The Consequences of Being a Track Star

The trees shrugged off the last of their snow in the warm weather, now here to stay. It was late March, and the leaves had finally decided to bud. With the buds came the hopes of sunny weather free from snow and ice, and with this hope for warmth came the longing for the outdoors.

That's how it was for Stephen Witt, the senior star of the track team. Track would start up in a couple weeks, and he had to be on his A-game. Every day after school, and even on weekends, he could be found at the track field with a friend. Always hoping to improve his speed, he made sure to have a timer every time he ran. It was that important to him. 

Stephen was rather short for his age, at about 5'7", but everyone knows the shortest people are the fastest runners. He was finishing the 100 meter dash in twelve seconds, a shoo-in at every tournament, but that wasn't enough for him. Stephen had to be the best in the world, and for that he had to practice.

A week and a half later, his time had cut down to eleven seconds, and another half a week later, he was nearing the ten second mark. The next track competition he went to would earn him a national high school record! But no, this still wasn't enough! He continued to practice diligently, and one day his timer couldn't show up, so he clocked himself.

As Stephen warmed up, taking a leisurely jog around the field, the wind blew gracefully through his flaming curly hair, blowing back out of his bright hazel eyes. Tears flowed out due to the air zooming past his eyes. As he crossed the finish line and hit the stopwatch, he looked at it to see he'd gotten ten seconds flat! Rejoicing, Stephen decided he should probably head home. The sun was already starting to go down.

He started his jog home, gazing dazedly at the captivating red and orange sunset. He could hardly believe the speed he'd achieved, and was currently in a state of ecstasy. He felt kind of different after this. He seemed a little taller than when he'd jogged to the track, but figured he was just tired. The cars driving along the streets seemed to be louder and all sorts of scents, flowers, dinners, exhaust, and more assaulted his nose. That was kind of strange, Stephen thought.

He shrugged it off and ran on. His hair started to fall down into his eyes, so he took his hand and pushed it back, and his hand collided with something furry. Confused, Stephen looked into the glass of a store he was passing, and saw he now had pointed furry ears on his head! Those aren't supposed to be there! he thought. Opening his mouth in shock, he found that his canines were just a little too long, as was his tongue.

Getting just a little weirded out, Stephen brought his hand down, and it stopped right in front of his face, as he saw a paw covered with silver spotted fur and clawed, and that's when he began to realize what was going on. He was transforming! As he glanced down, he realized how tight his shirt was feeling. Man, where did those muscles come from? Not only was the shirt tight, it was much too short! A foot of his fur-covered stomach was now visible sporting a very defined six pack.

His shirt started to rip at the collar from the tension, but Stephen's mind was preoccupued by his extremely tight tennis shoes and the growing pressure in the seat of his pants. Simultaneously, multiple ripping sounds could be heard. Glancing down, his feet, *ahem* paws, had broken through his shoes which had now fallen off. Then looking behind him, a cheetah tail could now be seen streaming behind him! It had ripped through his pants, and now he knew what it felt like when Spongebob "ripped his pants."

And speaking of his pants, even though they felt a little tight around his waist, they seemed way too long! By now, about a foot and a half of each leg dragged on the ground. It was like going through puberty again! Everything going completely out of order... Ugh!

As his shirt ripped completely off, his pants fell off, and any other remainders of his clothing made its exit, Stephen found that the fur had spread all over his body, including his face. He arrived at his house and dashed into his bathroom before his parents could see him. Looking in the mirror, he found that he now had the characteristic spots of a cheetah and the eye marks too and finally figured out what he was turning into.

Stephen looked down at his legs and was surprised to see they seemed to be shorter, and then he started to lose his balance. Quickly grabbing hold of the sink, he caught his balance and noticed his arms were shorter too, as well as his new lack of opposable thumbs. He shed a tear for the last of his human characteristics.

Stephen's face then pushed out into a muzzle, accentuating his cheetah characteristics, as his body pushed him from a bipedal to a quadrupedal skeleton. Toppling over, he let out a groan of disappointment, which ended up coming out as a snarl.

The transformation complete, Stephen admired himself in the mirror. He gazed at his sleek silver coat and strong legs as his tail swished back and forth. He could get used to this!

"Stephen! Is something wrong," his mom asked, knocking on the door. "I heard a growl!" His eyes got big, quite an accomplishment for a cheetah.