What Does Not Hurt You, Kills You

I wake up from yet another nightmare-filled night, and I immediately hop in the shower, hoping to wash away the night full of fears. I have a long day ahead of me today, and though I am extremely nervous, I am hoping for the best outcome.

After I am showered and dressed, I run downstairs hoping to find my mama and daddy to tell them of my plans and hear their thoughts on it. The house sounds strangely quiet today--mama is always home at this time and daddy always stays home on Saturday's.

Sighing when I don't find them, I decide to go ahead and leave the house, following through with my plans. If I don't do it know, I likely never will, and I am tired of the anxiety causing me to be my own worst enemy. I walk out of the front door, making sure to lock it behind me, and walk off towards the small bookstore my friends Terry, Sarah, and Andy always hang out at.

After awhile I can see and barely hear my friends laughing it up outside of the bookstore. They spot me and wave, and despite my sweaty palms and the knots in my stomach, I wave back excited to see them after not seeing them for a few days. I smile as I approach them and say, "Hey guys, how you been?"

They all say they are doing good, but Terry continues the conversation, always the outspoken one. "Where the hell you been, girl? We've been worried about you." I shrug in response and he continues. "No, no shrugging. What's going on? You been sick?" Sarah glances my way, then looks away away like she knows some secret. Well, here goes nothing.

"No, not sick." I answer him, and gulp, nervous. "I uh...I have been dealing with some problems with anxiety because....because I have something I need to tell you guys." Well, there is no turning back now. I have to do this, for my own sanity. I cannot deal with the nightmares and sleepless nights anymore. They look at me, patiently waiting for me to continue. I sigh and look down at me feet, which I nervously shuffle around. I gulp and mumble barely loud enough for them to hear, "I am a shifter".

Terry laughs and I wince. "Ah hell, is that all it is?" He laughs some more, "I'm a shifter, too!" Thinking he is mocking me, I look up at him, but once I see his expression, I know he is serious.

"Really...?" I ask with skepticism. "What's your go-to shift?"

He chuckles. "It used to be a horse, but that got a bit uh...difficult, at times. But, now it depends on the circumstances. I can still turn into a horse, but I also turn into a bird, sometimes a beaver, and sometimes even a simple little fly!" He emphasizes by pointing out his index finger and thumb to show the size of a fly. "Shit," he continues. "Sarah is a fae and Andy is a shifter, too, of course." Terry laughs again and snorts, "His go-to shift is a pig". He laughs some more.

I giggle and Andy rolls his eyes. Then Sarah adds, "Terry forgot to mention I am also a telepath. I have always known you are a shifter, though I didn't share it with anybody. I figured I'd let you work that out in your own time, and I've been waiting and waiting for this day."

"She always gets to know all the good stuff." Andy chimes in, laughing along with us. We talk and laugh around for a little while longer, until all of a sudden we hear a strange noise. We turn around to face the source, and immediately sense danger when we spot several men in Halloween-type masks crowded around in the bed of a truck and hanging out of the windows. The others tense up beside me, deciding on fight or flight. I fear it is already too late for that decision.

The group of men start yelling incomprehensible words, obviously drunk, which only adds to the danger we are in. Terry mumbles some cuss words under his breath and whispers to us, "this don't look like your typical redneck roundup, someone must know we're supers..." Sarah gasps, and as I am about to ask what he means by that, shots ring through the air as the group of men shoot into the air. Immediately the four of us take off running, though I'm not sure what makes us think we have a chance of getting away from drunk men with guns. While running, Sarah turns towards the men off and on to shoot sparks from her hands at them. She winds up hitting a few of them and causing them to fall out of the truck bed. I wonder if we would have a better chance of getting away if we shifted, and looking over at Terry, I can tell he is thinking the same. After a couple seconds, Terry shakes his head no and looks towards Sarah. If we shifted, we'd leave her behind, and we cannot do that.

After a couple minutes of running and bullets barely missing us, I notice Sarah fall in the corner of my eye. I turn to help her up, and that's when I see the bullet hole in her head. Terry grabs me to continue running, knowing she's already gone. A few tears role down my cheek, but I quickly stop and store them for later, knowing if I get out of this danger, I will have plenty of time for crying.

We quickly turn down a short and narrow alleyway that comes up, hoping that will at least deter the men for a bit--long enough for us to get away to safety. "Should we shift now?!" I yell to Terry. Between gun shots, we can hear the unnerving sounds of the men laughing.

Terry shakes his head. "Andy's go-to is a pig, remember? He cannot turn into anything else in a pinch like this!" Terry yells back, and I know he is right. I shake my head, knowing shifting would be our only escape. I look around, hoping there is someplace we can hide or escape to, but there's only pieces of litter scattered around in places. Great, we turned down the only alley that does not even have a dumpster!

Minutes later, an ear-shattering shot flies through the air, and I see Terry drop right beside me. I yell out, and beg him to get up, doing anything I can to help him. Unlike Sarah, there is no bullet hole in his head, but his shirt is already soaking up the blood from the wound in his upper back. "Andy, help me get him up!" I yell out, but Andy just stares, shocked, accepting the truth I am denying. "Come on, Terry, get up!"

Terry's breathing becomes even more labored, and Andy begins to pull on me in an attempt to get us to safety. "Come on, Tara, WE are still in danger!" I shake my head and begin sobbing more. "We cannot leave my best friend and your cousin, Andy!" I yell back at him.

Terry's breathing labors more until it stops all together, and I cry out again. The men laughing and enjoying watching us in pain. Andy is finally able to yank me onto my feet, and I begin running alongside him again, stumbling a bit at first.

"We gotta shift, Andy! We gotta do something!" Andy shrugs in response, as unsure as I am. This is when I spot a bird flying overhead. "Andy!" I yell out and point to the bird. Andy smiles, and wastes no time in imprinting on the bird. As he begins shifting into it, I shift into my go-to bird, and we fly off towards our homes to warn our family's.

I land in front of the back door to my house, and shift back into myself. I enter through the back door, praying my mama and daddy are back home by now. "Mama, daddy?!" I yell out and hear no response. I run throughout the house in search of them, hoping I will find them. That is, until I come to the stairs and see the first sign of blood. I gasp as a tear slides down my cheek as I already assume the worst, considering what I have just been through. I slowly creep up the stairs, hoping daddy just accidentally cut himself while working in the shed, like he does sometimes.

I approach mama and daddy's room, noticing the door is slightly ajar. I slowly push it open, and fall to my knees at the sight. There is blood everywhere. I can see mama's lifeless body hanging off the side of the bed and part of daddy's lifeless body in the bathroom doorway. I crumple my body into a ball and begin sobbing uncontrollably. I sob so loud I do not hear the footsteps coming up behind me until it is too late. The man grabs me and pulls me off the floor while another man in a mask comes from out of the bathroom in front of me with a knife in his hand. "Damn shifter!" He yells out and proceeds to stab me repeatedly. As the life leaves out of me, the man drops me to the floor and the two men laugh and walk out of the room.

My breathing is labored, and a single tear slides down my cheek as I take my last breath.