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It was early in the morning when John had finally woken up. He stretched in his bed, sitting up. John had started to wonder what time it was because he didn’t hear anyone else up. He decided to get up and go get some coffee. Maybe he needed to clean his face first. He hadn’t bathed in a few days so maybe he could at the very least wash his dirty face. He went over to the barrel full of water, ready to clean his face. But when he looked at his reflection, something had startled him. He could’ve sworn he had just seen two ears on his head. And not the two ears that he normally has on the side of his face (which were still there).
He grabbed the rim of the barrel and peered into the water to look at his reflection once again. When John looked in, he was right! He did have two ears on top of his head! In fact, when he looked into the water, the new ears seemed to flatten against his messy dark hair in confusion. It was like he was some sort of cat. He heard someone walking up behind him. In a panic, he ran back to his tent and shut the flap.
“Did your own reflection scare you?” Arthur asked from outside the tent. John didn’t say anything.
“I know your face is ugly but, damn…”
John wanted to say something back to Arthur, especially because Arthur was bullying him but he didn’t want Arthur to see him. Maybe he was just seeing something when he peered into the water. John dragged his hands through his hair to see if he could feel the ears and he did. Not only did he feel his stomach drop, his tail stiffened. Wait… his…tail? John doesn’t have a tail, does he? John whipped around, chasing his own ass in circles. He did have a tail. He had a long black tail.
Shit… What was he going to do? He couldn’t step out and let anyone see him like this. He stood for a moment, thinking to himself before he came up with an idea. He grabbed his hat and put it over the ears and tucked his tail into his pants. It wasn’t the most comfortable solution but it worked.
John decided to see if he had any other changes to his body. He looked at his hands. Nope, still the same. He even thought about taking off his clothes to look but decided against it. Anything under there would be covered up anyway. He nervously walked out of his tent.
“What was that for, Marston?” Arthur asked.
“What was what?” John asked, pretending he didn’t know.
“Why’d you run off to your tent?”
“S’nothing.” John crossed his arms.
“You’re acting weird,” Arthur commented.
John could feel his tail between his legs, uncomfortably sticking to his right leg.
John decided to play it cool. He sat down at the fire and sat down right on his tail. He winced. Arthur sat next to John.
“You alright?” he asked.
“Yeah, fine. Just sat… wrong…”
Arthur raised an eyebrow.
“The hell does that mean? How do you sit wrong?” Arthur asked. John couldn’t think of something to say.
“John, you do everything wrong.”
That annoyed John. So much that he involuntarily started thrashing his tail. Though, he didn’t notice.
“Uh… is there a snake in your pants or…?” John noticed his tail moving.
“Um… can I show you something?” John asked. John grabbed his pants.
“Not if you’re gonna take off your fuckin’ pants!”
“No! I’m not takin’ off my pants, dumbass!” John yanked his tail out of his trouser and held it gently in his hand.
“When I woke up this morning, I woke up with this.” John showed Arthur the tail.
“What in the hell?”
“I don’t know. I also woke up with these,” John said, taking off his hat to show off his cat ears.
“Are you playin’ a trick on me, Marston?” Arthur asked, voice going a little higher.
“No, sir. I’m being honest. When I woke up this morning, I had these.” Arthur looked up at John as if to ask if he could touch his tail. John nodded. Arthur slowly stroked John’s tail with his finger and thumb.
“Odd.” That was all Arthur could say.
“Are you a little kitty now?” Arthur teased.
“Oh, shut up!” Arthur gave John’s head a quick pet. John pushed Arthur’s arm.
“Don’t pet me!”
“Well, I don’t mind it,” Arthur admitted, “It’s kinda charming in a way.”
“Oh, shut up, Arthur…”