Morph [EDITING] || Wattys 2017 Winner

~TWELVE~

~amelie~

James' lip is wobbling and his face is pale and scared. I'm hit by a sudden desire to protect him as well as I can, to stop anyone harming him ever again. The click of the comms in my ear tells me Amber's stopped the conversation, and I quickly walk over so I'm next to James. His eyes are filled with terror, staring up at the grinning guard. He turns around, and starts walking.
"Come on, kids!" he says, but there's a promise of violence underneath the jovial tone. It slides under my skin and makes me shiver. James starts walking, stiff and disjointed, after him, and so I set off too. The only difference between us is that while James is simply following, I'm closing the gap with every step. Soon I'm right behind the guard, and his gun is hanging from his side invitingly. I reach out, and my hand closes around the gun, and then a huge hand is smacking me away.

I fly across the room and hit the wall, and a burst of pain shoots out from my back. I pull myself up, and now James is staring at me with wide eyes, and he still hasn't said a word. The guard's face is dark with fury, striding towards me.
"You think you can do that and get away with it?" he roars, fists clenched and ready. "You think you're that much better than me? That you can steal my weapon? You thought wrong!"
His hand flies out again, but the movement is uncoordinated, and I dodge it. The fist hits the wall behind me, and the room shudders. My eyes slowly drag from the ground to meet his furious ones. He reaches back for the gun, and fear punches into me. I twist away and duck under him as he grabs the grip and squeezes the trigger, and the crack fills the space. My head whips back, and I catch sight of the tiny dart as it hits the wall and clatters to the floor. The guard hears it too, and he realises I've escaped. He spins the gun to face me again, and this time it only just misses my arm. The cuffs make me heavy, and so I land awkwardly on the ground. There's a crack as I hit the floor, my wrists taking most of the weight. I lift my arms, gritting my teeth through the pain and pause. One of my cuffs has a split down the side, and as I stare at it power suddenly floods my body. I make my hands swell in size, and suddenly the cuffs pop off entirely, cracked and mangled. They return to normal size as I shift back to me, my real self, and the guard's face grows pale. He makes an unintelligible noise, and lowers the gun. His eyes are wide, and all the anger has leaked out along with his courage, as he fixes his stare on me.
"Give me the gun," I say.
He slowly bends over and sets it down on the ground before him, and raises his hands up. He's still staring at me, like I'm a monster. I look down at the tranquilliser gun, and walk towards it. The guard's breaths come faster as I approach, quickly picking up the gun. It's heavy in my hand. I meet the guard's eyes again, and suddenly I realise he wasn't breathing quickly out of fear. He was getting ready to strike.

He launches himself at me, knocking me back, and I let out a yelp as the gun drops from my hand and skitters across the floor. He grunts as he reaches for it, but I put all my strength into my hand and punch him right across the jaw. He stumbles back, and the weight pressing me down is released. Pain shoots through my injured knuckles as I scramble to my feet and sprint for the tranquilliser. Heavy footsteps shake the room, and I realise the guard is running after me. I drop to the ground as he's about to reach me, and my fingers close around the gun. I swing my arm up and squeeze, and the gun cracks again and then there's a dart in his chest. He opens his mouth to say something, but he gapes like a fish and sways slightly. He stays upright for a few seconds, and then his eyes roll up and his body tilts back and he crashes to the ground.

I lie on the floor, panting from the adrenaline coursing through my body, staring at his motionless form. I breathe out shakily, every part of me tense and sore. Slowly, I manage to pull myself up, and I'm standing and covered in bruises. My hair is hanging wildly over my face, and I push it back and away. I look over at James, who I'd almost forgotten was there. He gapes at me as I smooth down my clothes, and press down on my left wrist with my thumb. The spot I've touched flashes a bright white for a moment, and then the iridescent, shimmering colours bloom like a flower from my wrist and race across the suit in seconds. James' eyes grow even wider.
"You're not Sophia," he says quietly.
"No, I'm not," I reply, smiling at him. "But I do know where she is, and she's safe. I'm going to take you to where she is too, okay?"
He reaches up slowly, and his fingers brush against mine. Then he holds it tight, and he looks up at me and whispers, "Okay."
Cold metal touches my wrist and I look down. James' cuffs are still on. "Hang on just a second," I say, making sure he's listening, and then run over to the fallen guard. He's still unconscious. I start going through his pockets. He hasn't got much - an ID card, a key, a small picture, and of course the gun. I take the photo out first, but as soon as I see it I hesitate. It's him, the guard, beaming at the camera, arms around a petite woman. Two small children are smiling in front of them with gap-toothed grins. A pang of sorrow hits me, and I carefully put the photo back. I take everything else.