The Transformation

It is 10:00 AM. I just woke up from a late Saturday night and I let out a yawn as I began to get dressed. Slowly, I start to notice an odd sensation all around my body. I began to grow thick hair all over my body, and minute by minute, I looked more and more like some furry creature. In a state of panic, I tried to open my door to go take a look in the mirror. The door was locked. I began to lose strength in my lower back and I started to hunch over. A thick tail emerged from my back as I frantically tried to reach for my phone. Using my newly developed paws, I scrambled into my contact list as I called my mom. She picked up thankfully and said she was on her way home. 

While I wait for my mom to open the door, I pace around the room, marveling at the clicking noise that my dirty paws make when I walk across the floor. Finally, I give up and take a nap on the carpet. An overwhelming feeling of tiredness takes control of me and I find myself snoring for the next few hours. When I get up, I realize that I desperately need to pee. Knowing that it could be awhile before my mom lets me out, I go right on the carpet. 

Finally, after another hour, my mom opens the door and looks at me in disgust. Initially, I thought I was a cute house dog, but after my mom’s reaction I realized that I am far from that. She yelled at me and told me to leave the house. Whimpering, I escaped into the bathroom while I watched my mom throw my carpet in the garbage. I wasn’t particularly fond of this since it was a carpet that I had in my room since I was seven years old. In retaliation, I let out several barks which seemed to only make matters worse. My mom ran into the kitchen, grabbed the broom and pushed me back into my room, before shutting the door firmly closed.

I let out a sigh of hopelessness and sat down. As I sat in my room, my natural predatory instincts began to act up. My mind was out of place and I was suddenly filled with a desire for killing. It wasn’t even due to my hunger, I simply just wanted to hunt a bird or a squirrel perhaps. There was nothing in my room to satisfy my desire. Just a bookshelf, a drawer and a closet were available for me to explore. My favorite book was Matilda by Roald Dahl, and I stood on my hind legs  in order to snatch it from the 4th shelf. Right when my paw got a hold of the cover, all of the books on the shelf came crashing down on me. There was nowhere to run, nothing to protect myself with, I just had to hope that nothing struck me. I simply wanted to read my book, but now there were books strewn across the tiny room, giving me no space to move around. From there, I began the process of pushing the books into the corner of the room, and making a space for me to lie down and take a nap. I was hit with a wave of tiredness that consumed every inch of my furry deranged body. 

It was a long night for me. My fur had fully come in and I began to realize what I had become. My sharp teeth glistened in the light from my desk lamp as I yawned and my breath reeked of old food that I had never eaten. The fire in my soul was kindled with a desire to hunt and destroy. Part of me was completely fine with this conformational change as I had craved a drastic change in my dull life. For years, I had been living in the city of Atlanta, doing the same things everyday and carrying out the same chores for my single mom. The other part of me was scared. Scared for the possibility of never being able to return to my human body again and the idea that my mom wouldn’t be able to receive my help. With all of these thoughts, I lay my head down on the floor and drifted off to sleep. 

In the morning, I heard the morning birds chirping and I immediately got up. After hours of thinking, I realized that no matter what, I first needed to escape my dreadful room. While the door to my room was not locked, my new wolf paws were not capable of turning the knob. I tried over and over again, all without avail. Even if I was able to turn the knob, there was no way that I would be able to create the friction to pull it backwards and open the door with the limited space behind me. I needed something else to help me with this task. I thought back to physics class and the times when I was still my human self. The topics of friction and surface area all started to come back to me, one by one, until I felt as if I could ace the AP test all over again. As I searched around my room, and managed to find a purple rubber glove that I use every year when we move the Christmas tree in or out. The prickly needles and the sappy trunk make it so difficult to hold with bare skin. Using my new mouth, I delicately picked the rubber glove and made my way over to the door. I went up on my hind legs and placed the socket of the glove over the knob and contorted my body so that the glove twisted around the door knob. From here, I pulled back on the edge of the glove with all my might while jumping into the air. With a stroke of luck, the door swung right open. Feeling the fresh air for the first time, I bolted out the door. I went out into the living room and into the kitchen. That’s when I remembered Jasper. 

Jasper was our dog when I was a human and we took good care of him. We spent nearly 10 years together and he was beginning to grow old and tired. He barked at me as I approached him. I was disappointed that I was not able to understand him as a wolf but I was more disappointed that he was barking in the first place. He only barks at strangers that enter the house or dogs that he doesn’t like. In dismay that he no longer recognizes me, I made my way into the kitchen for some food and water, things that I had spent a long time without. The only option for me was to drink from Jasper’s water bowl, as I realized the limitations of being a wolf. I wondered where my mom was and why she wasn’t home. Surely she wouldn’t leave Jasper all alone at home for such a long time. After hours of pacing and crying, I walked back into the den of my room and collapsed. 

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