First Shift
1038 Words
I reached my tent of greenery and climbed inside, taking off my clothes and laying on my back in anticipation of my first shift. Hope sprouted in my chest as I thought of my escape plan. I would shift and then take off as fast as I could to a gnarled oak tree about five miles out of the ghost town. I had already stashed a bag there since it was near the east edge of the territory and the direction to the closest town. I would run and never look back. As the minutes ticked by my anxiety rose. What if my werewolf genes weren’t enough? What if I couldn’t shift due to my human genetics? Panic set in and I looked at my watch that I had left sitting on top of my clothes. It was only a minute until midnight. I shivered despite the balmy temperature. A few more minutes crept by and I felt my heart sink. I fell to my knees and started to sob. I knew my chances of hotwiring a vehicle and running for the hills were slim. I had banked so much on this. I felt so weak and powerless. The years of torture and abuse flooded my mind. I had endured all of it because I had known one day, I would be able to shift and then I would find my mate. I craved the kind of happiness my mother and father had shared. I wanted a life filled with happiness, not this nightmare-inducing freak show that had plagued me since their deaths.
It took me a couple of moments to realize there was a strange pressure in my chest that had nothing to do with the sobs. I settled down and focused on that pressure. I felt it start spreading through my body. It seeped into every muscle. When it felt like my entire body was being covered by a weighted blanket a sudden snapping could be heard and I started to scream. When my uncle shifted, he had done it so effortlessly. So why did I feel like my entire body was being ripped apart? It felt like forever as my bones broke and reformed. My jaw elongated and thousands of pinpricks covered my body as fur pushed through my skin. It must’ve taken several minutes before the pain finally stopped. I laid there momentarily dazed. When I opened my eyes, I noticed a sudden sharp clarity to the world around me everything was in sharper detail and I could hear for what seemed like miles. I looked down and stumbled backward. Paws the color of raven’s feathers were now in place of my feet. Something in me stirred and with it the primal urges of my wolf surfaced. She was ecstatic to be free. I nosed my way out of the canopy and looked around. The sounds of the night surrounded me amplified by my new ears. I took off running towards the east like I had planned but something was wrong. My wolf urges were too strong, and I kept getting distracted by the small prey darting through the underbrush of the woods. My wolf and I are one but her presence is currently overpowering mine. Her excitement overcame me as she darted off course, chasing a rabbit that had darted by in her peripheral vision. I gave in, following her lead as she ran barely missing the rabbit as it dived into its hole. “What the heck,” I thought as we ran “I can always escape tomorrow night.” She lifted her head, howling her agreement into the night sky.
Hours later we returned to the hiding spot to get dressed. Shifting back hurt significantly less thankfully and only took a minute. I briefly wondered if it would hurt each time and pondered if it would take less time to shift the more I changed. I had seen my uncle and some of his friends shift a couple of times and it had only taken a few seconds. Maybe it was my half-human genetics. I was so young when my parents died, and they had only told me my first shift would happen at the age of eighteen and to not worry too much about it. I think they would’ve told me the rest when I got older they just never got the chance to. I picked up the pace back home. It would be light soon and I wanted to get back before my aunt and uncle found me missing. I would do my best to avoid them both for the day if I could help it and tonight I would shift back and make my escape. It was probably for the best anyway. The pack I had left by the tree only held some clothes and toiletries with a small stash of about $100 I had made doing odd jobs around town. I know it isn’t a whole lot of money but to be fair my uncle had refused to let me get a job. I would use the meager amount of money I had to eat sparingly until I could find a new place to call home and get a job of my own. It would be difficult since I didn’t have any form of ID, but I planned to make it back to my parent’s old pack and hopefully someone there would be able to give me work. Maybe I could even work at the retreat that my mother and father had met. That thought put a smile on my face as I snuck in the side door leading to the kitchen of my uncle’s house. His truck was still parked right outside in the gravel driveway and the sun had just barely peeked over the horizon so I hoped they would both still be in bed. I made it to the doorway leading into the when strong hands grabbed me and slammed me up against the doorframe. I looked up in shock, terror written on my face as I stared into the grinning face of my uncle.
- Writer
