DarkStar

8

 One word to define this chapter: Angst

Elia blinked the tear from his eyes. The man was across the room. Pain enfolded him, so much pain from between his legs and within his pelvis that he could do nothing more than lay there. He had been dropped on the floor from the table. The man had said he'd ruined everything. He'd ruined everything because he'd been a boy instead of a girl. Then the man had found a knife and tried to make him a girl. Elia had never known that there could be so much pain that it could make you numb. All he could hear was the blood pumping in his ears and screaming, screaming that was muffled as though it was still through glass through the walls, screaming from the trees that normally whispered softly to him, that now reacted to his pain and horror. No one would save him. He'd run from the one person who always had, and had yet to meet the one who would protect him, be by his side, when he grew to be alone.

Slowly he tried again. He tried to move. He blinked away tears as the pain intensified and he felt fresh blood well from between his legs. His fingers twitched and his arm sluggishly obeyed. He bashed himself in the face with his wrist and fought not to whimper. He didn't know what would happen if he drew attention to himself. He turned his head and saw a bloodied bit of flesh, not far from where he lay, that had been discarded like it was garbage. His eyes narrowed, trying to place what it was. It looked foreign, alien to him, but then he realized. That... that had been a part of him. He sobbed and reached for the piece that was missing. He wanted to feel whole again. He wanted to go home. He wanted to be in the woods so that he could listen to the music that the the whispered voices made as the wind blew through the trees. He heard the one he shared a room with shift, his attention drawn by the sound of him crying.

"You want it back, you worthless little brat, you can have it. It's all going to be over soon anyway. You ruined everything!"

Elia flinched when worn boots came into his field of vision. He waited to be kicked, closed his eyes and braced for it, but instead felt something cold hit his leg. He had been kicked but that part of him wasn't attached anymore so he couldn't feel the pain. He swallowed hard, his eyes opening to find the one who stood over him. What was he waiting for? Elia could tell that he wanted to hurt him. The man who stood over him bled with a maliciousness that stained the room more than the steady stream of blood that dripped from those mutilated places between Elia's legs. He stood there, quietly regarding him before rubbing the crotch of his pants with a hand, smearing the blood from it on the fabric carelessly.

"You felt good anyway, didn't you beautiful? I barely knew the difference once I was inside you." The man's voice was a soft croon.

All Elia could do was fight to stay still as everything in him suddenly began to burn. He closed his eyes and only heard the man leave, his footsteps on the rough wooden floor and then the door before his footsteps were muffled by soil. It felt like an eternity that he lay there. His hands began to ache, his mouth, his very bones protesting against the confines of his flesh as he took panting breaths, trying to remain calm. He wanted to run. HE WANTED TO RUN!

The door creaked open and Elia closed his eyes tight, curling his hands into fists, digging claws into the flesh of his palms as he waited for the sound of boots on the wood of the floor. Instead it was paws, the soft sound of leathery paw pads surrounded in fur and the distinguishable click of claws.

Elia turned his head and opened his eyes just as she changed. Now, instead of the wolf who had let herself into the room, his mother knelt beside him and smoothed his hair from his face in a touch that was so gentle. No! No! How had she found him when he had run from her? What did it mean that she had been a wolf? She never changed! She said that they should never change because bad things happened when wolves changed. Her hands ghosted touch over the rest of him, her eyes wide.