Marley sat forward in her folding chair, watching the chicken above the campfire cook. It should be ready soon. Not that there was any rush, though; she wasn't starving, and Shira was napping in the tent behind her. She felt for the packet of seasoning in her coat pocket just to make sure it was still there. She knew it would bring a smile to her friend's face once everything was ready.

A gust of wind picked up in her direction while she adjusted the firewood with a poker. Embers fluttered in her face. She leaned back, shut her eyes, and scooted the chair backwards to dodge them. When she reopened her eyes, the few embers still going strong flew up into the afternoon sky before dying. It made her think of her poor friend. Shira always had trouble being herself; her happiness, the spark of life that kept a person going, would always fizzle away.

She took a quick look around the campsite. There were no squirrels, raccoons, or other critters nearby. The two were all alone unless plant life counted, which it should! Unlike other people and animals, trees and grass didn't judge what they saw; they would just let things be. They never tried to knock anyone down because they were doing something a certain way. In fact, plants were probably the only pure things in the world, never having a single malicious thought toward anything around them. Marley admired that, because if the demons people made out of others didn't show themselves through anger and rage, they rooted themselves in the mind, slowly taking over and leaving just a poor thing begging to know what happiness was like again.

Unfortunately, Shira had such a demon of the mind in her from birth. Marley had known her as long as she could remeber -- all the way from kindergarten -- and bore witness to fifteen years of her spiraling descent. In the moment, it was invisible, but in hindsight, the demon's hold on her friend's mind was horrifyingly obvious. Shira was always excelling in her studies; why should she be disappointed in herself? Shira liked joking around in public; how could she ever be gloomy? Shira had caring parents and a nice house; what could ever make her want to throw her life away?

The demon savored those thoughts like a child savored sugar. It would make Shira seem normal just enough to bait out those sweet invalidating phrases and then fed on them. It wouldn't consume them in their entirety, though; it would leave a little of each floating around in Shira's mind, intruding into her thoughts even long after she gave in to the demon and believed them as fact. It was a shadow her friend carried around with her, and like a shadow, its presence was always there no matter how small.

Looking at Shira's actions in a vacuum made her condition easy to shrug off. People become sad, hopeless, frustrated, and gloomy; it was normal to be negative at times. What wasn't normal, though, was the reverse -- only being joyful and happy about oneself every now and then. Marley once heard that a person is their own worst critic. She couldn't attest to how true that was since she never was into writing or drawing or any of the other creative arts, but she knew that critic shouldn't be bleeding into every facet of life and overwhelming all other thoughts.

She looked at her truck parked at the edge of the campsite. Even with the tent and cooking utensils out, the back was still loaded with stuff. If she was only coming up here by herself instead of with company, nothing would probably change. In fact, there might have even been more stuff somehow.

In the morning, she had driven up to Shira's house and showed up with the truck loaded and ready to go. By appearing unannounced, she was able to get her friend to say whether or not she truly wanted to go camping without giving the demon time to over-analyze the question and make her worry and default to 'no'. Thankfully, she had won over it and agreed.

After Shira had went back inside to grab her things, Marley waited and waited in her truck. After a while, she had stopped the vehicle and went in though the still-open door to make sure her friend was alright. It turned out she was trying to bring the whole house with her!

"Oh, I'm sorry," Shira had said, embarrassed. "I didn't want to make you have to bring everything."

"No, no, don't worry about it. I've brought the tent, food, everything we need. Just bring a jacket and anything else you think you want to take along."

"Okay."

"Make sure you use the bathroom. It will be a few hours before we get up there."

Soon after that, they were in the truck and on their way. The drive wasn't particularly exciting since most of it was on the gray freeway, but at least music was able to bring back some color. Marley loaded up Shira's favorite playlist, but her friend had become uncomfortable when the third song came on.

"Please don't feel like you have to play what I listen to," she had said.

"I'm fine with anything. Do you want me to turn on the radio instead?"

"If you want to."

"Well, what do you want? Do you want me to keep this on?"

"Umm, sure..." Shira had gotten a little flustered, but she soon found it in her to start singing along. Marley joined in. She liked seeing her friend smile. That was the whole purpose of the trip: to help her friend enjoy herself again. Most people would find the roundabout way of asking Shira what she wanted to do annoying, but Marley learned long ago how to tell the difference between when her friend was speaking and when the demon was pulling her strings.

When they had arrived, Shira had been fatigued from sitting down for hours but still was insistent on unloading and setting up as much as she could. "Go relax," Marley had told her. "I'll set up the tent first so you can move in there right away."

"Are you sure? I can---"

"Hey, you're tired. It's okay to take a nap. I'll get some food going after I get this up."

And now that food was just about done.

---

Shira's eyes were closed tight, but they could have been open for all the good they were doing. She woke up some time ago and couldn't get back to sleep. Her debate with herself on if she should keep trying to go back to bed continued. On one hand, she was a fool for going to sleep right when she and Marley got here; she made her drive her all the way up here and then skipped out when it was her turn to do work. On the other hand, she should probably keep trying before she oh-so-conveniently came out of her tent right when her friend was done setting everything up like some big coincidence.

Why did she sleep in the first place, anyway? She had been tired, but real people didn't grow tired from not doing anything. Was she really so lazy that she couldn't give maybe fifteen minutes to do her share of the work? Good grief. It wasn't like she had anything else to do anyway!

Crackling came from outside the tent, as it had been since she woke up. Then, she heard something being moved around and then a metallic ring from what was probably something else being dropped. There her friend was again, working herself hard just so she could hide in her tent and do nothing. Shira didn't deserve to sleep -- her friend did. She shouldn't have made Marley bring her along. All she had done so far was force her to wait, do things she likely didn't want to, and now make food for the both of them.

The thought of food made her shiver. She was always shivering and freezing. Even now, she was bundled up in a jacket and sweatpants despite laying down in a sleeping bag designed to keep heat in, because she couldn't. You should eat more, people would tell her, but she couldn't even do that without feeling guilty. Why should she, someone who had done nothing of significance, feast, while there were others in her very neighborhood who were surely starving to death while doing everything they could to help their families?

Her heart thumped in her ears. If she was so pathetic and out of shape that just thinking about the very truth made her heartbeat increase, she shouldn't be eating at all. A bodybuilder needed all the food he or she could get their hands on, and she was the opposite of one.

The tent door zipped open, flooding her eyelids with light for a moment before a shadow drifted across and dimmed it. She squinted harder. "Chicken's done if you're ready to eat," said Marley. "Sorry if I woke you up."

"You didn't wake me up," she replied, trying her best to sound cheerful.

Shira crawled out of her sleeping bag, away from the little bit of trapped heat. "Brr!" It wasn't cold out, as evidenced by Marley being in just a bare shirt, yet here she was, unable to handle a little chill. She slid her feet inside a pair of slippers and stepped out into the open world.

The fire was dying down. Marley was huddled over the wooden table with some plates, forks, and knives. Hidden in front of her would be the chicken she smelled. Shira's stomach growled again. Maybe she could use a little bit to eat. It would help warm her up. And, there weren't any birds around to eat her share in her place... No. She needed to eat.

"Did you get a good sleep?"

"Yeah." She wasn't going to make her worry about it.

"Did you dream of anything?"

"Not that I can remember." The closest experience she had to dreams was sometimes hearing everyone she knew shouting at her while she drifted off. "Shira. Shira! Shira..." they would yell, either in anger or disappointment. Even the few friends and family members she could never remember yelling her name would join in.

"I can never remember my dreams either." Marley cut off a bit from one of the pieces and tasted it. "I think it's done! Pick a part. Or five." Her smile was as warming as the chicken.

Shira put some legs on a plate, while her friend took a breast. "Thank you." The worst thing she could do now was look ungrateful by taking almost nothing to start with. No, no, she needed to eat, why couldn't she make herself understand that?

"Oh, one more thing, almost forgot!" Marley ran to the truck and brought out some shakers. She spilled salt and pepper over both of their plates. Then, she pulled out a packet from her pocket and sprinkled something brown over Shira's chicken.

"What's that?" she asked. She took a whiff, but couldn't make out the scent of it.

"A new seasoning. I know you'll like it. It'll make you smile!" Marley grinned again. Any moment now, the corners of her lips would surely move all the way up to her ears.

Picking up a leg, Shira went through the motions of eating. Like most other food lately, it was devoid of taste and texture. She wished that she could enjoy the taste of food again and not find chewing and swallowing a chore to be done. All of the seasonings went to a waste. Each bland taste made her feel worse. Except, she wasn't ignoring it all on purpose, right? She probably was deep down.

At least with eating chicken, the presence of bones in the meat gave her an excuse to not eat everything. That didn't stop her from getting hungrier once she was 'done', though. She picked up another leg, tore off as much meat as possible, and then finished off the first, leaving just the bones on her plate.

As she went for more chicken, Marley chuckled and was about to give a comment before she shook her head. Shira didn't care -- she suddenly wanted to finish eating before her friend did, yet she was so hungry. Usually, whenever she tried to let herself pig out, she would feel sick to her stomach and need to stop immediately, but this time it was her jaws that were hurting. With each chew, her teeth felt like they moved a hair. None of them twisted around in an attempt to free themselves or started to shoot pain through a nerve, so thankfully the only discomfort was the pressure. Eventually, chewing made the odd pressure decrease. She took her jacket off and set it beside her.

Some chicken fell out of the back of her mouth. Whoops. She swallowed the rest and looked down at her plate. She was long finished eating the legs, but the utensils by her plate were sitting clean and unused. Her arms were tinted with brown and dark spots and her hands were covered in bits of food. Silly her, eating like she was some beast! After being surprised that she found it humorous instead of going right away for putting herself down, she mentally patted herself on the back. Wow, no guilt this time?

Her tailbone was getting sore, so she shifted her bottom toward the back of the bench. She went to pull more chicken to eat, only to find that it was all gone! Marley was still face-down in her plate. The fork and knife were slowing her down. Not quite full yet, Shira gazed back down at the remains of her own food. Those bones sure looked tasty... Picking up one, she stuck it between her teeth -- her nose blocked her vision, discolored by messy eating -- and chomped down. The hairs all over her body rose and froze.

The crack made Marley look up. Her friend's eyes bulged wide open, and the hands holding her utensils hung in the air. The edges of her face twitched as if she wasn't sure what expression she should be making. The sight made Shira feel warm and tingly all over. She couldn't help but smile.

"Uhh... Sh-Shira, y-you..." Marley's eyes darted from her head to her arms and back to her head, never making contact with her for too long. Shira wiped a dirty hand across her face to move some hair, even though she just had it cut less than a week ago. She tried again, but the farthest she could get it away was to the corners of her vision.

"Huh? What's up?" She swallowed the bits of bone and fed herself another. Despite being thin and great for poking at the ends, they didn't scratch up her throat or gums. The pain in her tailbone came back even though she wasn't sitting on it any longer. Now, it felt like it was pushing against her pants, trying to come out and see what the world had to offer.

"I, ahh... Actually, I need a second." Marley shut her eyes for a few before reopening them. Then, she stood up straight as a lightning rod and bolted to her truck, opening the back door and digging through some bags. Shira stood up and followed her, crunching on the rest of the bone on the way.

"Is everything okay?" She had a sudden urge to whoop, but fought it down. She wasn't one to make noise for the sake of making noise. Shira halted, giving Marley a few steps of breathing room. To help see what her friend was looking for, she stood up on her toes. It gave her feet a nice upward stretch, as well as for some reason her ears despite them being on the complete opposite side of her body.

Marley turned around with a pocket mirror. "You might want to take a look..." She trailed off and turned back around with a hand over her mouth. With her back still turned, she let out the giggle she had been holding in. "How do you like it?"

Shira tilted her head back and laughed. The reason why she had trouble moving her hair back earlier was because she had no hair! Well, she didn't recognize the fur covering every visible inch of skin as her hair. In that case, she couldn't move her hair out of the way because it was everywhere! Or something. Her nose twitched from the smell of her breath. Did it always smell that bad?

While her laughter died down, she clutched her chest in an effort to catch her breath. A look behind her at the tail pushing the top of her pants down was all it took to reignite it. She rested her other arm on the truck door, pressing down with the pawpads on her hands. Still standing on her toes, she bent her knees forward for stability.

"I'm taking that as a 'good'?"

Shira's eyes were spinning. Finally, she stopped laughing and could breathe in enough air. "I've never..." She needed to catch her breath again. "I've never felt so happy in my life!" The beating of her heart drowned out her voice, but she was pretty sure she got the words out.

Marley tackled her with a hug and nearly knocked her over. Her friend buried her face and arms in her fur. Wait, wasn't she wearing a shirt? She looked back and saw that it was still in one piece at the table but split apart at a seam. How did her pants survive? If she remembered, she would think about it later.

"I'm glad that you're glad!" Marley's voice was muffled by all the fur. Shira spasmed for a moment like she was a cat or dog that just had their belly purred on by an annoying human.

Eventually, Shira starting feeling a bit too warm and broke herself free of the hug. Then, the two began to pack up all the implements and supplies that were brought out for cooking and eating. Before putting the paper towels back, she took one and wiped off her arms and face. Getting the bits of meat out of her spotted fur was easier than she thought it would be. It was even easier when she threw it out and used her tongue instead.

Walking around the camp trails ran the risk of drawing too much unwanted attention, so the two played various games for the rest of the day into the night. Marley would throw a frisbee to her and she would use her larger mouth to catch it out of the air. Right away, Shira kicked off her shoes and socks since they didn't fit her feet well anymore. Her bare paws did everything better: she could run faster without the footwear impeding her, and her pawpads provided the same protection while allowing her to feel the ground. After a few minutes, they switched the roles, with Shira throwing and her human friend catching with her teeth. It took a few tries, but Marley finally caught it -- with her nose. Instead of putting herself down for injuring her friend, she ran up to her and licked at her nose to help make the pain go away. Thankfully, there was no bleeding.

Another game they played was just simply chasing each other. Sometimes Marley was the hunter, trying to keep up with her quarry, and at other times Shira was a predator, making sure her prey didn't escape. The goal wasn't to merely touch the other person but to leap and tackle them. At first, Shira would wag her tail while running, but she got tired of it after a while and let it stay drooped.

Despite only having the campground clearing and the surrounding trees to work with, the games never got boring; there were lots of giggling to be had. Instead, they ended up calling it a night after Marley became too exhausted to play anymore. Shira still had strength left in her, but her heart felt like it was ready to burst free from her ribcage.

"Good night, Shira," Marley yawned out.

"Good night." After a brief hug, they both huddled in their sleeping bags.

While her friend fell asleep, Shira laid on her back and stared up at the tent ceiling. She still felt happy about herself. Instead of reminding herself of any of the bad things she did that day, she reflected on the good. She was able to have some silly fun without worrying about what was right and wrong. The only thing that really irked her in any way was that taking a nap earlier meant she would have trouble falling asleep now. However, it gave her this time to reflect on how much her self-esteem improved. The experience was... almost freeing, to say the least.

Without thinking, she let out a whoop toward nothing in particular, and then another. Marley woke up from her snoring, groaning. "What is that?" she asked slowly, being interrupted by another whoop in the middle.

"It's me. I can't tell you why I did it." She whooped again.

"Ah." Marley shifted around.

Shira let out one more noise. "I'll try to be quieter next time." Animals loved to make their own little sounds all the time. Did their barking and chirping and singing mean anything most of the time, or did they do it just because they felt like it at the time? Maybe she was going through the latter.

Long after Marley got back to sleep, Shira closed her eyes and hugged a pillow. It turned out that falling asleep was much easier when it was peaceful and not filled with doubts and regrets.

---

Marley zipped up her coat after being bitten one two many times by the morning chill. The campsite looked barren with everything packed away except the tent. She saved it for last since Shira was still asleep inside. Funny how that worked out; while she was completely tired out the night before, she was the only one up right now. Did her friend decide to stay up much later than she did? Unzipping the front, she went inside.

Seeing a hyena's head poking out of the sleeping bag instead of a human's shocked her for a brief moment. It would take a while to get used to that. She knelt down by her sleeping friend. "Oh Shiii-raaa..." she whispered. "It's time to wake up..." Shira's head twitched from side to side while she yawned. Marley breathed through her mouth so she didn't have to smell the bad breath. "Hey." Shira opened her eyes.

"Aww, we're leaving already?"

"I wish we could stay too, but all the other days were already reserved. Want something to eat real quick?" she asked while Shira wiggled out of the sleeping bag. How could she be naked in this weather? Sure, she had a fur coat now, but still! She must be freezing her tail off!

"No, I think I'm good right now. Are we packing up, then?" Shira tilted her head.

"Yeah. I have most of everything in the truck already except the tent."

"Alright, let's get it down then."

Dismantling the tent was always easier than setting it up, even more so now that there were two fully awake people working on it. Instead of keeping the poles in a pile on the ground, Shira decided to hold them in her mouth. There was nothing wrong with her friend showing off the strength of her new jaws -- in fact, Marley was glad that she was confident enough in herself now to show her what she can do -- but she didn't enjoy ducking every time she turned her head around. Shira's head stood above hers now, but that didn't stop Marley from thinking her neck needing saving every five seconds. Her friend only put them down after she felt like whooping again. Good thing she didn't do that the entire night! There was nothing wrong with enjoying oneself, but it made Marley wish she bought some earplugs with her.

After it was all done and the tent was packed away, the two sat in the front seats of the truck. The each gave a wave to the campground before putting the keys in the ignition and driving out of the site. Shira wasted no time in turning on the radio. Marley tried to turn on the heat to warm herself, but it made Shira start to pant, so she left it off and made do with her coat. At the first stop, she put on a pair of gloves.

On the freeway, they received a plethora of stares from people they passed by. Instead of taking them to heart, Shira would just grin back. At one point, Shira rolled down the window so she could stick her head out. That lasted for about half a minute before Marley made her stop since the cold was getting to her again and the direction the hyena's fur was blowing made seeing out difficult.

There was one driver who rolled down his window and started ranting at them about people in animal costumes and all sorts of nasty things on what they deserved. Shira just laughed at him, ear-piercingly loud from bouncing around in the confines of the cabin. He started swerving toward them then, so Marley sped up to avoid getting into a crash.

After an hour of otherwise monotonous driving, Shira suggested taking a more scenic route for at least some of the rest of the drive home. Marley didn't hesitate to get off the freeway. After some searching, they drove on a mostly-dead road with no company but trees -- and that was nice, since trees weren't able to be bad drivers.

"Can I roll down the window again?" Shira asked with her tongue drooping out of her mouth.

"Fine," Marley conceded. At least it was a bit warmer out now.

Her friend stuck her head out and immediately made another series of whooping sounds. During it, her ears would twitch and she would sniff audibly.

"What do you see---er, hear? Or smell? Or something?"

"Some birds and squirrels. I think they came out to figure out what that noise I made was! Ooh, look at that one over there!" She pointed with a furry finger.

Marley took her eyes off the empty road for a few seconds, straining to see what Shira was talking about. "All I can see is a tiny colored speck in a far-off tree. I can't tell what it is. Did I miss it?"

"No, but I'll tell you. That squirrel in the branch over there kept spinning around in a circle like it was trying to chase its tail."

"How can you even see that?"

She turned to her, tongue still hanging out. "Because you made my eyes better! Among other things."

Oh, right. Not being human came with not having human eyes. Maybe she should have bought some more of the seasoning for herself!

Shira's eyes were glued to the scenery. She would point out every detail she never noticed before about the clouds, the trees, the grass... Marley wished she could be part of the experience too, but even if she did have improved senses, she was still driving a vehicle. Eventually, Shira turned off the radio so she could hear everything better. All Marley could hear was her truck.

When they were still on the road but close to home, Marley stopped the truck so she could stretch. Shira got out too but quickly stuck her nose in the air went on a sniffing fit.

"What do you smell?"

Shira sniffed a few more times before responding. "A deer." Did hyenas even eat deer? It probably depended on the environment. And if that hyena was part-human or not. Marley heard Shira's stomach rumble before she ran off. "I'll be back in a moment!" She was already getting quieter. "Or two!"

"Hey, wait! Shira!" Marley couldn't keep up with her. She made her pathetic human sprint look like a crawl. "Shira!" Her friend disappeared into the trees. Marley hopped back in the truck, turned off the engine, and waited, and waited... only to be startled awake by tapping on her window, screaming when she saw Shira's bloodied face. She flung open the window and stumbled outside, hugging her friend. "Oh my goodness! What happened? Are you okay? Please please please tell me you're okay..."

"Oh, I'm fine! I just got a little hungry. That's all." She grinned, letting the whites of her teeth shine. And then she inched closer. And closer. Eyes stared out of a red face. The blood on the beast's fur seemed to become darker, stamping its image on her mind. With the truck right behind her, Marley couldn't back up to escape. All she could smell was death, all she could see was death, and it was standing right in front of her. When would it stop? Was it trying to consume her? Thinking became difficult. Her guts wanted to add themselves to the horrible face. The creature couldn't have them. She swallowed them back down. Oh, that was disgusting. Dizziness took her. The world became black.

When she woke up again, she was upright in the passenger seat of the truck, stopped in front of some house. It looked familiar.

"Hey there, are you alright?" Somehow, she didn't notice the two-legged hyena standing over her. What was going on? Hyenas didn't live in this country. Where was she, and how did she get here? The last thing she could remember was some sort of nightmare where she was visited by another hyena on two legs, and it wanted to eat her. Actually, no, it wasn't a dream, she was in the middle of a long road trip that could remember starting. She was with someone. She was driving herself and her friend home. Oh, right, the hyena-thing was her friend. The campsite. The seasoning. Now with an idea of where she was, she blinked herself back to reality. The hyena -- Shira -- was still there, concerned about her.

"Just a little tired." She swallowed, feeling the back of her throat burn. "Actually, my gut hurts a bit too... What happened?"

"I came back from eating that deer. It was tasty, you know. You missed out! When I saw you asleep, I couldn't help but get all in your face with the gore. I don't think your stomach liked it, though, and you passed out. So I drove us back the rest of the way. Don't worry, it wasn't long. We were almost here anyway."

"Well, uh, thank you! And don't ever do that again! You scared the life out of me!" Swallowing hurt again.

"No problem! Do you think you're good the rest of the way to your house by yourself?"

Marley took a quick inventory of herself. She could keep her balance after stepping out of the vehicle. Her vision wasn't spinning. She wasn't aware of any strange feelings other than her irritated throat and gut. "I think so." Looking at the house again, she realized it was Shira's house. Her friend had dropped herself off and she almost didn't even know.

"In that case, I'm going to head in then. Thanks so much for the trip!" She gave her a final hug. "You've helped me enjoy life again."

"Anything for a friend. Hey, did you forget your coat?"

"Um..."

"I put it in the back before we left."

"Oh, thank you!" She opened the door and dug it out from under the bags. "Not that I'll need it anymore, though." She giggled. "Call me when you get home!"

"Sure thing! Take care!"

"Take care!" Shira disappeared into her house.

Marley drove on alone. Putting all the camping equipment back where it belonged would not be fun on an upturned stomach. Maybe she would have some soup after she parked her truck, in case her stomach was still a little iffy by then, and then work on lugging everything back in. She could also use a proper nap, too, but she just promised to call her friend soon. She would understand if she didn't.

As she pulled into the driveway, she realized that Shira never asked her how long her changes would last for. If she ever did, she decided she would leave the truth a surprise, save for telling her that she would never have those terrible thoughts in her head again.