Inner animal. by Emily Zimmerman. (ebook reader for laptop .TXT) 📕

My name is Nina Flare Haron, I am seventeen years old, and I will be eighteen tomorrow, I have black hair, with vivid blue eyes; my friends tell me I am unattainably gorgeous, if that makes any sense. My mother’s name is Marry; she has long brown hair, and these big chocolate brown eyes that could melt your heart if they weren’t so full of crazed anger all the time. My mother is mentally unstable, she knows it, and she has been trying to get help for over three years now to be a better parent for me. I know I am adopted, and I hope to meet my parents someday. But I love my mother, despite her abusive tendencies. She has hit me a bunch of times in a crazed rage, but she loses her mind sometimes, mentally unstable. I walked home from school, reading my textbook for tomorrow. As I came up to my house, I started to put my book back in my backpack. I walked in and went into the kitchen “mom! I’m home!” I called, fearing she may be angry since I got home a little late.
“Sweetie! I’m in the living room! Could you come in here please?” she asked, and I sighed in relief because she didn’t sound angry. I walked in to find her sitting with a few guests.
“Sweetheart, this is Drake and Jenna Meline, and Maria, and William Lamer” she introduced with a smile.
“Hi, it’s nice to meet you all” Meline, where had I heard that before?
“Sit down sweet pea, we need to speak with you” mom said softly. I sat down beside her and cocked my head to the side in curiosity, “what is it? Is there something wrong?” I asked, seeing the distressed look on moms face. She forced and smile and shook her head “No sweetheart, let me introduce you to your biological father and mother” she said, nodding towards Drake and Jenna. I looked at them, staring at how Jenna smiled brightly in pride at her, and how Drake put his arms around Jenna in clear affection. I just stared at them for a long time before I smiled “I always wondered what you looked like” I blurted, mostly to Jenna. I had to admit, they looked somewhat alike, other than the hair and the eyes; we had the same facial features. I looked over to Drake, who was watching me study them both with calculating eyes. My smile widened, “you must be father” I said casually, making him laugh. He nodded “yes, I am in fact your father, and this over here is Uncle William” he nodded toward William, who smiled at me.
“I have an uncle?” I almost screamed.
William laughed and nodded “and I am here to spoil you rotten, of course your grandmother has beaten me to that” he looked at Maria, who blushed. I looked at Maria with curious eyes “I send presents every birthday, with a letter to your mother that says to tell you it’s from her” she looked down in embarrassment.
“Oh…thank you” I couldn’t say anything else; it struck me that she cared enough to do that, even though they sent me to an orphanage as a baby. It made me wonder why they did it, but I held back, I’ll save those questions for later. “Now, the reason that we came” Drake said, growing serious. Jenna looked up at him with saddened eyes. “There is not easy way to explain this, and I bet my right arm that you will call me nuts, but you are what we call, a shifter, and so are we, we can change into only the fiercest of animals, you may be a panther, it wouldn’t surprise me, with your black hair and blue-“
“What?” I asked abruptly, snorting.
“Here it goes” William chuckled.
“You guys are nuts, now I see why you gave me to mom, you are completely insane!” I exclaimed getting up and throwing my arms in the air. I turned around and was about to go upstairs, but a defening roar stopped me in my tracks. I slowly turned around, to see a lion sitting there, way too close for comfort. I backed away, quickly, almost tripping on a chair as I tried to get away. “Mom! Mom!” I panicked as it walked closer to me. I didn’t take my eyes off of it; it shook out its long mane and sat on its haunches in front of me. I finally got the courage to look behind it, while still keeping tabs on it from the corner of my eye, everyone sat there as if nothing too horrible was happening, while I was close to hyperventilating. I noticed that Drake was gone, and that’s when I made the connection. I looked back at the lion with wide eyes. And suddenly, it was gone, Drake standing in its place. “Holy shit!” I blurted before I could stop myself. Drake coughed to hide a laugh, and I saw Jenna’s disapproving look “Nina!” Mom scolded. I blushed and covered my mouth with one hand “sorry” I apologized. I looked back up at Drake, who was still laughing “she is definitely like me, Jenna” Drake laughed, walking over and pulling me into an unexpected hug. I was still shocked about what just happened, and it shocked me that he would say that, so I didn’t really hug him back. “I agree” Jenna chuckled as He pulled away and walked back over, sitting down. I walked over to the couch slowly, sitting down next to mom. “Okay, so obviously I believe you now” I said flatly, gesturing for them to continue.
“You will change tomorrow night at midnight, on your birthday, and we have to get you in a confined space, because you will be in danger of not only hurting yourself, but everyone around you” Jenna explained.
“How so?” I asked.
“When you change, the instinct to kill, to... protect yourself is strong, overpowering, your inner animal takes over and you try and kill everything in sight, you will have to figure out how to control it, and we will have to lock you in a confined room until that happens” she explained seriously. I nodded and looked over at mom “you knew about all this?” I asked her. She nodded, looking down at her hands “they told me not to tell you before now, because it might cause a premature shift, and then we would all be screwed” she chuckled. I nodded and looked back over at William with a new curiosity “so what are you?” I asked.
“I’m a panther” he said with a smile.
“That’s sick; do you have like a special power or something?” I asked with an eager smile.
His smile faltered and I didn’t miss the wary look he gave Drake “ah, no” he said. I frowned, but let it go. I thought about it for a while, as the room became silent. I let it sink in that I was going to be locked in a room, changed into an animal and have no idea how to change back “how am I supposed to change back?” I asked finally.
“we’ll figure that out when we get there, our plane is waiting, and there is someone waiting on it” Jenna said, looking at her watch.
“I don’t even have anything packed!” I protested. Jenna and Drake looked at each other “Marry packed everything while you were gone” Drake explained. So I was leaving forever?
“How long will I be gone exactly?” I asked, taking moms hand in mine.
“you will take up a permanent residence at the sanctuary with your own kind” Drake said, studying my expression. Without thinking, I got up and ran upstairs, running into my room. I stopped short, all my posters and pictures were taken off the wall, and nothing was in this room except for my bags in the middle of it. Even my bed was gone. All that was left was the small dresser that was sitting across from my bed. “No, this isn’t happening, this is all just a stupid dream that I am going to wake up to in just a few minutes, my alarm for school is going to wake me up and I’ll go to school like nothing ever happened” I reasoned. I reached over and pinched my arm as hard as I could, but that only ended up giving me a red mark “owch!” I hissed. No, this wasn’t a dream. Then it really sunk in, I am going to change into this feral animal, and probably hurt myself in the process, then I’m going to try and kill everything on sight. “Just kill me now” I groaned. A knock sounded at the door, and I looked up sharply. “Yes?” I asked.
There was a pause on the other side of the door “It’s me…Jenna” Jenna’s soft spoken voice sounded worried.
“I’ll be out in a second” I called.
Another pause “can I speak with you for a second?”
“Come in” I said finally after a long pause. I was sitting beside my bags, playing with a zipper. Jenna sat beside me and sighed “you know I went through the same thing when I was your age, I had no idea I was adopted though, so when my mother told me that she wasn’t my mother, it hurt. I understand how you feel, but let me tell you this, if I could have, I would have never given you to your adoptive mother, I would have kept you forever, but you were in grave danger, and I couldn’t risk losing you” Jenna said softly, her eyes filling with tears. I looked away “you went through this?” I asked, gesturing to the empty room. She nodded, with a slight smile “it was quite a shock, my parents were in a battle with a man named Garrison, a lot of shifters like us were being kidnapped by Garrison, some joined him in the battle, and those who didn’t were tortured to make the army stronger, Garrison was an evil man, and I’m glad I got rid of him, he is still alive, he just does not have the power to shift anymore.
“That’s how I met your father actually; we met on the plane back to the sanctuary, he charmed his way into my life, he was supposed to be my protector, but ended up being my mate” she laughed softly. I smiled “you are a lot like him, I can already tell you have his stubborn attitude, you look like him, but every child of a shifter has the features of their inner animal” she said, reaching up and brushing my hair back from my face. I furrowed my eyebrow “what are you?” I asked curiously.
“I’m a lioness, I’m guessing you’re a panther” she shrugged. I smiled “cool!” I said. She grew serious “Nina, when you change, you’ll have your protector in there with you, I want you to do as he says, okay?” she asked me softly. I nodded. She sighed and smiled “we best go, the pilot might leave without us” she chuckled, helping me with my bags. We walked down stairs, and Drake was speaking seriously with Mom. When he saw us, his eyes met Jenna’s and he smiled. I took my bags from her and out to the car where William and Maria were standing. I put my things in the back and turned to mom. Even if she got angry sometimes, and lashed out at me, I still loved her. “Bye mom, keep going to the psychiatrist, she is