Shape Shifters in the City

Chapter 4

Any inkling of hope I had comes crashing down in that moment. I will never get to see my mom again. I feel bitterness slice through me and I know just who to blame. “It’s all your fault,” I say before I even realize I am talking.

Hurt flashes across her face before she regains control and says, “I realize you probably hate m–”

“HATE YOU?” I scream, noticing her flinch at my sudden outburst. “I could kill you for what you did to me! You ruined my life!”

“I’m sorry Sam,” she says as tears start forming in the corners of her eyes.

I stare at her incredulously. I can’t believe she is trying to make me feel bad. She ruined my life, not the other way around. “Stop that,” I say. “You don’t get to cry. You’re not the one whose life got ripped from them. You are the one who did this to me. If anyone gets to cry, it should be me. You don’t see me crying, do you? No, you don’t. So just stop.”

She sniffs and wipes away the tears. “You have no right to talk to me like that,” she says.

“I have every right to talk to you like that!” I yell back. I notice that she is getting frustrated because she stands up and starts to pace. “Look,” I say, “you are the one who made me this way. Don’t like it? Well tough, ‘cause you can’t go back now.” The look on her face tells me that I have completely stunned her.           

“I never said that I don’t like it,” she says.

“You never had to,” I reply.

“Listen to us,” she says. “We sound like an old married couple.” She starts giggling.

I know the look on my face tells her I think she is nuts because all of a sudden she stops. “Are you really laughing about this?” I ask.

“Well if you think about it,” Kristen says, “it is kind of funny.”

As I start thinking about it, I realize it is kind of funny, and I start chuckling. “Yeah,” I say, “I guess it is.” Suddenly, I hear laughing. “Where is that coming from?” I ask.

She gives me a puzzled look. “Where is what coming from Sam?” she asks.

“Don’t you hear that?” I ask.

“Sam, what in the world are you talking about?” she inquires.

“I hear laughing,” I say. “I think it’s coming from outside.” I can hear the laughing coming closer to the house and I walk towards a window to try to see who it is.

“I hear it now,” she says. “It’s nothing to worry about Sam. It’s just the pack getting back from hunting.”

Looking out the window, I see a rather small group of people of varying ages. Some are definitely teenagers while others could be in their late 40s to their early 50s. Curious, I turn to Kristen and ask, “How many of you guys are there?”

Unsure of what I mean, she asks, “The pack or the general population?”

“In your pack,” I clarify. “I only saw about eight or nine people out there.”

“Well,” she says, “counting me and Peter, there are eleven of us. Counting you, that makes twelve.”

“Twelve?” I ask incredulously. “Are other packs as small as yours?”

Kristen looks at me with sad eyes and says, “Yes. I already told you that we are a dying breed. That is why I am trying to change as many people as I can. With another alpha, we just might have a chance at saving this pack.”