Laura and I settled into an easy rhythm over the next few days. I quickly discovered from experience that I wouldn't be sleeping much, a fact that was reaffirmed by the pamphlet or rather small book the clinic had given me with my prescription. Because of that, I had a lot of time alone with my thoughts. Far too much. 

The first day I took up reading again. I pilfered Laura’s tiny library of her favorite books, thankful that she too was into escapist fiction. I killed five volumes of the manga “Wife to a Warlock” in no time, but started to lose interest when the main character began to actually fall in love with her captor. Ick. I enjoyed the main character’s process of self-actualization, but eventually the sugar coating on her relationship became too much for my tastes. 

The second day I engrossed myself in video games. Or I tried to. The only game I could really get into was the racing game because it had accessibility settings that let the car essentially drive itself. I just had to turn the very me-sized steering wheel to steer. Still, it took me no time at all to get gold trophies for all of the remaining tracks in the game. 

The third day I drew. I started out following along to Bob Ross on my tablet computer, but eventually I veered from scenery to figure drawing. I cheated, of course, dragging references from the Internet to trace and then improvising my own details. My muse was on fire all afternoon, pushing ideas for pocket monsters, video game protagonists, characters from shows and even a freehand mythical style creature. None of it was anything to write home about. Well, except for the Bob Ross stuff, But I enjoyed it all the same. Laura even made a show of printing my drawings out and pinning them up on the fridge when she got home, the absolute goober.

The more I distracted myself, the more I began to feel like the time was killing me more than I was killing it. Whenever Laura wasn't around, I felt like I was in a mad dash to keep from thinking, but everything I did was simultaneously to vent. I daydreamt every empty moment, grasping at a fictional utopia and then shooting it to bits with reality. It felt like trying to hold onto the ground in a hurricane at times and somehow the actual stillness of life didn't provide any sense of calm for me. I was so cut off and spiraling that I almost welcomed the distraction of growing pains as they set on. 

Today hurt. Not in a papercut sort of way, but in a very bruised and battered way. My stomach ached, my head pounded, food felt like a bad idea and water was only a relief for scant seconds. Falling out of bed hurt this time, and as I staggered drunkenly around the spare bedroom, I felt myself hyperventilate. As I began to wonder what sins I had committed to bring about this punishment, the pain began to clear and I felt a weight lift from my mind like a blanket. 

I stumbled to the bathroom, unsurprised to find I had grown taller. I climbed easily from the toilet seat to the sink to finally take inventory of what my pain had wrought. 

My first thought was that not much had changed. I was still fuzzy, still blindingly white and still staring back at cartoonishly large eyes, but now there was a sort of compromise towards anthropomorphism. My hands had fingers now, a little on the pointy side but distinct and large enough to grab with, and my whole frame had stretched to be half again as tall as I was before, now with distinct knees and elbows rather than stubs.

My ears seemed roughly the same cat-like shape, but my wings hadn't grown with me. Maybe they had even shrunk a little even, especially compared to my body. My tail, however, had extended along with my growth and gotten fuzzier as well. I pushed and pulled at my face, smiling involuntarily at the silly faces I could make in the mirror. I was slightly more expressive now; even with my big ol’ anime eyes, I at least had a nose now and my mouth wasn't comically large. 

I hopped off the counter to go find Laura and show off.

“I see you’ve hit your first growth spurt.” She smiled down at me as I strode into the living room. “And it looks like your clothes resized for you, that's convenient.”

I nodded my agreement and did a quick hop onto the couch. “Tada.” I put my hands on my hips in mock bravado while she made a show of clapping and cheering.

“I'm a little surprised the tail isn't fading,” she mused, catching it as I turned and letting it slip through her fingers. 

“Eh, it will probably go eventually.” I didn't mind so much, because it only got in the way while I was sitting a particular way. Besides, I tended to flop on my stomach now that the world was always big enough for me to splay out. I'd grown used to using it to balance too, so I figured I'd probably miss it if it went away too soon.