It’s mid morning and I’m being rolled along in a wheelchair on the way to physical therapy. The nurse who’d told me not to eat the illustrious Michelle, is the one doing the pushing. It turns out her name is Carolyn. She’s actually got a pretty good sense of humor, although I still haven’t been let in the joke just yet.

Moments later we arrive in the physical therapy room and I can’t believe what my eyes. Now, scrubs aren’t the most flattering on even the most beautiful people. I know some people dig the look, but I’m not one of them. That said Michelle is absolutely stunning. She also happens to have rabbit ears and an adorable little cottontail. Her hair at first glance I assume has to be platinum blonde, but I quickly realize that it’s actually stark white, curling down her back.

“Hi Michelle, this is Maya. Take good care of her. I already warned her not to give in to instinct and try to eat you.” She says with a laugh. Michelle looks me over quickly before responding.

“Yes, that would be a CATastrophe.”

“Uuuugh” I groan. I’m not sure if I’m exasperated that she actually said that, or just pissed I don’t have a rabbit pun to fire back. Even if it is a terrible one.

Carolyn rolls her eyes with a chuckle. She waves as she heads out the door leaving me with Michelle. I realize I’m actually sort of glad that she made that pun. She’s so damn beautiful that I feel like I would have had trouble talking to her without that icebreaker.

Any doubt as to whether I’m still into women is gone from my mind as I watch her carefully. This makes me a little anxious though. First, I’ve always had about as much game as an amish at a rave. Second, she might not, strike that, probably isn’t into women. Either way I need to try and focus on what I’m here to do. I want to be on my feet again as soon as I can be.

In short order she’s running me through the exercises from yesterday. Things are going much better. Shockingly so. Not like I’m going to pop up and start doing jumping jacks or anything, but at least the appropriate muscles are beginning to respond. Unlike the mishmash of yesterday, where it seemed like the muscles were all interconnected and mixed up.

As she’s kneeling next to me I get a closer look at her face. She has gorgeous green eyes. Her lips are plump and I can’t help but imagining what it would be like to kiss. Before I can stop myself from staring at her she notices, causing me to look away quickly blushing.

“You’re not really going to eat me right…?” She says half joking. Great. She thinks I’m a weirdo. So much for staying cool.

“Noooo.” I say to my lap, unable to meet her gaze. She falls into a fit of laughter.

“I’m just teasing you, don’t worry little cat girl.” Michelle says ruffling my hair.

“Hey, I’m older than you think!” I say, with my face absolutely glowing red.

“Is that so? I guess the emergence can change a lot.”

“No kidding! You’d never believe what I was like before. What about you, how was it, changing?”

“Hah, to be honest, I was here at work. I changed in the first wave, and it caused quite the commotion here. They did hundreds of tests before deciding everything was fine. Well, I say fine but I was fortunate. I was surrounded by friends and coworkers who are more tolerant than a lot of people. Even still there was a bit of an argument between the higher ups and my direct manager as to whether an emerged would be allowed to continue working here. In the end they decided to keep me on a trial basis, given my work history. As time went on it became less of an issue. There still are patients that have to be referred to someone else though.”

“As for the physical end of things. It was bizarre getting used to being so much taller. I was actually 5’ 2”, a couple inches shy of you even, beforehand. Now I’m 5’ 8”. Not much else changed for me though. No crazy powers or anything. Well, I’m a little more athletic that I used to be. I can also hear sneaky predators a mile away.” She says this last with a sly wink.

This woman is turning me into a hot mess. I struggle for a moment with my composure, honestly I have no idea what my ears were doing, so I’ve probably already failed anyways. After a moment I calm myself and continue my side of the conversation.

“It was sorta similar for me. Well, not really, but I don’t want to go into all the details. For me though I became shorter. By quite a bit. I couldn’t look much more different from who I used to be. It’s still a shock to see myself in the mirror when I’m not paying attention.”

“Ohh? How so? Are you not happy with how you look?” She asks with a little concern.

“Uhhh, well, like I said, a lot happened so I don’t really want to talk about before. But, no, I am happy. When I say it’s a shock I meant a happy one. Like, I can’t believe this is me. How about you?”

“Well, I always had a complex about being short. I did track in high school and everything, but I was never as competitive as I would have liked. Essentially there were a lot of things I wished I could change, but just were out of reach. Then, poof. So, short answer, yes. I’m still pretty thrilled even with the extra hate from some people.”

Conversation then stalls for a while as we go through my exercises. It’s not long before I’m totally focused on my exercises. At some point I realize that we hadn’t really spent much time working with my tail the previous day and I add that to the mix. As I’m absorbed in what I’m doing Michelle stands back to watch and offers instruction here or there to keep me on the right track.

Eventually I look up and notice her studying me intently, her cheeks a rosey shade. She jumps a little and looks away quickly, as she realizes I’m now looking back at her.

“Oh, keep at it! You’re doing purrr-fect. Ahaha”

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Is it just me, or was that a nervous laugh?

Not long after I’ve finished therapy for the day and Carolyn has returned to bring me back to my room.

“Good job today Maya. Try and keep working on those exercises and if you have any questions or anything make sure to ask me tomorrow OK?”

“Thanks Michelle. It’s good to know you’re all ears.” I say with a saucy wink. Yes, yes I did spend quite a while during our session trying to think of bunny related puns. I’m not proud of it, but it had to be done. She does go bright red in response, causing Carolyn to crack up.

“Oh! I just remembered. Did you see the interview with Nightbinder yet?” She asks.

“I did!” She squeaks, causing Carolyn to fall into another round of laughter as she wheels me out.

Just when I figured out one joke I miss the next. I’m vaguely familiar with the name Nightbinder. I know she’s a hero, but nothing else. To hell with it.

“Sooo, what about this Nightbinder interview?” I ask as I’m being pushed back to my room.

“Oh, there was video captured of her with a villain by the name of Vulptrix the other night. They asked Nightbinder during an interview if she was into women, and she got all flustered. You really have to see it.”

A few minutes later, see it, I do. Carolyn didn’t even remotely do it justice. The anchor had taken the opportunity to get Nightbinder, who is incredibly hot, by the way, to admit that she was flirting with Vulptrix. Then during the viewer question segment Vulptrix had written in to tease Nightbinder further heightening her embarrassment! It was pure gold!

I couldn’t help but spend a few more minutes searching around a little more for the security footage that they referenced in the interview. Yup, definitely flirting. Definitely ear scratches… Oh my god, Vulptrix is soo damn cute. I can’t even blame Nightbinder! Watching this segment I raise a hand to my ear. I can’t help but wonder if it really feels that good. I give myself a little scratch, and oh my. That is positively wonderful. I close my eyes, and unbidden an image of Michelle scratching my ears just like Nightbinder did for Vulptrix pops up. Oh my… I feel myself growing warm and my eyes pop open as I realize what’s happening.

OK, enough of that! Jeeze girl, you’re in a hospital room. I pick my tablet back up and then scroll along a little more. Almost instantly I see fanart pairings of Nightbinder and Vulptrix. Aaaand WOW! That is SOOOO not helping! This is going to be a long couple weeks if I’m going to keep lusting after my physical therapist. Well, at least I hope it’s only a couple weeks at this rate. Lest I make a complete and total fool of myself.

The week goes on and aside from the physical therapy sessions, everything else is kind of a bore. After only 3 days I’m walking between parallel bars unsteadily. By the end of the week I can walk on my own, although I need to concentrate and I’m not exactly graceful about it. Regrettably I’m still stuck in my bed or a wheelchair most of the time. They don’t want me falling and getting hurt. The way I see it, if thirty some odd feet doesn’t kill me, I should be good to go considering my short stature.

While it’s been difficult, I manage to keep my cool with Michelle. She really is a sweetheart, even if she does have a habit of randomly dropping puns. Over time, I’m beginning to think it might actually be a nervous habit. Somehow the concept of the cute bunny getting nervous and impulsively punning was even more endearing. Yea, I’m definitely falling for her. I’m not about to deny that. Having said that, nothing happens between us, she is a professional and all. Ethics are a thing, regrettably. Well, that and I don’t have the guts to make anything of it. I just figure it would make things awkward and I’m not sure I can handle that right now.

The boredom left me a lot more time to reflect on everything and come to terms with it. There are still things that bother me. I do wake up with nightmares from having fallen off the roof relatively frequently. That’s never a good time and it always takes me ages to get back to sleep. It’s not that I’m over it all. I’m just beginning to move on. The men I killed, it’s still horrifying and easy to get caught in a loop thinking about their families. I try to avoid thinking about it too much, and I remind myself that if not them, it was me.

Even with all the introspection, it isn’t long before I’m running out of things to do. The internet lost its appeal only a couple days in. You’d think you could just spend eons browsing reddit or whatever, but when you’re stuck with absolutely nothing else as an option, all you can think about is doing literally anything else.

This is what leads me to exploring the hospital, well, what little I can. Most of it is off limits and they seem to take it all pretty seriously. Can’t blame me for trying. I really want to know what’s going on behind all those locked doors.

This is how I find myself rolling down one of the same few hallways for the umpteenth time. I decide I need to try some new form of entertainment. Having seen people balance wheelchairs on two wheels before I can’t help but give it a try. I mean, I should be a natural at this right? What self respecting cat doesn’t have a great sense of balance.

I lean back and give the wheels a hard shove forwards to pop the front of the chair up. The chair almost goes over backwards before I can catch myself. After bobbing back and forth a couple of times I manage to get the chair under control. HAH, easy, nothing to it!

“MAYA!” shouts a voice from behind me.

Letting out a yipe of surprise I immediately go over backwards. When the back of the chair hits the ground I roll over, landing in a squat as though I expected it to happen. Very slick. Minus the falling over in the first place bit.

Standing slowly, my tail and ears drooping, I turn to see who spotted me and of course it’s Michelle. “Sorry…” I say in a small voice.

“Maya, what were you thinking?”

“I… I don’t have an excuse… I was bored… and yes, before you ask, doing stunts in the hall seemed like a great idea at the time…” I explain. Michelle sighs before responding.

“Well, it won’t be too much longer now. You’re doing unbelievably well. Even knowing what they did it’s hard to believe. Just try and stay out of trouble for a few more days, OK?” She looks at her watch and gives a start. “I have my next patient now. Gotta go!”

“OK, better hop to it then.” I say with a saucy wink. Sue me. I’ve spent a lot of time with her this week. I can’t help it. Her blush in response is worth it.

“Ah-haha. Yea… Don’t let me CATch you doing that again, haha.” She says, before scurrying down the hall.

Once I’ve righted the upended wheelchair I suddenly realize that I’ve felt almost completely normal, like better than in physical therapy earlier today even. As soon as I have this realization, things snap back, suddenly I’m less stable again. It must be because I wasn’t focused on it? Maybe when I’m not as conscious of it it comes more natural? I continue to ponder this conundrum as I hop back in the wheelchair and roll myself back to my room.

It’s not long before I’m pacing back in forth in my room trying figure out if I’m overthinking things or something. Unfortunately, it doesn’t go well. In fact, in my unstable state, when I’m not focused, it’s hard to even stay on my feet. On lap 14 I make a critical error by thinking about Michelle. Yea, yea, I know. I’m enamoured with her. I can’t help it. I know it’s not like I’ve known her long enough to be properly in love with her or anything, but that doesn’t change the fact that I can’t stop thinking about her.

In my lapse I find myself falling. I reach out to try and grab the rail of the bed to catch myself. Were I still my old height, with my old reach, it would have been an easy grab. At my current stature however, no chance. Imagine then, my surprise as I manage to halt my face first plummet to the floor. I’m wincing so hard expecting the impact that I’m just confused for a second.

When I open my eyes, I find myself at an angle, my head about 2 feet from the ground. To my utmost consternation I find both of my arms thrown over my face bracing for impact. Huh… What?! I should be on the floor. Clearly I hadn’t managed to grab onto anything. I guess this must be the telekinetic power they were talking about?! Now that I realize what might be happening, I try to figure out what I’ve done. As soon as my thoughts are diverted, I immediately conclude my plunge to the floor.

Fortunately, I was already pretty close to the ground and I stop myself from actually getting hurt. I turn over and sit there cross-legged for a couple minutes to try and figure this all out. I feel like I’m going to lose credibility as a cat girl if I don’t get my shit together! With that thought my cheeks burn a little bit, before I move on to more pertinent issues. So I guess the telekinesis thing is real…

Given, I know a lot about the cube that was implanted in my back. To be honest, I still had my doubts about the telekinesis thing though. The cube is certainly capable of it. The reason I had doubted it is because I didn’t really see how you would control it. Since it’s implanted in my lower back, I just don’t see how it works.

Thinking about it, it’s actually kind of creepy. Presumably this thing would have had to modify my spinal column or something. Maybe even reach all the way up into the motor control area of my brain. By no means am I an expert on any of the biology side of things. I was more of an everything else sort of person… before. I know just enough that it skeeves me out a little.

Well, what’s done is done. Next I guess I need to figure out how to control it. Hmmmm… This should be fun!