BECOMING

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Isla

After

ISLA THOUGHT SHE WAS CRAZY. For the last few days, she had been having weird dreams, and very bad headaches, and sudden impulses, and there was this strange voice inside her head, who kept saying things she didn't understand. 

"Honey," her mother called, "are you okay?" Isla looked at her. She had a worried expression on her slightly wrinkled face. "You've been a little off lately."

She considered telling her mother the truth, but she knew she would flip out, so she decided not to. "Yeah." Isla shrugged. "It's nothing important."

Her mother started talking about a book she had read that said how teenagers sometimes distanced themselves from their parents, and how it wasn't healthy for them. Isla didn't feel like hearing all those things about how wrong teens were, so she just zoned out, and kept drinking her tea calmly.

She was sitting on the porch of her new house, looking at the forest that surrounded it. She always thought it was weird how every time she moved to a new town -which was often-, her mother would always buy an isolated house in the middle of nowhere. She had come to the conclusion that her mother simply didn't like people.

"I need a walk." Isla said after a while, tired of her listening her mother for so long. She stood up and walked down the front steps. "I'll be back in a while." She was going to start walking again, when all of a sudden, she felt pain everywhere.

Intense,

burning,

consuming pain.

She had never felt anything like it before.

It's beginning. The voice in her head whispered, excitedly. I'm finally coming out.

Isla ignored it, not being able to concentrate in anything other than the pain. She dropped to her knees, moaning and crying. She couldn't even breathe. In no time, her mother was by her side, asking her what was wrong. "Mom," she pleaded, "make it stop. Please. It hurts."

Her body twisted in strange angles, sending waves of pain through her whole body. Hot tears rolled down her face. Her vision clouded to the point where she couldn't see anything. She screamed, scared. "Mom," she cried, "I can't see. I'm blind now."

"Isla, Isla. Listen to me." She said, in a panicky, worried voice. Although Isla could hear her, it was like if she was listening to her through a wall of glass. "Everything's going to be all right. You hear me? Everything's going to be all right. Just relax and stop fighting the pain."

Instead of soothing her, her mother's voice made her angry. How could she stop fighting the pain? It only got worse and worse. A minute passed, then two. All at once, her eyesight came back, making her dizzy. She noticed that everything was brighter and clearer, like she had super vision. She could see everything.

Her other senses started to enhance too. She could hear the birds' wings fluttering, and the branches cracking. She could even hear her mother's heartbeat. She could smell better, too. She could smell the trees, the dirt, her mother... It was overwhelming.

Without knowing why, she was getting angry. It was such an intense feeling, as if all the anger she had felt her whole life had accumulated. She had never felt so angry. She started seeing red.

Her body twisted once again, and her fingers started burning. She looked at them, and saw that her nails were replaced by sharp, lethal claws. "Mom." Isla looked at her. "Mom?" Her mother took a step closer. "What's wrong with me?!" She shouted.

Her back arched again in an inhuman way. She felt how she started loosing control over her own body. Her bones started to crack, one by one, torturing her. Her mother took a step closer. Isla felt an urge to hurt her, and she had to use every ounce of self-control she had not to. "Stay away, mother." She told her, in a restrained voice. "Stay away from me, I will hurt you."

Everything happened too fast. She lost control of herself completely. She heard her clothes rip apart as she changed into a new body, into something wild and beastly. She was a wolf. The voice in her head took control over her, and without meaning to, Isla arched her back, howling into the sky. She howled for what felt like hours, pouring her heart into it.

When she finally stopped, Isla –or the voice in her head- looked at her mother, growling. "Isla," her mother said calmly, but she could smell her fear. "You have to regain control. You have to change back into your human form."

Isla wanted to do what her mother told her, but didn't know how. Please, she said to the voice in her head, don't hurt her. She's family. The voice in her head hesitated, but then Isla felt how it was stepping back, allowing Isla to regain the control over herself. The only thing left to do was to change back into her human form, but how could she do that?

She was so concentrated figuring out how to change back, that Isla didn't hear someone –something- approaching her from behind. It wasn't until her nose caught a new scent that she tensed. It was strong, masculine, delicious. It was like the smell of morning dew combined with chai tea. It was addictive. She closed her eyes, enjoying it.

The voice in her head purred. This is our...

Without notice, she was knocked down by another body. She opened her eyes, and the impact made both of them roll down. In no time she was pinned down to the ground by another wolf. Isla looked at it. It was the most beautiful creature she had ever seen in her life. Its fur was all black like the night sky, and his eyes were as blue and as restless as the ocean. One look at them, and she got lost. She couldn't look away. There was something strange about them, she noticed, something almost... human.

Mate. The voice in her head said. Mate, mate, mate. The voice was excited, but Isla was overwhelmed. Mate? What did that even mean?

The wolf growled, bringing Isla back to reality. Its presence was intoxicating, and having it on top of her made her feel all kinds of emotions; anger, fear, happiness, excitement, anticipation...

The wolf growled again, louder this time. Somehow, Isla knew what that growl meant. The wolf was ordering her to change back into her human form. Isla didn't know what to do, but apparently her body did, and acted on its own. She felt her bones crack once again, and she squealed in pain. One second later she was human again.

She kept on looking at the wolf's blue eyes, which were staring right back at her. The wolf came closer, slowly, moving its face towards her to sniff her, and she felt panic rising in her stomach. It was all too much, too real. Her heart started beating faster. What was the wolf doing? Fear settled in, stronger than before. She let out a panicky cry, closing her eyes for just a moment.

When she opened them, everything was gone. Her mother, the woods, the house, the wolf... everything.

She was somewhere else, someplace new. She felt a shiver running down her spine, and she noticed for the first time that she was completely naked.

"Well," she thought, sarcastically, "this should be good."