The Application - 2
#2 of The Application
The rays of morning were piercing through the frost of my windows by the time I decided I had had enough, my muscles collapsing into themselves as my body shrank and deflated to its original state. BMU had served me well, and despite the utter lack of sleep I was exhilarated and rearing to go again. Oh the woes of being a part-time hustler, that so many people out there were intimately familiar with my body made any sudden and dramatic changes completely out of the question. And so it was with a bittersweet (but mostly sweet) grin did I drop my phone back into my trouser pocket, my now-slim body shivering as I pulled on my uniform and the thickest sweater I could find.
I was still going to have my fun though, however subtle I might have to be. High school was a time of pubescent changes and lots of weightlifting if you were lucky and dedicated enough, though that also meant there were literally dozens of hopeful studs and jocks who could use a little extra help.
Salivating as though someone had put a giant meatball sandwich before me, I stuffed my tongue back into my mouth and tumbled out into the freezing winter air, cursing under my breath as the frigid winds began cutting into my face almost immediately. Pulling my hood up, I tightened the bands to keep my ears from shifting around and dragged myself to the nearby bus stop. The temptation to add a little more muscle mass to my lithe little frame was overwhelming, but despite my thick clothing I knew that was going to be a horrible idea. Oh sure no one would see anything under the jacket, but if I caved now it wouldn't be long before I was strutting around school as an eight foot muscle-beast and publically fucking people whenever I grew too horny to control myself. I couldn't have that.
...or could I?
Busses were common in the early hours of morning, and thankfully one arrived within moments, granting me enough warmth to take my mind off bulking up. That didn't stop me from pulling BMU out though, for on the bus sat Sammy Linton, a single-horned rhinoceros who once lent me a pencil. Like most rhinos, Sammy was naturally big, his beefy frame crammed into a school blazer that was definitely starting to get a little too small for him.
Perfect!
Sammy was still snoozing against the window as I passed on my way to the rear. There weren't many people on board yet, and so I knew I wouldn't be disturbed. I fired up BMU and aimed my camera against the back of Sammy's head, there was a snap, and within moments I was looking at a digital, three-dimensional image of Sammy Linton in all his naked glory.
Ooh, I could see the start of what would be a thickly muscled gut, the faint lines of a six-pack noticeable enough to draw attention away from his meaty pectoral muscles. There was still a little too much fat on him for my taste, but what I could see would definitely draw stares if Sammy ever decided to take off his shirt. Returning Sammy's uniform to view, I began playing with the available options. First I reduced his body fat from thirteen per cent to nine so his muscles would be more defined, and then I bulked him up just a tiny bit, five pounds of raw muscle that should encourage him to take off that shirt more often.
When it was all done and done, I thought Sammy looked gorgeous, his uniform was tighter than ever and the upper two buttons were already being pulled apart by his now-brawnier chest. Satisfied, I clicked away his uniform and focused on his hefty tool. Naturally it was big, just like the rest of him, but according to BMU he wasn't even through with puberty yet, so any changes now would definitely not be attributed to anything resembling a reality warping device powerful enough to change the course of history forever and ever. Ten inches should do.... nah, eleven!
I snickered, wondering if Sammy would notice anything, considering he was currently seven inches erect. People didn't exactly grow four inches of penis size after a short nap, but something was telling me Sammy was going to be pleased with the changes. I finished up by thickening his cock and balls a little more and then dusting a generous layer of fine hairs onto his manly chest. Now I wasn't going to risk waking him up, never mind that his drool was freezing against the window, so I set his growth to take place over five minutes and then hit the trigger key. My phone let out a barely audible zap, and I knew my work was done.
The rest of the bus ride was fairly uneventful, although I did steal glances at Sammy every ten seconds or so. I was certain nobody on board noticed anything either, I didn't even notice anything peculiar and I was practically staring at him! Still, I chose to wait when the bus finally grinded to a halt opposite the school, the driver shrieking at the top of his voice to wake any unconscious passengers so they would finally leave. Sammy was one of those who jumped, the sound of chipping ice preceding a flurry of unpleasant language as the rhino cut his lip on frozen drool.
And then it happened, Sammy flinching slightly when he noticed the difference, his body language giving everything away as he wrapped a fist around one of the seat handles, eyes widening in shock for the briefest of moments before the rhino recovered and joined the crowd streaming off the bus. Grinning like a madman, I sprung off my seat and followed. The rhino had jammed both hands into the front of his jeans, his huge fists groping his manhood so openly I actually wondered if he was going to start jerking himself off for me.
Sammy turned, his face flushing when he caught me staring at him, and suddenly the air around him returned to normal, even his walk and general mannerisms giving nothing away despite the sizeable new bulge pushing through the front of his jeans. Stifling my giggles, I slowed down to give Sammy some time to get away. There was still plenty of time before school, and so I began making a list of targets I could beef up when I finally made it to class.
***
I had just decided to put Johnny Roberts on the to-beef-up list when I spotted something I hadn't seen for a while. It was a wheelchair, about a hundred or so feet away and occupied by a large, burly-looking figure in a dark jacket and hood. By default, I would probably have just kept my distance so I didn't get in the way of things, only this time I also spotted something else I did not like going near.
Baxter, Hendry and Tommy were some of the most unpopular kids to ever set foot here, a trio of bullies who banded together after they failed to find acceptance in the merciless societal installations composing the high school's elite. "Brutal" Baxter led their little gang, a smaller-than-average monitor lizard who was constantly picked on by his monstrous counterparts in the bodybuilding and weightlifting teams. It did not help that Baxter was often described as unintimidating and slightly soft despite his self-styled title, that the lizard apparently believed he looked as ferocious as the buffed-up monitors prowling the weight rooms only served to attract even more mockery.
"Handsome" Hendry too, failed to live up to his namesake. The orange fox had (in my completely unbiased opinion) brought nothing but endless shame to foxes everywhere since the first day I met him. A little thick and bereft of the natural cunning all (or most) foxes possessed, the arrogant, self-centred prick had a perchance for more violent bullying methods that had earned him more suspensions than people bothered to count.
And then there was Tommy, the smallest of the group and aptly named "Tiny" Tommy by the bigger, brawnier members of the schools cohort. A spotted lynx of small statue and vile attitude, he had the bad habit of instigating fights wherever he went, somehow crawling out of each brawl as unscathed as when he had started. I had even witnessed one of them personally, four of the schools senior studs had given him a good thrashing after he spat on their faces for no apparent reason. Somehow Tommy survived without even bending a whisker, and soon after that Baxter and Hendry welcomed him into their little group.
I knew things were going to go bad really quickly when I spotted Baxter creeping up onto the wheelchair guy, the metal pipe sticking out of his pocket glinting slightly as the monitor closed in on his prey. Without thinking things through, I broke into a run, screaming at the top of my lungs when I realised just what Baxter was up to.
"HEY!" I wailed, my arms flailing as I closed in on them, "YOU GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HIM BAXTER!"
It was over in seconds, for the moment I came within ten feet of Baxter his two sycophants sprung from their hiding places, wrestling me into the ground just as the bully lunged, grabbing the man by the shoulders and shoving him forward.
Amazingly, the wheelchair's occupant didn't even budge. In fact, it almost seemed as though Baxter was the one who had been pushed, the monitor stumbling backwards and tripping over himself as his victim wheeled around to face him. It was a horse, chestnut with a white streak of fur through the centre of his face, the fearsome expression across his brutal features accentuated by the massive scar running through the eye patch covering his left eye.
I instantly knew the trio had picked the wrong person to mug this wintery morning, for even as I clawed my way out of Hendry's grip I could feel the fear running through the other fox's fingers. Baxter had gotten up and whipped out his pipe, only he was trembling so hard I didn't think he could swing it anymore. The horse was big alright, his enormous upper body bulging with muscles visible through the hooded jacket he had on. While it was a stark contrast to the useless, atrophied limbs nestled within the wheelchair's leg guards, this beefy strongman struck me as someone who could still hold his own in a fight.
And hold his own he did. Hendry had jumped to Baxter's defence, and together they actually charged forth like a pair of knights trying to slay an evil dragon. Horse-Guy simply wheeled to one side, one massive fist catching Baxter's pipe while the other smashed into Hendry's gut so hard he was actually tossed over the nearby fence. There was a blur of motion and suddenly Baxter was howling in agony, unable to defend his face as it came into contact with a set of huge, meaty knuckles.
It was with wobbly knees did I finally stand, my mouth hanging open as I watched the trio stumble into an alleyway, injured and swearing as they hurried along. Horse-Guy was already rolling away by the time I recovered.
"W-Wait!" I called, my voice trembling slightly, "A-Are you alright... sir?"
Horse-Guy paused for a moment, as if unsure if he should be talking to me, but when he finally spoke, the strength and lowness of his voice sent chills down my spine.
"Don't get involved with the mob kid," he half-said, half-growled, turning to look at me with his good eye and indicating the other with a shaking finger, "And... thanks."
***
It wouldn't be till the second period before I finally managed to get Horse-Guy out of my head. There was just something about him that both excited and frightened me, something I could not put my finger on but something I knew to be dangerous yet absolutely thrilling. Perhaps it was his steely grey eyes or... eye, or maybe it was how he decimated three school bullies despite being confined to that accursed chair. There was also something about those rugged, overtly masculine facial features that struck true.
Eh I probably wasn't going to see him again, if I was nearly mugged outside a school of all places I probably wouldn't want to walk (or roll) down that street for at least a week.
And so it was with a defeated sigh did I drag myself to the very last row in the lecture hall, chucking my bag under the wooden desk and slouching into the cushioned seats. There was only one way to make myself feel better, and that was to do what I had come here to do!
Nobody in the history of education had ever lasted more than ten minutes in this particular lecture, most heads hitting the table tops mere seconds after the teacher started talking, and so any shenanigans that occurred would never be traced back to me. The entire back row was devoid of people too, my plan was perfect!
First on the agenda was checking out Sammy Linton's progress, and shuffling through BMU quickly revealed the rhino hiding in one of the changing room stalls, naked and jerking off with such ferocity I actually wondered if people could hear him. Chuckling, I closed Sammy's tab and scanned the lecture hall for anyone who had made my list, stopping and grinning when I spotted Walter "the Warrior" Scott, the schools sole heavyweight powerlifter and a silver medallist in the last interschool championships.
The tiger had long been a staple in my... collection, ever since I discovered his preference for strutting around in nothing but a pair of square trunks whenever he was destroying the weight room floor with his incredible lifts. Unlike the powerlifters from all the other schools, Walter didn't believe in hiding his amazing muscles under a thick layer of fat. Practically a bodybuilder himself, Walter's huge upper body was supported by a (comparatively) narrow waistline just as muscled as the rest of him.
That also meant I carried a few pictures of Walter in various stages of undress, hidden away within the depths of my phone for whenever I felt like admiring his thickly muscled neck and the powerful arms dangling from his enormous shoulders. He might not be as dedicated as the bodybuilders when it came to sculpting his body into an erotic, muscular masterpiece, but the sight of all that beef never failed to get me steaming under the collar.
Suppressing a maniacal laugh, I dragged one of Walter's pictures into BMU's main screen, waiting with baited breath as the image loaded up and produced an exact duplicate of Walter Scott. Good gosh he looked even better when I clicked away his clothes, all those firm muscles bulging beneath the softness of his fur, there were even traces of a rather expensive fur softener coating his entire body! No wonder he was so popular with the ladies!
Unsurprisingly, Walter possessed an incredible six per cent body fat, which was ridiculously low for someone who claimed to be in the bulking phase. But then again, with the school pressurising him to clinch the gold before graduation, I should have guessed there must have been a sizeable weight on his shoulders. Thus, I was not surprised when I pulled down the toxicology report on Walter Scott, the numerous additions to his bloodstream all but confirming my suspicions that the tiger was juicing and juicing hard.
Oh sure all the top athletes were doing it, rival schools included, but if BMU was to be believed then there was a whole list of problems waiting for Walter by the time he hit his early thirties. I couldn't have that.
So I got to work, purging Walter's body of all that nasty shit and then introducing a few enzymes that would catch the awful roids coming in on his next cycle. I was still going to grow him, and since the entire country was cheating at the heavyweight level I felt no guilt in introducing a 'bulking phase' of my own. It was going to have to take place over an extended period so no one would notice any sudden spikes in his muscle mass, an entire year should do. Walter (who was currently five feet eleven) was going to hit six feet three by competition day and peak at a nice six feet seven by the years end.
His muscle mass was going to increase exponentially too, with emphasis on his lower back and quads so he wouldn't injure himself while squatting those insane barbells they kept in the gym. Oh and he would need a brawnier chest as well, nothing like a pair of pectoral muscles so huge you'd actually need to exert yourself just to button your shirts. After I had beefed up his shoulders and arms and I decided that the new Walter was going to look fantastic, although I did wonder if two hundred and sixty pounds of solid muscle was a believable weight for someone who wasn't even considered an adult.
Ah phooey, most bulls hit that size by the time they left their teens anyway, I'm sure someone like Walter could pull it off.
Having saved the best for last, I zoomed in on his cock, jittering in my seat as I began working my magic. Plenty of people saw Walter's flaccid tool whenever he put on his lifting outfit - a reworked wrestling singlet that stuck to his body like paint. It was going to grow like the rest of him, it was going to get really big and then I would simply let puberty take the credit for it! Let's see now, Walter's cock was average, about five and a half inches when fully erect. That wasn't big in the slightest, so I thickened it to the size of my wrist and then lengthened it until it was a good twelve inches in length. A big cock for a big tiger!
Giggling uncontrollably, I saved my changes and triggered the growth of Walter Scott.
Walter, who had been snoozing peacefully on his schoolbag, jolted suddenly, nearly falling off his chair when the static bolt from my phone hit him dead on. I could even see his fur standing on end as the wave of electricity swept over him, cleansing his body of impurities and prepping him for the greatest growth spurt of his life. It was all I could do to stifle my laughter as I watched Walter return to his snoozing position, unable to fall asleep as a newfound energy filled him to the very core of his being.
Satisfied with my work, I closed Walter's tab and returned to my picture gallery. Next on the agenda... the water polo team!
***
It had been a long time since the weight room saw this much activity, no doubt due to all the extra energy that came with my magic touch. I was an entire block away and I could still hear the jocks growling and grunting as they lifted and pumped and flexed their growing muscles before the enormous wall mirrors. How I wished I could take a peak in the showers! That place was hot, wet and steamy, the perfect environment for horny muscle-studs to start making out with one another. Hell it wouldn't surprise me if a full blown orgy started out in there some time soon.
Unfortunately, sneaking into the showers wasn't an option today. I had been booked by a new client today and first impressions were always important if I wanted to depend on regular business to support my tuition fees. Basically I couldn't afford to be late, and when I saw Baxter and his two cronies loitering around the school's back gate it was all I could do to throw my arms up in frustration. They were harassing just about everyone who passed, even some of the bigger studs who normally sent them running. I didn't know what they were there for but I was having none of it.
Ducking behind one of the nearby pillars, I pulled out my phone and fired up my wondrous application. There were dozens of profiles saved into BMU by now, and I shuffled through them until I found the body I had made for myself to play with during my free period. It wasn't as huge as the monstrous form I had assumed last night, but it was just enough for me to paint the entire cubicle door white when I finally erupted a few minutes before class. I set the delay to five minutes before triggering the growth upon myself, my fur standing on end as the electrical sensations swept over me.
Smiling wickedly, I pocketed my phone and returned to the walkway. Hendry noticed me first, the idiot fox hopping off the fencepost he had been sitting on and calling to his comrades. I stopped, waiting for them to approach and surround me, their ugly faces twisted into gleeful grins despite the minor injuries they had sustained this morning.
"Oh lookie here," sneered Tommy, the little brat circling a good distance away as he taunted me, "Look who finally decided to show up!"
"Well if it isn't the great Bradley!" Baxter quipped, the lizard punching a clenched fist into his opened palm, "I think we have a score to settle with you."
"Now hold on just a minute," I said, shoving Hendry's face away as I turned to face Baxter, "We can always settle this like... uh... gentlemen, so what say you accept my apologies and let me leave so I can get on with my business hmm?"
"You messed up such an easy job this morning, Braddy, what makes you think we're going to go easy on you for that?"
"Oh please, that guy could have pummelled the three of you into submission with one arm tied behind his back!"
"So you're a tough guy now huh?" Hendry interjected, stepping in front of Baxter before giving me a hard shove.
I stumbled back a few steps, deliberately, seeing my chance.
"Okay, okay, look I don't want any trouble," I said, bringing my palms up, "I'll even pay you back."
"Oh you can pay us back alright," said Baxter, his face lighting up in interest, "but we're going to want a little more than your money."
"Not here," I replied, swallowing slowly so they could see it, "Please... somewhere else... how about the football stands?"
***
It still amazed me how easily I had gotten the trio to follow me here. The football stands were always deserted during the winter, and here I was sure nobody would see me in the space under the benches. I had been stalling for time too, something which I thought would have been harder than this, my five minutes were nearly up, and anytime now I was going to turn into a fucking muscle monster so I could teach these bratty kids another important life lesson: don't judge a book by its cover.
"Alright," Baxter announced, his thin fingers grasping me around the shoulders before pushing me into the concrete wall, "We're alone, and now you're going to pay."
Hendry came out of nowhere, and I just barely managed to dodge his slow hook, his fist slamming against the concrete wall and leaving him swearing in agony. Breaking Baxter's grip, I shoved him away and took a side step, barely managing to avoid the steel pipe Tommy swung my way. Come on BMU! There are three of them and only one of me, not to mention the pipe Tommy was swinging around, what happened to my five minutes!
I actually felt a twinge of worry at the back of my head, that maybe I had messed up somewhere and that my growth was not going to come. But just as Hendry succeeded in kicking me down did I feel a great burst of power surging through my gut. My nerves lit up instantly, the fire within them filling me with so much energy I actually felt like jumping up and screaming with joy.
Fuck, I could feel it. My muscles were growing harder, stronger! My heart was beating faster and more forcefully, thick veins rising to the surface of my skin as I readied myself for the greatest explosion of muscle the trio would ever see! My entire body was throbbing like a monstrous cock, filled to bursting with insane levels of power. I could feel my muscles getting bigger, heavier. I was growing taller, my body expanding in all directions, my clothes tightening madly as the intensity of my growth increased tenfold.
"ARRRGGHH!" I roared, jumping to my feet and striking a double bicep pose, the sleeves of my shirt exploding like confetti as my biceps burst from my arms, growing bigger and bigger by the second. I could feel my skin being stretched until it was tighter than a drum, a network of pulsating veins dancing across the rippling surface. Damned, it felt fucking awesome and they were still getting bigger!
"Holy shit what's happening?!" shrieked Tommy, the lynx cowering in a corner as Baxter and Hendry took unwilling steps back. I wasn't paying them much attention, but I could tell neither of them knew what to think. It was frigging hilarious, so much so that I began to laugh. I just couldn't help it, growing muscles out of nowhere felt fucking awesome!
I flexed my hulking guns, salivating as each powerful pump caused them to swell even bigger, the wool of my sweater filling up so quickly I could see my furry skin through the gaps in the weaving. They had morphed into bulging masses of grade-A beef, swelling off my arm like granite boulders decorated with a glistening layer of sweat. And the remains of my uniform... fuck it was tight!
Even as my biceps began splitting into multiple peaks, I was distracted from my growing torso by the ripping of fabric around my lower limbs. I could feel my calves and quads bulking up, getting huge and muscled as fuck, all that extra mass stretching my school pants to the limits! Oh god this felt so good, so fucking good. My thighs had split into its individual muscle groups, teardrop-shaped masses erupting like volcanoes as they battled each other for space on my legs. My calves, ripped to shreds and bulking up like crazy! Fuck!
I was a beast, a guttural moan rumbling within my throat as my neck muscled up before the bully trio. The fabric of my trousers were starting to tear, the thick cloth ripping in places, the seams breaking and snapping as my monstrous quads forced themselves to the surface, so huge and so strong it was all I could do to roar once more.
"Someone tell me what the fucks going on!" Baxter cried, his entire body trembling so hard it looked as though he was having a seizure. I ignored the monitor lizard, rock-hard muscle bursting from where I had none as I reared to my full height, my body stretching toward the upper seats and towering over the bullies before me.
My woollen sweater was hugging every contour of my body now, and I could feel my shoulders broadening, swelling and thickening with solid, heavy muscles. I could even feel my skin tightening as my biceps had, my furry coat squeezing against the hard, growing boulders of muscle. Palming myself, I realised that my once faint abdominals had morphed into a shredded eight-pack that flexed and crunched with every breath. And then power filled my chest, a savage grin splitting my face as I let out a thunderous bellow.
"FUCK!" I roared, two heaving boulders of pulsating flesh exploding from my chest and disintegrating my uniform, the buttons bursting loudly as my entire torso hulked out beyond reason. My back was expanding rapidly, growing in sync with the massive latissimus dorsi muscles flaring out on either side of me, stretching and tugging at the fabric of my sweater until my body had assumed the intimidating Y-shape I so loved. Fucking hell I was a fucking monster! My arms were still growing, my shoulders, and my pecs! Ughh! UUGHNNNN!!!!!
Fuck I was huge! I had to be at least six feet five, maybe six feet six! There was more muscle bulging out of one arm than Baxter had in his entire body. I was all muscle, all POWER! And I wasn't even done!
Bringing my fists together, I gave Baxter the most powerful most muscular flex he had ever seen, every fucking fibre in my body thickening so massively I could feel my sweater stretching to its limits, the fabric pulled so far apart I might as well have worn a fishnet shirt. And I knew Baxter could see it all, the monstrous development of my entire body threatening to overwhelm his senses at any moment, and then the trembling lizard finally looked down, causing me to grin in delight.
Yeah I knew he was fucking tiny where it mattered, everyone did, and that rotten little snitch was ready to cream in his pants at the sight of me. I gave my cock a powerful flex, gorging it with my power and decimating the buttoned fly of my boxers, an avalanche of pink flesh sloshing out of the opening and spitting a gooey wad of pre-cum onto Baxter's face. I brought an arm up and began worshipping my bicep through the woollen fabric, crackling madly as my manhood continued to throb, to grow, the monstrous head turning a deep shade of red as more and more muscle bulged from my thickening shaft.
"Oh god," Baxter cried, falling over himself as my cock spat another volley of cum into his hair, "Oh my god!"
"That's right you little shithead," I snarled in a deeper, manlier baritone, "Look at my fucking muscles, watch me grow bigger and stronger than anything you can ever dream of!"
I flexed my entire body again, growling as my rippling ass muscles strained against my boxers, my crotch bristling to life as a forest of thick, orange pubic hair burst through every opening, the primary trail spreading from the hem of my boxers and diving under my sweater. My stomach was growing hairy now, and I knew the trio could see it, so I laughed manically at their startled reactions, enjoying the sensations as my heaving chest muscles were covered with orange fuzz. Quick to follow were my pits, and then my sweating ass crack, my forearms and calves growing their own fine gardens before the hair on my head burst into a wild, almost-barbaric crown.
I grabbed Baxter's head, delighting in how he struggled against my too-powerful fingers as I shoved him into the nearest pillar. Tommy let out a squeal of fright, but I ignored him, fixating my attention on the shivering Baxter, who still could not take his eyes off the two foot man rod throbbing through the fly of my underwear.
"You know what the best part is, Baxter?" I snorted, glaring down at my tiny captive as he squirmed in my grip, "No one is going to believe you."
Reaching down with my free hand, I gave Baxter a gentle smack, the shock of the impact startling him so badly he actually sprang off his feet. Hendry and Tommy didn't have time to move before the soaring Baxter crashed into them, having travelled a good six feet from just jumping alone. For emphasis, I hunched my back and flexed my hulking arms and shoulders, roaring like an animal and sending them scurrying off like rats in a sewer. It was almost too good, watching them falling over their own feet as they screamed and fled. Tommy even wet himself, good luck managing that in the middle of winter.
Laughing just so I could feel my powerful new lungs, I returned to where I had ripped my clothes and retrieved the tattered rags, fishing my phone from my pocket and breathing a sigh of relief. I had read so many fantasy growth stories where the protagonist lost the source of his power while showing off. Thank goodness that sort of things only happened for dramatic effect, this was real life after all and if I actually lost my phone to the bully group I would be royally screwed.
Still, I considered just forgoing putting on clothes so I could walk around as a seven foot hunk in a too-tight sweater and a pair of striped boxers, preferably with my erection throbbing out of the fly. Oh but then again, implications! I couldn't have any of that, not to mention I was probably going to be late after traumatising Baxter's group so badly. I fired up BMU and undid the changes to my body, pouting as my muscles deflated around me, my cock softening as I pulled it back into the confines of my now airy boxers. Thank goodness I had the foresight to pack a change of clothes in the event I had to meet a new client.
Appreciative of my sweater for staying intact all this time, I changed hurriedly before stuffing my ruined clothes into my bag and dashing off to the meeting place, hoping with all my heart I would make it on time.