Shadows

Prologue

Hey, so, this is my first story here, so please vote and comment, I'd love some feedback on how my writing is. Feel free to criticize. Thank you.

•.•.•

I have been born with a curse but I prefer to think of it as a gift. Ever since I was young, I've realised I was not like the rest of the human population. My mother told me that when I was born, my eyes were closed longer than a normal human child. She also said I could crawl faster than the other children. As I grew older I discovered that my body hair grew faster than other humans, or so my mother said. Until my 14th birthday I have always wondered why I was like this.

It was almost noon on November 23, 1969, the day my life changed. It was my 14th birthday, and also the most tragic day of my life. My mother pounded on the door so hard the room shook. I could tell that she was mad at me for something, but I couldn't imagine what, I mean I was cleaning my room almost all day. I had locked the door, mainly to keep her out, but also because it makes me feel more secure. I walked over to the door and unlocked it. No sooner had I pulled my hand away from the knob, she shoved the door open. It flew open so fast that it hit my hand and put a dent in my wall. The way she was standing there, with her brown hair pulled back into a bun, her lips in a thin line, and one hand on her hip, the other clenched in a fist at her side, I could tell that I really did it this time. I cut the wrong wire and this ticking time bomb is about to explode. She reached in and grabbed me by my long straight black hair and yanked me out of my room. Then she got a firm grip on my ear and dragged me down the stairs and to the kitchen. She led me to some mud on the carpet and said "What's that?"

I stared at her with an innocent look in my eyes.

"I'll tell you what it is, mud, on my clean floor. How many times do I have to tell you, Veronica wipe off your feet before you come in this house, and when you do make a mess, you clean it up!" she shouted, shoving me towards it. "Clean it up!" As I got a paper towel and some stain removal she kept on yelling at me. "You know, your nothing more than a mistake. Your father won't even take responsibility for you. He rejected you, you know. Now I see why. You're nothing more that a useless piece of crap!"

Every day I had to listen to my mother drone on about stuff that I had no control over, such as how my existence came to be, and how idiotic my father is. My mother has been abusive through out my whole life, which might explain what happened next. I have had enough. My mother has tortured me for the last time. The wrath inside of me was uncontrollable. I dropped the paper towel and stain remover and crouched down on one knee. The other was up to my chest, and my hands in front of me. There was a flash of light, and a swirl of mist. When the mist settled, I looked down to see fur on my hands, Fur? I was confused for a second then realised what I did. I was no longer crouching, but standing of four jet-black paws. I took a step towards her and unsheathed my claws.

"Really Veronica? Really? A wolf. Why in bloody hell would you turn in to a wolf, and how?" My mother stared at me with squinted eyes and put her hands on her hips. I took another step towards her and growled. My mother just glared at me and hissed "Oh, is that supposed to scare me?"

As I slowly crept toward her, but strangely, she did not seam bothered by the fact that I had changed my form. Is there something she isn't telling me about her past? Has she had an encounter of similar events before? She slowly began edging back to the counter island. Soon I had her cornered and thought, "Good, I have her right where I want her. Maybe now she will listen to me." It didn't take long do discover just how wrong I was. Although she was against a counter, I forgot to check to see if there was anything harmful on it. I saw her hand slowly reach behind her and grab a chef's knife. I sat back on my haunches and bunched up my muscles, ready to spring. As I leaped forward, she whipped out the knife and slashed. My vision went black and the right side of my face felt as though it was on fire. I could feel her scrawny body beneath me, writhing, and struggling to break free of my claws. I heard a metallic cling as the knife dropped out of her hand and to the floor. Then we landed. I could feel the warm sticky feeling of blood on my face and welling up around my paws. I opened my eyes to see just what I have done. There were deep scarlet pools on my mothers boney chest, and there was something else. Something was different. My eye! I couldn't see out of one eye. It was gone! I looked back at my mother lying on the floor, with blood on her chest. I leaped back, shocked by what I have done. I took a step back, turned and scrambled out of the house. I left my mother lying on the kitchen floor, cursing at me. She was wounded, but I'm not sure if I punctured anything necessary for living. I ran until I reached a dumpster behind a small all purpose shop. I changed back into a human, there, and just sat. I was surprised to see that, although they weren't showing in animal form, I was still wearing the same clothes as when I changed into the wolf. I looked at my reflection in a puddle, to see just what damage my wretched mother has done. I saw a deep gash over my eye, from my eyebrow angled outward to my cheek. It was still oozing blood, but there was some crusty blood on the edges. I parted my hair on the side, and pushed some hair over the gash. "I'll deal that later" I thought, my mind on other things.