>>58190576
>Mom gasped.
>She too froze in place, and her eyes widened.
>”Oh my God…” She whispered, her lips barely moving.
>Her face grew paler.
>Her eyes stared into your larger red ones.
>You looked to Dad.
>The second of silence was one you wouldn’t forget.
>It forever burned into your memory.
>Rarely have you seen it happen so fast.
>The buildup.
>Unlike Mom, his face flushed pink, then red.
>His eyes were wide and alert, then focused and narrowed.
>Eyebrows furrowed with his intense gaze.
>You’d gotten the look in times past.
>Long ago.
>The concentrated stare of a furious working man.
>Sometimes, it was irrational.
>A result of a bad day at work bestowing a short temper.
>Sometimes, you fully deserved it.
>The growing knot in your stomach screamed you put yourself in harm’s way.
>The dam burst.
>A ferocious deluge spewed forth.
>”The hell’s wrong with you?” He said.
>It was in that distinct tone.
>You hated it.
>Yelling at a normal volume.
>The moment before Dad shouted, he always spoke like that.
>You weren’t wagging your tail anymore.
>Smiling stopped.
>Standing like a dope, you smiled without smiling.
>Your brain forgot to tell your mouth ‘relax’.
>Because your whole body tensed.
>The shock keeping Dad in place broke fast.
>”Hell’s the matter with you!?” Dad bellowed.
>His voice cracked from the volume.
>Despite now being the same size, an entire childhood of conditioning told you to fear this wrath.
>Your ears flattened against your head like a scolded dog.
>”This some kinda sick joke?!”
”W… Wh…” You stuttered like a fool.
>You’d so wholly expected, and wanted, positivity.
>So much so, it stifled any rational thinking.
>Why hadn’t you paid more attention?
>The transformation was almost month-old news for you.
>It was new for everyone else.
>Barely two days since the news broke.
>He gnashed his teeth, pushing your nervous mom backwards toward the door they entered seconds ago.