Dark Horse

Chapter 1.

Hi and thanks for reading! I hope you like the story! Picture of Clara above.
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Pain.
Searing white hot pain all over my young body. Collapsed on my bedroom floor, I allow small gasps and yelps of pain, but nothing more come out. What a way to spend my eighteenth birthday, dying. I writhe in pain as I hear my bones breaking and my body hunches over.

If only my mother was here. Then I wouldn't be alone in my last minutes on earth. One more cry escapes my lips before the pain ceases. Just like that, gone.

Confused, I rise to my feet, only to find I am much shorter than before. What is happening?
I feel different, stronger, more focused. I climb onto my bed to get a better look at myself in my mirror, which rests in between some of my best paintings. All the stresses in my life could not have prepared me for this moment.

The moment I thought I'd see myself staring back at me, but instead so a large grey wolf in my place.

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"Clara, Love, are you sure you're feeling alright?" My mother cautiously asks placing her hand on my forehead. I gently peel her hand a way, resting it on our kitchen table and give an unsure smile.

Since my shift into a wolf, I was able to turn back into a human, but more problems arose. No matter how hard I've tried, I am not able to shift again, causing my mother to become awfully concerned about my well being.

"I am, and it's true, Mama!" I argue, becoming more frustrated with myself than with her. She shakes her head and sighs. "What." I snap, as a growl escapes my lips. Her eyes grow wide, and I quickly slap my hand over my mouth.

I never speak that way to my mother. And why did I growl? I start to apologize over and over, but all she does is raise her hand to silence me. I press my lips together and bite my tongue before any other surprise sounds come out. Looking down, I sigh just as she had done before.

"Clara, it's not that." My mother tells me and instantly I feel myself relax. What else could have caused her to have such a reaction? "You just- It's just that- You-" she stammers, scanning her hands frantically as if they were note cards that go along with a presentation.

"Mama?" I question. I lean forward and slowly rest my hand on her arm, but she darts away in fright. I can feel my eyes stinging, but I force them back. "Mama, please don't be afraid of me. I'm still your little girl. I sti-"

"Clara, please!" My mother interrupts loudly. "Your father told me this would happen." She tells me in defeat, rubbing her temples. She hums and closes her eyes.

"What do you mean?" I whisper. My mother rarely speaks of her one and only love. I don't know much about him, but what I do know is not the best. For some reason, he was never the best man to my mother. He treated her well, but from what I gather, he also had a mistress whom he treated even better.

"He told me that you two were wolves." She says, "I thought that maybe it was just him speaking nonsense due to the shock. But there's no denying it. Everything he said about you shifting on your eighteenth birthday case true."

I shake my head violently at her words until I get a headache. What she says is not true. "Mama, no you were right. I'm not a wolf, I'm a human!"

This time, it was my mother who shook her head. "Love, I'm afrai-"

"No!" I interjected. Whatever she had to say I did not want to hear it. I'm scared and I feel myself start to shake. My nails grow and dig into my hands, but the pain is bearable. I am now aware of every sound my room, the creaking floors, my mother's erratic breathing, even the soft humming of our kitchen appliances at work.

My eye sight becomes more and more clear. The changes are slow and subtle, but very much there. Then, in one quick blur, the change I underwent before takes over my body.

Scanning the room, I notice our back door had been left open a crack, a habit of my mother's which I usually loath, but am thankful for in this moment. I dart out the door with no wdirection in mind and just go where my feet, or paws, take me.

As I run, I feel all my inhibitions drift away like a stray boat on the ocean. All I do is keep running and running with no plan of taking a break. I have no idea what any of this means for my future.

Thoughts and questions such as how I got my superpowers take turns inhabiting my mind. I only stop when I grow tired, and at this point I realize I have no idea where I am or how at I am from home. A sliver of yellow hits the horizon and starts its climb to its throne in the sky, and I can't help but wonder how long I've been running.

I shift back into my human form, which is somehow much easier than turning into a wolf. When a breeze washes over my body, I look down. No, this can't be happening. I am butt naked in the middle of the woods. What am I supposed to do now?

I concentrate hard and try my hardest to return to my wolf form, but nothing happens.  I'm lucky that this March morning is particularly warm. Otherwise, I would surely be freezing. Trying to cover myself the best I can, I finally start trying to find a way out in defeat.

Eventually, I reach a small pond. The water was dirty and polluted with beer bottles and cigarette butts. Normally, I would have just walked passed it without a second thought, but something catches my eye.

At first, I think it's just another piece of trash, but a second look proves me wrong. I approach the mysterious object and lift it in disgust. Behind the layers of stain and smell, is a beaten up red t-shirt.

My face scrunches, because I know I have no choice but to put the pice of cloth on. I slide into the wet shirt and instantly my arms extend from my body, attempting to keep it as far away from me as possible.

The shirt is huge on me and reaches almost mid thigh. Well, I guess this solves that problem. I wander around trying to wind a way out of the infinite trees that seem to extend forever. After passing the same tree trunk six times, I decide to just head in one direction until I find an end.

My poor mother must be worried sick. A pang of guilt hits me and I have to shut my eyes really tight to try to ignore the thought.

What a mistake this turned out to be. One second I'm walking normally, and another my left leg is completely stuck inside of a fox hole. This is okay. I can get through this.

"Help!" I cry out, but I know no one but the squirrels can hear me, and even they seem to be making fun of me. I yell and try to shift several times, but nothing works. An image of a fox coming back angry to see my floods my thoughts and soon after I am clawing at the earth trying to escape.

A twig snaps behind me, and I try to turn to face whatever made that sound, but my body doesn't twist that far. "Are you okay?" A voice asks and I sigh in relief, before thinking that a whole new and more dangerous situation might have just presented itself.

It takes sooo long to write omg. I hope you liked it and I promise that the plot will unravel soon, but I just wanted to introduce Clara in this chapter. Please please keep ready and thank you so much!!