Shit. I freeze. Staring right into Chris's eyes. He stares back, frozen.
He takes a step forward out of the bushes. I freak and let out a screech before grabbing my backpack in my beak and wildly flapping my wings, taking off in a matter of seconds. As I reach altitude, I whirl my head round to see Chris standing in the clearing looking up, sheer confusion and shock on his face.
______________________________________________________________________________________
I see my house and begin descending. Eyes keeping a lookout to make sure no one's around the vicinity. Screw it, I fucked up. No more morphing in public spaces, even if it's the roof of your own house. I stop on a branch nearby, spotting my room window. It's open. Good.
Swooping down into my bedroom, I drop my backpack on the floor and land on my bed. Can anyone peer into my room? I scan all possible vantage points from my window and find that no one can, my bed is angled away from it.
Eyes closed. Concentrate. Nothing happens. What the fu-? Try again. Steph, relax. Relax. He's seen you, it's too late. You won't get anything done if you don't change back. Relax. I keep telling myself for the next few minutes - a hawk with its eyes closed on my bed.
Soon enough, I feel warm and twitchy. Something's shifting inside. Good.
RGHRGHRGHRGHRGH RGHRGHRGHRGH RGHRGHRRHG
FUCK!!!
My phone vibrates loudly from my backpack, interrupting my focus and halting my shift.
RGHRGHRGHRGHRGH RGHRGHRGHRGH RGHRGHRRHG
It goes silent after that. I take a deep intake of air before it starts to tingle again. I keep my eyes open this time, too paranoid to shift without constantly looking out the window - afraid some nosy neighbour with a telescope might come across this.
I feel myself growing, frame expanding and lengthening, widening in all sorts of directions. Cracks and pops begin to become audible as I see my wings before me slowly grow longer and their feathers melt away, bones underneath reconstrue into my forearms, wrists, and fingers slowly emerge at the tips. It still hurts a bit, but it's gone from burning skin and muscles to just an uncomfortable stretch. My arms slide back into shape, fingers and all, before my entire torso squirms as my organs and skeletal structure speed up to get into formation.
Great. Looking down at myself, I see a human girl's body and arms coupled to a hawk's feet and talons and a-WOW!
My line of sight strays to my bedroom mirror and I catch a glimpse of my face. My blonde hair is almost at its full length, eyes still at the sides and very much hawk-like. Ears have begun taking shape at the side of my head. My beak is now a pliable stick of pale yellow as it droops down and begins to crawl its way into my face, fattening my head to normal size as it separates into my nose and lips. I look at my legs and realize it's almost human, toes almost forming.
Finally, my eyes begin moving back to their normal positions, changing colour and shape in the process from a deep gold to pale blue, my vision going blurry for a few moments as my human perspective comes back.
I'm on all fours on my bed, naked, and staring back at my own reflection. What have you done? What has just happened? I begin to feel sick and soon enough, tears are trickling down my face. I don't even know why I'm crying. Why?! I run to the bathroom and stare at myself, hoping that my 'cry-face' would be so horrendous I scare myself into submission from crying. It doesn't work, and I start to bawl my eyes out.
I really don't feel well. I don't know what happened in the last 15 seconds but I find myself head down on the toilet, puking.
____________________________________________________________________________________
I wake up, in bed. Please let what had happened be just a dream. It's 2.45am. I pause and try to recollect my thoughts. OK, I've missed dinner. I creep out of my bed, put on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt and sneak my way downstairs to look for something to eat. A note lies on the dining table.
'Darling, we knocked a lot but it seems you were out cold. If you're not feeling well, let us know in the morning and we'll drive you to the doctor.
There's a meatloaf in the microwave if you're hungry in the middle of the night.
XOXO Dad, Mum and Lisa.'
I smile to myself as I set the microwave to a couple of minutes and sit down, thinking. A lot. OK, skip class tomorrow. Or for the next few days. Let it die down before going back.
C'mon Steph! Really?! Chris just saw his classmate change! Transform! Morph! Pull a Professor McGonagall, except it's a bird! Things like that don't die down! Catching your friend giving a blowjob to another friend, that dies down. Not when someone conveniently shapeshifts. People don't do that! People don't change into animals!
DING!
I almost jolt out of my chair and momentarily lose my train of thought. Why is it so loud? Sitting back down and digging in, I start thinking of ways of how to approach Chris and the gang tomorrow. Oh God, the group. What if he told them?! He wouldn't. He won't. Plus, no one would believe him.
Before I know it, I've blazed through the entire meatloaf without even realizing it. I can't think like this, screw it. I head back to my room, brush my teeth and collapse into oblivion.
____________________________________________________________________________________
4.10am. Damn it! I've been asleep for only 20 minutes?!, I thought to myself as my eyes flicker open again. I turn on the computer, log on to Facebook and kill time till the first light of day decides to make its appearance. I come across the Facebook group for our class. Ah! Chris was telling me about how he wanted all of us to help volunteer, right? If I post on the group, all will seem normal. Hey guys! Stephanie's suggesting we all head down this weekend to help out. That could work, everything would go back to normal and Chris will probably corner me when we're isolated from the group. Or....
Stephanie?! Shit! Chris said he saw you change into an animal! WHATTHEFUCK? STEPH! That's so cool. Can you show it to us?! We promise to keep our mouths shut.
Yeah. It could go that way.
I scan the posts on the group. Nothing out of the ordinary so far. Lots of lecture notes courtesy of Rachel and Tobias. Hilarious memes by Daniel and Christine and Chris. Nothing about Stephanie Chapman being able to change her shape into a hawk. Yet.
I log out and turn on my hard drive. Load up episodes of Dexter and watch till it's 7.15am.
___________________________________________________________________________________
"Morning, darling.", Mum chirps as she's setting the table down for breakfast. "We missed you last night, everything alright?".
I'm not a very good liar when it comes to my family members asking me questions.
"Yeah. Need help?", I reply confidently. Ish.
"Honey, if you're not feeling well, stay home alright? We'll drive you to a clinic soon.".
"No, it's OK, Mum. I'm fine, good. All good.".
"Morning everyone!", as Lisa sits down at her spot and pours herself a cup of juice before filling everyone else's.
"Good morning!", as Dad strides in and takes his seat.
"Everything alright, dear? You were knocked out pretty badly last night.", as Dad takes a stab at his pancakes.
"Yeah, I tried knocking too! Was about to come smashing through", adds Lisa.
"Yeah, was just way too tired last night. Sorry", I say as I meddle around with my food. The pancakes are wonderful but I don't seem to have an appetite.
"Sure?", Lisa asks from across the table.
"Yeah.".
Silence except for the sounds of forks and knives banging about.
"So! If anyone's interested, George is inviting all of us to his place for dinner this weekend.", Lisa says.
"Who's George?", questions Mum. She doesn't have that disapproving face just yet.
"He's....uhm...a friend.", Lisa shyly replies. It's not fooling anyone.
"OOOO! Now why haven't we met this George person, honey?", chimes Dad.
"Well, we're not that close yet, Dad.".
"George?! What happened to Paul?", Mum adds. Damn. Even I seemed to have forgotten about that name.
Lisa rolls her eyes. "Ugh, we were never official. We went on just two dates and he wasn't my type.".
"Does that mean that you and George are....official?!", Dad squeaks. "Lisa! Now we most definitely have to meet this George guy!".
Lisa blushes a shade of crimson red. "Well, yeah, soon. Why don't we head to his place for dinner, then? His family seems cool.".
"His family is already inviting Lisa and us over. Looks like this is getting serious.", Mum adds, subtly teasing Lisa.
"Mum! Stop!". Lisa looks so red now it seems as if she'll begin bleeding if she blushed any further.
All this while, I've been relatively silent. Laughing and smiling occasionally but nothing more, my mind obviously in a different place. We finish breakfast and begin making our own ways, Lisa to school, Dad to the diner, Mum stays put and I, to university.
"Need a lift?", Dad asks as he's backing out of the driveway.
"Nah, I'm early, I'll just take my bike. Thanks anyway!".
"So, I'll see you at the diner around 4.30pm, then?".
"Yeah, sure! 4.30, it is. See you!".
____________________________________________________________________________________