Natural

A nice walk to clear my mind…yeah. That’s all I need. Thought Maria White, as she left her countryside high school. She was a very clever girl, and always got very good grades. However, the big test in math today had completed slipped her mind. When the teacher had announced it her heart had nearly stopped. She hadn’t studied a bit!  
Maria grumbled angrily as she trudged through the woods as a detour to her house. “I’m always the top of my class…and now thanks to one test, I’m barely making B average! Damn that test. Damn it all!” She mumbled, when suddenly she tripped over a fallen log. Maria swore loudly once again as her face met the muddy earth.
“Ew!” She screamed brushing away the moist soil and pine-needles. Then, she noticed the folded-up flier that had escaped her pocket during the fall. Maria unfolded it for a brief glance and then quickly through it back down. It was a paper requesting support for the R.R.R. (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) community group. A hippie-like girl had handed it to her in the hallway. Stupid bunch of tree-huggers…how can I worry about them when I’mnot getting the straight A’s I deserve! Maria thought and rolled over onto her backside to stand back up. However, a pointed object poked into her, causing a small shriek.
Maria craned her neck to see. “What the hell…antlers?” She asked, pulling out a pair of deer equipment. Her eyes narrowed for a moment and then through them aside, having them land beside the flier. She stood up angrily, rubbing her sore rump and left the scene quickly.
As she went down the trail, a cramp formed in her hands. She rubbed them together, grimacing, until a scraping noise began to sound off. Maria looked down at her palms and let her jaw hang open at the sight. Her fingers had fused together creating two large, dark cloven hooves on the end of her hands. “Oh my God…” She breathed and fell backward, quickly kicking off her shoes to discover they had met a similar fate.
Maria’s heart-rate soared when the more pain hit her. It was an intense pressure in her joints and limbs, and it came in and out like agonizing siren. The sensations were uncomfortable and foreign, none like Maria had ever felt before. She cringed as her body began to change into that of an entirely different species.
Ears shift up the skull and elongate; the nose pushes out, followed by the upper jaw. Her nostrils flattened and squared off on the blunt upper jaw line. Maria’s once exceptional chest shrunk into her, assuring that she would never worry about bra-size again.
She groaned as her bottom jaw caught up with the upper one, forming into a muzzle, which would be more appropriate for her future diet. Her ears were now large and shelled to scoop in every little sound around her.
Maria rubbed her temples, cutting herself in the process with her new hooves. She flipped over onto her side, struggling as the changes spread across her head. Maria could feel her hair receding, being replaced with a coat of light brown hair which soon spreads over her body. She struggled to pull out her cell-phone, soon using her teeth it snatch it from her pocket. She poked speed dial with her black nose and begins to cry as it rings.
“Hello?” Her older brother’s voice awaits her.
Maria struggled to speak. “I need…help…changing…hooves…oh no…it’s almost complete! Please! HEEEELP!” She let out a last scream of pain and fear as her vocal-cords transform into that of a deer. Her brother began to panic on the other line, asking what was happening. But she could not answer him and her phone soon died of a low battery.
Maria looked around, trembling slightly. Her mind was blank, and she was confused and afraid. Maria slowly stood up, her slim frame slipping out of the clothing. She sniffed and looked around, observing the odd human things that surround her. A part of her has faint memories of these objects, but her new mind is slowly washing away the old and coming in with new instincts.
They tell her that there are other deer nearby, and she can smell them. Maria instantly knew that she must seek the safety of a herd and stag to be her protector. She bounded into the thickest of bushes, leaving behind everything she once knew.
A good life lesson: Reduce the hate, reuse the love and recycle the life…the “natural” way.