My eyes were crusty.

Could barely open them without maximum effort. My arms and legs were numb underneath my own weight. The baseline pounding in my ears tore my eyelids apart. It still seemed as if I was floating, staring wide-eyed into a dark abyss of nothingness. As my eyes adjusted to the absence of light, the blur in my groggy vision gradually began to disappear.

A decaying wall.

Pushing myself up off the blistering carpet was a challenge in itself. The house was dusty, torn up, and looked like Hurricane Katrina itself had blasted through it. The wallpaper was peeling, the furniture was worn, and glass shards from the broken windows were scattered across the floor, threatening to stab into me if I wasn't careful about my next moves. No lights either. If I thought that I found a working one, the lightbulb would switch off immediately after forcing itself awake. Heavy drapes adorned all of the windows. Everything was dark as far as I could see.

But there was a sense of familiarity.

As if I could walk around here with my eyes closed and be able to find the exact position of the shower knob. I called for Eliza over and over again, but the only thing that answered me was the sound of my own echo. Several rounds around the house and several minutes of exhausting my voice later, nothing. Nothing. No one. The pitch black front room, the sparse kitchen, the endless hallway, the three cold bedrooms, the grimy kitchen. Nothing. No one. Just me. Inching hesitantly back to the front room, I passed by a cracked mirror standing next to the demolished TV on the wall.

That's when I saw it.

Tainted scaly pitch black skin.

Deep blood red eyes.

The monster that Eliza had faced.

My braids were a blinding snow white and these large, orchid downward-pointing horns sat just above my newly pointed ears. Every inch of my body was covered in swirled, orchid tattoos, save for my face, which had only one swirl going up my neck to my cheek. I used my claws to trace the new swirled tattoos on my body and once I found the heart in me to gasp, a black devil-like tail, aligned with orchid diamonds, wrapped itself tightly around my torso.

Opening my mouth to scream, rows of sharp, murderous pearly white teeth screamed back at me.

Holy-

Oh God.

Oh Lord.

Oh Jesus, why?

Gripping the mirror, my reflection snarled at me, breathing heavily. Nearly naked. Nothing but tight black shorts clung to my figure, its color nearly disappearing into my skin.

My eyes landed on the cracked, black diamond planted in the middle of my forehead. That's the thing that started it all. The resurrection, the diamond, the crack. That's always been there since Eliza had brought me back to life, but I know — deep down, I know — that that's not supposed to look like that. Diamonds don't crack. Period. Heaving out a shaky, asthma-induced sigh, I rubbed the small, empty hole in my nose where my piercing used to be.

"She's really gone, huh?" I tried my best to smile for myself, touching my hand to the monstrous reflection. "We'll get outta here soon, Z. Just you wait, man. It's a dream. It's just a bad dream. You'll be back home with Eliza before you know it."

I reached into my back pocket.

No phone.

Great.

Who would I call anyway? Eliza? My parents? 911? "Oh, hey, Mr. Officer! I'm just a young fifteen-year-old minor who's in desperate need of adult advice. What's that, officer? What did I look like before I was a monster? Well, I was Afri — Hello? Officer? Are you still there?"

Jesus, Zypher.

I let myself slump down to the floor in front of my reflection. What am I supposed to do now? Wait for someone to come save me? No, that'd take forever. I don't think anyone's coming for me. Find out where I am? As great of a start that'd be, where would I even begin? Last I checked, I'm not exactly the best at solving mysteries. Even after years and years of Scooby-Doo, I'm still never able to find out who the killer is before the gang does. C'mon, think, think, think...

Retrace your steps.

Okay, so the last thing I remember is hanging out with Eliza this morning and...

And what?

The ritual! Right, the ritual. Everything was supposed to be fine. Eliza was supposed to read her little spell, I'd transform into a better version of myself, and happily ever after, I use my powers to protect the city from this oncoming form of danger.

Whatever that was.

So what went wrong then?!

I'm still supposed to be human, so how did I become a monster?! Where did all this come from?! If this is all because of this stupid cracked diamond, I swear on my own second life that I'll-

Footsteps.

Footsteps at the door.

Oh, crap! Run, hide! No, check who it is — that's a bad idea — don't check who it is! Hide! Hide!

Hide!

Panicking, I scrambled into the kitchen, opening one of the creaking, large cabinets and hiding behind the door. My view of the hallway was slightly covered from here, but a view's a view, right?

They were coming closer.

And closer.

One of the cracker boxes was knocked down by these huge, curved black diamond spikes that protruded from my back. Luckily, the boxes tumbled into my hands before it could hit the floor. Bless you, athletic arms. Bless you. Looking down at the bold numbers on the top of the box, the expiration date was...next year.

"What the actual..."

For a beat up house, non-stale crackers were a nice surprise. My stomach growled too loudly for my own good.

Oh no.

The footsteps stopped.

"Please, please, please, please, go away..." I whispered under my breath, clutching the crackers for dear life.

They kept walking.

Two people, I think.

"Mommy, I can't find it!"

"Well, hurry, baby. It's not safe to be here."

"I know, I know! But I don't want Mr. Beary to be lost in the earthquake rubble! He'll be all alone!"

I knew those voices. I knew them.

But from where?

For the love of God, brain gears, start turning, will 'ya...

From my narrow view of the hallway, I saw a mocha-colored arm and a glimpse of long black individual braids. I could smell her from here. Flower-scented perfume. I didn't have to see the rest of her to know what I would see. Almond shaped hazel eyes, broad nose, full pouty lips, faint creases on her cheeks from years of laughter. It's been nearly a year since I've seen her. Nearly a year since she's lost me.

Mom?

Can someone PLEASE explain what's going on here?! First, I'm a monster, then I'm given some friggin' riddle like I'm Professor Layton or somethin', then my mom and my little sister show up?! What. Is. Going. ON. Look, when I died, I thought that would be the last time I would ever see my family. Death was supposed to be my final goodbye -- well, my death was as unexpected as it can get -- but after being resurrected and sent to help Eliza with "magical after-life duties" or whatever, I never thought that I'd see them again.

But now they're here.

Mom and Zenyla were just inches away from me.

What would I say to them? Shoot, where would I start? Explain to them that my death wasn't permanent? Tell them about my after-life with Eliza? Show them my powers? Apologize for not being able to visit them?

If I'm a monster, why would Eliza send me here out of all places? My old home out of all places? This just doesn't make any sense!

"Through human contact is the only way to end your contract."

That's what Eliza had read out of that book.

Human contact. Human contact! That has to mean something, right? Maybe talking to humans will get me out of here! And who better to talk to than my own family? Maybe seeing my family again is what Eliza wanted for me! That's it. That has to be it. Thank you, Eliza. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

A small smile crept onto my face as I listened to their voices. This whole monster thing won't be so bad as long as I have my family with me, right? Mom would know what to do. And if not, they can help me. They can be my human contact.

"Do you see him, Zenyla?"

"No," Zenyla gripped her deep brown afro puffs, clutching onto them for dear life as she spun in a circle, scanning the area. "We can't move without him! I need him, Mommy!"

I gasped, nearly choking on my own saliva. "They're moving out?"

"What was that?!" Zenyla squeaked. My fangs bit into the flesh of my bottom lip. If Eliza was scared of me, Zenyla would definitely cry if she saw me. Shrouding myself in the darkness of the shadows near the cabinet, I peered my head out a little further.

"You're just imagining things, baby. C'mon, let's go." My mom held her tiny little hand.

"But it's so scary here, Mommy..."

"I know, honey. Once we find Mr. Beary, we can get out of here, okay?"

"Alright..."

Okay, so human contact is all fine and dandy, but...how the heck am I gonna get them to y'know, look at me. Listen to me. Shoot, if Jeffrey Dahmer showed up at my doorstep and said: "Hey! Kinda need you to love me, so I can be a good dude again!", there'd be no way I'd actually take the time to let him finish a sentence. I'd already be hightailing it to the po-po!

My feet couldn't move underneath me. Every time I willed myself to budge, I just couldn't. Zenyla and Mom were already in one of the rooms, searching for Mr. Beary, yet I still couldn't get myself to walk over to them. What am I supposed to say? "Hey, long time, no see!"

That'd be stupid.

I took a cracker from the box and shoved it into my mouth, savoring every piece of salt the little thing had to offer. Deep in thought, I licked the box and wrapper for crumbs but jumped back when I saw my snake-like tongue. Did I...Did I just hiss? 

Some of the leftover crumbs spilled on the floor and my instincts told me to jump for those too. I suppressed my animalistic urges for the time being and picked up the box in a civilized manner, clawing at the cardboard, scratching and scratching away at it until I poked a hole.

Shoot.

I know where Mr. Beary is.

I slipped out of the kitchen swiftly, making sure to keep all noise to a minimum, and took another route through the house to get to one of the rooms -- specifically, mine. The door opened with an agonizingly annoying creak as I crawled inside.

"M-Mommy! There's more noises!"

My old crime scene of a bed caught my eye. I only passed away about a year ago, so this earthquake that hit must've been pretty friggin' serious to demolish everything in its path. Doesn't matter. I need that bear. When I dragged Mr. Beary out from underneath the sheets, the door pushed open, sending me hurdling back into the shadows behind a busted nightstand.

"Are you sure he's here, Zenyla?"

"Yeah! I slept here every night, so he has to be here!" Zenyla pranced over to my bed and hopped on top of it, with Mom following close behind her.

"Is it here?"

"Nope," she pouted and crossed her chubby arms. "We'll never find him."

They both stood there in silence, taking in the state of the room. Mom's eyes glittered with discreet tears. I missed her. Zenyla and Dad too. Being separated for so long after quite literally dying...I dunno. It's a lot. Too much to think about. I can't imagine what it must be like for them.

My mom's eyes locked with mine.

"Excuse me? Who are you?" She approached me cautiously as I moved further back into the darkness. "Come here. We're not going to hurt you."

The plan was to be as friendly as possible, say hi, make pleasant conversation, but in the moment, my brain blanked. I slid Mr. Beary towards them and turned away, hoping to hide all that I could from them.

Hoping to disappear.

Zenyla cheered and hugged Mr. Beary to her chest. She ran up to me and tugged at my wrist to pull me into a hug.

"W-Wait!" I nearly screamed. Like always, she wouldn't listen. I didn't want to fight back. No, I could hurt her and give her more reason to be afraid of me. I thought that I'd be able to face them, but the memory of Eliza's terrified eyes was ingrained into my memory. Zenyla pulled my claws out into the small stream of light seeping in from a torn curtain.

She shrieked, tears streaming down her face. Shrieking, yelling, crying, screaming. Mom yanked her away from me, her face pale with horror. No, no, no. Please. This isn't what I wanted. Before I could stop myself, I shifted further into the light, reaching out to them. I wanted to ask for help. I wanted to explain everything, but all my mouth could do was hang open stupidly.

"What are you?!" Mom shouted.

Zenyla was hysterical with fear.  All of her tears are because of me. All of her fear is because of me.

Anger, regret, and terror bubbled up into an angry whirlwind in my chest. "I-I'm sorry..." That's the best I could come up with.

Mom snatched Zenyla up into her arms and she bolted out of the room, leaving nothing behind but the sound of the front door being slammed shut.

I wanted to run out there after them. I wanted to cry. If my own family can't love me -- let alone, recognize me --, who will?

My legs gave out as I dropped to the floor, clutching my knees to my chest. It wasn't like this was my first time being called a monster, but hearing it from my own family was...

They left, they hated me, they'll never love me again. Back then, I thought that that would be the worst point of my life, but I was unaware of what was still in store for me. 

~~~

A/N: Tragedy one and counting, oof. Do y'all think Zypher's mom and sister were justified? Would you run too? Me, personally, I wouldn't have even stepped INTO the house in the first place lol. Don't forget to drop a vote if you're enjoying yourself <3