The Rejected Alpha

Chapter 2

**Flashback from last year**

I got home from school that day in a bad mood. I was late to school because I accidentally broke my alarm clock the day before, I got detention, my history teacher gave me a whole crap load of homework and my bike broke down on my way home so I had to walk the rest of the journey, in the pouring rain.

What a great birthday.

So I got home in a bad mood, obviously, but it turned around when I saw the surprise birthday party for me. It wasn't really a party, but there was food, drinks, a cake, my parents and my five year old sister who was busy oogling my cake.

It was perfect.

It really made me happy, and not to sound shallow but the highlight of my day was the gift I got. They got me a car, an actual car. Granted it a slightly beat down Chevy that belonged to my dad, but it was mine now. A car that I'd actually be able to drive now that I was finally qualified to get a license.

It was a quiet intimate affair. We ate, opened gifts and watched movies. All the woes from earlier that day long forgotten.
We had a lot of fun that night and when I went to sleep, my parents and my little sister, Gabriella, came to tuck me in. It was something they stopped doing a while ago, since I was no longer a child, but it turned into a birthday ritual instead. With my mom telling me every year that no matter how old I think I'm getting that I'll always be her little girl.

Very sappy I agree, but it didn't stop the smile from making its way unto my face as they all gave me goodnight kisses on my forehead.

Yes, that night was perfect.

At least, up until that moment.

'We love you sweetie, happy birthday' My mother had said before they exited my room.
I fell asleep feeling content with myself, not knowing how little those words meant to them.

Later that night, I woke up with the loudest possible scream I could have ever imagined.
A scream I couldn't recognise as my own even though it tore right through my throat.

My lungs were on fire.
I was about to die.

My heartbeat frantic.
I was certainly dying.

All I could feel and think was pain.
All over my body.
I felt like I was being crushed and stretched at the same time.
And I was pretty sure I was already dead.

Excruciating pain.
It was unbearable. I felt my bones breaking all over my body.

I could feel them dislodging from their sockets only to bend back into new positions.
My flesh felt like it was being torn apart by some invisible forces and moving across my body to settle in new areas.

I realized I wasn't dead, but I wished I was.

I could feel the pressure from my insides, like someone wanted to pull my intestines out from within.
My rib cage cracked and seemed to have reformed larger than it was before.
My spine bent and suddendly snapped back up, throwing me out of bed.

I couldn't even feel my body slamming into the ground with how much pain I was in.

What was happening to me?
I could hardly breathe properly. Or more like I couldn't concentrate or even remember how to breathe since my lungs felt like they had fallen to the pit of my stomach like everything else in my body.
I could feel every single thing happening to me and yet it was happening all so fast.

My parents had rushed into my room.

"Sweetie, what's wrong?!" My mother cried.
I believe that's what she said anyway, my mind was foggy. And I was in pain.