Vivitina steps forward with her fist raised. I watch her, ready to dodge, when her expression changes. 

Before she even starts her swing, her pupils go wide and her eyes unfocus. Her clenched teeth loosen as her mouth drops into a silent scream. She grabs her chest as she loses her balance, stumbling forward.

I realize what is happening and quickly switch gears. I run forward and catch her before guiding her down into a position that should be comfortable, regardless of what form she’s in. 

“It’s OK. It’s going to be OK.” I rub her arms to comfort her, even as she grabs her stomach in pain. Lillie finally catches up to us and I meet her worried look with a reassuring expression. I don’t think it works well, since we both have tears streaming down our faces..

“Is this what happened to you?” Lillie asks frantically. I nod and look down when I no longer hear Viv scratching the ground. I turn just in time to see her expression relax slightly as she passes out. Popping sounds ring out as her joints realign, and fur grows out from her skin. I quickly rip her clothes off as her chest and shoulders bulk up.

“Why don’t you go get new clothes for her,” I suggest. She nods and runs off. 

Slowly the shift finishes, and on my lap is a beautiful Bengal tiger. I do, however, see white on her, as well as the orange and brownish stripes. For the hundredth time, I briefly wonder how this is possible. 

I bring my phone out to check the time. I look unbelievably at it when I see that only 10 minutes have passed. I wonder if time moved just as slowly during my shift.

As I sit here waiting for Viv to wake up, I think about what she said. In middle school, Viv’s grades were horrible, but she was extremely competitive. The best way to get her to do anything was to make it a competition. In hopes of increasing her grades, our parents would give us rewards based on who had better grades. Unlike her, I liked studying, so that was the only competition I unanimously won. It made Viv too self-conscious, so they stopped. I thought she got over it, but perhaps shifting brought those emotions back.

I am pulled away from my thoughts when Lillie comes running back.

“How is she?” She asks as she slides in beside us. I put my finger to my mouth as Viv stirs. We hold our breath until she settles.

“Still out of it.” I whisper. Lillie and I sit there for a couple of hours. Playing on our phones and texting each other instead of talking.

We stop texting when Viv once again stirs and her eyes slowly blink open.

She gets up and glares over at me. She starts to open her mouth, ready to continue our earlier argument, but I jump forward and grab her snout. The last thing I want is for Mom and Dad to come out here to investigate.

She starts shaking my hand off and freezes. She finally looks down and around at herself. I make the mistake of letting go of her snout, and Viv starts to roar. I grab her snout again, cursing under my breath.

“Ashka! Vivitina! Lillie! Where are you?!” I hear Dad shouting. Dang, they heard.

“Lillie, go tell him we saw a fox. And it yelled and ran off. Maybe he’ll believe that’s what it was.” Lillie runs off again and I turn back to Viv.

“It’s OK. Take a deep breath.” She slowly does. I see the fear in her eyes, so I try reassuring her the way she does me. “We’ll be OK. If we can’t figure this out, you're beautiful enough to become an animal model.” She growls slightly at my joke and rolls her eyes. She bumps her head against me before looking at herself again.

“Do you want to change back?” She nods “OK. Imagine how you normally look. And think about how you want to look like that again.”

She goes quiet before whimpering and baring her teeth. Her legs wobble as she tries to stay standing.

“Lay down. I got you.” She falls to the side and I keep her head in my lap again. She scratches the dirt with her paws as her face contorts in pain.

I try to pet her head for comfort, but she snaps the moment it touches. I move my hand away and moments later, she loses consciousness. I watch in both fascination and horror as her joints circle back around. Her fur shrinks into smooth skin, and the pattern fades into light brown skin. Her shoulders and torso shrink back into the body of an athletic teen female. Her snout melts back into her cheeks, nose, mouth, and chin. As her forehead moves forward as her black, chin-length hair sprouts out.

This time, she doesn’t even stir when she is done, but just sighs and goes quiet. Lillie comes back about then, looking slightly disappointed that she missed everything.

“Is she OK?” I nod.

“Yeah. She’s just asleep now. Did Dad go back inside?”

“Yeah. He wanted to come check on us, but I told him you guys were going to follow the fox. I volunteered to find you and bring you back to the house.”

“Well, there’s going to be an issue.” We both look down at Viv, who would never be tired from simply following a fox.

“Maybe we should wait a bit, then tell them I found you after y'all gave up. We’ll say Viv fell asleep while you were talking?”

“That would be believable if it was you. Let’s get her dressed while thinking of what we are going to do.”

Getting her clothes on while she slept felt like we were clothing a tiger. But even after we got clothes on her, and tossed around different stories, we decide that the first excuse is the best we have if we want to avoid the hospital. I adjust so that I can pick Viv up in bridal style and start heading back to the house.