Mafia's Mate

Shift

"Was the Azef?"

"..." There was a pause from his side when I asked that and I think I hit the mark. He knew I would catch him if he lied so in the end, he simply nodded.

***

>> Matthew (Twelve years old)

A paper fold, one so lightweight yet when it was hitting my head seemed so heavy. Not it's weight but the way it was being slapped on my head.

"Do you get it?" It was a gangster, someone who's name or face I don't even remember. He was underling himself and his job was nothing important other than training me.

"Yes," I stood with my hands tied behind my back,

"Really?" He kept striking the paper fold to my head, "You better do a good job, or I'm the one who gets in trouble,"

"I will," It was irritating, so annoying with how he kept striking me but I kept my hands tightly tied behind me. This kind of behavior was common from goons, they did extremely annoying and humiliating things but I endured.

I had to survive. I had to earn my keep.

And other than the otherworld, no one else would take in kids. I knew that and I usually took it really well, but something off today. I wasn't in a good mood.

For a few days now I hadn't been feeling well.

"Go then," He slapped my cheek with that paper fold, "If you mess up you'll get a beating,"

"I know," I finally got to step back and leave. I was supposed to get an item for an auction. The Chinese were coming and the police knew. They needed a kid to do the job to avoid suspicion.

I got the item without a hitch but I felt the temperature in my body rise.

The auction started late at night and I had to be careful while getting back to the appointed area. The night was thick with an eerie stillness, and the moon hung low in the inky sky. My body temperature kept rising and my mind was getting dizzier.

I was handling that much, I needed the money to get by but that's when the body pains struck and it struck so hard I froze.

I was near the seaport containers where I could feel something changing inside me, a strange and unsettling transformation that sent shivers down my spine.

What is this? I panicked, I had no idea what was going on and I had no one to ask.

The pain started as an ache in my bones, a gnawing discomfort that twisted my insides. I stumbled and clutched my stomach, dropping the item in my bag, feeling the bones beneath my skin contorting and shifting. The world around me blurred as the change took hold.

W-what is going on!?!??!

I found myself in an open clearing, bathed in the silvery light of the unforgiving moon. The pain intensified, ripping through my limbs like a relentless storm.

GOD!! NO! What??! I looked down at myself and something clicked in my mind.

Shifting?

I crawled towards the containers to hide, leaving the item behind, completely forgetting about it. Every muscle screamed in protest as fur sprouted from my skin, and my bones cracked and rearranged themselves into a new, terrifying form.

With no one to guide me through this nightmarish ordeal, I writhed on the ground, my cries of pain merging with the waves of the sea and horns of the ships. My senses dulled, then sharpened, and the world appeared in shades of black and white. The scent of the earth and the sound of waves became overwhelming, assaulting my senses in ways I couldn't comprehend.