"I unnnderssstand," Morgan purred, "I prrommise that I’ll neverrr botherrr you again."
Beth choked back tears as she closed the shed door. She ran as fast as she could, trying to ignore the heart-wrenching roaring from the woods behind her. Once she reached her house, she shut herself in her room and cried until sunrise.
It was almost another month when Morgan finally got the courage to approach Beth again. She wore her long hair in a series of eight braids, swirled with orange and black. All of her piercings were gone, thanks to her rapid healing closing over the holes. She wore less dark makeup than before, yet she still carried herself with a mysterious air.
“Hey,” she said, waving to Beth through the chain link fence of the basketball court.
Beth looked up from her hoops. She smiled. “Hey, Morgan.” She walked over to the fence. “I’ve really missed you, you know.”
Morgan smiled as best she could. “I’ve missed you, too. That was some escapade you put on the night after.” Beth had approached Miriam in the cafeteria the day after they turned Morgan, and leveled her with a right cross. She screamed at Miriam, in front of a good third of the school, accusing her of “killing” Morgan, and told her she would kill her, Amy, or Diane if they ever came anywhere near her again.
Beth nodded. “Did two weeks detention for that. Everybody’s still giving me a wide berth.” Her expression turned grim. “I meant what I said. I had some silver bullets cast and took gun classes that afternoon.”
Morgan’s expression sombered. “Thank you for sticking up for me.”
“Of course. Even though you wanted it, what they did to you…to us…it just wasn’t right.”
“I have control over myself. I can shift whenever I want to.”
Beth raised an eyebrow. “Are you still infectious?”
Gravely, Morgan nodded. “Yes. But…I wanted to see if there was still hope for us.”
Beth leaned against the fence, stroking the chain link and wishing it was Morgan. “I wish I could, believe me. It’s killing me to be so close to you, but one kiss and I’d be gone.”
“No, Beth, it’s not like that. I’ve learned to unify my two selves.” Morgan closed her eyes, feeling her body alter and her clothes fade away as she grew effortlessly into her hybrid tigress form. “The tigress is Morgan, and Morgan is the tigress. There’s no difference.” She concentrated and quickly returned to her fully-clothed human form. “I’m a whole being, with tigress instincts and human emotion and logic.”
“Why are you telling me this, Morgan?”
“Because, Beth, I love you, and I want to be with you. I know it means not being human, but I can teach you what I’ve taught myself. You’d never have to worry about losing control, of your form or your morals.” Morgan kissed two of her fingers and placed them through a link of the fence. “I’ll be at the shack tonight. If you want to be with me, come there, and we’ll never have to be apart. Ever. If not, then I won’t ever bring it up again.”
Beth sighed, pausing before kissing her own fingers and pressing them against Morgan’s. “I love you, too. I promise, I’ll think about it.”
Sun May 12 17:02:18 2002