Running Free [COMPLETE]

2. The Change

Twigs snapped under Eliza’s feet with each step she took. The chilly spring air felt great on her flushed, bare skin. She was halfway home when it registered that she was naked.

“What happened,” she whispered into the dark. Her brows knitted close as she tried to piece everything together. Her brain seemed to slosh in her skull, still covered in the inky black that rose from the depths of her mind. Images flashed of watching paws dig in the ground, scratch up trees, trying to reach and run after squirrels.

“Was that me? Did I have…?” She looked down at her hands. Her fingers caked with earth. She shook her head and tried to focus on getting home.

Home.

It was dark and who knew how long she had been out. Her mother would flip to see her walk in so late and naked through the front door. No, she was going to have to figure out how to get into her room on the second story without anyone seeing her in this state.

It wasn’t long when her feet finally felt the soft ground of her well-worn path and she soon found a pile of her tattered clothes. Her cell phone tossed aside and earbuds nowhere in sight. She picked up her phone and headed to her backyard.

It wasn't long till she finally reached the tall grass in the far side of her backyard. Eliza hid in the shadows, trying to see if she could find a way to her window without anyone catching her. Her eyes picked up on the rain gutter leading up next to her open window. It was a pure coincidence that she had left it open before she left, but she thanked God that she had.

A twinge of doubt fluttered in her stomach as she crept towards the house. Would she be able to make it? She wasn’t known to be the most agile, but her only other option, at the moment, was to walk through the house and scare the living daylights out of everyone once they caught a glance at her current state. So, with uncertain hands, she placed her cell phone under one of her arms and began to search for a suitable grip for her hands and feet, but she couldn’t find any and would quickly slip at each attempt.

Standing again, she looked up her window. She was so close. The soft curtains waved out into the wind. If only she could jump and catch the windowsill. That is when the pitch-black darkness dripping in the folds of her brain compelled her to do just that, jump.

She crouched down low, cell gripped in one hand, she kept her eyes on her flowing drapes and pushed herself up. Her window came right up to her face and she gaped dumbfounded at the sight. I didn’t know I could do that, she thought as the window began to slowly move away from her.

Snapping out of her revelry, she reached out with her free hand and grabbed the windowsill before it was out of her reach again. Her body slammed into the side of the house and she pulled herself into her darkroom. She heard her back door open a few moments later and her mother call out.

“Eliza? Is that you?”

Eliza had her back against the wall next to the window, catching her breath. Instinctively knowing that her mother would begin looking throughout the house for her, she slipped into an oversized sleep shirt from her dresser, tossed her phone on her bed, and ran to the bathroom just down the hall. She quietly closed the door, taking care to make as little noise as possible before locking the door and pressed her back against it.

She could hear her mother walking up the stairs calling out, “Eliza? Is that you in the bathroom?”

“Yeah! It’s me,” she called back, quickly rushing to the bathtub and turning on the shower. “I’m just gonna take a quick rinse and probably head to bed.”

“Are you ok? I was starting to worry when it got dark and you weren’t home from your run,” her mother spoke from just the other side of the door.

“Oh, um, yeah. I ran into Debbie after my run and I ended up just hanging out with her for a while,” she lied.

“Oh,” she paused, “Ok. Well, just next time could you call me to let me know? Just so I don’t worry?”

“Sure, mom. Sorry if I upset you,” she said trying to sound as normal as possible. Even though she was low key panicking at that moment.

“Ok, Honey,” Her mom sighed out as Eliza heard her footsteps go down the stairs. Once her mom was at a safe distance, she let out a long sigh. She made it back without getting in trouble or being seen. Mission accomplished, she thought as she stood and faced the bathroom mirror.

Steam had begun to accumulate on the upper edges of the mirror, framing the reflection that stared back at Eliza. Where there were once sharp edges and lithe, childlike features, now were replaced by soft curves and perfect feminine shapes. She ran her hands over her hips. They had become so supple and wide. Her chest had easily grown at least a whole cup size and her limb had the graceful curvature of maturity.

She wiped the gathering steam off the mirror and leaned in to look at her face a bit closer. Her over dilated eyes had changed to a golden hue, the black pools of her pupils filled with the inky black that had saturated her brain. Her features no longer looked disjointed next to each other. They were now in flawless symmetry and, matched with her glowing tawny skin, Eliza looked unbelievably amazing.

It was all still Eliza. At first glance, one could say that she might have simply put on a pound or two in the right places, but it was on closer inspection that someone could see her otherworldly flawlessness.

She took a step back and looked at ALL of herself. Drinking in each inch of her new body. Falling in love with what she saw.

A smile danced across her face as she showered and laid in bed that night. She couldn’t believe the change, but she wasn’t about to question something so good. She just hoped that tomorrow at school, no one questioned it either.