When her alarm woke her up the next morning, Jon automatically reached over for the snooze button. Her arm, however, seemed to move in the wrong direction, stretching out more in front of her. Not only that, the bed felt so much bigger than before; her groping hand could not even feel the end of it. As these details sunk in, she cracked open her eyes.
Paws? Somehow, her head had been resting on a pair of large paws. Slowly, she tried to shift her arms to push herself up. In response, the paws started to move, and Jon's sleep-addled brain finally made the connection. These were her paws!
Jolting upright on her bed, new unfamiliar sensations bombarded her: the odd angle of her limbs, her horizontal posture, fur all over. And were those wings? Frantically, she jerked her head this way and that, snatching glimpses of her new body. The form revealed to her was so monstrously alien to her that the fact that she was now female completely escaped her.
In the end, her mind could no longer take the confusion, and her accumulated panic ripped from her throat in a strange roaring scream that vibrated the walls of her room. Instinctively, she leapt from the bed, wings unfolding to increase her distance.
SLAM!
She hit the opposite wall face first right above her cabinet, scattering books and paraphernalia all around. Her paws, claws extended, scratched at the surface as she tried to push away. Then, her wings began to beat. With their added lift, she took a few steps up the wall, made a mid-air turn, and shot across her room, veering wildly.
CRASH!
The door of her closet buckled and snapped in half from the small, solid body hurtling into it. At last, the young sphinx managed to stop her wings and slump to the ground. Jon's wings thankfully had escaped injury, but she had sustained quite a few bruises and cuts. She could also feel a nasty welt forming by her left eye. Stars swam through her vision, and she fell into a pain-induced stupor.
"Jon!" Her mother, Laura, stood in the open doorway, having run in to investigate the noise only to witness her child's final collision. A breath later, she was at her side. "Jon!" She sobbed. "Are you alright?"
To her immense relief, Jon stirred from her torpor. Lifting her head, she focused on her mother and whimpered, "Mom, what happened to me? I'm " She fell silent at the sound of her voice. Laura only held her tighter, knowing that her new daughter had a very difficult adjustment period ahead of her.
Zoe and Mikey came running. Both of them gaped at the scene of destruction before them.
"Zoe, call the hospital. Jon's had a bad accident."
The girl nodded and raced off to get her phone. Her younger brother just continued to stare. "What happened? Is Jon gonna be okay?"
Blinking away her tears, Laura mustered up some strength for her children. "Your brother will be alright. He she just caught the virus, and her changes were very extreme. Go get ready for school. I'll see if you can get a ride with one of your friends. I'm going to have to stay with Jon today, at least until she's calmed down."
Meanwhile, Jon lay trembling in her mother's arms, her mind consumed by a single thought. What am I?
