Find Edward

Chapter Four: Claudia Cadwell

 The doctor left the lamp on. That was the first thing that bothered me. The second thing was that the office was so quiet. I needed to hear something. It made sleeping seem so far away. That and the pain. My face ached every time I tried to speak. My leg throbbed, my side throbbed, my hand throbbed. Everything was throbbing and there was no one to distract me from the pain. Not a single person. No one would visit me because my grandmother thought I didn't need friends. My life was a life of loneliness.

If one of my maids ever started thinking of me as a friend she would suddenly disappear with a new one in her place. The cycle was never-ending. Grandmother wouldn't talk to me for days, saying it was practice for when I got a husband. Everything I did was practice for when I got married. Grandmother expected to find a wealthy husband who would marry me. She expected that this wealthy husband would neglect me and abuse me. She expected me to be docile so she taught me how to be strong. However, that wasn't the way to teach me. I hate her more because of the way she taught me.

It was bad enough that both my parents were dead. My mother died of sickness when I was seven. That destroyed my innocent little world and my father. He couldn't seem to recover from her death. For three years he roamed around the house in a trance. The only time this trance was broken was when my father saw the portrait of my mother. Then he would cry for an hour or two. On the third anniversary of my mother's death, I went to wake up my father. Only I was greeted with blood. It had appeared my father caved to weakness and proceeded to kill himself sometime during the night.

I still have nightmares about that. So my grandmother claimed the house and moved in. She instantly changed everything, making the house hers. I haven't seen the portrait of my mother since Grandmother moved in. I guess she was hurting too. In her demented way.

So I grew up with Grandmother. She taught me all there was to being a lady. I could embroider, crochet, knit, and play piano. I read only the books she approved of, I only went outside when she approved of the activity. By the time I turned twelve, I was the perfect granddaughter. Grandmother constantly got compliments for the way she raised me. It made me feel like I was a plant more than I was a person. I was taken care of and pruned so that I was perfect.

I just wanted to escape from this world and go somewhere where I'd be free to be me. Where rankings don't matter and women have similar rights to men. That's where I wanted to go. I closed my eyes, trying to calm my thoughts so maybe I'd get some sleep. Then I heard it, a high-pitched ringing. I opened my eyes, wondering where the sound was coming from. Then I let out a scream.

Floating above my chest were two glowing gems. A bright yellow one and a dark blue one. They looked magical and otherworldly. They were also floating in the air. I gritted my teeth, rolled onto my right side, and then I used my right hand to push myself up. It hurt badly but curiosity was winning.

Once I was sitting up, I inspected the floating gems more. They were both around the size of my palm. Each had a series of carvings etched into the surface of the gem. I was going to grab one to see what would happen but the door to my room burst open. Dr. Barlow was standing in the doorway panting. He looked panicked and ready for the worst-case scenario. Only once he saw the floating gems he seemed less panicked.

"Miss Cadwell, what are those?" His voice was tinged with anxiety.

"I'm not sure," I answered. "They just showed up." I watched stress lines appear. I guess not knowing where magical gems came from could induce stress.

"Alright, well, I guess the only thing to do would be to grab them? If this is some sort of trick then they're attached to a string." I nodded in agreement. That would be the correct thing to do. I reached for the yellow one and Dr. Barlow went for the dark blue one. I grabbed the yellow gem and brought my hands to my chest. The gem felt warm and alive in my hands.

"Huh," Dr. Barlow said, "nothing happen..." He then groaned and fell to the ground.

"Dr Barlow!" I fell forward onto my stomach and army crawled over to the side of the bed. Dr. Barlow was curled up on the floor panting for breath. He was pale and shaking.

"Dr. Barlow, what's happening?"

"My name is Edward, not Dr. Barlow. I feel... wrong. There's something wrong with me." I watched Edward's eyes open and I had to stifle a gasp. His eyes went from brown to a bright green. His pupils went from round to a diamond shape. I felt dread pool in my stomach. I looked at his legs and let out a small whimper. His legs had turned into a tail. It looked like a shark's tail. It was dark grey with a white underside. There were dots on the other side that stood out. Fins sticking out of the sides and on the top.

"That wasn't a good sound. Claudia, what's happening to me?" I turned back to his face. He looked worried.

"I don't know, you're turning into some kind of merman." I watched as he looked at his new tail.

"That's a shark tail. It looks like a whale shark tail."

"How do you know what whale sharks look like?"

"Studied them," he gasped out. "I wanted to be a marine biologist before becoming a doctor." He grimaced and doubled over.

"This hurts."

"I don't know how to help you." He looked at me and opened his mouth. I could see small fangs growing where his lateral incisors would be. Only on the top row though.

"Just, make sure you find me."

"Find you!? What are you talking about?!" He wasn't going anywhere with a tail. He would end up in a museum if anyone saw him.

"You have to find me, Claudia. Remember that, okay." Then I watched as the blue gem rose back into the air. I watched with wide eyes as it lowered to the ground by Edward and created something. It looked like a vertex of water or a whirlpool. Either way, it wasn't normal. Then it ate Edward. One moment he was on the floor and then the next he fell into the thing and disappeared. The vortex vanished with him.

I stared at the spot where Edward was. He just vanished. He turned into some weird half-shark half-human thing and then vanished. All because of the gem he was holding. I looked down at the gem in my hands. I instantly wanted to throw it across the room. What were these things?

Then I felt wrong. Like my body was no longer mine to control. I let out a whimper as pain shot through my back. It was up by my shoulder blades. Then after a few minutes, it traveled to my face. I groaned and curled up. Once my face was done being changed I felt it travel through some other random body parts. It was terrifying. While all this was happening I also felt my memories slip away. I tried to hold onto them but they slipped just out of reach.

I didn't move from my position until most of the pain was gone. Then I looked at my hands and saw that my nails sharpened into claws. I shakily reached up and felt my face. There was something hard around my eyes that hadn't been there before. Then I reached back and felt something move. I turned my head and saw a wing. It looked similar to the dragon wings from fairy tales. I turned to look on my other side and saw an exact copy of the first wing. The fingers had dark purple and blue scales and the membrane between them looked was a dark blackish blue.

Then I watched as the gem moved away from me and out of sight. I was going somewhere else too. I heard a loud whooshing sound before something pulled me off the bed. I felt myself falling and felt my brain going blank. All I could think was,

"Find Edward."