CHAPTER 1: THE PACKAGE

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“Did you get your new prescription yet?” Cathy asked. Not that it was a real prescription; they wouldn’t give me an official prescription yet. Next year I’d go visit the doctor. It wasn’t till I was 16 that they would start with official hormone treatments. But for now I had to stop the damage that was being done by my birth defect.

“Not yet, Sis. I’m getting pretty anxious about it. I’ve got just enough left to last me through today. It’s been three weeks since I ordered the stuff. It should’ve been here already.”

“It’ll be here Sis. Even if it takes another couple of days, the worst that will happen are mood swings. It’s not like you’ll grow up to be a man overnight.” I cringed as she used the word man while referring to me.

My sister had been my support for a couple of years now. When first I found out she was a shifter, I saw all my dreams and hopes become a reality. Only to have them crushed again near instantaneously. The gift to shift, to become whatever creature one could think of (as long as the mass difference wasn’t too big), the thing that would be my salvation, that would finally make me a real girl. That gift only came to the girls in the family.

One good thing had come from it though. I’d told my sister my darkest secret. In hindsight it was only fair, she shared her secret with me as well, one that was potentially much more harmful to her and that even dad didn’t know, but at the time I never thought about that. All I thought of was the solution to my problems.

After the initial shock of my revelation she became really sad. “I’m sorry, William,” she had said, “but I’m afraid that won’t work. You see, this gift only runs on the girl’s side of the family. It’s got to do with genes and stuff. Mom explained it to me before she died. She was a shifter too.”

I had burst into tears and Cathy had held me. Speaking soft words of encouragement to me, promising she’d help me in whatever way she could, she held me until we finally fell asleep in each others arms.

Cathy had held true to her promise. She’d gotten me my first clothes, taught me how to use makeup and together we picked out my new name, Willow. She’d helped me research what could be done and we found out about hormones. We also found out that doctors wouldn’t help with hormones until I was at least 16.

I couldn’t wait till I was 16. My dad was huge; every man in the family was huge. There was no way I was going to allow testosterone to do that to my body. I was still small and lithe, and I was going to stay that way. So after a lot of convincing (ok, I admit, whining), Cathy helped me research a proper hormone regimen and eventually helped me find a trustworthy site online that sold them.

I’d become a paperboy (ack, how I hate that term), and started earning some money to pay for it all, and my sis had been kind enough to put in a share of her own as well. When I got the first pills I was euphoric. I swear I could feel my body change even as I swallowed the first pill, but of course that was just my wishful thinking. Nothing changed, except I felt more at peace with myself, knowing I’d never become as bulky and large as the men in our family.

That was two years ago, and we’d managed to keep it a secret so far. Cathy had tried to bring up the subject a couple of times with dad, but his reactions to it were so severe she never even dared to mention my name in relation to the subject. He would not take it well that was for sure.

Both Cathy and I were startled as we heard the front door open. Taking a quick look at the clock told me dad shouldn’t be home yet for another couple of hours. His bellowing voice proved me wrong though. “William!!!! Get down here, NOW!”

I looked at Cathy, with a fearful look silently asking if she had a clue what this was about. She shook her head softly, seeming just as frightened by the seemingly irrational anger that was in our fathers’ voice. I walked down the stairs, feeling like I was walking towards my doom. Did he find out about me?

The moment I stepped into the living room I was rewarded with a painful slap in my face. My dad was standing in front of me, his face red with anger. He all but shouted in my face, “How long have you been doing drugs?”

Drugs? What was he talking about? I never did drugs… “I never did drugs,” I spoke out loud, wondering what he was talking about.

“Never did drugs huh? Then pray tell me what this is!” In his hands he held the package I’d been waiting on for weeks. “Online pharmacy it says. Sure sounds like drugs to me!”

Before I could think about it I exclaimed, “Those aren’t drugs, they’re hormones!” I clasped my hand over my mouth the moment I said it, realizing I’d made things worse instead of better with that statement.

Dad’s face softened for a moment until realization dawned on him of what I’d just said. Then he became even angrier if possible, and he hit me again. This was not just a slap though, more like a punch. I barely managed to stay upright as he shouted at me, “No son of mine is going to be a sissy!” He continued to shout at me but I’d made up my mind.

I snagged the package from his hand and set out running. Dad obviously hadn’t expected that as he stood there rooted to the ground for a few precious seconds, giving me a small head start.

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CHAPTER 2: THE ESCAPE

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I slammed the door behind me, hoping it would stall him at least a second longer, increasing my chances to get away. Way too soon I heard the door open again and that bellowing voice of his shouting out, “Come back here!!”

I had no intention at all of doing so and ran on across the street, still clutching the package tightly to my chest. Taking a chance by looking behind me I saw him gaining some ground on me. I had to act fast if I was to stay out of his grasp. What did I have on him? He’s a lot bigger than me and a lot faster as well. Maybe I can use his size against him.

I turned left into the main street. Our village wasn’t very big, and the main street had all the shops, cafés and other public places. Yes! As I had suspected it was pretty busy here, and with my small size I should be able to duck through obstacles and in between people where he would be hindered by them.

“William!!!!!” I heard behind me, but I didn’t look back this time. I didn’t know what would happen if he caught me, but I knew for sure that it wouldn’t be good, and that my dreams of becoming a girl, or as close as possible at least, would be shot.

I slipped through between an older couple, dodged a shopping cart and jumped over a kid that was playing marbles. I didn’t look back as I kept dodging and fleeing, but the commotion I heard was enough of an indication that my ploy was succeeding. As the sounds of the commotion seemed further and further behind me I took another a left turn. Then another left and I was actually running back towards home, hoping he’d never suspect that.

I passed home and kept on running, desperation giving me wings. I ran until I could run no more. By the time I sagged down to the ground I was well out of the village and into the forest. I sat dead still behind a large tree, trying to control the gasping for air from giving me away. I listened for what seemed like hours, but nothing happened.

I finally managed to relax some. My most immediate concern had been dealt with. But a much bigger problem had just come to mind. What now?
Where would I stay? How would I live? I had close to no friends besides my sister. The boys at school didn’t interest me one bit, and the girls would never accept me as one of their own while I was William.

I wouldn’t be able to go back to school I realized. Or any place that dad could expect me to be at any time. That meant I was out of a job as well. I checked my pocket. Thank god my wallet was there. That was one of the few perks I knew of being a guy. I always had all my stuff on me, stuffed inside my pockets. Well, always when I was William, which unfortunately, was always except some of those sacred times at home.

I don’t know how long I sat there wondering what to do now, when a big dog disturbed my thoughts by licking my face. I looked up startled into the dogs eyes which seemed all too familiar.

“Sis?” I asked cautiously. A sharp nod indicated my guess was right. I wrapped my arms around her and cuddled the stuffing out of her. She looked around a couple of times to make sure of our privacy, before shifting to human form.

“I’ll keep it short sis, its way too cold to be out here naked. Wait here for another hour or so, and I’ll be back. I never wanted to worry you about it, but I made some emergency plans for you in case things ever got out of hand, which they obviously did. Just stay right here and keep out of sight.”

She shivered with cold before shifting back to her dog form and running off back towards town. Did I mention yet that I love my sister? Well, I do. She always seems to have a plan ready. I sat back down against the tree. Now that some of my worries were lifted for a moment I actually started to notice my surrounding.

What I noticed most though, was that my sister was right. It was cold. Not just for being naked, even dressed it was cold. I hadn’t had time to grab my jacket as I fled and I was regretting that now. Then again, if I had grabbed it the delay may have gotten me caught. No, it was better to be cold for sure.

By the time my sister returned, this time dressed and in human form, I had all but memorized the surroundings. What were only sixty minutes had seemed like an eternity as the seconds refused to turn into minutes. I’d studied every tree, every rock, every branch and almost even every leaf as I had waited, but eventually she had come.

“Here sis, put this on,” she said as she threw me my jacket. “While dad chased you I removed all the girls’ stuff from your room and stashed it somewhere safe. As I said, I was sort of preparing for something like this to happen, though I wish it wouldn’t have happened till next year, when I’ll live on my own and could take you in myself.”

“Anyway, there’s no use in crying over spilled milk. I’ve got your stuff safely stashed away and will bring it to you once we get you some shelter. Here’s a change of clothes at least, I thought you might prefer this now you no longer had to worry about dad finding out.”

She threw me a backpack and as I peeked inside I found my favorite set of clothes, black girly jeans, and a matching black shirt with a pink ‘evil bunny’ on the front. My black denim unisex jacket finished the bad girl look. Cathy had been more than a bit amused when she found out about my goth streak, and had teased me mercilessly about it. In the end she had to admit though, that I did look good in it.

My hair was kept just long enough and just ambiguous enough to still be considered a boy’s style when combed back, but the hormones had already started to soften my face a bit, and it took very little imagination to see a girl instead of a boy in the mirror. I still looked young enough to get away with it most of the time, but from now on, I wouldn’t have to.

I quickly changed into my proper clothes. When I was done my sister started to lay out the next part of her plan. “There is an abandoned mansion a little further down the road into the woods. Its previous owner died and the heir hasn’t bothered to come check it out yet it seems. I’ve scouted the place and it seems that even the electricity is still on. It won’t do as a permanent residence, but it’ll be shelter for a little while.”

I looked in wonder at my sister. She had it all figured out. “I love you sis. I really don’t know where I’d be without you.” Hand in hand we strolled towards what was to be my new home.

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So these are the first two chapter of my new story. I will try to post two chapters every other day, at least until the main story is done. After that we'll see what happens.

Editing was graciously done by Pippa, just for the record though, all errors that are left are totally my responsibility ;)

Love,
Amber