Shadowed

Prologue

 "You have a daughter don't you? Where is she!!" An unfamiliar male voice had shouted. I was just outside my ear pressed against the door my heart pounding wildly. I'd been for a morning run like I usually did and come home to a shouts, screams, and the smashing of belongings.

I flinched squeezing my eyes shut as there was another loud smash of something breaking.

 " She left, she left! She's not here!!" Yelled my father.

He sounded frightened. This was very unlike my father. He'd always been quiet and reserved, he never spoke angrily, he only smiled. But his voice was now leathered with tension and fear which I'd never imagined.

"Tell me, or I'll break her arm!" A low voice threatened. My mother screamed and tears welled up in my eyes as I held back sobs.

 "She's not here!!! Let my wife go! Please!!!" Begged my father desperately.

"Why don't you shift and come rescue her? Go on you know you want to..." Coaxed a mans voice. I could already imagine the man's creepy smile and wild frightening eyes as he grasped hold of my mother tightly.

"...I don't know what you mean! I can't come over you'll break her arm!" Said my father panicked.

"SHIFT! You know what I mean old man SHIFT!" There was punching noise and my father groaned.

"I don't know..."

There was another punch and I could hear my father moaning in pain. My mother's screams now muffled by what would have been a hand.

"Damn it of course you do! SHIFT or I kill the lady!"

"No!" Cried my father.

"No!" I gasped lifting my head off the door tears leaking down my face. The door creaked as the weight of my head left it and my body froze in horror as I held my breath. There was silence.

"Shhhhh." Came a man's voice from inside. "I heard something..........She's here." I heard him whisper.

"Noo! RUN KAELA!!!!" Yelled my father

I hesitated before turning on my heel and running my legs like jelly. Behind me I heard wild feral like growls and roars above the screams of my mother which brought torture to my ears. I ran across the field or long grass that whipped and stung my legs. I leapt over the old wooden fences of our farm my arms wobbling in panic as I struggled to free my muscles from their tension of fear. Looking behind me as I approached the edge of our property I could see the figures of two men chasing after me. Running as fast as I could I sprinted towards the edge of the long grass towards the forest which bordered the edge of the property, it was the only way I would be able to lose them; I knew up to half to the forest like the back of my hand. As I ran a warm gripping feeling filled my chest as I thought of my parents, were they dead? I shook my head banishing the thought. They couldn't be dead.

I reached the forest. I broke through the bushed and into the forest almost running straight into the first tree my hands leaping out to brace my collision against the trees bark before launching myself off it. I dodged round trees and leaped over logs and streams and bushes. My vision was blurring and I stopped to take a breath freaking out that I was going blind but it was only tears. Over whelmed with fear and sorrow I fell to my knees still panting from my run. I choked back a cry as an aching pain flared up inside my chest. Gritting my teeth I clenched my fists as an excruciating pain rippled through my body, I felt as if all the bones inside me were breaking and then dissolving under a boiling heat. This time I really was blinded but not by tears but by pain, I was unable to see anything. I felt my body hit the ground as a pin pricking pins and needles spread up my arm, to my shoulder, chest, stomach, and legs till it was all over my body like fire ants. I was aware of loud cracking sounds as the pain subsided. Soon enough my vision came back fuzzy at first as I concentrated on small bush. I could now see the everything in front of me clearly, including the small bush that I'd been concentrating on .

My ears suddenly popped came to life and a whole projection of sound echoed through my head. I could hear everything. Birds preening their feathers, cicadas, small scuttling noises of animals, and then the crunching of leaves and shouts coming  from what sounded like only a couple meters behind me. I reached out my hand to lift my self up, but it wasn't my hand  that reached out to the tree next to me, it was a black paw. My eyes widened and I lifted up my other hand..... it was a paw.....

Curiously I turned my head round from where Iay and I could see a long blacked furred body. ....I'm....I'm...a..cat...?..... There was no time to figure out what had truly happened to me as I had no time, the crunching of leaves and heavy breathing was getting louder, I had to move. Experimentally I tried to stand. It was...weird but not difficult, it was just like playing animals when I was young, I would go down on 'All fours' as I'd called it, and run around roaring and making different animal noises.  Once I was on my feet....paws... I started to walk forward, then I went to a jogging pace weaving round trees and shrubs, then into a sprint. I felt like I was flying. I was filled with excitement and best of all I felt like I could run forever.  Behind me I heard one of the men yell to the other. "I don't think we can outrun her. She's shifted!"

Another voice called back. "We may as well stop, there no point in us shifting after her ; we're too tired already."

The sounds of the men died down as I carried on running, birds and animals rushing out of my path.  When I was sure I was well away from them I stopped panting for breathand lay down next to a small stream. I felt my tongue hanging out of my mouth and I suppressed a giggle which sounded like funny snorting sounds.  When  I'd caught my breath I padded over to the water and looked at my reflection. A large sleek black cat with piercing blue eyes gazed back at me. I looked very much like a black cougar, but as I turned my body to the side I could see that I was slimmer and with longer legs, almost like a cheetah, and yet my face didn't look like cheetah or cougar, it looked similar to that of a snow leopard. What am I?

Looking closely I had faint rosettes and dark tipped ears, my markings were darker then the rest of my fur but all together I was just black. I beared my teeth revealing a full set of long white sharp canines.  I had a long tail too, which had a dark ring towards the tip. Dipping my head I bent down to try and drink the water, but all the water went up my nose. I snorted and coughed, before having another go remembering that cats tended to use their tongues. This way worked, but I couldn't manage to get enough water into my mouth. While drinking I remembered my mothers screams, and my father who was being punched while a man tried to force him to shift. Shift!

I'd shifted! All the feral noises....cats.....

They'd wanted my parents to shift, but they'd never told me anything about shifting. The men, they could shift too they'd spoken about it while chasing me. But how do I shift back....? I closed my eyes and spoke loudly inside my head "Shift!" Nothing happened. I tried again. Nothing.  What If I can't shift back...? I began to panic, and all the bad things that had happened suddenly added up, as I recalled everything that had happened. I began to shake as I cried letting out yowling noises.

I had ended up crying myself to sleep, and I'd also shifted back as well thank goodness. The next day I had gone back to my home, only to find the lifeless bodies of my parents.

Since that day I'd never returned home, and roamed the wild as both a cat and a human.

After shifting the first time there was no more pain, and it took barely seconds for me to shift.

The best bit is that my clothes don't get ripped or torn apart; they simply become part of my skin. They don't show up when I'm in cat form, and when I shift back to human my clothes are still on me if anything a little ripped and dirty. For food I find fruit trees and I hunt small prey .

I never returned home, just wondered further and further away from it, leaving the house behind and forgetting the very memory of it.

I go where I please, I do what I want, and I answer to nobody. At the age of 16 my family was murdered. At the age of sixteen, I turned wild.