Outcasts

Chapter 1: Lia

Lia Micheals had never felt so much pain in her entire life.

This was worse than the time she tried to skate down the steep ramp and a wheel on her skateboard had gotten stuck and thrown her off, ultimately ending in a broken leg.

Sure, breaking bones hurt, but skin ripping itself apart and becoming someone or something else's was a whole lot worse.

Lia was currently in the bathroom at her school, trying to comprehend how her arms and hands seemed to be changing colour and texture. Her entire body felt like it was being pulled and stretched, testing to see what the limit was. Sweat dripped down her temple and she panted, willing and praying it would stop.

Most of all, she was terrified of herself. She was confused and scared and she didn't know what was going on. She didn't know why her arms were changing, her normally cocoa brown skin turning into fur, then scales, then snakeskin.

Lia tried to calm her breathing, focusing on a certain thing, drawing all of her attention towards it. In this instance, it was a drawing of a flower on the bathroom stall door.

Once she was certain she would stop hyperventilating, Lia pushed open the stall door, peeking out to make sure she was alone.

The bathroom provided to be empty, Lia praising the bathroom gods and slinging her bookbag over her shoulder. She headed to the sink, grateful her arms had returned to their natural brown colour. She took a breath out and looked in the small mirror above the sink, her black eyes glistening with tears. She almost screamed at what she saw.

Half of her face was orange, scales shimmering instead of skin. Gills had formed on her neck and Lia gasped for air. She looked around frantically and her gaze settled on the sink. She turned the tap on, pushing the plug in. She could feel herself starting to become faint and wished she could fill the sink faster.

The water reached the edge and Lia turned the tap off, pushing her curly black hair out of the way. She shoved her face into the water, feeling instant relief when oxygen returned. Well, in this instance, water. Water rushed in to her nose, in her mouth, her lungs. But instead of drowning, she blew it out as if she were breathing.

Lia felt the gills on her neck close up, with her ability to breathe in water diminishing also. She launched out of the water, coughing and gasping.

Once her breathing had returned to somewhat normal, Lia slumped against the wall, her mind going a million miles a minute.

First, her arms had been changing.

Then, half of her god damn face had evolved into a fish.

Lia focused on her breathing, trying to convince herself that this was all a very strange dream and she would wake up soon.

Alas, it was not a dream and everything she had experienced mere moments ago was real. Completely and utterly real.

Maybe she was going insane.

Yes, that's it. She was clinically mental.

Before Lia could diagnose herself further, the bathroom door creaked open.

Lia grabbed her backpack, holding it in front of herself like a shield.

A junior walked in, giving Lia a weird look. Lia's eyes remained on the girl as she entered a stall, the door closing behind her.

Lia hurried out of the bathroom just as the bell rang for third period. Students crowded the thin halls, moving together like a school of fish. Lia felt panic rise in her chest. How on earth was she going to get out with this many people here?

And worse, someone could see her. See what she was.

Lia took a deep breath in and entered the swarm. She pulled her sweater sleeves down in an attempt to hide her arms, in the event they turned into a part of an animal.

She shoved through the throng of students, desperate to make it to the front doors and leave before she hurt someone.

Suddenly, blinding and horrifying pain twinged in her fingertips. The awful feeling was equivalent to her fingernails being ripped off.

Lia bit down hard on her lip to keep from screaming in pain. She looked down at her hands and swore silently.

Her once sparkly magenta nails had morphed into gleaming sharp claws, each the length of her thumbs.

Whilst Lia had been having a panic attack, she hadn't noticed everyone around her had stopped to stare at the non-human claws on her fingers.

Lia looked around, her gaze switching from one terrified student to another.

"What's wrong with her?" one whispered.

Lia ran towards the front door, pushing through, away from the prying eyes of the people she used to know.