Shift – Hell

Over the next few weeks, we went back to that room, each day starting with hope and ending in failure.

“Carol, what if I told you the crazy woman’s eyes were Kates. A real person, that person being you. Your trapped Kate, your trapped in a body that looks like Carol, but its you, you’re a shapeshifter and you need to shift back.”

‘I’d say you’re as crazy as she is. Now unstrap me from this chair,” she replied solemnly.

“Look at me; you’re Kate, not Carol. You’re stuck in a body that looks like Carol, that’s all. You’re a shapeshifter, Kate. You’re trapped in a body that’s not yours, and you need to take control of it so you can shift back.”

“You’re bat shit crazy, you know that, Doc.”

“Am I,” he said, shifting into Kate’s body.

Jerking side to side, she screamed, “Let me go, you demon! Somebody help me get out of here!”

“Look in the mirror, your NOT Carol—Christian, hold her head so she can’t turn away.”

As tears streamed down her face, Keith shifted to his original. “You’ve seen me transition twice, Kate. You know it’s true. Please shift back!”

Her eyes switched back and forth as she railed violently in the chair. Then it stopped. “Keith, is that you?”

“It’s me, Kate. You got lost in Carol’s body. You need to take control right now and shift back.”

I’m trying, but it’s not working; please help me, Keith. I don’t know how.”

“Focus, Kate, It’s your mind, not hers.”

“I’m fading, Keith, please do something,” she said desperately.

“I don’t know what else to do,” he said, sobbing as their eyes locked. “I don’t know what else to do.”

“Yes, you do, Keith; please don’t let me down. I can’t live in this hell any longer. Please,” she said again as green eyes turned blue.

In despair, Keith slowly rose, dropping the needle to the floor. Saying nothing he left me in the room alone with Kate, a lost shifter’s body. And for a moment, I thought she might shift back, like werewolves do when they die.

Continue to scene twenty three

Shift is an online work of fiction.

This is the first draft of my manuscript Shift – Don’t judge a book by its cover. I am writing it online in sections as I go. So feel free to comment, good or bad. If you see mistakes, point them out.

The story centers around shapeshifting.

I’m currently working on chapter Ten.

Shift – Mirror Mirror

Continued from Scene twenty

Keith was sitting on the front porch when we arrived with a scratch on his face.

“Looks like two of us need tending too,” said Mr. Wilcox as he slammed the truck door.

“Jeff, what the hell have you done to yourself this time.”

“A nail in the foot, Doc.”

“Alright, come on inside. I’ll have Nicky look at it while Christain and I take care of some business downstairs.”

“You want to borrow my old catchers mask.”

“Nicky, Jeff’s back.”

“Again, Mr. Wilcox, what am I going to do with you?” asked Nicky.

As I followed Keith downstairs, we stopped halfway as the whole staircase began a slow descent, two stories down to be exact. When it stopped, we made our way down a hallway to the last door on the right. “Kate, this is Dr. Decker; I’m going to come in and talk to you. You won’t be restrained unless you act out again.”

Spiting through the small opening, she yelled, “Go away, you fucking bastard! Why have you locked me in here, you’re not the police.”

“Your right; I’m not. I’m your friend. We’ve known each other for years. You have amnesia.”

“Fuck you! I don’t have amnesia. And my name is not Kate. It’s Carol Wiseman.”

“If that’s true, where were you born?”

“Cincinnati, Ohio, I still live there. My address is 2205 Baker Street.”

“But you’ve been living in a homeless camp for years. Why not go back home?”

“I tried, but my boyfriend said he would kill me if I left.”

“When did you meet him?”

“I don’t remember; Jake was just there one day. I had a bad trip, and he—.

“Is something wrong?”

“I’m not sure. Do you have any heroin? I need some heroin! The voice is coming back.”

“You don’t need heroin. I can make the voice go away.”

She stepped back from the door, crying. “All I need is heroin.”

As we entered you could see mindless scratches along the wall made from a screw taken out of the bed frame. In the corner stood Kate. “Not him, you, by yourself.”

“He’s my assistant. I need him to take notes.”

“I’m not a lab rat.”

“No one said you were. And I promise to give you all the heroin you want if the voice doesn’t go away.”

While his promise may have comforting Kate, or Carol, or whoever she was. It did not comfort me; I knew what he meant.

“You Promise?”

“Yes, now lie down on the bed. I want to use a hypnotic technic I developed to help people who hear voices.”

“Other people hear voices?”

“Yes. And I want to know what yours is saying.”

“You don’t have to put me under for that. I’ll tell you what it says. It says, ‘I’m not me, look in the mirror I’m not me.'”

“And what do you see when you look in the mirror?”

“Me, you dumbass. What the fuck did you think I was going to see?”

“Christian, get the mirror out of my bag.”

“Kate, take this mirror and tell me what you see.”

Her eyes flashed. “A crazy woman, I see the crazy woman,” she yelled, hitting me in the head with the edge of the mirror, causing it to shatter, its pieces reflecting multiple faces.

Before I could look up, she fell to the floor shaking. “Get on top of her, Christian, and hold her down while I give her a shot.”

A few minutes later, we were standing outside again, looking through the small opening. A cut on my face and a new scratch on his. “Carol, look at me. What’s the crazy woman’s name?”

“Kate,” she replied softly. Her name is Kate.”

Continue to scene twenty-two

Shift is an online work of fiction.

The story centers around shapeshifting.

I’m currently working on chapter Ten.

Shift – Moving Day

Continued from scene seventeen

The phone rang before I could ask another question and Karen quickly picked up the phone. Saying nothing, she listened, then responded, “I understand. Will Kieth be there as well?’

“Thank You, Linda. We will be there soon.”

“Be where?” I asked.

Placing her phone on the counter, she replied, “We’re moving to our farm house.”

“We have a house?”

“We have a lot of things. But that’s for another time.”

“And we have to go right now, today?”

“Yes, doctors orders.”

“You seem worried. What’s going on?”

“I’m vulnerable while pregnant. Now go pack. I’m running out of time and patients.”

Stunned by her sharpness, I felt like a child being sent to my room. But I packed anyway, and two hours later, we were sitting in a house with property butting up against the Decker farm. In fact, all of the property surrounding ours was owned by Elysian members.

“You know, you could have given me a little heads up on the move.”

“I’m sorry, but I had more pressing issues.”

“Like what?”

Reports from France suggest outliers are stoking privacy fears to try and gain support for a strike against the technocracy.

“What kind of strike?”

“The kind that leaves us in the dark.”

“Grid-down?”

“Shifters may have already embedded themselves within the power companies. If we fail to hold our union together, It will happen.”

“On second thought, I don’t need a heads up; I’ll just be over here in the corner.”

“Don’t be like that.”

“THEN DON’T LEAVE ME OUT OF DECISIONS THAT INVOLVE OUR FAMILY!”

Continue to scene nineteen

Shift is an online work of fiction.

The story centers around shapeshifting.

I’m currently working on chapter Ten.

Shift – Threat

Continued from scene sixteen

My heart sank upon hearing those words. Would Karen actually put a hit on Kate if Decker fails?

“Lost shifters are an exposure risk that can not be overlooked,” she continued. “If a problem emanates from my decision to leave her on her own. I will become the threat as far as tribal leaders are concerned.”

I raised my head quickly. “But, Kate is one person in a world of millions. Why would another tribe come after you for her exposure? So what if she has the same fingerprints. She can’t shift. The NSC would have nothing more than a mystery on their hands.

“Her eyes––they can shift involuntarily, just as yours did. Documenting this in a controlled setting would get the attention of the President and unlimited funding to capture others like her; tribal members, you, me, our baby.”

She had my full attention now.

“The truth is, I would go after them if they put Elysians in harm’s way.”

“Right now, we have one strike against us with the doppelganger video. And I will not allow Kate to become the second.”

Continue to scene eighteen

Shift is an online work of fiction.

The story centers around shapeshifting.

I’m currently working on chapter Ten.

Shift – Elysian

Continued from Scene thirteen

“Drink this glass of water while I go back up on stage for a moment.”

I looked at Karen with a big no in my eyes, but she went anyway.

“Everyone, if I could have your attention again, please.”

As the room went quiet, she glanced over at me with a smile.

“As you can see by my love’s reaction tonight, he has fallen hard for me.”

Laughter ensued from the floor.

“And I have fallen hard for him.”

“Over the last two weeks, I have put more pressure on this man than I should have. For that, Christian, please forgive me. You are my soulmate, my love, my one and only.

The tribe applauded, and Keith Decker stood up from the back again, holding his glass high. “A toast for Christian Lore!”

The room responded in kind, so I walked up on stage to stand with Karen, who politely stepped aside. “Thank you all for overlooking my nervousness. Like Maggie, I too have never been happier than I am right now.”

Applause irrupted again as Karen asked Maggie to join them on stage.

“Tonight, we celebrate the newest members of Elysian and our bond to one another. Let no one divide that which makes us strong!”

The roar was deafening as we descended the stage. “This way, Karen, I’ve saved seats for you both at the head of the table.”

Linda Wilson, I would later learn, is Karen’s right-hand. And next in line should she be unable to fulfill her role as Chief. A title given to male and female leaders of the 3006 worldwide tribes.

Continue to scene fifteen

Shift is an online work of fiction.

The story centers around shapeshifting.

I’m currently working on chapter Ten.

Shift – Atlantis

Continued from scene nine

“Really, Atlantis excites you? You didn’t act this surprised when I told you I could shapeshift.”

“I thought you were kidding, but I’ve learned to take everything you say and do seriously now.”

“Well, I guess that’s a positive.”

“Can you show me the Atlantis text?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“There isn’t any; my knowledge of Atlantis comes from the memories of my parents and their parent’s parents.”

“You can recall all of their memories?”

“Not all. As information gets passed from one generation to the next, bits and pieces get lost in the clutter. They’re there but harder to find. It’s taking me years to retrieve our somewhat compete shifter history.”

“Will I be able to retrieve it one day?”

“No, our ancient history can only be accessed by those with pure pedigrees. Meaning everyone in their family tree was given the gift by a parent.

“Those who obtain the gift through a teacher have a recorded history that’s been muddled by the memories of the plague’s younger children.”

“So you’re basically calling me a mutt.”

“Basically, but you’re a cute little puppy, and I love you just the way you are.”

“You know, you’re starting to hurt my manhood a bit with all the cute talk.”

“I’m sorry, babe. I’ll try to cut back. After all, the father of shifter royalty deserves respect.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means I’m pregnant.”

Continue to scene 11

Shift is an online work of fiction.

The story centers around shapeshifting.

I’m currently working on chapter Ten.