My Girlfriend as a Witness

"My Girlfriend as a Witness"

    Ethan held his girlfriend Alicia's hand as they walked between the trees. They had been walking for almost half an hour when Ethan finally stopped. "I think this is far enough," he said.
     Alicia was very curious as to why Ethan had brought her here. Ethan sat down against a tree. The pinks and purples of the sunset had almost faded. The moon slowly rose over the next hill.
     He began to explain. "A year ago, on my 13th birthday, I did this... magic spell."
     "Uh huh..." Alicia replied sarcastically.
     "I know, right? It sounds dumb."
     "And what did the spell do?"
     "It was supposed to... change me."
     Alicia did not reply; she just waited for him to continue.
     Ethan waded through the awkward pause and continued. "Like, over a year, it was supposed to... kind of... prepare my body."
     "For what?"
     "Well, after the year, on the first full moon, I'm supposed to turn... into a werewolf."
     "Okay..."
     "Tonight is the first full moon since my 14th birthday, a year after the spell. Tonight, I'm going to turn into a werewolf."
     "Right..."
     "I'm serious! I've been preparing for like a year! The spell has been like... slowly changing me."
     "Like, what do you mean?"
     "I mean in the ways it said the spell would: I've been slowly becoming more wolfy. Like... I shaved on my birthday a few days ago for the first time."
     "Shaving at 14 is pretty normal...." she said.
     "Yeah, but I mean, look at my legs," he said, pulling up one of his shins and brushing his hand over it a few times.
     "You mean... 'cause you have some leg hair...?" she asked.
     "Yeah!" he replied. "I had absolutely none like a year ago, and my dad's not that hairy."
     "Okay, first off, those genes come from your mom's side of the family, not your dad's."
     "Oh, really?"
     "Secondly," she continued, "this is how puberty works. Did mommy and daddy not give you 'the talk'?"
     "Ugh. I know," he said, "but this is different." He stood up and began unbuttoning his collared shirt. "Check this out." He unbuttoned all three buttons and pulled the shirt over his head.
     Alicia took a look over his semi-muscular chest and stomach. She smiled a bit. "Not bad," she said.
     "Exactly!" he replied.
     "Wait... what?"
     "I've got this muscle and I don't even work out! It's weird, isn't it?"
     "Dude, it's just puberty. Calm down. Ask your parents. Girls get boobs and guys get hairy and muscles."
     "Just..." getting frustrated, he walked into the moonlight and pointed up at the moon. "Every full moon since the spell, I get all fidgety. It feels like something is going to happen. The feeling I got on the last full moon was so strong that I thought that I was going to turn early."
     Alicia stood up and began to walk toward him. "Don't get--" he began to say before she embraced him. Startled, he hesitated and looked up at the full moon as the bottom of its circular shape finally came up over the big hill. "Don't get too close," he said. "I might... turn... soon...." He trailed off.
     "Why would you want to be a werewolf anyway?"
     She received no reply. Ethan took a deep breath. Then he took another shakier one. Alicia felt him breathe against her. The next breath was equally deep and shaky. His chest began to heave in and out.
     Alicia released him from the embrace and looked into his eyes. His gaze did not meet hers; she found his eyes wide open and trained on the full moon. He drew heavy breaths through his mouth. "The spell said the wolf doesn't take over my mind," he said, "so I promise not to hurt you."
     Alicia took a few steps back.
     "This is what it felt like on other full moons," he said, "except this is WAY stronger." His breathing became stronger and faster. "It's real," he said between breaths. "This is happening now."
     He heaved air into his lungs and raised a hand in front of him, expecting to see claws coming out at any moment.
     Then suddenly he cried out, startling Alicia, who was becoming quite frightened. He put his hands on his knees for support. Sharp pain shot through his back right down the vertical ridge under which lay his spine. His legs straightened, arching his back. He gritted his teeth and groaned sharply for several seconds. Then, a shockwave from a big snap shot through his lower back. He screwed his eyes shut for a moment in pain, then it subsided partially.
     He turned a bit and noticed an odd shape to his lower back. He pulled back the back of his shorts to see what had grown: a stubby start to a tail. He slipped the top of his shorts under his tail and Alicia saw it. She covered her own mouth to avoid screaming.
     "Cool!" yelled Ethan. "I'm a werewolf!" The pain in his spine climbed a bit once again and his tail pushed out an inch or two more.
     He looked back up at the moon. He gritted his teeth and his incisors grew slightly longer and sharper to make fangs. He opened his teeth to take in some deep breaths. His blood pumped fast and hard through his body; Alicia saw veins pronounced in his neck and arms and more.
     "Why the hell would you do this to yourself?" Alicia asked. "You're in so much pain."
     "No..." he said, hesitating as his tail grew out another couple inches, "this actually feels amazing."
     Then Ethan began to feel a tickle on his arms. His hands were still on his knees for support, but he lifted one off to hold his arm up in front of him in the moonlight. He watched and felt as the little hairs on his forearm began to come out longer and darker. He held his hand out with his palm facing the moon and stretched out his fingers. Moments later, his finger muscles began to flex and his fingers curled slightly. He turned his hand sideways so that he could see his fingernails better; this was a part he had been waiting for. His fingernails began to grow longer and point in the middles; he was growing claws.
     A soreness developed in his arm muscles. His arm muscles flexed, which seemed to make his claws in progress come out a bit more. His biceps and triceps grew larger on both arms.
     He groaned. He said, "This isn't easy, but it's like... I feel stronger." He looked away from his growing claws and toward her. "I thought about not telling you, but I knew that you would want to know." Alicia just stood staring. He groaned dully as his back cracked and his tail grew out again. "Plus I didn't want you asking how I suddenly got so furry tomorrow."
     "Tomorrow?" she asked.
     "Yeah, I'll transform back, but I read that the first change makes you hairier... like some of the fur..."; his tail pushed in a big way and his arms flexed as his biceps and triceps grew bigger again; "...stays with you, I guess."
     He held up one of his hands again. His fingernails were turning black and had sharpened to points. The moonlight shone on the hairs on the back of his hand that had begun to grow. Long hairs sprouted on his forearms and the backs of his upper arms. He began to see his fur color, the same light brown as his hair. Fur thickened on his arms and began to spread to his shoulders.
     "You're not scared, right?" he said. "I promise I won't hurt anybody." She paced quickly toward him. "Wait!" he said. "I don't want to accidentally scratch you!" He held up a clawed hand. She continued toward him. "I think it would make you a werewolf, too." Alicia walked right up to him. They were both about the same height normally, but Ethan was slouched due to the transformation. She placed her hands under his head and lifted his chin to look at her. She kissed him on the lips. She felt his fangs.
     "It's okay, Ethan," she said. She pulled back and looked into his eyes. "It's your body. It's your choice."
     He screwed his eyes shut as his arm muscles flexed again, growing out his muscles and fur a tiny bit more. Then, his legs followed suit, his calf veins poking out as the muscles underneath grew. His light leg hair he pointed out before became slightly more visible. He groaned as his expanding muscles felt sore. When he finally opened his eyes again, Alicia saw that they were now bright yellow.
     She embraced him tightly. Her arms felt the ridges in his back formed by his changing spine. Ethan did not embrace back for fear of accidentally scraping her with his forming claws and making her a werewolf.
     Ethan felt a few small pops come from inside his chest cavity. They left behind a dull pain. He gritted his teeth. He exhaled deeply and it ended up coming out as almost a low growl. As he did, his fangs grew out to their full size.
     Over his tail, he began to feel the tickle of fur. His tail continued to grow gradually longer; it was now about a foot long.
     Light brown hair now shaded the tops of his forearms and the backs of his upper arms; the fur was taking longer to spread over the rest of his arms and onto his shoulders.
     He suddenly inhaled sharply. He felt a sharp pain in his chest. It grew sharper and more painful. It grew and grew until a couple more low pops resonated through his chest. He felt Alicia embrace him slightly tighter. He looked down and saw a kind of surprised look on her face. That was when he realized that she wasn't tightening her grip; his chest had gotten bigger. He felt the pain in his chest again, but watched his chest closely this time. Seconds later, he felt the change again and his pectoral muscles definitely pushed outward. He felt that part of it was his chest cavity pushing out and changing his ribs and part of it was his chest muscles growing larger.
     "Oh no!" he just realized.
     "What?" Alicia asked.
     He looked at his claws growing out black and sharp and looked over to Alicia. "My shoes! Can you please take off my socks and shoes?! It can't be long before my feet start changing!"
     "Okay!" she said. She released him from her embrace and dropped to her knees. She started trying to untie the double knot that Ethan had used to tie his shoes.
     Ethan whined as his chest began to pop and crack again. He put his right hand on his chest and felt many things: he felt the heat and heaving of his own chest in the middle of his transformation; he felt his fully grown claws on the ends of his fingers as their tips touched his chest; and he felt the tips of his new sharp claws pressing gently on his pecs. What was most odd to feel, though, was the fact that the middle of his hand had to stretch a bit to touch his skin between his enlarged pectorals; the valley between his pectorals had deepened as they grew.
     Alicia lifted his left foot. Ethan stumbled backward and fell. He cried out and told Alicia angrily "I landed on my tail!"
     "I can't get your stupid knot undone!" she yelled back.
     The moonlight shone over his chest and stomach. He groaned and growled as his chest expanded again. As his pecs shifted and stretched one more time, a few thick hairs sprouted in between them.
     Alicia held his ankle up to examine the knot. Then she noticed his legs. His leg hair was beginning to grow thicker. It seemed to start under his shorts; she saw the fur grow almost in a wave coming down his leg toward her.
     She figured his feet would start to grow any second, so she grabbed his leg and pulled his shoe off forcefully. It slipped off and she grabbed at the top of is sock. His growing leg hair got in the way a bit, but she slipped her fingers under the elastic and pulled his sock off. Alicia saw his exposed foot with his leg hair beginning to creep toward the top of his foot and his toenails beginning to grow into sharp claws.
     Alicia quickly grabbed Ethan's other shoe. His leg hair continued to grow as he changed. His chest heaved. He watched as hairs began sprouting up his chest toward his neck and down toward his stomach. The skin of his forearms was now barely visible through his fur. The fur on the backs of his upper arms was slowly beginning to creep up over his biceps.
     He almost didn't notice the pain in his foot for a few moments; then it began to get intense. He grunted in pain. He looked down to see his legs had grown some fur, but down at the end, he still wore his shoe.
     "Take it off!" he yelled. He groaned as his tail pushed out and his foot stretched inside his small shoe. "Take it off!"
     "I'm trying!" Alicia yelled back. She tugged on the knot, making the knot tighter, but the laces looser. Ethan groaned as his leg muscles tensed. Another wave of muscle and fur growth spread down his legs. Alicia got his shoe off, but soon after, his foot stretched too far. His sock was cut open by dark claws. Working through thicker fur now, Alicia managed to grab his sock and pull it off over his new claws. Soon after she did, his claws grew to curl to their full length.
     Ethan turned himself over; Alicia released his foot as he did. Ethan was now on his hands and knees with the balls of his feet resting on the forest floor. He looked to his left to stare at the full moon again. Muscles tensed and pressure built along his jawline. He gritted his fangs and stretched his neck out with his chin high.
     Then suddenly his ears began to change. Ethan held his breath as the tension of the changes flexed his muscles. They pointed at their tops. Meanwhile, Ethan felt a light poking sensation on his upper lip.
     He released the breath he was holding and fell into his enlarged chest. His face came quite close to the forest floor, but he stopped with his nose inches above. As he breathed heavy breaths onto the forest floor and felt a tickle on his upper lip. He suddenly knew what he was feeling: a mustache, but thick enough to feel, much thicker than the one he had shaven the other day.
     He put his hands down on the floor and pushed himself up again. His new muscles made it feel easy. Then his back made it feel hard as it cracked. He strained as his spine stretched out to finish the length of his tail.
     He felt a tickle on the back of his jawline. Fur began to grow in his sideburn areas. Short fur grew over the backs of his ears, which continued to grow to points.
     His back felt hot. He knew that the fur had spread thickly from his shoulders across the nape of his neck. The fur on his arms and legs had finished growing; it completely covered his pale skin in light brown hair.
     More thick hairs sprouted over his chest. A line of fur down the middle of his stomach began to grow thicker and spread. His claws on his fingers and toes were all fully grown.
     The pressure on his jaw redoubled. He groaned. It felt both painful and exciting. He knew what the pain was bringing. Scraggly long hairs sprouted on his jaw and spread forward to his chin. His cheeks, too, sprouted hair.
     He groaned at the pain building in his jaw. Alicia walked to his front. His face still resembled him, but his eyes were yellow and he seemed to have a beard.
     "Are you okay?" she asked quietly. Ethan couldn't reply at the moment; his fangs showed as he clenched his jaw waiting for the change. Then it came: his mouth and nose cracked and looked as his face stretched half an inch forward. His ears grew large and pointed and began to move up the sides of his head. His light brown beard thickened to fur and began to spread over the rest of his face.
     Fur grew over his tight stomach and thickened fully over his chest. His back fur thickened as well and his tail finished stretching to full length. He felt it brush the pine needles on the forest floor and his furry legs.
     His muzzle slowly pushed out again. Now it stuck out about an inch further than his forehead. He opened his elongated jaw and howled at the full moon a long, loud howl.
     Minutes passed as his face and ears shifted and changed into their final forms. Alicia watched the whole time.
     When it was over, Ethan looked up at Alicia. They made eye contact. Ethan pushed himself up and tried to pull his legs under him. His legs were longer than he remembered and he tripped and fell into his barreled chest. Alicia held out her hand. Ethan took it and she helped lift him to his feet. He stumbled a bit trying to stand on his changed feet. He used his tail for balance, though he was not yet used to controlling a tail.
     When he stood, Alicia immediately noticed that he stood much taller. Almost immediately after that, she noticed something else: the werewolf still looked like Ethan. She still saw his eyes -- though they were yellow -- and she saw his hands when she looked at the palms. Even his arms seemed familiar, though now they were muscular and covered in thick brown fur.
     She walked up to him slowly. He looked down at her and she stopped for a moment. Then she continued forward slowly again until she rested her head against his chest.
     Ethan looked up and howled at the moon again.

*************

Alicia awoke the next morning on the forest floor alone in the same spot that Ethan had left her. She looked around, but did not see Ethan yet. The sun was out; Ethan should be back to normal.
     She heard something walking toward her; she looked around to find that the sound of softly crunching pine needles accompanied Ethan... at least, she thought it was him.
     She ran a few steps to get a better look at him through the trees. He stopped when he saw her. She stared.
     Ethan had reclaimed his shorts, now tattered and severely worn from the transformation. What Alicia stared at was his body: he had changed even when not in his werewolf form. His arms and legs were hairy; they had much more light brown hair than the day before. Even weirder was that Ethan had substantially more muscle mass than before.
     The most weird thing of all that she stared the most was his facial hair. He had grown a mustache and scraggly hairs on his chin and sideburns. This was what made her almost not recognize him.
     She ran over and embraced him. This time, since he did not have to worry about scratching her with his claws, he hugged back. She felt his facial hair tickle her cheeks. When she pulled away, she looked at him and said quite simply, "You really need a shave."
     "No kidding," he replied. "I'd better not let my parents see me like this." He ran a hand over his chin a few times, brushing his hair back and forth for emphasis.
     "What about the leg hair?" she asked pointing to his legs.
     "I guess I'll wear pants," he said, "...and long sleeves," he added, brushing his arms.
     Alicia thought for a minute, then asked, "Was it worth it?"
     Ethan replied with a quick "Yes; it felt incredible."
     They began to walk in the direction of Ethan's house. "Maybe next full moon, you can turn me."
     Ethan was startled. "You want that?" he asked. "I mean, it's amazing, but..."
     "I just... want to be out there with you next time," she said. "I just hope I don't get hairy afterward."
     "I've heard that doesn't happen to girls," Ethan said. "Something about how guys already have the pathways for it and girls don't..."
     "Good!" she said. "Then bring it!"
     Ethan imagined that he and Alicia would be together for a long time.