• CHAPTER 1

    The room spun as I tried to hold on to the nearest item. Okay, maybe it was a bad idea trying to get up, so I lay back down on the soft white pillow. Everything seemed so calm, but so sinister. I didn't know what was happening to me. I didn't know where I was, the only thing I did knew was that my name was Andrea Montecillo, and the only reason I knew that was because of my name tag. I heard the door open and I turned for I felt that someone was there.

    "Good morning Adrienne, darling," said the nurse. She was dressed all in white like those nurses you see on TV. For some strange reason everything around me was either white or pale blue. It was soothing, but creepy too. "Darling, do you want a drink?"

    I nodded, that was the only thing I could do at this point. Every part of me felt numb. I couldn't move, I felt like it even hurt to blink. The nurse left the room and I heard her say to someone, probably the doctor, "She has gained her consciousness."

    I thought, what could have got me unconscious? Was I hurt? Am I in the hospital? There were a million questions floating inside my head. I needed information, but where do I get the answers that I need? I didn't have enough time to think because the doctor, or the supposedly doctor, came in.

    "You okay?" he asked.

    "Yes," I squeaked. I felt my voice returning to me. It was still cracked, but good for now. "Who are you?" I blurted. I didn't mean to come out so sudden, but I had to.

    "I'm your doctor. My name is Dr. Bodegas. Do you remember anything? Anything at all?" he questioned.

    I shook my head. He sighed. I didn't know why he was so disappointed. Did I do something extraordinary? I had to ask him, but the questions didn't want to come out.

    "Look, just lay and relax, if you remember anything, anything at all, ring the bell beside you," he pointed at a small silver bell on a white side table beside me, "Ring it two times to call nurse Betty, the nurse you just saw, and three times to call me. I'll explain everything to you tomorrow."

    I was confused, but I still nodded. I had a jumble of information in my head, two times bell, three times bell, hospital, fire....wait a second....fire?

    Dr. Bodegas was just about to leave when I called out, "Hold on! I remember a fire!" He quickly turned and walked to the edge of the bed.

    "Did you say a fire?" he asked. I nodded, "Do you remember anything else about the fire?"

    "The only thing I remember was fire all around me.....and.....screaming. THE HORRIBLE SCREAMING!" My head started to hurt and all I could hear was the screaming, "MAKE IT STOP! MAKE THE SCREAMING STOP!!!!!!!!!!" I started to cry. I could here faint whispers behind the screaming, it was probably the doctor, but I couldn't be sure. I yelled as loud as I could. I heard footsteps and people calling others. I didn't know what they were saying. I didn't know if they were trying to help me from the screaming, or hurt me. The screaming got louder, and suddenly everything went black. Pitch black silence.



    CHAPTER 2

    "She’s awake," was the first thing I heard until everything went silent. I slowly opened my eyes. Everything was different. I was in a room surrounded with doctors and nurses, probably the emergency room, and I had a dozen of wires stuck to my body. I was always scared when someone examined my body. It felt like they were going to find out all the secrets about me, at this state I don't remember any of my secrets, but I know that there is something in me that I need to hide. I tugged all the wires off my body while the doctors and nurses watched in awe.

    "What are you doing," said one of the doctors near me.

    "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO EXAMINE ME!" I screamed.

    "But you might have died," explained another doctor. Dr. Bodegas just watched the commotion in silence.

    "I DON'T CARE IF I COULD HAVE DIED! YOU STILL HAVE NO RIGHT TO EXAMINE ME!" I panted. All that screaming made me feel weak and dizzy. I laid back down. "Take me back to my room," was the only thing I said before I fell into a deep sleep.

    * * * * * * *

    I awoke to my old room. There was no one in the room except for me and a nurse who was refilling my glass of water. After she filled it up I reached for the glass and smiled at her. Forget about smiling back at me, she didn't even look at me, instead she scurried away. I guess my little tantrum in the emergency room really scared everyone. I looked around to make sure that this room was my room, for some reason I felt unsafe and vulnerable.

    "Excuse me miss," said a voice. I turned to see that it was nurse Betty, even she looked like she was afraid me. "Can I come in?" I nodded.

    She came in and placed a new set of pale purple clothes on the small white side table. As she was about to leave I called out to her.

    "Betty," she turned, but still didn't look at me. I didn't know what to say. I just wanted to see her reaction if I called her, "Uh....never mind." She looked relieved and she walked away.

    I was about to go back to sleep but I heard a voice whisper, "I think that's her." I sat up on the bed and scanned the room, there was no one there, not a single soul. I still felt that there was a presence with me in this room. I called out, "Hello? Anyone there?" I felt as if I was those clueless people in a horror movie, the ones that always get eaten by the monster. Suddenly, I felt that I had just given away my position even though I really wasn't in any hidden position.

    I laid back down on the bed, but I made sure that I was on full alert. I heard footsteps, footsteps that were way more softer than any normal footstep. I let them come nearer, I wanted to keep the element of surprise. When it felt that they were far from me, but close enough to catch, if I needed to, I turned.

    "HA!!! AHHHHH!" I was surprised at how close the thing was and at what it was. On my white side table sat an OCTOPUS!

    "Is this....thing, supposed to be my food?" I slowly reached out to grab its tentacle, but it jumped away and started yelling at me. I was really confused, I thought the voice was just a nurse bringing me something else.

    "I CAN'T EVEN BE A COMMON EARTH ANIMAL AND SOMEONE TRIES TO TOUCH ME! WHAT IS THIS? AND I THOUGHT YOU OF ALL PEOPLE WOULD KNOW BETTER!"

    The next thing it did would have made me faint if I hadn't been holding onto the railing attached to the bed. Four of its tentacles slowly slithered together and become a slender, black, gooey leg, so did the other four. The small round head of the octopus stretched up and formed a black, slimy silhouette of a human body. It was really scary seeing an octopus turn into a human being and not just any human a gooey shadow of a human. Slowly the goo melded into the colour and form of a human type boy.

    My jaw dropped, in awe and in fear. "What? Now that I'm in my normal form you still find me weird?" He asked. He had white spiky hair that was streaked with black highlights. One of his eyes were blue and the other was a teal colour. His skin tone was a peachy colour and he was wearing normal baggy clothes. All in all he was pretty good looking.

    “Hello? Adie? Adrienne? You okay?” he asked.

    His voice woke me from my shock. I was speechless for a while. Then I came to my senses and asked, “WHO ARE YOU? WHAT DO YOU WANT? TELL ME OR ELSE I’M GOING TO CALL BETTY! BETT--” he covered my mouth before I could call Betty.

    “Shut up and I’ll tell you everything,” he said, “My name is Tristan, well actually it’s Tristaneen in Shape-shifter version, but I like Tristan better.”

    “So, you’re a shape-shifter?” I asked.

    “LET ME EXPLAIN! SHEESH! You didn’t change a bit! Anyways, as I was saying until I was rudely interrupted, I am a shape-shifter. I like being called “The Shifter” because I was the first child to shift after I was born, so I’m very gifted, you should be happy. What do I want? Well, I want to show you what you have done to our world.” He grabbed my hand before I could say a word. Everything suddenly went black then the colour came back again, but I was in a totally different place. The whole was burned into ashes, no living soul was seen.

    “Where am I?” I asked.

    He grabbed my shoulders tightly and said, “WHERE ARE YOU? YOU DON’T REMEMBER THE CITY…THE WORLD THAT YOU BROUGHT DESTRUCTION TO? THE WORLD FROM WHERE YOU DISAPPEARED AFTER YOU BROUGHT DESTRUCTION? THE REASON WHY YOU WERE IN THE HUMAN HOSPITAL!”

    “STOP YELLING! I DID NOTHING…NOTHING I SAY!” I cried. I got free of his grasp and I ran. I didn’t know where I was going, but something was dragging me to this burnt tree house. It was still good enough to go in so I did. All around me were pictures of a dark castle. I sat on the floor and cried. Something didn’t feel right.