by Lee Taylor
As crappy as I felt, I could not help but admire the new bad-ass that was Mike. The bouncer’s eyes were still open, but they had rolled back into his head just to show the whites. He would surely suffer brain damage if he didn’t start breathing again soon. His eyes wandered uselessly, completely gassed.
“When you wake up, Phil, remember what happens when you don't listen to people.” Mike’s voice said still echoing with the blondes. Phil rolled onto his front and pushed himself back to his feet, breathing shallowly. Mike was ready for him, tapping him on his shoulder; the idiot turned and swung his trunk like arm clumsily. With a flick of a smile, Mike gathered momentum as he dodged, spun, and countered with a devastating blow as he stretched out his arm and connected with Phil’s head. A spray of bodily fluid spewed into the air and splashed off the ground in a crimson arc. Phil was done.
Being privy to that kind of thing when it feels like you are having a panic attack really tremendously sucks; I can’t stand feeling useless. My breathing eased slightly, the pound of the music was in tune with my heartbeat… which wasn’t a good thing. I remember feeling odd that my heart was thrumming to the beat of Paramore. Good music, but my guess, bad for my heart.
Kitty approached me; I could see her features slightly more clearly, although the light was still behind her, making her look like she was a flaming angel of unfathomable beauty...
Oh crap, I guess that movie I was watching in English today had gotten through to me after all I sighed. I know it was stupid to bug out over something so trivial, but you have to understand... Fights happen every day... but me paying attention was a whole different kind of spooky. I always felt like my skin was crawling in class if I sat still for too long.
“Hey, you alright? I know this must be really confusing, but you really need to relax.” She said; her voice was as enchanting as she looked. She sounded English, but with her accent I guess she could have been Australian; they sound so similar.
“Why does everyone keep telling me to relax? Do you know something I don't?” Drawing in deep breaths, I slowly and quietly spoke. “Is... Mike... alright?”
She arched her brows, and a warm smile spread across her face.
“Your friend is going to be fine, he’s an odd one. Do you know he always says what he's thinking?” She chuckled and shook her head. Her friend was checking Mike's pulse; she looked over and stuck her thumb up.
“Okay, we should get you and your friend out of here. Can you walk?” She signalled to her friend who nodded and walked back into the club. “Okay, my friends going to get the car, can you walk or not... because I would hate to have to carry you.”
“I... can try.” I said. The words very weak; my heartbeat had begun to dominate the sounds of the club again. Sheepishly, I rocked myself onto my knees, spitting out some remnants of vomit.
“Bet you could do with a drink to rinse the taste out, eh? If you want, I can go and get you a bottle of something... And yeah, the bouncers are fine. Phil and Jason are just unconscious, they'll be awake in an hour or so, they just need to sleep it off.” She patted me on the shoulder. Brushing some strands of hair behind her ear, she smiled.
I paused, closing my eyes as I inhaled her smell. She smelt like lavender and cinnamon. I was about to start panting again. I can’t have been spiked the way I was acting... it wasn’t from some acid trip... It was like I was being over stimulated... Kind of like the morning after a heavy drinking session. I was shy to loud noises, lights and smells; the only thing that was missing was that my mouth did not feel as dry as Ghandi’s sandals.
“Whoa, whoa, slow down there, mate, like I said you need to relax,” Kitty said, seeming ruffled. I had to check myself for a moment that I wasn’t accidentally slobbering. It then dawned on me what she had said a few seconds ago... I never asked about the bouncers... At least I didn’t out loud, did I?
“Can you...”
She interrupted me mid-sentence, “Yeah, I can read minds; I can control them, too. And like my friend said, I have a lot to explain to you.” She looked over me and stood up smacking me on the back in a friendly gesture.
“Looks like our rides here,” she pointed to the end of the alley. I turned to look as a car stopped, the brake lights lit up the walls. The car backed up gingerly towards us.
“Come on then, up and at 'em.”
I looked at the blonde, completely confused, but I was exhausted. All I wanted to do was sleep and eat, maybe not in that order. Rolling her eyes, she exerted a sigh raising her hand. I was now standing on my feet. Groggily, I blinked. Flicking her wrist out the boot popped open the same time as the rear passenger doors. I couldn't see the make or model of the car, the brake lights had screwed my night vision up royally, and to be honest I was still kind of stunned at being lifted like a toy... I was six-feet five inches of muscles, and she lifted me like I was a Ken doll. Everything was looking hazy; I thought I was being overwhelmed again. With another flick of her wrist, Mike was lifted off the ground and was tucked neatly into the boot. I stood staring at the blonde, mystified; she looked at me and winked.
“Well, tough guy, can you walk, or do you want me to drag you in?” I was too tired for any innuendo’s to be implied; now that was a first. She shook her head and chuckled. I hoped she hadn’t picked up on any of my... let's say teenage thoughts.
“I... can give it a try.” Weakly the words passed through my lips. She nodded and brushing past me, she hopped in the back seat. The boot lid slammed shut, and I tried to drag my feet, my heartbeat still climbing. I didn’t know why it hadn’t given out already. I momentarily lost my balance. It probably had something to do with the extra blood that was pumping in my ears. I collapsed forward, crashing to my knees. I could hear a mumbled obscenity come from the car, and before I knew what was happening, my feet were dragging along the floor as I was helped into the back seat by an invisible force.
“Okay, now before we take you home, we need to talk. You can't sleep just yet, here,” she passed me a bottle of soda. “Drink this; hopefully the sugar will temporarily replace some of your lost energy.”
Without a second thought, I ripped the cap off, downing the bottle; every flavour rolled over my tongue like it was the first time I had drank a fizzy drink. The bubbles burned, the sweetness flared, and I could feel and taste the phosphoric acid bathing my tongue. It felt so syrupy; it was like I was drinking a jar of honey. I tried not to heave.
“Right, well, I’ll try and tell you what I know about what's happening… to you I mean. And, if you’re lucky, I will tell you about me later.” She winked. “Okay, so first things first, your body is going through some extreme changes. Kind of like puberty 2.0, but you won't only find hair in a few new places. You might also become your hormone's bitch and kill everyone you know and love. We don't want that now, do we?” I was gaping at Kitty, and was as slack jawed as the first caveman to discover fire. I was also trying my hardest to sit up and stay awake. Slowly swaying and juddering.
She continued, “You think I am full of shit, don’t ya? Well it will make sense, trust me! Right now all your organs are adapting, and nearly all of your internal anatomy is changing.” I clenched my fists, my heart rate was still climbing; it was like I had chugged a gallon of lighter fluid topped off with a matchstick. There were points where the pain intensified so much that I was convinced I would explode, decorating the interior in a few shades of red. Sweat was building on my brow; it felt like I was mere moments from convulsions. My skin was crawling; all of the feelings together were driving me insane. Even the feel of the cold leather seat was aggravating me. I was so hot and sweaty that I was sticking to it. I hadn’t noticed, but at one point or another, I had taken my top off. I truly was losing my mind.
“Bloody, Nora! You’re changing too fast! Listen to me, Ursine; look at me! You are human, okay? No matter what happens, you can't forget that. Ursine, Ursine can you hear me?” Grabbing hold of my face, she looked into my eyes as she faded from view.
I passed out
.
***
When I woke up, I was out of the car and still in the alley. There was no sound or sign of anyone around. The only thing I could hear was the constant beating of my heart. A long shadow stretched across the alley in front of me, blurring into obscurity.
What the hell is going on now? I was feeling slightly more relieved than I had been. It was like the build-up of pressure had finally begun to ease off. The wind picked up, ruffling some litter in the ally and flinging some debris into my face. There was a scuffling of feet resonating from somewhere close by.
I wasn’t alone. I tried to locate the source of the noise; it was too dark at the moment. The moon appeared at the end of the alley, acting like my own searchlight. It drenched the surroundings in a wash of red. I could see three silhouettes approaching. Each shrouded in darkness. Slowly, I backed up, bumping into the wall of the club beside the fire escape that was held open as a smokers section. I clawed at the fire exit, prying it open and almost ripping my nails off in the process. Scuttling through, I quickly turned and slammed the door shut. The nearby area looked empty, which had the club feeling more eerie than the alley. The disco lights and lasers were tracing about the room; their sporadic manner, spinning in patterns. Some smoke was billowing over the stage, and it added to the creepy ambience. Being so stripped and baron of life, it was too vacant. Nervously, I sucked in a jagged wisp of air. An odd, almost stagnant element washed over my tongue. Palatable on the breeze, it was something that tasted bittersweet. I thought for a moment, pleased that my thoughts still had a discernable order to them; worrying that I had lost all holds on my sanity from the pain that I had been experiencing in the alley. I turned to my nose for discernable closure; the odd taste also had a distinct odour. What made it more peculiar, was how until I had tasted it, I was unaware of its scent. Walking across the dance floor or as Mike would want me to say “mosh pit”, I kept following the smell. It wasn't really that difficult as it was the only scent to pick out. There wasn’t the intermingling stench of sweat and beer that usually made up the musky atmosphere of the club. Instead, it was like being in the middle of a field that was covered in several feet of snow, with the air so fresh that it stung your nose, and a clear aroma of lavender drifted on the light breeze.
I stepped through a stone archway that was beside some booths in eye shot of the second bar in the club. This is by where the coats were usually kept, but with the heat-wave that had been going on, it wasn’t being used when I was there earlier. When my eyes finally fixed on the bar, I spotted what looked like a woman. She was sitting at the bar wearing a tight, black, leather bodice. I was kind of relieved to have a normal perverted part to my dream at long last... She turned her head toward me slightly; it made several charms and jewels that were entwined in her black, satin hair clink with the motion. And she still didn’t make any eye contact. Slowly, she stretched out one of her long, slender arms, and began to draw something on a cocktail napkin. I assumed it was her number. It was my dream after all, why not be something... typical.
The last few times I dreamt, I seemed to be conscious of the fact that I was dreaming; it was a new and frustrating experience for me, like I couldn’t wake up until my dream had played its course. I walked towards her, and the air seemed to get thinner the closer that I got until, finally by her side, I was rasping for air. Turning to look at me, I could see that she was wearing an intricate, jewel in-crested, masquerade mask. It looked like it was made of pearl; vines and leaves were etched in gold. It was magnificent to say the least. And that was only the framing of her mask; her lips were shimmering with emeralds, and a single tear of crimson trickled down from her left eye, collecting on her cheek with a flourish of rubies. I could hear a muffled chuckle as she tilted her head, looking at my astonished gaze. She pushed the cocktail napkin to me; I looked at what she had written. It wasn't what I expected at all. There was a symbol of the crescent moon beside a star written in lipstick.
“Huh?” I wasn’t feeling very articulate. “What the hell is that? Is that a smiley face?” She shook with laughter, although no noise came out.
“This is just great; I am having a conversation with a mime,” I said. Solemnly, she shook her head in apparent disagreement and pointed across the bar. I will tell you what, if street performers like mimes did get paid enough for a pearl, gold, emerald and ruby mask... let alone the other antiquities decorating her; I knew what I wanted to look into doing after school... To hell with college!
I eventually turned to see where she had been pointing to; a large, musty mirror was hanging, barely showing our reflections with the grime that caped it. I turned back to ask what it was that I should have been looking for and abruptly had an answer. The gorgeous woman beside me had performed a quick-change act, apparently. She now had on an obsidian mask and ivory bodice. Her mask was framed in silver, garnished with sapphires and diamonds.
It was a reflection with everything as it had been, but the present was completely different. She did look slightly more approachable with her new, white outfit, though; I will admit that. Her long, red hair was just as eloquent as her onyx haired counterpart.
Her mane was now decorated with sun symbols and charms. I released a bestial grunt. The sound kind of freaked me out. It was unexpected to me. I could feel her hand as it soothingly stroked my monstrous paw. I trembled with anticipation. She jested forward, pointing at the mirror. Looking ahead, I saw the other versions imitating our same scenario. Except I was not in a bestial form; I was human, and looked distraught. Swiftly, the figures of our female compatriots embraced us. The white masked figure pulled out something from her waist. Checking her obsidian counterpart, who was still dormant, slowly the pearl inlaid figure drew her arm back and plunged a blade into the base of his neck, my neck. My human counterpart slumped onto the bar, dead. A slow, steady stream of blood trickled down my back, soaking through the clothes and collected in a puddle on the floor. I swung at the black, masked figure in fear for help of preservation; she was still motionless in the embrace. I was expecting her to be knife drawn and ready to plunge it into me. My attack had sent her crashing over the bar, shattering the drinks optics before I gave her the chance. Slowly, the obsidian masked woman began to drag herself out on the broken glass from behind the bar. I stared unblinking, wide-eyed at my monstrous talon like claws, flexing each spike like finger. Rage bubbled up inside of me at the thought of what I had just witnessed.
Did I just attack her for no reason? At this point, I wasn’t sure of what to think. My reflection filled me with disgust. At least I was clear to see now; I was the huge bear with yellow eyes like amber. It was almost like they had been injected with gold dust; my snout was huge and hideous, covered in a russet of fur that was topped with a large flat nose. I roared, and saliva splashed off of the mirror. I was disgusted at my bloodlust, the way that I lashed out in fear. I swiped at the mirror in fury.
How is this happening to me?
The image was sliced into six segments before shattering onto the ground into a thousand pieces. Slowly, I stalked around the bar to stand over the stationary figure; she spluttered, and although clearly in pain, fought with herself to turn and face me. I could see that the bottom part of her mask had been broken off; blood flowed freely from her mouth and nose. Spitting some blood out, she timidly wiped her mouth and cleared her throat.
“You can't fight your true nature.” The frail figure said.
“I guess we'll have to see if coercing is out of the question.” A voice called out from behind me. Startled, I instinctively turned, dropping onto all fours, snarling. I coiled myself, readying to charge before the voice registered in my head. I had to force myself to dig my claws in, taking great gouges out of the floor; splinters sprayed into the air. She smiled at my response; the crunching sound seemed to please her.
“There you go, see! And here I thought I was going to have to kick your ass if you tried to ruin my do!” She winked at me. “Took me a while to find you here, you know, y
our mind is like a frigging pervert’s maze! Truly fascinating stuff you think about, awfully disturbing, but fascinating all the same.”
I roared in frustration, shaking my head from side to side. I could feel the beast in me screaming out for blood, part of me wanted to pulverize her.
“Oi, don’t you bloody get all “Grrr” with me! I told you I can read your thoughts; now, try and remember what I said to you in the car before you blacked out. If you can remember, it might get you out of this proverbial dump.”
I closed my eyes, attempting to recompose myself.
You said something like, don't forget I'm human?
She scoffed, apparently in agreement. “So, get this damned bestial side of yourself under control. Oh, and before you have another tantrum, I'll try to get to you with Mike as soon as I can.”
What's that supposed to mean? Opening my eyes, she had disappeared again. The world around me seemed to sway and shimmer, like a heat-nymph dancing off of hot tarmac.
What the hell? Why sound like you have answers then fuck off before you say anything helpful? I queried, there was no answer. My head began to throb.
I really hate all this cryptic crap. What was it she said for to me remember? I'm human? I thought this was simple enough. Okay, so what makes me feel human? A perverse thought echoed through my head. Okay, so maybe that is out of the question right now. A pain ebbed in my stomach, rising through my torso, I was trying to concentrate on what made me human, but with each moment, a part of me was forgetting. I wanted to eat and sleep; I didn't have a craving for honey or marmalade, so I suppose that was a bonus.