Chapter 6

For many hours I was stuck promenading my room, cracking and shifting my bones painfully on purpose. The action was so painful I cried through the first few tries, blacked out the third time and collapsed during my fourth. It made me feel like such a creep. What person in their normal mind goes around causing themselves unbearable pain on purpose? Nobody! Even the biggest criminals in the world didn’t torture themselves like that. Obviously they weren’t afraid of hurting others, but they did protect their own lives to some rate. What I was doing proved how different I was from everyone else.

Even after the seventh try I could only force myself to change half way. I ended up becoming a half standing wolf with one of my sides bare and one side covered in snow white fur. An outsider would call it the mixture of the monkey, the wolf and the human. It was a very interesting, funny sight. I wished I could have taken a picture.

Placing my bones and muscles back into their original form, I stood up ready for another try. I didn’t even bother putting clothes on, knowing they would tear almost instantly. Too many of my shirts had already been ruined today.

Focusing completely on this shift I thrust my body into the movement it had naturally done that morning with all my might. I screamed in agony like I had that morning remembering the pain of it.

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I let out a yelp as I collapsed onto the ground from the pain in the middle of getting dressed. Every inch of my body was burning from the inside out, pain shooting through each of my limbs. My head was pounding as it seemed to drift away, further from me. I could feel myself losing control over my body as this unknown pain forced through it. As much as I tried keeping my control and staying there, it was easily able to push me out of the way. Whatever it was, it was stronger than me. I couldn’t do anything to fight it.

My muscle’s started shifting into some other form, stretching and shrinking, twisting into different positions making by body follow with its movements. They broke every obstacle in the way of its movement. It tore through my tissues and easily broke the bones that were now twisting and turning with rage. New bones evaporated from thin air and into my body while others completely disappeared. The ones that stayed in my body were the ones causing most of this unbearable pain with their useless breaking at specific points and quickly healing into others. I was completely changing my form, becoming something else. Hair grew from every possible place imaginable on my body while my clothes tore falling off of me. I was crumpled up in a ball on the floor screaming and crying from the pain.

“Please, stop! Please!” I screamed at the thing that was changing me. Maybe I was changing myself, I didn’t know. The only thing I knew was that this pain could be worse than death.

Through all of this, the pounding in my head never stopped. Voices started drifting into it showing me unknown people’s thoughts. Every sense I had grew stronger, till I could hear what my parents were saying downstairs, till I could smell the woods from a mile away and see every speck of dust on the floor. If I would have eaten something I would have bet it would have tasted it different than it had before. It would have had a stronger flavor…

Before I knew it I was on four legs and covered in snow white fur staring at my reflection in the mirror, while my parents grinned at me from joy. I waited for them to freak, to scream and run, and for them to call the cops but none happened. Cautiously they came to me and started patting my back, my mom whispering into my ear.

“We’re here now! Don’t worry!”

I drifted off into unconsciousness somewhere in the middle of all of this repeating the words my mother spoke in my head.

“My baby… You’re all grown up! We’re so proud of you!”

How they were proud of me turning into a monster I didn’t even know.

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Now I was on all four legs but I still was half human and half wolf. I was never going to be able to do this. It was most likely an accident that I changed fully that morning.

Accidents are different! You were meant to be one of us. Relax. The change is easier that way! It’s less painful, faster and more efficient.

A familiar ‘voice’ advised me silently as if I was reading someone’s mind. The voice sounded so much like my father’s it was unbelievable. I was going out of my mind! This couldn’t be happening it was too much! I wasn’t just a monster I was also an abnormal crazy freak. My friends were right.

Twisting my body again I shifted back to my human body. Taking deep breaths I relaxed all my limbs. For minutes I stood there relaxing while slowly and calmly shifting my muscles and bones. The pain was bearable as everything snapped out of its place. Before I knew it I was already on four legs. If it didn’t work this time I really was going to give up!

Soon I was covered in sparkling white fur. Blue eyes still stared at me from the mirror, but now I was in a completely different form. This was the second time in my life that I saw myself as a wolf. A creature that lives out in the forest could have easily mistaken me for a real wolf though I could see some differences. My size was just a bit bigger, I looked stronger and my coat was spotless, perfect. It didn’t matter much… What was important was that I had done it! I had completed the shift!

Whoever or whatever that little voice was, it had helped a lot. Maybe I would turn to it for help more often, if it showed up again.

Easily now I shifted back to the body I had lived in for the past 14 years and pulled some random clothes I could grab on. I didn’t care how I looked I was just glad practice was over for today. It was such a relief that I was ending it on a good note.

With practice behind my back I cleaned my room up from the damage I made throughout my unsuccessful shifts. While trying to change my body into a wolfs I didn’t even notice that I knocked over my lamp, landed on and broke my vase, tore my sheets and slid my mirror over a few feet. The rags that had once been my clothes were scattered around the room. Using all the speed I could from the new strength I gained I finished ‘repairing’ my room in just 5 minutes. Now it was time to tell my parents the results of my evening.

 Making my way downstairs I slid down the wooden railing of our grand stair case. It had become a habit now, even though I clearly knew my parents hated it. They fussed about it all the time, but that only caused me to do it even more often.

“What did I tell you about sliding down the railing?” I heard my mother’s voice from behind me as she started to fuss. Rolling my eyes I turned around.

“You told me not to do it because I will either fall, or break the stair case.” I told her imagining the stairs breaking. Just at the thought of this I burst out laughing.

“And you think this is funny because?” She commanded me.

“I can’t imagine the stairs tumbling down on me! That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard in my life,” I replied still laughing. “And I’ve heard some pretty crazy things. Especially today…”  I muttered under my breath.

“You could seriously get hurt young lady! Ask your brothers any time. They could share some of their experiences with you! We’ll discuss what you muttered later!” My mother told me getting sterner.

“Alright I will! Maybe I’ll get some new ideas from them! Then you can blame them for some of my actions.” I answered trying to contain my newer burst of laughter. My brothers had been horrible kids. They had actually achieved breaking the stair case. One afternoon my mom came home only to find three of the bars missing. The three bars my brothers and I were using to fight each other with.

“Don’t try to cross that line! Don’t even dare!” She warned me.

“Nah, I wasn’t going to sink that low. I was only planning on playing a few pranks, but if you want I could always ask them for some different schemes. It wouldn’t take the two of them too long to come up with something good.” I said, pushing her to see how far she would allow this to go.

“Ashley! The things your brothers could come up with back then were pretty horrible, but I’m sure they have changed by now. A year in collage can do wonders.” She replied with a secretive smile. I could only wonder what she knew, and wasn’t letting me know.

“John and Josh change? Yeah right! The two of them will never become mature enough to stop pulling pranks!” I told her laughing. She really couldn’t expect my brothers to give up on that. It would be pure agony for them, though they really had changed a lot after their 16th birthdays.  They stopped being so childish, though there still were times…

“Oh, you’ll see Ash! We’ll see what you think of them when you find out how far they’ve come.” She answered with a mysterious glint in her eyes. As if on cue the door bell rang just after she had finished her sentence.

“Go on, open it!” She told me pushing me towards the door.

Slowly I pulled it open waiting for the blows of my brothers pranks but they never came. Instead I found myself facing Josh holding a beautiful girls hand and John smiling at me with his arms opened wide, waiting for my hug.

“What? My sister won’t even give me a hug anymore? Is she too surprised to see us come down to celebrate her 15th birthday?”  John asked me smiling.

“No… It’s just that, mom was just talking about you guys, and this morning… How did you get here?” I asked him suddenly confused.

“It’s fine we’ll explain everything later. What more important is, how was your day?” Josh asked this time.

“Feel free to give us that hug any time sis.” John added with his arms still held out. Smiling at this I ran into his grasp hugging him like I probably never had before.

“My turn, and then I expect an answer.” Josh told me pulling me off of John and hugging me.

“Start answering.” John called out tapping his finger on his suit case, indicating that he was waiting.

“My day was fine. Nothing too unusual...” I told the two of them hoping they wouldn’t realize this wasn’t exactly true.

“Nothing too unusual?” Josh echoed after me, noticing that there was a catch in the sentence.

“I think I know my little sister well enough, to know that nothing too unusual means something went horribly wrong. Right Ash? Does your best brother in the whole wide world have this down right?” John asked me, seeing through the words that had escaped my lips easier then Josh would even be able to. I had always been really close the John, turning to him for help if my parents weren’t around. He and I had become really close, close enough to sense each other’s feelings and hidden words. Sometimes I could tell Josh was jealous of our relationship with John, wishing he was the one I would turn too, but we were still closer than any other of my friends were with their siblings.

“That’s not fair John! You used the ‘telepathic’ abilities!” Josh accused him scowling. He had gotten into a habit of calling out ability that.

“You got me… So my day wasn’t the best. My friends called me crazy and left me, I have a homeroom teacher that creeps me out, along with the class… and some random group of people asked me to be their friends today because they can help me. Nothing out of the ordinary...” I told the two of them, anger pumping through my body. I felt some of my bones shift and panicked. I couldn’t, wouldn’t shift in front of my brothers and the girl who I assumed to be Josh’s girlfriend.

“Calm down sis. We don’t need any ‘accidents’!” John told me grabbing my shoulder to stop me from shifting.

“Have you talked to mom and dad yet about what happened this morning?” Josh asked me getting worried.

“Yep, and I sure found out a lot… Now I’m even more confused than I was before. Especially after they repeated the lines “You’ll have to wait and see!” a few times.” I informed them of our talk without revealing the secret. I didn’t want to ruin Josh’s relationship with the fact that I was abnormal.

“So they told you, you were a werewolf.” John asked me casually. He wasn’t even worried that the girl would panic, which she didn’t. She looked as if she even wanted to comfort me.

I sent him a look that said all I couldn’t say out loud. ‘Won’t Josh’s girlfriend, freak out?’

“Oh, don’t worry about Rachel! She knows, she’s actually also a were just like you, mom, dad, me and Josh.” John told me smirking.

“A were?”

“Yep, she’s a werewolf too.”

“But—they… Mom and dad didn’t tell me that!” I replied stuttering.

“Oops. I’m not sure you were supposed to know that. Well too late now. Just don’t tell them it was me who told you if they ask. Blame it on Josh if you have to.” He told me laughing.

“Back to the old days now aren’t we? You two do all the bad things and I take the blame?” Josh asked us curiously, like he really has believed we had changed.

“Yep!” John and I both replied synchronized, earning a laugh from Rachel and a scowl form Josh.

“Come on, let’s go! We still have a lot to talk about and our stay isn’t too long.”Josh urged us, pushing the group deeper into the house.

“Wait, quick question before we enter the danger zone. Where did you meet Rachel Josh? When? And most importantly why didn’t you tell me? We might now be as close as I am with John, but I at least know he has a girlfriend. You on the other hand kept it from me!” I whisper/yelled at him scowling and smiling at Rachel who had tensed when I said we would be entering the danger zone.

Before Josh answered me he tuned to Rachel calming her. Who knew that Josh’s girlfriends’ feelings were more important than answering me? It was definitely something new with my brother. I couldn’t stand not listening in on their conversation so I let my werewolf senses take over. With these I could perfectly hear Josh telling Rachel the danger zone was just what we had named the living room where our parents always questioned us. When she heard this she immediately relaxed and this finally allowed Josh to answer me.

“I didn’t want to rush into telling you, since I knew you would make a big deal out of it.” He answered pointing at me. So maybe he was right, but who cares.

“As far as your questions go: I met her in school, about half a year ago and for why John was crazy enough to tell you is his problem.” He continued before John cut him off.

“I was not crazy to tell my little sister about my girlfriend! I for one think she deserves to know, and with our close relationship she would have been able to tell I had one in a matter of days after we started dating.” He objected protecting me and acknowledging our close relationship.

“You are so using that against me again! And telling Ash is like committing suicide. When she finds out there is no way of escaping the questions. ” Josh argued with him.

“Yes there is!” John said pointing at his mind, again using the fact that we were horribly close against Josh.

“If your normal there isn’t!” Josh pushed.

“Yes there is!” John repeated, before I dragged him into the living room hoping to stop the upcoming fight. Those could get ugly with time.

Almost immediately after we entered the living room mom bombed the boys and Rachel with questions. After a while they started looking uncomfortable answering (especially Josh and Rachel since I could pretty much see what John was thinking) and kept sending me awkward glances as if trying to see if I was ready to hear what they were going to say yet. In the end they decided to talk after I had gone to bed. Till then I was stuck in the middle of my brothers who continued to argue.

“You know what? I’ll just go to bed now!” I told them after having enough of their bickering. They replied with a chorus of goodnights, but I knew they wouldn’t start the conversation they wanted to until they knew I was surly asleep. Giving in I trudged upstairs and tried to sleep. The last thing I was aware of that night was my door creaking open and my brother telling me to fall asleep.

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Discovering Wolves Official chapter 6!

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