behind him and flicked on the light. He checked out his reflection, seeing his teeth were already starting to grow out into fangs. His ears grew out into lupine points. His mind raced, what was he going to do? His mom expected him to go back downstairs but he can't now. The stubble was growing out into actual fur at this point.
He heard a knock on the door downstairs. Great, more people, thought Nate. His mom answered the door.
"Hello, my name is Kathryn. I recently moved in next door. Can I come in?"
"Of course," replied Nate's mom.
Nate opened the door to the bathroom a crack and listened.
"Nate brought over that delicious pie yesterday and I wanted to say thank you."
"Well, you're quite welcome." replied Nate's Mom.
"And I also gave him a treat as well..."
"That's fine." Nate's Mom gave a re-assuring smile.
"The thing is, it was a special kind of cookie of mine. I'm a witch. I don't know if you believe in magic or not, but it was a shape-shifting cookie and I don't think he understood what it would do to him." Kathryn looked concerned.
"I'm sorry, did you say you were a witch?" replied Nate's Mom.
"Yes, that's right. Normally I don't go around talking about that, but in this case it's important for you to know so you can understand what's happening to your son."
"I really don't understand, I'm sorry."
"Where is Nate?"
"Upstairs, why?"
"Nate, could you come down here please?" asked Kathryn.
Nate took a deep breath and stepped out of the bathroom and slowly walked to the stairs. He walked downstairs into the sight of Kathryn and his Mom. His mom cried out at the sight of her son, growing fur, claws and fangs. He noticed his brother had joined his Mom at the door.
"Hi mom," replied Nate, his voice several octaves lower.
"What have you done to my son?" cried out his Mom.
"It was his choice. And he seemed to be enjoying it last night."
Nate's Mom turned back to him. "Really?"
"Really. It's not so bad." Nate absently scratched an itch. He sat down on the steps.
"I think it's awesome," replied Kris.
Nate watched as his Mom walked back into the other room. Clearly she was not dealing with this well. Nate looked down as his furry, paw-like hands and couldn't help but feel almost a little ashamed. He could feel another round of changes coming and both he and his brother watched as his feet stretched out and reformed into digigrade paws.
"Gnarly." Kris was grinning ear to ear watching his brother turn into a werewolf.
Kathryn stepped forward. "Nate, if you want..."
"No," growled Nate. "I'm okay. I'm liking being a werewolf. No matter what."
And with that, the changes accelerated. His fur grew in long and thick, his chest barreled out and his face pushed out into a snout.
"Wow." Kris was impressed at the transformation.
Kathryn smiled at the sight of the newly transformed werewolf. "If you ever change you mind, you know where to find me."
Nate's Mom walked back into the room, seeing her son fully transformed and couldn't help but smile a little. He looked both fierce and beautiful. Kathryn looked around and felt things would be all right.
Kris looked at his mom and said, "I know I said I wanted a dog, but this is even better! My brother is a werewolf!"
Nate let out a loud howl.
"Com'n Nate, let's go have some fun!" Kris ran to the back of the house. Nate leapt over the bannister and landed on the tile floor with a thud. He quickly followed. "A bunch of kids are playing night games tonight and said I couldn't come. They're gonna piss themselves when they see you!"
Kris threw open the back door and they both ran into the night.
Nate's Mom turned back to Kathryn. "This is going to take some getting used to..."
"You'll be fine." Kathryn gave her a hopeful smile.