Everybody Shifts (Scrapped)

I

I leap over the rotting log, but my hind paws catch on a branch. I land on the ground, feeling it crumble beneath me. I fall even further than I thought possible, into a deep, dark, and seemingly endless void. I wake up with a start, quickly shifting back from my wild form. I sit up, hoping I hadn't howled during my nightmare again. I get up and begin to pace back and forth across my room, waiting for one of my parents to come to check on me.

They don't, so I open the window and climb outside. I jump down and land in a crouch, straightening up and then shifting once more. I lash my tail angrily, growling at the memories from the nightmare that refused to stop running through my head, like a horror movie on repeat.

I start to run, heading straight towards the woods, with my tail streaming out behind me like a grey banner, with a single, off-center purple streak. It was the only asymmetrical thing about me. Even my eyes seemed to perfectly mirror each other.

As I ran, I sensed the one thing that could mess with me. Human. Not shifter, as far as I could tell, but pure, scarlet-blooded human. I dug my paws into the ground, skidding to a stop right before I saw him. I felt like I had seen him before, but I didn't know where.

Then it hit me.

It was him, the human that had seemed to chase me through my dreams for as long as I could remember. He pursued me every time I closed my eyes. I practically had his face burned into my memory. I froze, tail limp behind me, barely daring to breathe. He does the same, seeming to either recognize me or think I'm a normal wolf.

If it's the latter, he hasn't lived here long, no doubt or his parents are complete idiots not to teach him. Shifters aren't often discussed in school, but the parents of the students usually told them about them and how to tell the difference. I watch his eyes start at my shoulders and go down, freezing completely when he sees the streak on my tail. His eyes dart to meet mine, and he seems to stop breathing. I know my eyes are a strange color for a human, but impossible in a normal wolf. He starts to lean forward and reach out, almost as if to pet me. I growl and stick my tail straight in the air instinctually, to stop him from coming closer. Then I turn around and start to run.

I run fast, faster than ever before. I didn't even know I was able to run that fast. I leap over a log, before realizing where I am. I am at the scene of my nightmare. I hear something crashing through the woods behind me and know that it's the human.

Then I realize something I can't believe I hadn't realized before. If he doesn't know I'm a shifter, I can shift to my human form, and he won't know that he's actually chasing me. I immediately stop running and change to my human form. I scramble up the tree, finding a fork near the trunk and waiting there.