Chapter 11

“Donna hay,” Josh fell in line with her as they walked into the mess hall for lunch.
“I invited Jenna to Dell ‘ways,” he said.
“Cool,” Donna replied flicking her hair behind her head. Her golden locks looked like silk as they floated behind her.
“So could you help me out,” She turned to him then. Her blue green eyes held a questioning gaze.
“What’s up?” she asked, in a tone that was harsh.
“I was wondering if you could tell me more about Jenna, I don’t wanna make her feel uncomfortable. You know she seems like a shy girl,”
Donna laughed then as she took her place in the queue.
“I thought you decided you didn’t want her to go and use me as an escape,”
“Oh no,”
“So, what do you want to know?” This was it. He may not need to go through Jenna. Maybe Donna held the answers.
“What does she like to do?” he just had to ease into it. Donna smiled.
“She likes to sing into her hairbrush and dance crazy. Jenna is simple.
She is not one for fancy things. Just hang out with her,” they took a seat at an empty table. Donna wasn’t making it easy.
“What about her parents?” Josh thought it was best to just jump in. Get it over with. That was it. Beating around the bush wasn’t going to work. He was just delaying, the more he did the closer they became to losing his brother.
“What about them?” she asked.
“Are they the type that would want to shoot any guy that dares to date their daughter?”
“Hell no, Mr. and Mrs. Jenson are cool. I mean her dad is more of a nerd. You know a scientist and her mum well she works in the local chemist,”
Josh nodded. Donna didn’t know anything but the backup story. He could tell with her body language. She was clueless.
***
Jenna stood at her locker. Donna would be waiting for her. Yet her mind was on the man from the attack, Jake.
That is what people were saying his name was. Jake, he had left behind two young children.
Two kids who were now fatherless because of her. The guilt welled up inside her ready to burst.
She could feel her eyes sting from the tears. She always ate lunch with Donna. But Donna would know something was up. Just one look and she would tell.
All morning all Jenna had heard was about the accident at her dad’s workplace people called it. They asked her questions, like she had the answers.
Jenna’s head was spinning. Pains ripped through her stomach. She made her way to the bathroom. She was in so much agony that her pale complexion had turned ashen. Her eyes had frozen over like the surface of a winter’s puddle, robbing them of their usual warmth. Jenna stood there, panting in between each new pain, and staring at her face in the mirror. She was glad that the bathroom was empty. Anyone that saw her now would surly think she was close to death. That’s when it happened. Her body began to shrink before her eyes. Slowly she became smaller and smaller until she was no longer looking at herself but the counter.
She lifted up her hand to see a paw. She was going crazy she had to be. Things like this didn’t happen.
The door opened and she slipped out, dodging two girls’ shoes on her way. She had to be careful. If anyone saw her… She didn’t want to think about what happened to stray cats. She didn’t know where to go. So, she made her way home. Home was a safe haven. But wasn’t it everyone’s? It was the only place she could think of to hide out while her crazy spell passed.
She walked up to her front door.
It was open just enough for her to slip through. Jenna was planning on hiding out in the backyard. Both her parents were supposed to be at work and Claire at collage.
She climbed the first few steps when her father’s voice haltered her. His tone was tinged with excitement. Her Dad was a serious man. One who looked for logic and explained everything with science.
He barley showed any emotions. It was a rare sight. At the tone of his voice, Jenna became curious. She knew it was wrong. Jenna felt the first strings of guilt fluttering in her stomach, still she couldn’t help herself.
“I think I have the answer…… I know how to make them shift……………. Yes, yes, those criminals will soon be an army of shifters………. The tiger told me. …………………My guess is it is the same for them all………. we put them in danger, fear is our answer…………………. we just let their instincts kick in.” Jenna didn’t understand what she was hearing. Shifters? Tigers? Is that what she was? After all she was sitting on the stairs now a cat. No, it couldn’t be.
“We do this at the weekend, I need to make a few more preparations first,” her dad hung up. Preparations? What was he talking about?
Her legs started to tingle. It spread through her entire body. “Aaahhh,” she screamed as she slipped of the step. Her Dad stamped into the hallway.
“What the hell? Why aren’t you at school?” He was on the border line of yelling his voice slightly raised and his cheeks flushed.
“Sorry Dad, I forgot a book for chem, class,” Jenna said standing on her shaky legs. Thank God she had feet and not paws.
“Hurry up and I will give you a lift back,” His voice took on a softer tone. She nodded and jogged up the stairs closing her bedroom door behind her. If she was quick, she would make it to her next class. She grabbed her chem book. Although she didn’t need it.
It was just an excuse. She had to find out what her dad was up to.
Quickly she headed back downstairs and followed her dad to the car. The drive was erratic. Mason sped down the country roads and Jenna held onto to the seat digging her nails into the fabric.
“So, I am going for ice cream after school with Donna and some others tell mum not to have my tea ready,” Jenna said as she exited the car. Her dad nodded. He looked as if he was lost in thought. Jenna shrugged and waved as she let out the breath she had been holding.
***
Donna looked around at all her fellow students. She knew she didn’t belong. Yet she felt like she did. She had been running for far too long. Plus there was Jenna.
Donna could feel what was coming. She had seen it. If she had learned anything in life it was to listen to your gut. It had never let her down.
Jenna needed her.
She would need all the help she could get.
Donna wasn’t one to fight trouble. She ran away. A cowered. A traitor that is what she was. It is what she had always been. Why change the habit of a lifetime? She had to think hard about this. If she stayed, then……. No, she couldn’t. She would have to leave and soon. They were coming. She didn’t know when and that was the most worrying part. Her teenage dream would soon be over.
Donna was never planning on staying in Dem’Say Woods. The place alone held too many unbearable memories for her. If it wasn’t for seeing Jenna on the news following the towns big Christmas light switch on, she would never have returned.
It was just a glance and she had to go check it out for herself.
Sure, enough her suspicions were confirmed. Jenna was the one and that meant one thing. She had to leave. She for one would not be around for what was coming.
“I just want to ask you one thing. Did you leave because you wanted to find a cure for your mother or were you afraid you would become her?” Her father asked.
Cassidy sighed. It was time to be honest with herself.
“I knew something wasn’t right. I could feel it. It was like there was two of me in one body. I was scared. I wanted to fix us both. I wanted to be human,”
“I am proud of you Cassidy. You are strong and beautiful. You are so much like your aunt Angela,”
Cassidy hugged her father again and watched him disappear through the trees. His parting words had made the last of her wall she had put up against him fall. He wasn’t as bad she had thought.
George and the rest of the Sherman’s had already left. Cassidy didn’t know where they were heading but she wished them luck.
She looked back at the empty house when Edina walked onto the porch.
“So, Edina, what are you going to do with your life,” Cassidy asked.
“I am going to find myself a husband,” Cassidy laughed even though her heart ached for the man she had loved and lost.
“What about you?” Edina asked.
“Me, I am not sure. But I am sure I will find out,” Cassidy replied.
“Do you mind if I stay here?” Edina asked indicating at the house.
“Of course not. Thank you, Edina. Thank you for giving us our life back,” Cassidy hugged the young woman she owed so much too.
“I guess it is goodbye for now,” Cassidy whispered into her ear.
“I will see you again someday, until then I guess I will say see you later,” Cassidy smiled and when she reached the edge of the woodlands she turned back and waved at Edina.
Donna closed her eyes as the last of the memory faded away. She had always known that the day would come. She just wasn’t ready.