Jackie watches from her hiding place as the people leave their cabin. She needed clothes and they had two girls with them about her size whose clothes should fit her. She was going to wait for them to leave, then sneak into their cabin and grab some of their clothes without them noticing her. There were two boys as well, plus the mom and dad. She just wanted some clothes to wear, she couldn’t go around in the nude all the time.

She waits as they walk down the path taking them to the swimming area. There was no one around as she dashed across from her hiding place to the cabin, she knew that the front door might be locked, so she tries one of the windows and finds a way inside. She goes through the clothes the girls brought with them first, she carefully picks out some that would fit her, they were a little big on her, but she could live with it. She goes through the boy’s closet and finds a pair of jeans that should fit her and grabs a couple pairs of socks. The mother’s things were bigger on her, but she takes a pair of her underwear and personal hygiene items, she knew her period was due soon and she would need these items. She grabs forty dollars from the man’s wallet, he had a lot of cash and she hope he wouldn’t miss them. She sneaks back out of the cabin unseen and headed back into the woods.

Jackie now knew where she was, after snooping around this morning, she had come here a couple of summers ago with some friends, and had fallen in love with the place. She stayed in the woods with the clothes she took, and needed a backpack or something, she knew where they stored the lost and found items, and headed towards the main admin building of the campground and sneaked in, when no one is watching the front. She headed directly to the lost and found room and with a little bit of her new strength she discovered this morning that she possesses and lets herself into the locked room.

Jackie listens as the three rangers on duty talk and joke about things. One of them tells them about the story he had overheard from some hunters he knew talking about a huge cat they had been out hunting yesterday. Jackie smiles as she hears the response from the other rangers. She smirks to herself; because she knew it was her, but how was the question? Her searching had revealed some nice items. She loads the backpack up with the items she had found and when she knew the coast was clear, she sneaked out. She headed towards the woods as fast as she could and then towards the path that would take her to the fire tower she could use.

The rangers no longer used it and she could use it as a hideout for herself, it had been abandoned and it was in a nice location. She walked towards it and wonders how she could do what everyone said she could do. What triggered her change and what was the animal into which she could change? When she gets to the tower, she sees a high chain link fence had been erected around it to prevent people from climbing up the metal steps.

Jackie steps back and takes a running start and when she is close to the chain fence, she jumps up and over it, landing safely on the other side. She climbs the steps all the way up to the top. She pushes hard against the trap door and pops the lock off, it squeaks open as she pushes on it. She enters the small cabin and closes the trap door under her. It was dusty and dirty in there, she would need to get a broom and some cleaning supplies to make it livable. She walks around the little tower room and cleans what she could with what she had at hand, and airs the place, by opening a few of the windows, and spends the afternoon cleaning the place. She goes back down the tower, jumps back over the fence and headed towards a camping store she had passed coming this way. She buys everything she needs with the forty dollars she took, returns to the tower and climbs back up with her items. She gets the place cleaned up and setup for the night. She felt that it was going to be a stormy night, tonight.

As the sun goes down, Jackie walks outside the cabin and sits down on the deck that runs around the cabin, just watches as the sun dips down. The view was unbelievable and the mountaintops in the distance were breathtaking. She sniffs the air and could smell the rain as it approached the cabin, she goes inside and closes the windows, just as she closes the last one, it starts pouring. She goes over to the old wood-burning heater in the cabin that she had cleaned earlier today and built a fire in it. She sets the small pot she bought with the money she had stolen, boils some water and adds it to the instant noodles she bought and has that for dinner. She watches and listens as the rain hits against the roof of the old lookout tower.

Jackie snuggles down under the heavy blanket she had taken from the lost and found a ground mat as well, on which to sleep. The cabin was a little stuffy and warm from the fire she had built in the stove to boil water on. It didn’t matter to Jackie though. It was a nice home and in the morning, she’ll open the windows to let in some air. She closes her eyes and falls asleep feeling safe for the first time in her life.

Edited By: Dave