Chapter 3 The Shift

• "Dad, I swear I wasn't the one who started it. Lana brought home a—"
• A resounding slap landed heavily on my face, interrupting what I was saying.
• "Shut up your mouth, you fool! Look what you've done to your sister! You are such a heartless girl," my dad queried angrily as Lana sat close to my mom, who consoled her as she wept profusely.
• From her face, I could see the effect my hand had on her. The mark I made on her face when I slapped her was still fresh and red. Her arms and legs weren't free from bruises she sustained when she and Carl both attacked me. This was what my anger, or should I say, the strange powers in me, was capable of doing. Though I received the most beating from her and Carl during the fight, that was because she had a wolf. Carl didn’t have it easy either, as he went home with a limping wolf.
• "Dad, you didn’t even allow me to finish," I said, kneeling in front of my parents, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to fall down my cheeks, my face already reddened from the slaps I had received from my dad since they returned.
• "There's nothing to talk about here. Lana is your kid sister, and it's best you ignore what she did. How can you be so jealous to ruin her beautiful face with such evil hands of yours?" Dad cursed. At this point, I felt something surging in my stomach. I tried so much to contain my rage as I saw Lana let out a smile while I suffered for what she caused.
• I felt the urge to quickly tell my parents how she brings several guys to the house when they are not around, but still, I decided to keep that private. It would be very embarrassing to her, and I wouldn't want to see her in such a state.
• "Dad, she called me a disappointment," I said, and a tear trailed down my cheek. Though I wasn't expecting pity from them, as they never really took me seriously as a daughter, at least a little bit of empathy that would lead to them querying Lana for her behavior would do. But instead, my mom gently stood up from her seat, glaring at me in anger. I could tell she had already had enough of the whole talk, and that look on her face showed she was ready to fuel the issue.
• "And what do you want us to do about it?" she asked.
• "Ermmm, mom, I just said Lana here called me a disappointment," I stressed the word so she could see how serious I was, but the next words that fell off her lips sent a chill down my spine.
• "Because you are a disappointment. You're not just a disappointment to me, but to the entire pack. You will be twenty in just three days, and you haven’t shifted, much less gotten a mate. Everyone in the pack avoids you like the plague. What other words best describe a disappointment more than the ones I just said?"
• I felt my heart pierced with a spear, leaving a deep hole there. These words hurt the most because they were coming from a woman I called mother. Someone who I was supposed to find refuge in each time I was being emotionally bullied was now being the bully.
• "Mom, Lana brought home a guy who assisted her in beating me up," I finally said with tears in my eyes. Hearing this, Lana immediately stood up to protest.
• "Me? Mom, she's lying!" Lana protested, faking a tear, and my dad signaled her to hold her peace.
• "You said your sister brought someone, a guy, to the house to beat you up, right?" Mom continued, and I nodded my head immediately to answer.
• "That's good. I believe it’s impossible to be gang beaten by two wolves without having a scar, or at least getting bruised. Can I see a sign that you were beaten?" my mom asked, and I replied quickly.
• "Yes, mom."
• Quickly studying my body, I tried to show her the bruises I had gotten from the fight earlier. I folded up some part of my clothes, examining my body thoroughly, but in disappointment, I couldn’t find any. There was absolutely no evidence. Everything had already healed up, leaving my skin smooth and flawless.
• "Show me the evidence!" Mom yelled as she watched me struggle for evidence.
• "Mom, there's no evidence. It all healed up."
• My parents broke into laughter when they heard me say this.
• "Mom, why are you laughing?" I asked in shame.
• "Why am I laughing? Do you know how stupid you sound? You can't even find a bruise on your skin, and you claimed your sister beat you up with some guy?" she said. I bowed my head in shame as they all stared at me like a clown.
• This has always been the case. This isn't the first time Lana has fought me with her wolf, leaving me injured, but for some reason, she always gets away with it. That’s because I heal so fast, even more than werewolves. I was sure I had a lot of bruises on my body when Lana and her guy beat me up. But now, they are all gone. Even though this was supposed to be a good thing, I felt terrible that it happened, because right from when I was young, my bullies always got away with anything they did to me, as I always had no evidence to show.
• "Mom, even though you don’t like me, must you pretend like you don’t know that I heal so fast? This isn’t the first time it’s happening. You have seen me heal several times when I get injuries slicing vegetables in the kitchen. Dad has also experienced the same when I train with him. Why do you both pretend like you don’t know what’s happening?" With teary eyes, I poured out my heart, but my dad interjected with no emotions.
• "That’s because you are a witch, Sarah. You are a witch!" he said. I could hear the harsh tone in his voice. "Who else in the pack heals as fast as you do? Even Alpha Rogan in all his might doesn’t have such speed when it comes to healing. It proves you aren’t supposed to be with werewolves. I will advise you to go find your own breed."
• Hearing these words from my father broke me even more. I was sure they understood what I was saying. They knew Lana would always fight me with her wolf and leave me with bruises, which suddenly healed, but they didn’t want to talk about it.
• "I’m not a witch, Dad."
• "Prove it, witch!" he said. Suddenly, I felt a bit of uneasiness in me. It was my heart boiling again. I struggled to control the anger as I stood up to my feet, glaring at my parents in severe anger. I could hear the strange voices mumbling in my head again, very loud, like they were speaking with a microphone.
• I clenched my fists, shutting my eyes as everything around me went silent, and all I could hear was my dad's voice echoing in the room. Suddenly, I felt a really sharp pain hit my head, and before I knew it, I dashed outside the house, knocking over a couple of flower pots as I ran wildly into the woods.
• *******