Black umbrella’s opened as Karen made her closing remarks before an approaching storm. “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, let us take heed lest we become lost ourselves. Do not let Kate Addison’s death be in vain.”
A flash of lightning and thunderclap concluded the service, causing all in attendance to scatter to their respective vehicles. Driving away, I saw Keith standing alone as rain washed his friend away.
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.
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.
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.
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?”
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 directions she gave to Decker’s house followed a tractor path between fields of various crops. In one stood an abanded farmhouse where I saw Mr. Wilcox waving.
“Thought you were going to pass me by for a minute there. Can you give me a lift to Doc’s? I stepped on a nail.”
“Sure, hop in. What were you doing in there anyway? Looks like the place is about to fall down.”
“Looks are deceiving around here, friend. What you see and don’t see are equally important. And I reckon it’s okay for me to tell you about it, seeing as you’re one of us now.
“Underneath this land of ours is a labyrinth of hidden tunnels connecting rooms filled with supplies and weapons. And that old house is one of many secret entrances.; as time goes by, I’ll show you around the place. But right now, I have a foot that needs tending.”
“I’d appreciate it. Karen has set my training aside for the time being. So I’m feeling a little lost.”
“Don’t you worry, Mrs. Wilcox, and I will fill you in on everything you need to know.”
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 couch made my back hurt overnight, but she got the point. Seven years older or not, things were going to change.
“Get up; we’ve got some decisions to make.”
Apparently, the argument wasn’t over.
“It’s six o’clock in the morning. It can wait.”
“No, it can’t. Every decision I make involves our family. So get your ass up off the couch. After all, you’ve been a shifter for well over a week now. So you should be capable of making decisions about our family and the lives of shifters you barely know. And the dynamics of tribal politics should be a breeze for someone with your fortitude and knowledge. I don’t know what I was thinking when I made those DECISIONS without you.”
“You knew what I meant yesterday, so come down off your high horse. I get it; I’m not there yet as a shifter. But I’m going to be your husband and the father of our child. So a little respect on your end isn’t too much to ask.”
I waited for a harsh reply, but she stumbled over her words.
“You’re––well, I guess….”
Her phone rang saving her from having to say more.
Hanging up, she turned, arms crossed. “Looks like your man brain is needed after all. Decker wants help with Kate’s therapy.”
“They already have her?”
“That’s right, Elysians wast no time when their families lives are at stake. Now come into the kitchen and eat the breakfast I cooked for you.”
After breakfast, she smiled and led me to the front door, where she said, “Don’t work too hard today. I’ll be sure to clean the house and have dinner ready when you get home.”
Her sarcasm was not lost on me as I drove off in her old pickup truck. Looking back through the rearview mirror, I saw her blow a kiss, and I could not help thinking I should have kept my big mouth shut.
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 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!”
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.
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.”
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.
“Hello, everyone, I’m Susan Cross; thanks for joining us. Tonight the mystery continues as the number of faked doppelganger videos surge to over one thousand. But some can not be explained away so easily. Our own Derick Miller is in Atlanta with the story.”
“Susan, I’m here with Donna Taylor, who saw herself in the Texas video after returning home from a seven-night cruise to the Bahamas. Debbie, how did it feel to see your doppelganger for the first time?”
“Honestly, I was in Shock. I thought my mom was joking when she said I was in the background of a local news report. But you can clearly see the date and temperature on the sign proving it was not me––I’m kind of freaked out by the whole thing, to tell you the truth.”
“Derick, have they been able to identify the girl in the video?”
“They have not, Susan. The video clearly shows the unknown woman getting into an Uber around ten o’clock, and a police spokesperson confirmed she was dropped off at 410 Danby Ave. But no one living at 410 Danby fits her description. For that matter, no one in the entire neighborhood fits her description. To top it off, the card used to pay for the ride belongs to the owner of the house.”
“Thanks, Derick; let us know if there are any further developments. In other news….”
“I’m I correct in saying a shifter lives at 410 Danby?”
“You are; now turn it down while I make a call.”
I could hear the phone ringing on the other end as I walked into the kitchen to pour a glass of ice tea.
“Hello”
“Robert, this is Karen. I heard you got a black eye last night.”
“Yep, got my blocked knocked off.”
“Well, have Kate take you to the doctor.”
“Yes, mam.”
It took Karen several days to make up her mind, but there was no going back once made. The black eye comment gives Robert permission to blackout an entire city block using the silencer while his team kidnaps Kate from a homeless camp. After which, they are to make several vehicle changes before dropping her off at the Decker Farm.
During the Elysian meeting, Keith promised Karen he could restore Kate’s ability to shift with a new hypnosis technic he had been working on. She was hesitant about kidnapping a shifter, lost or not, but decided it would be better for her to have a chance, than no chance at all if she got picked up by the NSC.
“It must have been hard for you to make that call, but we couldn’t leave her out there to disintegrate into madness. Decker is an intelligent man. It might work,” I said hoping to ease her mind.
“And what do we do if he fails. Throw Kate back to the wolves? She knew the dangers and chose to ignore them. Her life was her’s to screw up, and she did. What happened to her was of her own doing, and I was fine with that. But now, her life is in my hands. And you don’t want to know what some tribes do to their lost shifters. Remember when I said we are human, and all humans are shapeshifters?”
“I do.”
“Every human on this planet has a good and bad side. Which one they choose is up to them, and shifters are no different. Their leaders are no different. And some see lost shifters as a threat and treat them as such.”
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 rest of the night was jovial, with most staying late singing, dancing, and catching up. Maggie Reid caught the attention of Mick Turner, who seemed to be enjoying the slow songs as much as I did with Karen when we met.
Horace Turbeville kept a group near the stage amused with his one-liners, while a boy named Lex, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox, sat in the corner looking at his phone even though it had been turned off by his parents. All our devices were off. Had they remained on upon entering the building, they would have been destroyed by what head of security, Robert Ness, referred to as an electronic silencer.
Karen and I spent most of the night apart while she made her rounds. Decker seemed to take up most of her time while Linda Wilson prodded me for wedding info, for which I had none.
On the way home, I asked Karen about her conversation with Decker, which made the ride home as talkative as the ride there. It seems he and a few others are concerned about Kate Addison for two reasons. One, she was sinking deeper into her drug addiction. And two, they’re afraid Wilmington surveillance cameras will eventually match her up with an original; subjecting her to testing, if caught. This, in turn, would show her to be a perfect match down to her fingerprints, a doppelganger if you will. Giving the NSC all the proof they need to go on a proverbial witch hunt.
We continued our discussion after we got home, with a bottle of wine on the balcony.
“What you will do with her?” I asked while leaning back in my chair.
“I have not decided,” she replied, glass pressed against lips, her eyes shifting momentarily.
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.
“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.
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.
Timothy French 