Dinner was a more difficult task than Lydia had initially expected. She had never really been expected to cook before. She had decided to make mac n cheese from the box, and then porkchops. The porkchops were easy enough, she knew how to stab them from watching her mom when she was a child, but the mac n cheese turned out to be harder. She didn’t really want to reach into the pot and try it, so she ended up erring on the side of caution and overcooking it a little. The mushy texture clued her in on that, but she was nevertheless proud of doing the pork properly.

Just as she finished stirring the butter, milk, and cheese packet into the noodles, her mother opened the front door. As she took off her coat, she did a double-take at Lydia.

“What are you doing?” her mother asked sternly.

“Making dinner, like dad asked,” she replied.

“When did your father ask you to do that?”

“Earlier when he grounded me!” Lydia said somewhat cheerfully, turning back to the mac n’ cheese and pouring a portion onto each of the plates, a little smaller for herself than usual, remembering her small stomach.

Her mother seemingly didn’t know how to respond, so she marched upstairs after taking her boots off, and slammed a door. A few minutes later, her father walked down the steps, after all the silverware had already been set and glasses of water sat at the right corner of the three plates on the table. She beamed at him, seeking his approval.

He hesitated, as if to debate how much approval to give, but decided on giving her hair a tussle, which elicited a happy ‘mew’ from her. She removed the apron and sat down. After they said grace, she eagerly dug in, but found herself full much more quickly than she had expected. She’d have to watch that in the future, she noted. The taste of the pork was delicious, but the mac n’ cheese was missing something, she just couldn’t put her paw on it. She knew she’d had it a few times before, but the flavor was eluding her.

After he finished his last bite, her father looked at her and said, “Not bad for your first try, kiddo, I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks dad!” Lydia replied, her tail wagging.

“I’m thinking this isn’t much of a punishment, though,” he mused.

“I mean,” Lydia replied, “I don’t think any punishment you could give me would really get me to change back, at this point. Even after all the things that have happened today, I’m only more sure this is what I want.”

“I’m just surprised this is how you express your rebellious phase, is all,” her father replied bemusedly.

“It’s not a phase, dad,” she calmly said, “I can understand how you feel that way, but it isn’t. I’m not doing this because I hate you or want to set myself apart from you, I want to be your daughter.”

Tears began to well up in her eyes again and she asked, “May I be excused from the table?”

“I suppose,” her father replied in monotone.

“Thank you,” she replied, making it a few steps down the stairs before breaking into a sob.

She knew she couldn’t expect great things in one day, she knew that, but she’d hoped she was making more progress. Her mother, she was sure, hated her and seeing her face, and her father didn’t believe this wasn’t just an act of rebellion. Worse still, it seemed she was tearing her family apart at the seams. Her mother and her father had had a fight, and they never fought. As she lay there, sobbing, her phone buzzed with a text message.

She was surprised her parents hadn’t confiscated her phone, but glad nevertheless. She didn’t know how she’d manage being cooped up all weekend in the house with just her parents. The message was from Luther. She swiped to open, grumbling that she had to type in the passcode, since her fingerprint no longer scanned properly.

Hey, could u call me Annika from now on, u think? mom and dad say its the name they always wanted for theyre daughter after they came home

Lydia rolled her eyes at Annika’s poor spelling, but opted not to correct her.

Sure :) so they r cool with u being a catgirl?

A typing bubble appeared, then went away, then appeared again.

They were pretty lame about it but then this witch lady showed up and educated them an now i get to do girl stuff

Lydia felt a pang of envy, but suppressed it as she typed back

So happy for u!! When mom and dad let me go back to school maybe we can show each other the clothes we got

Lydia shut off her phone. She didn’t want to read the messages in return, not right now. For now, it was time to stew. Stew and fume, fume and stew. Her tail whipped wildly behind her as she pensively curled up in a ball on the bed, wrapping a blanket around her.

A knock rapped on the door a few minutes later, after she was a little calmer. She wanted to say “go away”, but knew that would only invite further chastising, and no amount of saying it would change them entering regardless.

“Come in,” she said, a small amount of anger penetrating through her otherwise level tone.

Though she could not see, she could hear her mother’s gentle footfalls with her sensitive ears, coming ever closer towards the bed, not sneaking but definitely not trying to alert attention either. Her mother seemed to recognize that the ears were pointed in her direction and decided to speak up.

“I liked the dinner you made,” her mother said, “you did the porkchops very well.”

“Thank you,” Lydia said awkwardly from beneath the covers.

A few moments of awkward silence ensued, her mother not moving, Lydia holding her breath a little, as if to prevent the conversation from continuing by withholding the very air from the room.

“My child,” Diane finally spoke, “I’ve…been in prayer, the past few hours. I just wanted you to know.”

“And what did God say?” Lydia gruffly replied.

Diane sat on the bed next to her daughter and sighed. “Nothing,” she replied, “God said nothing yet.”

“Then why are you here?” Lydia asked, wincing as she realized that came off a bit too aggressively.

“Because I don’t know what else to do,” her mother said, almost in a whisper, “I was so sure of my beliefs until today, and…it would be easy to say I haven’t begun to question everything, but I like to believe I’m an honest person. And honestly, I don’t know what to believe anymore.”

Finally, Lydia turned to look at her mother, noticing the tears streaming down her mother’s face. She gently rose out of the bed and into her mother’s arms, embracing her gently. Her mother began to weep, and Lydia found herself doing the same.

After a few minutes of sobs turning into sniffles, mother and daughter looked at each other. For a few minutes, neither knew what to say.

“Do you trust me, mom?” Lydia asked.

“I do,” her mother replied, “I do trust you.”

Lydia wiped the tears from her eyes and said, “Then trust that my name is Lydia, and that I’m your daughter, and that I want to stay this way.”

Diane paused for a bit, then stared deeply into Lydia’s eyes, and smiled weakly. “Very well, Lydia, my daughter.”

Lydia re-embraced her mother tightly, her mother scratching her behind the ears, which elicited purring. Diane paused for a moment, then began to chuckle a little.

“That purring is still going to take some getting used to, Lydia,” Diane said.

“I’m still getting used to it too, don’t worry mom!” Lydia replied.

They sat there for a few more minutes, Lydia thanking her mother and finally telling her all about how excited she was to try on the clothes, and to have them! Diane nodded and listened dutifully to her explain all about it, braiding her daughter’s hair absentmindedly while the tail behind them seem to ‘thwack’ her back gently every few seconds.

Eventually, the conversation wound down, and Lydia let out a great yawn.

“It’s only eight, dear,” her mother said, “and you’re tired already?”

“I think cats need more sleep than people, mom,” Lydia replied, “and anyways, I did just undergo a magical transformation last night.”

“That is fair,” her mother replied, tucking her into bed and walking back up the stairs, “just make sure you wake up early tomorrow, your father wants to go fishing with you.”

Lydia nodded as she set the phone timer, then got extra comfy in her bed, hugging her tail, and drifted off to sleep.