• I sprinted down the street that led to my future home. My feet violently pounded the pavement, as I increased my pace. Siren followed close behind, though there still was a safe distance between us. A man screamed at me to give up, but I ignore his nonsense. I focused on my escape route, because losing my freedom would be like losing my life. I saw thousands of bricks and several doors zoom by thanks to my perifial vision. It was the middle of the night, so the only thing that allowed me to see was some lampposts that were scattered down the street. I passed other people, and they fled as well, afraid the cops would notice the illegal acts they were committing. As I finally turned into a small alleyway, the smell of cigarettes attacked my senses. The smell shut down my mind for a couple of seconds, but by now my feet moved without orders.
    I was now safe, but I kept up my fast pace, just in case. The ally was so cramped that not even a golf cart could drive through it, let alone a car. This caused the policemen to search by foot. The moment to the cops shut the car door; the risky part of my plan was underway. I rushed over to a corner with a dumpster, and ran behind it. Its dark shadow was the perfect place for my next step in escaping. My hair turned black and more hair sprouted out all over my skin. My limbs shortened, and I shifted forward so that I could travel on all four limbs instead of just two. A long thin tail grew from my lower back. Two pointy, fur covered ears sprouted from both sides of my hair line. The pain of this transformation, ended minutes after it accrued. I was used to it, so instead of pain I felt some tingling.
    Once I was completely changed, I slowly strolled out into the light. After lining up my tail with my feet, so that I wouldn’t sit on it, I plopped down onto the ground. I could feel a rough patch of fur, after a stretching a couple different ways. So I turned my head and started to work out the matte that was stubbornly imbedded in my pelt.
    “He went this way,” the cop explained to his partner.
    “There, that lump on the ground!” his partner shouted pointing in my direction. My heart started to beat harder and faster, but I didn’t dare to twitch. Instead I pounced over to them, nimbly moving my paws. I rubbed against the man’s shins, meowing in the most aggravating pitch I could manage.
    “It’s just a stupid cat,” he murmured, then kicked my in the stomach. This sent me sailing through the air a couple inches off the ground. The landing was just as painful is the initial blow, and I heard a crack as my shoulder made contact with the pavement. With a hiss, I got up and stalked away, using mostly my healthy shoulder as support. The voices volume slowly decreased until they were no longer audible. Then a rush overcame my bloodstream. I had just fooled the cops, a rush that never got old.
    I went back to my shadowed, safe zone. After worrying for many hours, I was finally lulled into a sleepy state. In this town of LA, street cats are used as soccer balls by annoyed adults. In the dark it was safer then in any building, so here I could sleep. I was still partially aware of my surrounding, because where I live anything and everything happens.
    The next morning the thudding and banging of garbage hitting the side of the dumpster woke me up. Breakfast, I thought as I stretched out my sore limb. I hopped up onto the railing of the dumpster. The pads of my paws hit the metal rails and I surveyed what was on the menu. Once I saw an untouched piece of cheese pizza I pounced onto it, getting my paws greasy. I ripped it apart, piece by piece, not even stopping to chew everything completely. I always ate my meals in cat form, because it took less food to fill up my peanut sized stomach. After finishing up my breakfast at 2 pm (the early bird lost out this time), I started off towards the streets.
    A different crowd of people were walking around now, busy business men and women. They were in such a hurry they did see me weaving through the crowd. Even though I have done this hundreds of times, I still get nervous about the random patterns people walk in. A little girl tugged at her mother’s hand and pointed at me. We walked in sync for several seconds, and she tried to reach down and pet me. Her mother wouldn’t have this though, so she pulled the child’s hand away and increased their walking speed. I watched the girls sad face blend into the crowd. She was facig me through out the whole moment, her eyes pleading me to catch up with her.
    Still thinking about the poor little girl, a lady pierced my front left paw with her heel. The lady didn’t even bother to look down. I hissed as loud as I could, and still no one showed any sign of hearing me. I took a couple more steps, and I heard a man swear as his fresh, steaming coffee splattered right onto my tail. I ignored the pain and continued walking another good mile. Stopping would just get me even more injured. When I reached my destination, I walked into the restaurant happily meowing.
    “Hey there kitty, you want a toy?” a male cashier asked me, as he patted the counter. I jumped up to where he was patted and stared at him with a curious expression on my face. He popped up the register and handed me a stuffed mouse. It grabbed it with my teeth and pawed at it for a good a couple minutes. A huge bang can from the kitchen, startling him and causing me to lose my balance. The cashier went to the kitchen to see what happened. Quickly I bounced over to the register and stole a couple of $100 bills, using mainly my teeth. I never learn, even though I was being chased just yesterday for this reason. I just can’t resist the urge to steal money, and add it to my account so one day soon I can live life big. After jumping off the counter and landing with a soft pat on the ground, I sprinted away.
    I continued running until I found a cheap clothing store. Once I was in, I headed to the men’s dressing room. I checked out the empty stalls to see which had the best fitting clothing hanging up. My tail shrunk into my back again, leaving a smooth surface behind. The fuzzy cat ears sunk back into my head, allowing my human ears to stick out again. My fur thinned out and kept growing shorter, until I could see my skin. My limbs shifted and grew out, back to their normal size. Altough I have experienced this for over 16 years of my life, I’m still not sure how it works. All I know is that I was a lucky mutated egg while in the womb. After my minute long transformation, I locked the dressing room door. After wriggling into a loose fitting jeans and a black “I love LA” t-shirt, I walked over and picked out a comfy pair of blue sneakers. I picked up some Alieve on my way back to the counter, and paid.
    “Can u break a hundred dollar bill?” I asked.
    “Sure…” she replied as she held it up to the light. Sure enough, she handed me back for twenty dollar bills, and my change from my purchase. I walked out, looking back to see the lady talking to her boss and pointing at me. The confused face on the boss told me it’s time to walk faster.
    I quickly continued to walk comfortable, and normal, well in appearance at least. My tan completion, with my dark brown hair and topped off with my 5’9”, 145 pound body, helped me blend in with everyone. I happily pocketed my left over money and walked. I had no specific destination in mind this time, just wherever I happened to end up.