Between Read Online Free Page B

books. When I was done, torn paper littered the ground and people stood, staring at me in shock.
    I told myself that I just had a bunch of pent up anger because he bullied me for so long.
    Another night, I was taking a shower when I ripped the shower curtain and rod out of the wall and sent it crashing to the floor. I threw a bottle of shampoo at the mirror and it shattered all over the sink and floor. Mom came running, trying to hide the cold fear in her eyes.
    I told myself that I was just tired of pretending.
    I was sitting at the kitchen table, eating steak and potatoes. Dad was doing his best to pretend I wasn’t there. Mom was trying to wring every detail of my day out of me and rain was falling in heavy sheets outside the window. Suddenly, pain lanced through my body. My fork clattered onto the plate and everyone looked up.
    Oh my God, the pain. I had never felt such mind-numbing pain before. Every single cell in my body screamed and burned. I swear the bones in my body began to shatter, one at a time. My back arched and I pushed up out of the chair and fell onto the cold tile floor.
    Mom’s mouth was moving, yelling my name. But all I heard was the rushing of my blood in my veins. My body began to shake and I bit my tongue, the metallic taste of blood filling my mouth. I curled into a ball, trying to make the pain stop, but there was no stopping what was happening to my body.
    I screamed. And screamed and screamed. Tears leaked from my eyes as my body convulsed. There was a popping sound as my shoulders fell from their sockets and my knees left their joints. My body was twisting, doing things that it shouldn’t be doing.
    It felt like something was trying to get out. My skin stretched, feeling like there wasn’t enough space beneath it for the monster that I had become. I waited for it to rip open, for blood to spill from my veins and everything to turn red.
    I waited to die. I begged to die. I wanted the pain to stop.
    Then my body started putting itself back together again. Except the bones weren’t realigning right. They were elongating, growing and twisting. I felt my skull swell and push against my scalp and I screamed. I managed to struggle to my knees and when I opened my eyes, my hands were no longer hands.
    They were paws.
    They were covered in black fur.
    Welcome to Hell.
    I pushed to my feet, all four of them, and stretched. Stretching out the pain, ridding it from my body. I felt awkward and sore. This didn’t feel right—it felt unnatural.
    A sob broke from my throat, but it wasn’t a sob at all. It was a growl.
    Both my parents stood there, pushed against the wall, their faces stark white and their eyes huge. I stared at my dad. He shook his head, disappointed in my weakness.
    I had to get out.
    I took off through the kitchen, falling and skidding because I didn’t know how to use this body. When I reached the back door, I realized I had no hands to open it. I crashed through, ripping it from its hinges.
    Rain pelted me, pounded against my back. I willed it to rain harder, to somehow beat this thing out of me, to make it go away.
    But it wasn’t going away.
    No one could pretend anymore.
    ***
    Dad was in the other room yelling, taking out his rage that, until now, he had held in. How could his sons have such weak genes? Why couldn’t they deny that part of themselves?
    Mom was crying, sobbing about her babies. Dad said I had to go. Mom wanted me to stay. She said she couldn’t cast another child out of her house. She told Dad that this was his fault. He never should have fathered children, knowing this was in his genes. She said he never should have lied.
    The smack echoed through the entire house; then silence reigned. I tore the covers away and stormed from the room. They were in their bedroom. Mom was on the bed, holding her cheek, and Dad looked like he might murder her.
    “Did you hit her?” I asked quietly, calmly.
    He glared at me. “Go to your room.”
    I leapt forward, shoving him