Turning Red

Chapter 4: Panda Problems

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Mei gasped as he suddenly woke up from his nightmare. He glanced around as his vision slowly came back into focus.

...

"Mei-Mei, are you up?" His mother called, as she made his porridge with a smiley face in it. "Breakfast is ready!"

She placed the porridge on the table along with a box of donut holes. Jin reached for one, but she smacked his hand away.

"Hey! No sugar."

...

Mei placed his feet on the floor on his slippers, not noticing that his feet were now giant furry paws, that completely flattened the slippers when he stepped on them.

"Coming!" He groaned. The top of his head grazed his ceiling light.

He exited his room and went across the hall into the bathroom.

"Mm, porridge." He hummed.

He let out a giant yawn before looking in the bathroom mirror. Only, he didn't look like himself. He bent down to get a full view of his face, which no longer resembled a human, but a giant red panda.

...

While his parents were eating breakfast they heard Mei let out a scream and slam the door. They both turned to look over in concern, and Jin snuck one of the donuts in his mouth.

...

Mei was breathing heavily as he looked at his reflection again in disbelief.

"This isn't happening. This isn't happening!" He told himself as he squished his big furry cheeks.

He looked down and noticed his belly was a lot bigger, and he looked behind him at his bushy tail, and placed his hands on his head and felt two pointy ears. When he raised his arms, he suddenly smelt something off. He moved his nose to his armpit and sniffed, before he gagged in disgust.

He looks back at the mirror and started hitting his cheeks. "Wake up, wake up, wake up!"

"Mei-Mei, is everything okay?" Ming asked from the other side of the door.

"Don't come in here!" Mei shouted, turning around. He accidentally knocked some stuff off the counter and knocked some pictures off the wall.

...

"Mei-Mei, what's going on, honey? Are you sick? Is it a fever? A stomach ache? Chills? Constipation?"

"No!" Mei whined.

"Wait. Is it...that?" Ming realized. As soon as she said that, Jin froze behind her and slowly backed away around the corner.

Ming grew nervous. "Did the...did the peony bloom?"

"No!" Mei answered quickly. "Maybe?"

Ming gasped. "But it's too soon! Don't worry Mei-Mei. I'll get everything you need. Mommy's here."

Ming backed away from the door and ran into a room.