Transformation

All my life I have been made fun of for being fat. There has never been a time in my life when I wasn't on the heavier side. At first, it really bothered me when I first started to realize that I was not as thin as the other kids, but now it's all just background noise. I realize if I tried my hardest to blend in I wouldn't have to face the noise. I grew up on a farm. Well, it wasn't really a farm, since we didn't have any animals... more like a shell. 

Florida was always hot. You could go to the beach on Christmas Day and you would think it was the middle of July. So I did not spend a lot of time outside for that very reason. I absolutely hated the heat, which basically meant I was in the wrong state. However, twice a week we would have P.E. at school, aka the worst days of my life. High school is hard enough we don't need to get sweaty and gross. Every day for P.E. we would have to run around the soccer goals twice, and it was f*****g torture. Plus on top of that, I was always chosen last for any game we ever played. I hated P.E. but the week of the Presidential Fitness Challenge was the absolute worst. Instead of running around the soccer goals twice we had to run the mile and since we didn't have a track we had to run the mile in the high school parking lot. We had to run around that blasted parking lot five bloody times to equal a mile. I was lucky if I could run just one lap around before I gave up and walked the rest of the way. The one good thing about walking around the parking lot was I was pretty much the only one and everyone was passing me, so I had a lot of time to think. I thought about how humiliating it was to be the only fat one who had to take 20 minutes plus to "run" the mile. Eventually, I would let my mind wonder and I would think about all kinds of stories and random situations. That was honestly the highlight of P.E. before we dove into the other Presidential Fitness activities.

There was alway one group of kids that would pick on me relentlessly and I used to dream of the day when I really cute boy would walk in the classroom and choose me to be his girlfriend over all the other popular girls. The group leader was named Andre, and he would do some pretty awful things to me. There was one point when we were messing with my hair and as I looked around for someone to help me I met the eye of one of my classmates how gave me a look of utter pity. It's bad when other classmates look at you with helplessness in their eyes, and unwillingness to help due to the fear of that same thing happening to them. 

I went home that night and wondered how my life would be different if I was like everyone else. I was sick of being bullied. I wanted everyone to see I was not so strange. While my mind was wondering I heard a loud sound. I jumped out of bed and looked out the window and saw absolutely nothing, which was incredibly disappointing. I'm not sure what I was expecting, we live out in the middle of nowhere. However, I noticed something was moving in our barn and I decided to check it out. A few months back we had a family of raccoons move in and my dad took it upon himself to kill them. So this time I wanted to get wanted to save the animal before my dad sees. 

I got out to the barn and there was nothing but darkness and the faint smell of manure. I walked around for a bit without any luck but when I turned around there was a giant panther standing in the doorway of the barn. My heart sunk deep in my chest as my pupils dilated to the size of saucers. I froze. The lion growled. It looked like it had been shot because its side was full of blood. I had no idea what to do. I knew I had to run but I didn't know where to go where it wouldn't catch me. My mind was racing and the lion started walking toward me. I had to do it. I had to run. 

I made a break for the back door in hopes that I would get there quick enough to be able to slam the door and lock it, then run around to the front and lock that door so the lion would be trapped inside. I was almost to the door when I felt a huge tug on my waist and I fell to the ground. All of the sudden the lion was on top of me and I tried to crawl away but the lion put its paw on my back and I was crushed to the ground. I was flailing around and screaming trying to get someone's attention. I got really quiet when I felt the panthers breath on my neck. I thought this was the end. I felt its teeth sink into my neck and just before I passed out from blood loss, shock, or both... I heard a loud bang. 

A few days later I woke up in a hospital bed surrounded by my family. Apparently, the panther had been struck by a falling space rock and was really pissed off... Honestly, what are the chances that a rock from space falls and hits a panther in the forest and for whatever reason decides to take refuge in our barn? Anyway, my dad heard me screaming and rushed out and shot the lion and I was rushed to the hospital. Luckily my neck was not broken and I only suffered a few scratches and bruises, plus the teeth marks around my neck. I stayed in the hospital for about a week, but I did not return to school for another week. The day I returned to school I was scared that the kids were going to be ruthless about the attack and tease me about how I was so fat that a panther could even carry me... or something stupid like that. 

I got out of the car and I was greeted by all the friends I didn't have... random people who had spoken to me maybe once, if at all, were coming up to me and saying how cool it was that I beat a lion. It was a much better response than I predicted. That day of school was the best day I had in a long time. People were asking about what happened and how I was feeling. It was amazing. For once in my life I was popular. That day it just so happened that we got a new kid in our class, and no one even cared. Usually, the new kid gets all the attention, but not today, lion girl is top news around the high school today. After my last class let out I got a text from my mom saying that she was going to be late, so I headed to the library. I sat down at a random table and sat on my phone for awhile before I looked up and saw the new kid. He honestly was pretty good looking and I could not believe he was pretty much ignored all day today. Normally I never have the confidence to approach someone, let alone a cute guy, but today my self-confidence was soaring so I got up and went over to say hello. I went over to his table and sat next to him and said hi, but he didn't look up. I said it again and still nothing. My self-confidence began to wither away. Well, the popularity was good while it lasted but it still appears as though I still can't get a cute guy to talk to me. I sat back in the chair and I was about to get up and move back to where I was and save myself from future embarrassment when he looked up and smiled at me. I smiled back and I said "Hi" but instead of saying it back he pointed to his ear.... I felt so stupid. 

He started signing to me and I sat there with a blank expression on my face... this is just great I finally meet a guy that I like and he is willing to talk to me... but I can't understand what he is saying. Then he pulled out a notebook and began to write in it and he passed it to me, it said, "Hi my name is Liam." 

I wrote back, " Hi my name is Sam... I'm really sorry everyone sort of ignored you today." 

"It's ok, I don't like all the attention and fuss that a new kid typically brings. What happened to your neck." He wrote.

"I don't like attention much either, it makes me uncomfortable knowing everyone is watching me ... I got attacked by a panther a few weeks ago."

"Oh my God!! Are you alright?! How did that happen?" 

"Well I saw something in our barn late at night and I wanted to check it out... and it turned out to be a panther that wanted to eat me." 

"Damn! I'm glad you are ok! How long were you in the hospital for? Were your injuries serious?" 

"I was in the hospital for a week and thankfully I wasn't seriously injured... just a few bruises and scratches. He did come close to killing me, though, he put my whole neck in his mouth... and if he would've twisted it like they normally do... I probably wouldn't be here. It's really weird to think about how I was almost dead." 

We wrote to each other for about an hour and then I got a text from my mom saying she was out front. He gave me his phone number so we could continue our conversation. I have never met a deaf person let alone been friends with one. Plus he was really cute.

The next day Liam and I discovered that we had some classes together and after school, I decided to show him around town. My mom picked us up and we dropped her off at home and we took the car around town to all the major points. Liam was from Tampa so he was not used to our small town atmosphere in Lakeland. Even though there wasn't really much to see I took him to the historic downtown and showed him all the cool places down there.

After awhile it became dark and we headed back to the parking garage where we left the car. As we were heading up the levels there was a group of guys standing around some luxury cars talking and laughing, but as soon as we walked past they got silent. It really freaked me out so I started to walk a little faster. Then one of the guys approached us and said, 

"Where are you two going?" 

He put his hand on my shoulder and tried to pull me toward him, but Liam quickly got in between us. The guy quickly became agitated and pushed Liam aside into one of his friends who help him in place. The guy started coming at me again and I was frantically looking around for another person or somewhere to run, but before I made a decision my back was against the wall. He got really closely and started whispering in my ear and to be honest I don't even know what he said because I watched as his friends beat up Liam and threw him on the ground. Liam wasn't a weak kid by any means, but he was no match for 4 guys his size at once. I felt a sweltering anger brewing inside of me and I could feel my heart beat increasing its pace out of pure rage. I pushed the guy away from me and he became pissed and he was about to charge me, but suddenly I felt my perspective drop and the fear of God filled this guy's eyes. I started to walk towards him and he was backing up, his friends spotted the situation and got the same look in their eyes. I was slightly confused but I really didn't really care. They all ran off and I walked over to Liam, who was laying on the ground covered in blood. I started to freak out and I began to pace. The next thing I knew I was hearing sirens, luckily since we were downtown we were right around the corner from the police department and someone must have heard something. I saw the lights coming from around the corner and stopped pacing and looked in there direction. They stopped a few feet away from us and they got out of their cars and pointed their guns at us... I was so confused. Why were they pointing at us? 

We stood there for a second staring at each other and I could not understand why they were not rushing over to help us. I started yelling at them,

"What are you doing? He needs help! Why won't you help him?!" 

Just then I felt a little sting like I had gotten bitten by a bug and everything got really blurry and I blacked out.

I woke up and found myself in a cage. Which freaked me out, I saw a doctor standing outside on a computer. I yelled for him,

"Hey! Hey! What's going on? Why am I here?" 

He turned around and said,

"Calm down it is going to be alright." 

Then he walked out of the room, which is when I noticed a mirror that was leaning up against the wall but when I looked into it I did not see my reflection... or at least the reflection I had come to recognize. In the mirror sat a large black leopard. At first, I did not think this was real, so I started to move and the mirror followed... this could not be me, I thought. I started to think back to what I last remembered and it all made sense, but how was this even possible? Will I be able to change back or am I stuck like this forever? My heart beat was still racing from that event. 

All I knew was that I had to get out, I did not want to be shipped off to some zoo or wildlife refuge and live in a cage. I wanted to go home.