Morph

Chapter One: Finally Thirteen

"Wake up, Carrie," Rose jumped on my bed. "It's your birthday, you're finally thirteen!"

"Rose?" I groaned. I didn't feel thirteen. Just tired. "Let me sleep,"

"C'mon, Carrie," Rose whined. "You gotta get up, you'll find out if you're a Morph!"

"I'm probably not," I told her, "And even if I was, I wouldn't discover my Morph now, I was born after noon, it would happen then."

"Please?" Rose gave me puppy dog eyes. My younger sister is 7, and usually I fall for her devilishly cute eyes, but not this time.

"Puppy dog eyes aren't gonna work this time," I pulled the blanket over my head and attempted to fall back asleep, but the conversation had already woken me up. "Ugh, fine," I sat up and tossed my blanket aside, "I'm awake."

"Yay!" Rose jumped up and yanked my hand towards the open bedroom door. "Come see the presents for you!"

"Rose, I'm still in pajamas," I told her. "Not now,"

"That's ok, I'm in pajamas, too," She said. "Now, come on, Carrie!"

I gave in. Grabbing my camera from my bedroom desk, I followed her downstairs. The kitchen table was beautifully decorated with shiny bows of gold and silver wrapped fancily around different colored boxes. The gifts were arranged in a professional-looking stack that I figured Mom and Dad did together last night after I was asleep.

"Whoa," I breathed. It was wonderful, magical, amazing. "They've never done anything like this before,"

I snapped a picture on my camera. I've always loved photography. Pictures take you back in time. They let you revisit a  certain moment in your life. They're magical portals to the past. Now I have a memory of this moment to keep forever. 

"It's not every day our girl turns 13," I heard from behind me. "We went above and beyond,"

I spun around to see a beaming Dad followed by Mom, who was wearing an identical smile on her face.

"I expect Rose woke you up, Carrie?" Mom laughed softly.

"Yup." I nodded.

"What?" Rose giggled. "She had to see her presents!"

"Yeah, Mom, Dad, they're amazing! How long did it take you to do that?" I asked in awe.

"Eh, not long," Dad shrugged. "But that's just the tip of the iceberg, sweetie."

"You mean to say there's more?" I asked and laughed. "Wow, guys, you really went all out, didn't you?"

"Well, today is one of the biggest days of your life! We wanted to make it special." Mom smiled. "Now, who wants cake?"

"For breakfast?" I gaped. "Who are you and what have you done to Mom?"

Mom smiled. "It's a special day."

So that's how my "special day" started. Cake for breakfast, gaping at the pile of presents on the table, and continously being surprised at what Mom and Dad had done. Rose was enjoying it about as much as I was, as if both of us were turning thirteen today. I've always admired that about Rose, she prefers to enjoy it equally over being jealous and sulky.

I was having a blast, but I couldn't wait until noon hit. Tradition is that on someone's thirteenth birthday, you always open the first present the minute they were born. I was born at 12:06 pm, so that's when I could open my first present.

At 12:05, we were all sitting around the table. We had eaten cake, and I had a small rectangular pink present with a gold bow in my lap, ready to open it any second now...

We counted down the seconds...

Ten.

Nine.

Eight.

Seven.

Six.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

"Open it, Carrie, open it!" Rose grinned.

I ripped off the wrapping paper and slid off the bow, and I opened the box...

Inside was a single locket. The pendant was a gold heart with the letter "M" for my last name, Martin. I popped open the heart and it showed a picture of Mom in her Morph form, a cat, and, next to her, Dad in his Morph form, a moose. The other side was only words. It read, "Make your own story."

"I love it," I smiled at Mom and Dad. "Thank you both. Tons."

I clipped the locket around my neck and hugged Mom and Dad. Rose joined in and it was a Martin family hug.

I opened the rest of my presents, and then Mom morphed into a cat and played with the wrapping paper on the table. We laughed and joked around for a few minutes. Then we heard a doorbell.

Mom did a super cat leap off the table then morphed back into her human form. She and Dad went to get the door. Rose and I peeked into the hallway to watch.

The door opened and we heard Mom go, "Oh, yay, you came! Come in,"

The next thing we know, Grandma is inside and saying, "Of course I came, now where're my beautiful granddaughters?"

"Grandma!" Rose ran up to our grandma and hugged her.

"How's my pretty flower?" Grandma smiled at Rose, then looked up to me. "Oh, Cassie, happy birthday. Pretty special day, isn't it?"

"Yes, Grandma, it really is, thanks to Mom and Dad." I smiled.

Grandma walked over and squeezed me before saying, "I still remember when I was thirteen,"

"How did you discover your Morph?" I asked.

"Well, it wasn't long after my birth minute, maybe an hour and a half or so, when I felt strange. Then, out of the blue, I was a tiger." Grandma smiled.

"Are Morphs genetic?" I asked.

"Yes," Grandma nodded. "You'll probably be a Morph, with most of the people in your family being Morphs."

"Thanks, Grandma." I smiled. "Now, let's get back to the dining table, you need to try Mom's cake, it's so yummy!"

"I'm glad you could make it, Mother." Mom said to Grandma.

"I wouldn't miss my granddaughter's grand day, now would I?" She smiled.

I froze. I felt sick, almost. My bones ached and my stomach was uneasy, as if I was gonna vomit.

Then I was a fox.