Shifter

Chapter 1

                "Gahh!" I sat up ramrod straight in bed, panting, and buried my face in my hands. The nightmares had started a day or two after my sixteenth birthday, and they hadn't stopped since. Every night it was a different dream, but with the same feeling of abject terror. And, in all of them, I was an animal. Any animal, it didn't matter what kind. I was hunted, by big shadowy things, and even not knowing what they are, exactly, I was petrified by them. They could go underwater, they could fly, and they were untouchable. Antimatter. Well, antimatter with license to kill, apparently. They always cought me, and right before they - well, do whatever it was they did - I would wake up. 

                  My family was noticing. They saw the circles under my gold-flecked green eyes. My complexion was pale compared to my usually naturally bronzed skin. I talked even less than usual - which had been hardly at all, even before the dreams - and I knew that I seemed withdrawn. They wanted to know if I needed to talk. But I didn't know if I need to talk, or if I needed a psychiatrist... 

                  I looked up at the ceiling, where my clock was projecting the time. 5:45. It was hardly even worth it to go back to sleep at that point. I usually got up at 6:15 anyway. Sighing, I pulled the comforter back, and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. I stood up and walked into the bathroom, my feet light on the hairspray-tacky floor. I showered, then brushed my teeth and yanked my hair into a sloppy bun. 

                  Back in my bedroom, a nerd's paradise with books, wires, and flash drives everywhere, I shoved my glasses on, and pulled on my favorite pair of worn jeans and an oversized pullover hoodie. I put on a pair of floral Docs and then sat at my desk and opened my laptop, looking for a way to kill time before school despite my insanely long shower. But, before I could even open up  a window, I was asleep, slumped over my keyboard, weeks of horrible sleep catching up to me. 

                  I was a lion now, powerful and lean and beautiful. I laid sunning myself on the savannah, when suddenly, a shadow fell in front of the sun. It was an Antimatter, cold and beautiful and terrifying and right next to me. I roared, trying - irrationally, I knew - to scare it off. But it wasn't going anywhere. And so, I ran. Fast, far, and furious, I ran across the plain, trying to put as much distance between myself and that thing as possible. But no matter how fast I ran, it was always right there next to me. Eventually, it was done toying with me, and it grabbed my throat, shoving me to the ground. As long as it kept its hands in contact with my body, I could feel something draining out of me. That was usually where I would wake up, but this time, apparently not. There was an itching feeling in my pelt, a wriggling in my bones, and then I was there. I was human. But why? 

                  I jolted awake to my mom yelling at me to come downstairs, I was going to miss the bus. I checked my reflection in the mirror before I headed down to make sure I didn't have imprints of the keyboard on my face. As I inspected my cheeks, I saw something move out of the corner of my eye in the mirror. I looked up at my eyes, which were in the general vicinity of the movement, and saw the gold flecks in my irises expanding to encompass both of my eyes entirely.