Running, she kept going, ignoring the pain in her legs, the shortness of breath. She felt free, ever since she took her first steps she couldn’t stop. Running was what she was good at, when she ran she felt nothing but the wind in her hair, heard nothing but the sound of her feet hitting the ground. Losing her grip on reality she often ran till something made her stop. Today though, was different. She didn’t run for want, she had walked in on her family being slaughtered. She stood in awe of the horror in which she was witnessing. She hadn’t even heard the scream escape from her lips, till the eyes of everyone in the room had snapped onto her. She did hear however, the growls closing in on her, which was when she ran. She didn’t know how long she had been running but she knew she couldn't stop no matter what. The faces of her family flashed through her head, the feelings she had been suppressing threatening to boil over and consume her. Her vision blurred, her body ached more, and the pain was suddenly consuming her. Without warning she fell to the ground screaming into the night as it coursed through her veins like fire. She hadn’t felt this pain in a long time, suddenly her vision clouded over, she saw her parents arguing over what they were going to do. The next vision was of her class room as a child, the walls covered in scratches and papers thrown and shredded everywhere. She woke with a start to find herself running faster than she ever had before. She didn’t realize that she had changed, that the fire burning through her veins had now been her fuel. She was running in the opposite direction, towards her tiny house in the Forrest, hoping to find those who had hurt her family. She was paying no attention to what was around her or even what was in front of her letting her senses take over as her mind rested numbly in the back. She ran till she came to a stream where she bowed her head to take a drink. She saw her reflection, and had paid no attention to it at first but soon she realized she was no longer herself. She stood in awe, she was covered in black silky hair that shown blue when she stood in the light of the moon, her face that of a beast, a cat like snout with sharp teeth that glow white. She hadn’t seen herself like this in a very long time, and everything came flooding back to her. She wasn’t normal; she had always felt that especially when she ran. She gave herself another once over, from her giant paws down to her long tail. She looked at herself in the eyes, those glowing green blue eyes staring back at her. She suddenly was thrown forward into the stream. With a growling roar she leapt from the water to find herself face to face with another jaguar. She suddenly recognized him as one from the house, his glowing yellow eyes piercing hers. With a wild growl he leapt for her throat, she dodged to the side only to find her face colliding with his claws. She jumped back and slapped him across his face with her giant paws her dagger like claws slashing the flesh it connected with. He flew back and jumped towards her again pinning her beneath him; she drew her back legs to her chest and pushed them forward causing him to be thrown off of her. She took a small moment to look at herself in the stream to see a small gash was torn through her ear. In an instant he was back on his feet and fast advancing, with another blow to his face he went flying back. She didn’t allow him time to recover; she jumped atop of him, and growled opening her jaws wide ready to sink them into his exposed throat when she saw the look in his eyes was not one of anger, or one of bloodlust, but of deep sadness. She jumped back shooting him one last glare and took off into the night, deep into the Forrest from which she had emerged. She knew she could never return to her house, and she knew she could never fit into society since the beast inside that had been lying dormant within her was awoken.
