☼Metamorphosis☼

☼ Metamorphosis ☼

Jason was a sixteen-year-old teenager. Having short black hair and blue eyes, he lived with his mother and his sister. Jason, at school, failed every one of his classes, but on purpose; he wanted to drop out of school and join a gang when he got older. His mother begged him to stop but he would not listen. Finally, his mother gave up and said, “I wish you were somebody else…” Jason accepted that as her white flag and went on following his corrupted dreams. What he did not know, his world was going to turn upside down. That night, there was a meteor shower. One landed in the backyard of Jason’s house, and flashed with a mysterious red light, then crumbled apart like a cookie.
The following morning, in the summer of the year 2012, Jason woke up with sunlight in his eyes. Once he opened his eyes, he saw that his room was bigger than he remembered; the black walls seemed to stare at him. His nose itched, but when he lifted his hand to scratch it, he only saw a gray furred paw—like that of a cat—in place of his hand. Shocked, he sat up, and saw his legs, which were replaced with furry gray limbs with fire colored stripes on them. His arms had the same pattern.
Jason then jumped off his bed—which was taller than it should be—and walked over to his bedroom mirror. He found it hard to believe what he saw reflected in the mirror. Jason saw a steel-colored cat staring at him in the face. The cat had red stripes on its head, legs, back, and tail. The tail itself stood over the cat’s head, and looked like the tip was dipped in fire, for the tail tip was fire-colored. The cat had a patch of the flame-colored fur on its underbelly and face, red ears, and blazing red eyes, and was standing perfectly upright; it was strange to see a cat standing on its hind legs so perfectly. It did not take long for Jason to realize that the cat—the cat he saw reflected in the mirror—was himself. He stood there, stunned, with his newly acquired red eyes wide open.
“How could I change so quickly?” he asked himself, and was surprised to hear perfect English instead of mindless meowing.
Suddenly, he heard a familiar voice. “Jason! Breakfast is ready!” his mother yelled up the stairs.
“Oh no…” Jason gasped, “What will my family think when they see me like this?”

With fear blazing in his fire red eyes, Jason slowly walked down the stairs to meet his family. He carefully opened the door leading to the kitchen, where his family will be waiting for him. Almost immediately, his little three-year-old sister, Kathy, appeared right behind him. Surprised, he fell backward on her.
Of all the people he could explain to, why did he have to start with Kathy? Kathy had ginger-colored hair, like her mother, but had olive-green eyes. She wore a small blue t-shirt with a petite purple skirt. She was cute and pretty, but what Jason feared was the fact that she was obsessed over animals. Whenever she saw an animal, she ran over to it, grabbed it, and squeezed and kissed the life out of it. That is what happened to their new dog a couple of months back. As soon as the puppy set foot into the house, Kathy ran at the speed of light and jumped on the puppy; she strangled the poor dog to death before Jason or anyone could react. Kathy was yelled at and was grounded for a month, but she still had that habit. Now Jason stared in her eyes, his own eyes widened with the thought of death by the hands of his own sister. Kathy’s green eyes sparkled with delight of seeing the red striped cat—the cat who was actually her brother—and grabbed him.
“No! Kathy!” Jason cried fearfully, “it’s me, Jason!” However, Kathy did not notice him speak, for she started to squeeze him and plant large kisses on his face. Why couldn’t she understand that animals needed to breathe too? Desperately, Jason cried out for help, then he turned around and scratched his sister’s face; he hated to do that, but it was the only way to escape from Kathy’s grasp. To his relief, it worked, and Kathy let go of the cat to cry.
“Mom!” she screamed, “The cat hurt me!” Jason ran away from his sister into the kitchen, only to be stopped by his mother. He stared at her, but this time with more fear, because he thought his own mother would throw him out for scratching his sister’s face. He could not take care of his new cat form. However, to Jason’s surprise, his mother stared at Kathy.
“What cat?” the parent asked, then she looked down on Jason.
“Mom, I can explain!” he cried out; he tried to run away again. However, he was captured again by Kathy, who began to squeeze the life out of him again.
“I forgive you!” she screamed, and she hugged him harder.
“Kathy! Let that cat go!” their mother commanded, and snatched Jason out of Kathy’s arms. She then stared at the cat.
“Mom… I can explain this…” Jason started to explain, but then paused to catch his breath. Because of Kathy’s love, it hurt to breathe. He turned his gaze at his sister, his eyes like two miniature campfires dancing with rage, and then started to talk again, “I was turned into a cat overnight… I think… it’s all blurry to me…” As he spoke, he noticed everyone staring at him.
“The cat can talk!” his sister exclaimed. She ran up to her mother and reached for Jason.
Jason’s mother stared at Jason harder. “Jason? Is that really you?” she asked. She let her son—who was now a cat—down on the floor, where Kathy again grabbed him.
“I love you, talking cat!” she declared while strangling her brother.
“Kathy, stop! That’s your brother, Jason!” her mother exclaimed as she pulled the red-striped gray cat away from her daughter.
Kathy seemed unfazed from the discovery that the cat was her brother. “But I like Jason now!” claimed the crazy animal lover.
Jason stared at his own sister with his fire-red eyes. He knew that if he stayed here, Kathy would be the end of him. Jason sadly watched her jump up repeatedly in an effort to grab him. He faced his mother. “Mom, I don’t want to do this… but…” he started to tell her, but found tears welling up in his eyes. It’s either leave or die, he thought to himself. Jason wiped the tears away and continued on, “but I think I have to leave. It is too dangerous for me to stay here when Kathy is here; she will hug me to death when she gets the chance. So I’ll live the rest of my life on the streets…” he stopped and looked up to see his mother’s reaction.
Surprisingly, she nodded. “I think it’s the best choice for you. We’ll miss you, Jason,” she said, and paused to kiss her son’s red-striped gray-furred forehead, “and we love you. Good luck.”
“Thanks, mom, for being so understanding…” said Jason. He jumped down from his mother’s arms on the floor, and stood on his hind legs, his unusually long tail hoisted above his head like a flag. He started toward the back door, but then looked back at his family. There he saw his mother waving goodbye with tears in her eyes, holding Kathy back. Jason waved back with one of his gray paws and opened the door. Today marks the first day of my new life, he thought as he walked through the door, never seeing his family again.

Jason walked on the sidewalk, not sure where he will go or what he will do. He just kept walking on the sidewalk until noon, where the hot summer sun blazed the sidewalk and fried Jason’s paws like eggs in a frying pan. He ran to the nearest bench and sat down on it, but it was hot as an oven, much like the sidewalk since the bench was made of metal. The cat yowled in pain and jumped on the grass behind him, except that the grass was dry and parched; it felt like sharp needles at this point. Jason finally ran up to a tree and climbed it, resting on one of its branches. He lifted one of his back paws to look at it; the paw was burned and had small rocks and bits of grass in it. The gray fur was matted with blood and dirt. The other paw was no different. They both throbbed with pain, and Jason felt miserable. He lay down on the branch and slept.
Jason woke up to raindrops splashing on his face. It was finally raining; the sidewalk has cooled down enough for Jason or anyone to stand on without burning their feet—or paws, in Jason’s case. He jumped down on the grass, which was now green and lush with the rain, their thirst quenched. However, even with the rain, Jason’s paws still felt sore and burned, apparently, they have not healed. He placed his paws in a nearby puddle to cool them off and he plucked out the gravel and grass from them.
A few minutes later, his gray paws were healed, but now Jason was drenched in rainwater, his red-striped gray fur dripping and useless. Cold, wet, and miserable, he longed to be with his family again. Why did he have to leave them? Sure, Kathy could have easily killed him, but he just had to scratch her on the face, and he would be out of her grasp. In addition, his mom would do whatever she could to keep her away from him. And his dad… Jason’s eyes started to tear up when he remembered his dad. His dad was killed in a tragic car accident at the beginning of July, along with a few other people. Jason felt so close to his dad; they used to play sports together. Now his own father would not even recognize him—his own son—now that he was a cat. Suddenly, Jason tripped on a fallen branch in the middle on the sidewalk, and he fell, face-first, into the flooded street. He got up, wiping the rainwater and tears out of his waterlogged flame-red eyes. Looking around, he saw that the entire street was flooded with water. The grass was now mud. It started to rain harder, and wind blew stinging rain at his face. The air filled with thunder and lightning, and the rain turned to hail. It was strange to see this type of weather in the middle of summer. Jason then saw a couple hurrying toward him; rather the woman was running, with the man trying to catch up. Seeing the woman run made Jason smirk a bit, since the woman was chubby. While the cat was laughing, the woman picked him up. Jason yowled in surprise.

“Oh, look Theo! This poor cat is all wet and cold!” she exclaimed to the man, who probably was Theo.
Theo looked at her with disapproval, and then sternly explained, “Helen, no, we can’t keep another stray.” The man, Jason noticed, was blonde and had green eyes, much like Jason’s sister Kathy, but although he looked young, he had tired eyes from the stress of dealing with his wife.
As for the woman, who must’ve been Helen, she had dark blue eyes—so dark they looked purple—and red curly hair. She wore too much make-up and had gigantic lips. “But we can’t leave him out here!” she pleaded. As she spoke, Jason smelled something in her breath. It smelled like rotten eggs and spoiled milk. It made Jason gag, and he coughed from the stench.
“Lady, please stop talking!” he yelled at the woman, “Your breath smells horrible!”
Helen looked surprised to see him talk. “Theo! The cat talked! We must keep him!” she begged her husband.
Theo stared at his wife as if she was crazy. “Helen, you must be under the weather to think that cat spoke,” he said, then sighed, giving up, “alright, you can keep it.”
Jason watched Helen squeal with delight. Reminds me of Kathy, he thought to himself, and then saw Theo walk towards him.
The man looked at him straight in the eyes, green eyes meeting red eyes. “Poor cat… another victim of Helen’s entertainment,” he said.
Jason stared at Theo. What was that about? He thought. What he did not know was that his luck would turn ugly quickly.

Ever since Jason moved in with Helen and Theo, his life has been torture. There were fourteen dogs, twenty-one other cats, twenty-nine birds, and countless other animals. The whole house was only one room, and that room was where everyone lived. Jason has been thinking about what Theo said, and now he knows what he meant. During the three years that he had lived with the couple, Jason has become a bitter shell of what he used to be. He lost his human-like traits of standing on two legs and talking. He lost his mind, and became a thoughtless animal. He has forgotten what outside looked like, what actual food tasted like, and even his family.
Elsewhere, Kathy wondered about Jason, her brother. It has been three years since she has last seen him, and during those last minutes, she had tried to kill him. Now she is six years old, and she regrets it all. She wanted to know why Jason had turned into a cat in the first place, and wants to turn him back. The only other person who possibly knows is her mother, so she asked her.
“Mom?” she called. Kathy looked at her mother. The parent was growing old; her ginger hair turned gray, and her blue eyes filled with worry, grief, and… something Kathy could not make out.
“Kathy? What is it?” her mother asked, turning her tired gaze at Kathy.
Finally, Kathy saw it: guilt. However, what was her mom guilty of? “Why did Jason turn into a cat?” she asked, her inquiring green eyes meeting her mother’s eyes.
Her mother gasped as if she remembered something. Her blue eyes quivered as she spoke, “I think I know what happened to your brother…”
Kathy’s eyes widened with possible discovery. “Mom, what is it?” she asked.
Her mother stared at the ceiling. “Three years ago, when Jason was still human, we argued. Jason wanted to be a part of a gang. Finally, I said, ‘I wish you were somebody else…’ and…” she explained, but then paused, gathering her thoughts.
Kathy thought back to that day. “Wasn’t there a meteor shower that day? Like fireballs dancing in the ink-black sky…” she pondered.
Kathy’s mother jumped up as she mentioned the meteor shower. “Yes! There was a meteor shower!” she exclaimed, but then her tone dropped again, “…and a meteor struck the backyard and flashed red…” She gasped, and then spoke again, crying, “That meteorite must’ve granted my wish! Oh, Jason! I’m so sorry!”
Kathy calmed her mother down, and then had an idea. “Wait, what if we used that meteorite to turn Jason back to normal?” she inquired.
Her mother stared at her. “Do you really think that would work?” she questioned.
Kathy stared back with sudden seriousness never found in any six-year-old. “It has to; it’s our last resort,” she answered. She marched off to the backyard and jumped into the crater the meteorite left. The meteorite has crumbled apart, but there was a small portion left. Kathy picked it up and handed it to her mother. “Take this,” she said, “we’re going to find Jason.”

Jason woke up to the usual animal smell. His red eyes, now dull, were crusted with sleep. He rubbed them with dirty gray paws. Once he opened his eyes, he saw Theo walking toward the front door with a smile on his face. Mindlessly, Jason followed his owner, walking on all fours. “Mrrow?” he asked—the traits of a human were long gone.
Theo saw the ragged red-striped cat approach him. He happily answered Jason’s non-existent question, “I have good news! Helen passed away overnight! You’re all free!” With that said, he opened the door. Instantly, all the animals ran and flew out the door.
To Jason, someone dying did not sound like good news, but when the door opened, he forgot that bit of information and joined the others in the mad dash out the door. The outside world looked so beautiful, green and lush. Suddenly, he heard his name.

Kathy and her mother walked all throughout the streets, calling Jason’s name. Then, when they were just about to give up, a red striped gray cat came running towards them, meowing. Kathy remembered Jason was a red-striped gray cat that could stand on his hind legs, but this cat was ragged and filthy, standing on all fours like a regular cat. Jason had a tuft of red fur at the end of his tail and bright, fire-red eyes, while this cat had the tuft ripped off, and its eyes were dull. Could this really be Jason? Kathy thought, only one way to find out. She simply said this, “Jason?”
Hearing his name again, Jason replied, “Meow!”
Kathy stood there, horrified. What happened to Jason? She thought with horror. “Mom!” Kathy called, “look what happened to Jason!”
Her mother hurried over to her daughter after she mentioned Jason. She stared at the cat before them. “That’s Jason?” She asked.
“Meow!” Jason replied happily. Then he saw the woman’s pocket glow with a red light. “Murrrow?” Jason asked.
Kathy took the meteorite out of her mother’s coat pocket. It was glowing and seemed to pull towards Jason. She placed it on the ground in front of the cat.
Jason looked at the strange stone. Curiosity took over and he put his head down to sniff it. The moment his black nose made contact with the stone, the entire world flashed red. Jason yowled in surprise.
Kathy and her mother watched Jason glow with blinding red light. Will the meteorite work? Kathy thought to herself.
Once the light cleared, all the knowledge that was once lost came back to Jason, plus a bit more. He removed his face from the meteorite, which he picked up for further inspection. Standing up on his hind legs as he has three years ago, he looked up to see Kathy and his mother staring at him. “Kathy? Mom?” Jason asked.
“Jason?” Kathy asked excitedly. She crouched down to hug her cat-brother gently.
Jason hugged his sister back, relieved that she was finally out of the habit of squeezing animals to death. Something crumbled in his paw. He looked at it. The meteorite crumbled apart to reveal a red crystal.
“What’s that?” Kathy asked. Even though the meteorite had not turned Jason back into a human, it made him sane again. Now the meteorite had crumbled apart to reveal a strange red gem it had been holding. Maybe that was why the meteorite glowed, she thought.
“I don’t know,” Jason answered, not sure himself, “but I’m finally myself again.”
His mother looked at the cat with disbelief. “But that meteorite was supposed to turn Jason back to his original form!” She exclaimed.
Jason stared at his mother with dead seriousness and sheer confidence, his blazing red eyes matching her blue eyes. Then, he spoke, his voice ringing out for everyone to hear, “Mom, the meteorite did work. It did turn me back to my original form. This is my original form. I was meant to be a cat. But not just any cat. The flame-striped steel-colored cat. This crystal made me realize that.” He puffed out his red-furred chest with pride.
Kathy and her mother stared at Jason. “So… are you coming home, then?” Kathy asked, but she already knew the answer: no.
“No, I’m not. I need to find out why I was chosen, why this form was chosen for me, and what this crystal is,” Jason responded. “Where ever I will go, this crystal will guide me.”
Kathy felt heat radiating from her brother’s eyes. She nodded. “I think it’s the best choice for you. We’ll miss you, Jason,” she said.
Jason shook his red-striped gray-furred head, and then said, “No. My name is not Jason anymore. By the sake of my form, and my destiny, I am now Steel Flame.” The cat pumped his paw in the air.
Kathy blinked, and then continued, “And we love you. Good luck.”
“Thanks, Kathy, for being so understanding…” said Steel Flame. He looked at his crystal, which was pulsing faint warmth and seemed to pull toward a nearby forest. He started toward the direction of the forest, but then looked back at his family. There he saw Kathy waving goodbye with tears in her eyes, comforting her mother. Steel Flame waved back with one of his gray paws and walked off. Today marks the first day of my new life, he thought as he walked along the road, never seeing his family again, this time, for real.