Predators

Sleep

Wind howled as Jihara fell at an alarming speed. Jihara's ears and eyes felt like they would turn into dry husks as she fell through the sky.
Though Jihara kept her focus on the river it was approaching and fast causing Jihara to angle herself away from the approaching cluster of rocks.

Jihara's chest pounded, pounded with fear, the fear of impact, the fear of dying. Seeing that the time was right Jihara pushed the fear from her mind and focused on becoming human.

Her bones cracked, the river was closing in, brown hair grew from her head, almost there and just before Jihara hit the water her form changed into her human one. Pale skin, sleek frame and hair as wild as the river itself . Though Jihara kept one thing in her human form, the one thing she had in raptor form as well. Her glowing, light green eyes.

The cold enveloped Jihara first and then the pain, the searing, harsh pain. As Jihara was whipped and dragged through the waters strong, crushing current. Fear and desperation filled Jihara as she was pulled through the water, bumping into rocks and occasionally hitting an unsuspecting sea creature.

Black dots covered Jihara's eyes, causing her fear to escalate and for her to change her once human hands into raptor claws.

Jihara scrambled to grab anything with her claws as the river pulled her fast and quick. Jihara's claws caught onto something allowing for her to come up for a brief second of air before the thing her claws had caught, a log. Lost its secure holding sending Jihara under the water.

Jihara screamed in her mind, desperate to grab hold of anything that would allow her to breathe. Though the river would not allow it, it would give Jihara a few seconds of breath, before pulling her into its watery embrace again. After a while Jihara's body was weakened, she was no longer able to keep her raptor claws and her human hands could not latch on to any of the slippery rocks.

Jihara just floated underwater, letting the current bump her into rocks and logs until her vision darkened and she ran out of breath. Though as her eyes closed, she swore to herself she'd live, before handing herself over to unconsciousness' sweet embrace.

~~~~

Warmth. Thump. Thump. Someone's body. Air tickled Jihara's face, Jihara half opened her eyes to see who it was. There was someone there, carrying her, though Jihara could not tell who, with her groggy and blurry vision. The being, sensing her gaze, looked at her and murmured something. What? Jihara did not know because she was already slipping back into sleep's embrace.

Though she swore she thought she heard the being say. "Your lucky."

And Jihara knew that,so far, she hadn't been anything but lucky.