The Shapeshifter

Part 2

Everyone is still laughing and splashing each other but I stop and slowly turn around to a twig snapping...

I start to scan the surroundings with my eyes until they finally stop on what appears to be a massive animal hiding in the shadows. Jessica stops and starts wondering what I'm looking at. When she finally sees it she starts screaming, "GO!"

Tag and Bryan turn to see what we are looking at. Suddenly they start swimming trying to get away. "COME ON DANNY! SWIM!" yells Jessica when she finally gets out of the water.

I'm still in that same spot curiously looking at the animal wondering why it seems so familiar. The animal starts walking out of the shadows heading towards me. My eyes go wide as I see that it's a big wolf. "DANNY!" Bryan shouts jumping back into the water. He grabs me and starts pulling me out.

When we are all finally out of the water, Tag and Jessica come back with all of their clothes but no shoes. We turn to look at the wolf who appears to be running now. "RUN!" We all shout while heading back to our vehicles.

When we are finally out of the woods the wolf seems to be gone. Tag hands me his grey zombie dog sweatshirt for me to cover myself up. I nod to him while smiling trying to say thank you.

"Is everyone okay?" Jessica asks. Tag and I nod. "What the HELL was that thing!!?" Bryan yells in frustration. "I'm not sure" responded Jessica. We stand there for a minute then I decide to break the silence. "I'm glad you all said yes to coming out here with me today." I said smiling. "Of course babe, it's your birthday and who could say no to a nice swim!" Jessica laughs.

We all gather for a group hug before deciding to head home. "Bye everyone" we all say. I start my bike and go to drop Tag off at his foster parents house. Before I leave I kiss him bye then head for the main foster house.

As I arrive I see that it's already getting late so I was surprised to walk inside the house to no lights being on. "Hello? Trisha? Stacy? Are you home?" I set my keys in the dish by the door and flip on the lights. "SURPRISE!" Trisha and Stacy pop up while holding a cake.

"Awe! You guys!" I smile and give them both a hug. We all take the cake into the kitchen and devour our slices. When we finished, Stacy decides to wash all the dishes then head to a friends house. Trisha goes straight to bed and I go take a shower.

When I got out I put on a black football jersey Tag lent me, black yoga pants and a necklace with the silver ring on it that my birth parents left me. As I put on the necklace, all I could think about was, why? Why did they abandon me? Was I a mistake? I lay down to think but as soon as my head hits the pillow, I'm out like a light.

It's now 11:52pm.
I start squirming around until suddenly I burst up out of bed with sweat running down my face. I kneel to the ground in pain. My bones start to crack every time I try to move making me scream, "AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGRRRR" It's takes a while for my bones to stop cracking and moving but when they finally stop I'm relieved. I feel warmer. When I went to rub my head I see my hands are now paws!

Trisha comes running into the room "Danny? Danny honey are you ok?" She spots a vicious animal and starts screaming. Something happened to me but all I knew what that I had no control. Something inside of me starts growling making me growl.

I start slowly walking towards Trisha then without thought I lunge for her putting my big teeth around her neck. The blood starts spilling everywhere as I'm biting down pulling at her throat until it comes clean off. I start feeling really dizzy and pass out.

The neighbors heard all the screaming and decided to call the cops. When they showed up, they put Trisha's body into a body bag then started looking around until they spotted me. I was passed out naked in a corner wearing only my necklace. One of the cops put their jacket on me, picked me up, and placed me in the back of a police car.

As I woke up fluttering my eyes open, I see that I'm sitting in what looks like an interrogation room. "Hello?" Is all I say. A lady walks in. "Hello Danny. My name is Detective Mosto. Can you tell me what happened?"
"I umm... I don't...r-remember" I reply as I'm struggling to think.
"Did you kill Trisha Corvello?"
"Trisha's dead?" I look up with a confused yet sad expression. The detective leaves the room leaving me to sit there.

I stop and think that I must stay strong then started planning my escape. I do have a record after all so they may just accuse me of this. Sure, my record is just of trespassing, breaking and entering, assault, ya know, whatever.. its not murder.. but still, record. I get up and quietly open the door trying to sneak out. When I get to the end of the hall, I spot a cop. As he turns around I quickly sneak passed him and out the main door towards my house.

It's now 2:37am
Once I've made it home I run upstairs toward my room trying to dodge all the blood. I grab my backpack and start packing. I throw in some bathroom essentials, clothes, and my sketchbook then I start knocking on the floor for a loose board.

I pick it up and reach into the floor grabbing the stash of cash I've been saving up. Once I've placed everything into my bag I notice that I'm most certainly naked under this officers coat. 'Pshh, what the hell am I doing naked?' I think. Looking around, I quickly grab the nearest pair of clothes I have laying around. Slipping into a thin black long sleeve, some shredded blue skinny jeans, and a pair of high top converse.

I find a map and randomly place my finger somewhere on it, "Valley Ridge." As I throw my bag over my shoulders I stop and say "goodbye" before hopping onto my motorcycle and heading towards my new destination.