Break And Redemption

Aero leaned back against the headboard, hugging his knees. He had just broken up with his girlfriend of 3 and half years. She had stopped taking the relationship seriously, and though he knew it was going to hurt like this, he had told her he was break up with her at school that day. She had stood there for just a second, then smiled and said, "Whatever," and walked away. That had hurt the worst. So when he got home, he sat there, tears running down his face, feeling like he was the most insignificant thing in the world.

Now, Aero was not a small or insignificant person in anyway. He was about 6 feet tall, with a medium but muscular build. He had medium length sandy hair, blue eyes, and a perfect smile. All the girls at his school seemed to like him, with the exception of the ones that he had turned down one too many times. He was the star quarterback, and he was good. Everyone knew who he was.

Finally, he managed to make himself get up and put on some sweats. He picked up his iPod and headphones as he walked out the door. He knew that a long run would help him clear his mind. He set out towards the mall, a good two miles away. The main reason he was going this way was because it was in the opposite direction from everything that would remind him of her. Her house, their favorite restaurant, the school, the park that they had always met up at. All of that was behind him. He ran hard, his legs working without him telling them to, his fingers tapping the screen of his iPod as he scrolled through his playlists. His steps faltered when he saw the playlist he had made for her. He gritted his teeth, deleted it, and ran faster.
"Where are you running?" he asked himself. "You can't run away from it all. It's life. It's unavoidable."
"It may be unavoidable, but you can still get away from it for a little while," he answered himself.
"Crap, now I'm having a conversation with myself. I must be going crazy." He shook his head, trying to clear his mind. The mall was in view now. He slowed down a little bit, starting to cool down.
He had chosen the mall for another reason. There were so many people there; he could lose himself in the crowds, the sights, the smells, the stores. There would be so much sensory overload that he wouldn't be able to think. He slowed to a walk as he entered the parking lot. It was only 4:00, but the parking lot was almost all the way full already. He saw several friends cars, but none of them were good enough friends for him to search them out.

Aero pulled out his earbuds as he walked into the main building of the mall. The walkways were packed, and hawkers were yelling over the already hellish din. He pushed through the crowds, heading towards the specialty stores. It was then that it caught his eye: the store. It was small; he had never noticed it before, and no one was going in. That was the strangest part. All of the other stores were nearly filled to capacity, but this store was completely empty. He walked over to it.
As he entered, a salesgirl looked up from the magazine she was reading.
"Good afternoon. Can I help you?" she asked.
"Just browsing," he said dejectedly. "Not much business, huh?"
"Never is."
"Oh," Aero said, looking around.
The salesgirl switched to a more concerned tone. "You ok?" she asked.
"Not really. It's been a rough day."
"You wanna talk about it?"
"I don't want to burden you with my problems. Plus, you're working right now."
"I've got time, and I like to help people. Coming to this store could be life changing for you."
Aero laughed cynically. "Yeah, I guess I'll talk about it."
"Good."
So, Aero told her the story of what had happened, beginning with when he had first suspected that his girlfriend didn't care. The salesgirl, Janey, listened sympathetically, asking questions occasionally, but mainly just nodding and sitting there quietly. When he was done, she looked at him sadly.
"You're lucky you came to this store. I've got just the thing for you." She walked into a back room and came out with a blue bottle that resembled a prescription pill bottle. It contained one pill.
"What's that?" he asked.
"A Crisis Pill. It's a special 'drug' that my boss made. If you take it, your life will be altered slightly. I don't know how, I've never seen it used."
"How does it work?"
"No clue. I just know it does."
"How much for it?"
"For you, after all that, free," she said, handing him the pill bottle.
"Won't your boss get mad?"
"No, he'll probably be happy that I helped someone. People we help generally become longtime customers."
"Good sales strategy, right?"
"Exactly. Now go home and take the pill. Come back tomorrow and tell me what it does."
"Thank you," Aero said, slipping out the door and back into the masses.

Aero felt like the walk back home took far longer than it should have. He couldn't wait to try the pill out and see what it did. From the sound of things, it was just what he needed to help him feel better. Since it was more or less a prescription, albeit not an orthodox one, he had no qualms about taking it. He opened the door to his house, feeling better already. He took the stairs two at a time and went into the bathroom, opening the container as he ran. He popped the pill in and took a gulp of water from the sink faucet. The pill tasted funny as it slid down his throat. He waited for something to change, but as far as he could tell, nothing did. He walked back to his room.
"Well, it was worth a shot," he said.
Suddenly, an itching covered his back and shoulders.
"What the?" he said, reaching behind to feel hair sprouting out of his back. "What, so I'm going to become a hairy guy? That's hardly going to change anything for the better."
As he watched, the hair on his arms began to thicken and grow longer. He felt the same thing happening under his jeans, all the while feeling the hair on his back move outwards, covering more of him.
"This is crazy! I don't want to be sasquatch hairy," he groaned.
It was then that he noticed that his nails had turned black and were becoming pointed.
"Claws? What's happening to me?" he yelped as the "hair" thickened to the point that it was considered fur. He felt a shooting pain in his hands as they morphed into vulpine claws. The hair turned bright white, except for the hair on the top of his head, which remained its original sandy color. His shoes ripped apart as his feet became paws and his ankles shifted upwards, making him digitigrade. His face itched ferociously as the fur covered it, his ears burning as they contorted and moved upwards, becoming pointed. His face grew into a muzzle as his teeth shifted and his nose blackened. His eyes became ice blue, with the pupil turning golden. He looked in the mirror.
"Something's missing," he muttered, noticing that his voice was huskier than it had been before. Suddenly, an immense pressure in his rear end threw him to the ground. Nine tails ripped out of his pants, tearing a fairly big hole in the back of them. His boxers had at least slipped down a little so they had been spared. His muscles grew just a little bit.
"Now how in the world am I going to wear clothes with all that behind me?" He moved to sit down, accidentally crushing one of his tails.
"For that matter, how am I going to sit down?" When he finally situated the tails, he looked around the room. Only a few things had changed. The pictures of him and his now ex girlfriend had been replaced with pictures of a kitsune and a neko. His clothes had been altered to accommodate his new form. That was it. He picked up his cellphone. There was a text waiting from someone named Aly. A nudge in the back of his mind reminded him that that was his girlfriend. He read the text.
"Just wanted to c if u were still up for that date."
He texted back. "Absolutely. And by the way, thanks for everything."
His phone buzzed as she replied. "No problem. ILY! <3"
"ILY2."

He sat back and thought about it. Everything was better. Life was almost the same. But those little changes helped so much. Redemption was sweet.