The Call Of The Mimic

Chapter Five!

I pushed through the large door to the outside sucking in as much air as I could. I put my hands to my knees heaving in and out, but nothing was working. My lungs had stopped working, I couldn’t breathe anymore. The world around me started to spin with each passing second, blurring everything together into one mess. My stomach was turning and I wasn’t sure if I was going to pass out or vomit. I needed to get out of here.

I ran from the steps of the castle, looking over my shoulders in hopes that no one would come after me. The rubble path slid under my feet as I squeezed my way through the crowds of people trying to get back to their own homes. Bumping shoulders with me, scowling, and occasionally someone telling me to watch where I was going. I couldn’t just run, I needed to hide.

I pulled my glove free from my hand and grabbed the hand of a frail man with his wheel barrel. His face screwed up in a face of disgust as he pulled his hand away from me. He shook his head, dropping his barrel to the ground ready to confront me. I put both my hands up in an attempt to apologize while still walking the opposite direction.

“I’m so sorry, I thought you were my father,” I slightly bowed my head to show respect and in hopes he would forgive me.

“Get out of here boy!” He pointed his finger away from him with a stern frown painted on his face.

I turned away from him pushing through the rest of the people till I could get to the open field. I pulled the gloves back onto my hand and ran through the field as fast as I could knowing that it wouldn’t be long until someone came looking for me. Breaking through the tree line I began to pull the clothes from my body, throwing them to the wind. My white hair whipped around my face until it started to grow shorter and shorter.

Brown stringy hair sprouted on the top of my head. My back started to ache as a hunch started to form on my lower back. Everything started to get smaller and more fragile just from the way this poor man probably felt daily. This was my best bet until I could find another to change to, for now an old man would have to do. I was now just a naked old man sitting in the trees by themselves crying.

I pulled my knees to my chest rocking back and forth trying to console myself. I had no one, I was alone in this, no one would understand the fear that comes with this disease that I have. I wouldn’t have a mate like the other wolves, I wouldn’t be free, and I wouldn’t be safe. All I wanted was to be normal.

The realization that I was in grave danger with a pack now knowing my secret. I was going to have to run from here, I was going to have to run from anyone who knows and never go back to being who I really am. I would be killed within moments if anyone else found out about it. I hated my mother, she had ruined my life, I could have handled marrying Journee, but not her spewing my abomination.

I hid my face from the world, I didn’t want it to see me. My eyes watered until they were red and puffy, almost unable to open them from how swollen they were. My nose was raw from me constantly wiping it against my arm to rid the clogged holes. My chest was full of pain, not from the crying, pain of self loathing and heart break that I was alone. I just wanted to be loved.

“Tyra!” I heard yells echoing throughout the trees. “Tyra!”

My head snapped in the direction of where the calls were coming from. It was too far away to be able to tell who was looking for me, but whoever it was, I didn’t want them to find me. I stood up running through the trees once more, shoving branches aside and jumping over rocks. I looked behind me not seeing anyone, but that didn’t stop the person that was in front of me. I bounced off of a hard chest that sent me flying back onto my bottom. I slowly looked up the brick wall of a man until my eyes landed on the last person I wanted to see. Tobias.

I scrambled back in a rush to get away from him. He took a couple of steps towards me, looking down on me with a straight lipped face. I continued to back away until my back bumped into a tree, leaving me nowhere else to run. He bent down and grabbed me by the shoulders to stand back up. I pushed him away quickly knowing that I now would be able to shift into him if I wanted to. His put his hands up to show that he meant no harm to me, sending a shock wave of chills through my core. A single finger came to his lips to tell me to stay quiet before he stepped aside so that I could run.

“I will talk to Journee,” he mouthed to me so that no one could hear that he was talking to me. “I will keep you safe,” I tilted my head to the side in confusion of why he would want to help me. “Go, run,” he flicked his hand to tell me to pick up my pace.

Without a second thought I took off past him into the thick of the trees. The trees blurred past me, but green eyes followed me. I couldn’t shake the way Tobias had let me be free, he had let me go and that was abnormal for most war leaders. His face of concern was etched in my mind as he put a finger to his lips. I could see fear flashing through his eyes, not when I had thrown a knife at a guard, when he knew that I was in danger. Something had changed in Tobias, he used to be so cruel, still poked buttons. I was curious if why he let me go, why he was afraid, why he would touch me when he knows what could happen. I was curious about Tobias.

I ran to a mound of rocks stacked on top each other with a small hole that I may be able to squeeze through if I tried my hardest. I scratched at the rocks feeling my nails chip away until they bled. My stomach scraped along the rocks, tearing at the soft flesh on my chest and abdomen. I ground my teeth together pulling myself further into the small crack until I had toppled into a hole.

I couldn’t sit up straight, nor could I stretch out my limbs completely, but it was safer than the ones hunting me. I laid on my side on the jagged ground that I had, curling my body in on itself. My arms clasped together to hold myself in place, stuffing my head into the space between my knees and my chest. I had only wished that the rocks would close on me in my sleep, giving me a peace escape from the torturous life that I had been given.

The only thing that kept me from completely falling apart was the eyes that saw me last. No disgust, no hate, no fear, I couldn’t see the heartbreak of their own as he studied my features that were no longer mine. It almost seemed like he could see through my camouflage, seeing the me that was so fragile.

Beck knew my secret, but I could see that he was scared, my mother knew and she hated me, my father knew, he hid me away from the world. Not Tobias, he now knew and he showed sadness. It was a change from what I was used to, I was looked at like a person, not a monster. I didn’t see myself like a person, not until I saw him looking at me with compassion.

Tobias had confused me, changed my image of him with a single day. He wasn’t someone to be afraid of like I had been all the years. He was someone that has always treated me like anyone else he knew. I was finally accepted for who I was, but by unlikely acquaintance.