Mutation ( Read this to understand the characters )

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THE MUTATION
A short story




The night after rumors of our isolation was confirmed in our small neighborhood in the meadows, my mother cried. She wept tears not because we were alone but because my brothers, hungry to protect themselves went out that night. To hunt, to gather, to survive, and her tears were not because she felt abandoned, she was worried for their safety, despite the harshness in her tone when she told them to leave. I was a boy then, only fourteen, my brothers much older, stronger, and wiser than I. They left me and my mother, no promise that they would come back, no words of love before parting, just an unpleasant aura and the sounds of deep growls in the night that had been choking us since the night of the fog. My mother the saint she was wasn't cut out for this world, and she thought I was not strong enough to go on without her. Losing her mind to the fog, I don’t blame her for what she did to me, and then to herself, as I sat there on our living room floor, the once cyan blue carpet now riddled with red, my left hand trembling as I dropped an old flintlock pistol that my father used to protect us before he died. My mother was sick, hungry, I tell myself that everyday, as I am reminded of my own sickness, my own hunger. That's how it starts for carnivores, it starts with the hunger.




The one thing I remember in my mother's time of death were her black eyes, they were darker than the night, without soul or emotion, no thoughts across her mind, other then feast. The same as my brothers when they left, I couldn’t help but wonder why I was different, why my eyes never turned black. Instead… my eyes were a milky white, antlers protruded from my head, and my sense of hunger had not been for meat or flesh, but for fresh grass after it rained. I could run and leap relatively well, but in the end I was different, I was an Antelope who was born from Jackals. It hit my eldest brother first, he would accidentally slip in and out, the lack of food would activate his natural instincts and he would hunt mice in the backyard, I was the first to notice, my mother once nearly killed him for getting the bloodlust in his eyes when he looked at me, but he learned a mild form of control, that lasted for a good two months before he gave in, taking my other brother with him. My mother on the other hand appeared to us as if she had no urges, no hunger, we were her only concern, until my brothers left, she lost all of her grace, it started with scratches here and there until one night I knew it was my life or hers. She ate my right hand…... on the night of a full moon no less. It wasn't her blood that stained the carpet… it was mine…




I woke up, bandages covering where my hand used to be, the wound cauterized my mother’s body gone. I was all alone now, still trying to figure out how this all worked, I had not once fully transformed like my family, and I was clearly different, but I had no idea why, I wanted to believe had my father still been around, would he be like me, would he have horns. My mother was Jackal, my brother was a Jackal, and my other brother was a Jackal… I would later spend so much time, trying to force my transformation, my legs would grow thin, strong, I could leap mass distances, scale the forest trees, avoid the predators that chased me, but still I could never finish my transformation, only parts, the only thing that remained constant was the horns, my weapon of choice being my head. That is until I met others like me, where I was told the truth, only happiness allows you to transform, only when you are able to love what you are, both animal and man, can you fully embrace what you are. This came to me as a sad revelation, my brothers, and my mother were all able to fully transform, had they loved themselves so much that there was no room for me in there hearts. The thought would always linger in my head… and despite knowing this I could still never transform....


One night, I heard a howl in the distance, the howl awoke something in me, a longing, I thought “This could be it, I can reunite with my family” I was curious, excited, afraid, and motivated all at once. An Antelope would never run towards a predator but I was confident in my ability to get away, no one had ever come close to catching me before, it couldn’t happen now. As I raced through the meadows I climbed the tall grass covered hills and scaled the mossy rocks until I saw them, dancing around a fire four Jackals shifting from human to jackal form, it was them, “it was my family” I appeared in front of them, stubby right arm behind my head, as I smiled, they looked to me and smiled. My mother smiled, “Welcome home my son” she whispered as she ran up to me and gave me a hug. Tears ran down my eyes, as I was finally happy, my family accepted me despite the fact that I was different, they loved me for everything that I was, a crueler realization struck through me, as razor sharp teeth slammed themselves into my neck, drawing blood. I had transformed, finally after all this time, but with teeth and pain rippling through my body I went into shock. Another bite to the neck came swiftly and then a bite to a leg, a bite to the abdomen, something was ripping out my guts, I was alive for all of it, bleeding out, as I was eaten alive. Slowly everything went dark, I kept my eyes open so I could watch as I was reunited with my family, a twisted longing being my final moment in life. I could hear myself crying out to my mother but she couldn’t hear me… no one could…