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merp.... I'm a giraffe

Morgan’s story
Prologue
What do we live for?

If all you love is gone, what do you live for? What do you do? Why go on? Why bother live? What next?
If all you love is gone, how do you heal that place where your heart is? What is there to see?

“She’s just sitting there, looking at her hands.” One nurse said to another. They thought I couldn’t hear. “She eats if you feed her, and does everything, but she just sits there.”
“Losing your parents is hard.” The other replied, “Even if you yell, I hate you, they still are special. She might have to stay here longer.” I just looked at my hands. I never told my parents I was sorry. Sorry for sneaking out, just so sorry. Why didn’t anyone believe what I told them? Oh, yeah. Those things weren’t supposed to exist. I swear, vampires killed my parents.

Oh, boy. Not only am I sad, depressed, but also crazy.

“Time to eat, hon.” A voice told me. Looking up, I saw a cheery looking nurse, holding a tray of food, her blond hair up in a neat bun. She placed the tray on my lap, “Eat up, hon.” She smiled, sitting at the edge of my hospital bed, “My names Lucy, sweetie. Eat up, you need your strength.” Slowly, I lifted the fork and ate, but I didn’t taste anything. Lucy smiled encouragingly, so I ate it all. Sighing, I lay back. I heard the nurse pick up the tray and leave.

Why do people die? Why are we so blind? Why can’t we see these things? Why do we fight for what we believe in? –Even if it’s wrong?
How do we know what’s right, and what’s wrong?
What’s wrong with us?

I was wondering these things, when I drifted off to sleep.

That’s when I dreamed of blood.













Chapter one
Why live?

When I woke up, it was night. The clock said it was an hour after midnight.

I can’t stand this.
I can’t go on.
I can’t live…

Why bother?

I slowly got out of bed, pulled on my shoes, and shrugged on my backpack. I knew they didn’t search it. That was good. I didn’t want them to find out what I had in there. I slipped past the other beds, and letting myself out the door. Walking down the hallway, I thought it would be better to take the back door.

I opened the back door, and stepped into a back alley. I breathed in deeply. It was good to be outside. I walked down the alley, and turned onto the street. I knew where I was going. There was a bridge over a large river. I went down under it. Once safely under the bridge, no one could see me, unless they walked directly under it. I shrugged off my bag, and zipped it open. Blindly sticking my hand in, I found what I was looking for. Pulling it out, a slim handgun made itself known. Straightening up, I held it to my head.

Why bother living, when you don’t have anything to live for?
Then what do you do?

Squeezing my eyes shut, I felt ready, started to pull the trigger…
When something stopped me. Maybe it was the noise of the woman being dragged under the bridge.

Why did I stop?
What made me turn, open my eyes, and lower the gun?

Maybe, because the three people who had dragged her, had wings. Large, black wings.

“Oh, crap.”
That would be me.
My voice was husky and thick, slurry from not using it much. But, god, it was good to speak again. The winged gang looked at me. I looked at them. At that moment, I acted purely on instinct, but I suppose most people would, too.
One gunshot rang out.
One of them fell back, a hole in his head. I was shaking visibly; you didn’t kill any one, or thing, lightly. The others just stared at me. The woman had run away sometime, probably even before I pulled the trigger. A second gunshot rang out, the minute one made a move toward me. The second guy fell dead (as far as I could tell). The last one screeched, and flew away. I fell to my knees; I couldn’t get out of my head what I had seen. It just kept on playing over, and over, and over…
I crawled to a corner, and retched. Eventually, I stopped. Nothing else would come up. Howls pierced through the night, shaking me awake, like a bucket of cold water. I heard something land behind me. I turned.
And screamed.


Or, at least tried to. A huge silhouette had blocked out the moon. That scared me half to death. A huge paw swiped out of nowhere, and picked me up. The thing tensed then sprang upward, although I didn’t care where it went. Then, me being my delayed self realized I still had my gun in my hand. Gripping it tightly, I turned fast, trying to catch my captor off guard. I felt it stop, my gun was pointing directly at its head.

“Let me go.”
I growled at it, I hated being captive.
“Let. Me. Go. NOW.”
I hissed at it. Too bad I didn’t see how high I was.
Suddenly, I was tipped upside down, my gun falling out of my hand, far, far below. From my position, I saw that we were on one of support towers of the bridge. Once in the light, I swallowed nervously, now glad my gun had dropped far below. My captor was a 6-foot tall anthro-wolf. With shorts on.
Yay, now I know I’m definitely crazy!

When you’re being hung upside down by a 6-foot tall werewolf, one of the best things to do is stay calm.
Oh, really?
Not cursing some VERY colorful phrases, and attempting to kick it?
Oops. Well, I do have some anger issues.
Okay, I’m hanging upside down, by one foot, shouting curses at it, and trying to kick it with my free foot.
That’s not a good idea. In an instant, I was thrown over its shoulder (exactly like a sack of potatoes), and he (I decided it was a dude) jumped off the tower, and began running as soon as he hit the ground. He was running so fast I had to close my eyes, I felt sick.

Why didn’t I stay in the hospital? Boy, that was stupid, what was up with me sneaking out and going from the frying pan and into the fire?

I could feel us turning corners, gaining speed, and, not surprisingly, police sirens. If we turn any more corners, I’m gonna’ barf.
Instantly, I felt our speed decrease drastically, and it also felt like it we had gone inside a building. Oh, great. This reminds me of a story…
I opened my eyes, just a crack. We were in an old warehouse, just a big, grey rectangle-building, empty except for a couple of crates and large rocks (boulders, really, they were that big). The werewolf stopped, and set me down on a rock, and shrunk/morphed into a boy, about my age (15), with short, spiky, chestnut hair (my hair is dark brown, waist length, and tightly curled, which is why I compared it). He was kind of scrawny for a werewolf, with tan skin (I was tall and thin- to the point of scary thin- with pale skin, and I hoped he hadn’t mistook me for a vampire), wearing a white T-shirt, and a pair of grey sweat pants (opposed to me, who is wearing a pair of jeans, a black t-shirt, and black sneakers, my usual sneaking outfit). “Hi, sorry for taking you so suddenly,” he said cheerfully, “I’m Carlando, but that’s too long, so you can call me Carlos.” He grinned, “No hard feelings, right?”
Okay, I’m horrible with boys, so a 15 year-old werewolf just saved my life (at least, I think he did, but now I’m getting rather paranoid about people).
Yeah, not so good, “I-I’m Morgan.” I managed, everything was taking a toll on me, and I was getting tired. Really tired, I don’t do this for a living, you know. I started to sway, and in an instant, Carlos was at my side, “Hey, you okay?” He asked, before I totally blacked out in his arms. Talk about embarrassing.

Everything was dark and blurry, the only things clear were the voices, but even that was slurry to my ears.
“I think you damaged it.”
“Hurt. Not damaged. Besides, she shot two vamps in the head. I’d say she’d be fine.”
“… I have reason to doubt you.”
“Really? Well, I bet she’ll be fine and will wake up like sleeping beauty”
“Do you even listen to your self?”
I heard Carlos’s voice talking with another person. Unlike Carlos’s cheerful voice, the other one was like a monotone, speaking quietly, but I could hear the quiet threat behind each syllable in it. I groaned, opening my eyes. The soft light coming in the windows told me it was still night, which meant I had gotten, maybe, 20 minutes of sleep.
Big whoop there. The nurses were right. I did suffer from sleep deprivation. Another big point for them.

The boy Carlos had been talking to was 15 also, and had light brown hair that had various shades of brown and tan in it, though it was longer than Carlos’s, it still stopped at his shoulders. He had light brown skin, teal eyes, and, strangest of all (though I shouldn’t be surprised), light brown cat ears, just a tad darker than his skin, complete with a calico tail. The cat-boy was wearing a navy blue jacket, and black cargo pants. Unlike Carlos, who was skinny, but had wiry muscles, cat-boy was just slim and tall (taller than me, even though Carlos was too. I’m feeling pretty short).
“Oh, good. It’s awake.”
That would be cat-boy. Me, secretly fuming about being called an “it”, retorted, “Shut up, kitty boy, before I hurt you.”
He turned to face me, “And how?” he asked in that infuriatingly calm voice, “I don’t know,” I answered, managing to be sarcastic and scathing at the same time, “How ‘bout I shot you in the head? Oops, I forgot my gun, I guess I’ll just splash you with water. That should scare any puddy-tat.”
His face betrayed nothing (how unlike mine, which was practically snarling), but his twitching tail easily betrayed his irritation. “Watch your mouth, human.” He spat at me, “You should learn to be more respectful of your superiors.” While we were glaring daggers at each other, Carlos was flicking his head back and forth, trying to figure out what to do about this, without, you know, doing something that involved ripping off our limbs. Finally, he said carefully, “Umm… could I at least explain what’s going on to Morgan? Please?” A look of disgust came over cat-boy’s face, “It’s named? Really, Carlos, this is too much, those filthy beasts have names? Why do we call them sentient beings? They obviously aren’t.” Okay, that really got me. Sure, you can insult me, but that ain’t the same as insulting, grouping me with other people who don’t randomly shot vampires. And calling us savages on top of it! “Why you little…“ Carlos, who jumped between cat-boy and me, cut me off. “Now,” he said in a plainly annoyed voice, we had obviously worn his patience thin. “Can I explain? You two are pushing me to the absolute limit.” Cat-boy turned away, “Fine.” He said shortly as he walked to the other side of the warehouse. Carlos sighed, and sat beside me, “Wow, you really got him.”
“Yeah,” I replied sarcastically, “Now why would I do that? Oh, yeah, he just insulted my entire race.”
He smiled a tired smile, and I realized how close me and Cat-boy had been to having an insane werewolf on our hands. “Sorry.” I muttered, “Hard night.” Carlos laughed, throwing his arm around me, “I’ll say! You shot two vamps in the head, and scared the third off! Why were you under there, anyway?” I blushed, “I was going to commit suicide. Oh, sorry for almost shooting you.” He laughed again, “No problem. Sorry for shaking you upside down. By one ankle.” I laughed, “I nearly barfed on you, y’know.” He made a face, “Ew.”
“Glad I didn’t.”
“Big time.”
“Well, I guess I should tell you why I abducted you.”
“More like rescuing. Child services would probably ship me off to some long forgotten relative. I’d then die of boredom.”
“Well, your welcome.”
“Accepted, now explain.”
“Okay,” he said at last, “Now where to start?” He scratched his head, “Well, the beginning is good.”
“Yeah, it is, so get on with it.”
“Who’s telling this story? You or I?”
“… Sorry.”
“S’cool.”
Carlos sighed and lay back, “Better make your self comfortable, it’s a long story.”
“I got time.”
“Okay, so we hide in the shadows.”
“Obviously.’
“Shut up. I have to tell the story. “
He went on to tell me of how all the legends, all the beasts, to be accurate, all existed. Werewolves, vampires, spirits, they followed humanity, all they way to here. I soon fell asleep to the sound of his voice.















Chapter two
Sunlight

I opened my eyes, very slowly. It was morning, soft light coming through the windows. Sitting up, I saw that someone had moved me to a futon, and covered me with a blanket. I was glad I was still in my clothes from last night. I looked around for Carlos, but didn’t see him. I did see Cat-boy. He was sprawled on his back, in a patch of sunshine, a few feet away, looking for the entire world like a normal house cat, except he was also a human. “Hey, guys! You up yet?” I heard Carlos call, as he stepped through the door, closing it behind him. He was carrying a grocery bag, and smells were coming from it that made my stomach growl. He laughed, “Here’s breakfast.” He said, handing me a disposable tray, from which more smells were coming from. I took off the lid, and dug into pancakes, and sausages. Pausing, I looked up, “Should we wake up cat-boy?” I asked, looking hungrily at his plate. Carlos looked up from his plate, “Nah, he’ll wake up soon.” I heard a yawn, and turning it turned out to be Cat-boy. His hair was messy, and as he was blinking sleep out of his eyes, I realized he was actually really cute. “Nuh?” He made a questioning noise, “Carlos? Did you bring my coffee?” Carlos smiled, “Yup, here.” He said, handing him a coffee cup and a plate. Turning to me, Carlos winked, “Cute, isn’t he?” To distract myself from my growing blush, I went back to my food. I began working myself up to ask Carlos something, when he asked it instead, “Hey, I saw you fell asleep last night. I don’t think you caught the rest it.”
“Or where I fit in to this.” I added, I really wanted to know, seeing as I was now apart of this hidden world.
Carlos set his empty tray down on top of mine, “I don’t really know the details, but I know the gist of it.”
“Okay,” I said, “Any information will do.”
“Well, okay then.” He got into a comfortable position, “Hey! Harukia! You awake yet?” He called over his shoulder to where cat-boy (or Harukia) was eating. He yawned, “Yeah. Did I do anything stupid?” Carlos laughed, “No, other than look really cute.” Harukia got up, walked over to us, carrying his tray and cup. “What does it want to know?” He asked, taking a sip of his coffee. Instantly, I bristled. Carlos smacked Harukia on the back of the head. “For the last time! Her name is Morgan!” He rubbed his head, “… fine.”
“So,” I prompted them, “How do I fit in?”
“Well, it’s like-“ Carlos began, but Harukia clamped his hand over Carlos’s mouth, “Don’t tell her any of the important stuff.”
“Why?” I asked, slightly outraged, after all, I had shot two vamps in the head, and I didn’t care if I was shooting a frosty kitty, or a laid back dog, I deserved some explination. “Because,” Carlos said cheerfully, “Some of that stuff can get us in trouble with them.” I personally had guesses about “them”. But I didn’t say anything. After all, let sleeping lions lie. Or werewolves. Whatever. “But,” I prompted them (again), “How do I fit in?” Carlos scratched his head and Harukia took a sip of his coffee. “It’s… complicated.” Carlos said finally, “But I’ll try to explain. Some people have the potential to be ‘gates’ between the gods and mortals. Those people can channel the gods powers and voices, but tend to be weak-willed.”
“As shown when Carlos picked you up.” Harukia put in, “Hey!” I hissed, “I was upside down, hanging by my foot, roughly shaken, and on top of that, I was 200 feet in the air!”
“Well, sorry.” He said, even though I could tell he didn’t mean it. “So,” I began, getting back on topic, “I am a gate? Maybe? Or I some how relate to them?” Carlos looked uncomfortable, “We wish it was that easy to explain. See, the ‘gates’ that we were just talking about, deal with the ‘holy’ type of gods, if you know what I mean.” I nodded, “But,” he continued, “You showed a similar power, but different behavior.”
“Wait a minute.” I stopped abruptly, “How do you guys know? Have you been following me?” A dreadful idea hit me, “Stalkers!” I hissed, scooting away. “Erm, no.” Carlos said nervously, “One of Harukia’s powers is to find out people’s powers, by smelling them.” Probably by my expression, Carlos could see I was weirded out and confused, he tried to explain, “Umm… it’s more like reading their spirit, in a way.” I nodded, understanding a bit more, but still slightly confused, “So that’s how you knew I was special. So, how am I different?” He looked thoughtful, “Well, we think you’re like a ‘dark’ gate. Strong-willed, and able to communicate with the dark gods.”
He looked sheepishly (confusing, I know, but I can’t say wolfishly), “Well, I hope I didn’t offend you, I was just telling the truth.”
I shook my head, “No, it’s alright. In fact, I can grasp that idea quite easily.”
“Since you can’t grasp any others.” Harukia said quietly, yet scathingly. I twitched, but decided against retaliating. After all, the last thing I wanted was an angry Carlos. He was still a 6 foot werewolf, “So,” I began, I wanted to know about my new found status as a ‘dark’ gate, “Any clue how my power works?” Carlos shook his head, “Sorry, but I’m just as clueless as you.”
I frowned, this wasn’t too good. From what I knew, in movies, if someone can’t control their powers, terrible things happen, because they lost control. If that were true (you can’t always believe what you see in TV, then I would have to learn soon, or I might release some flood, or earthquake, or whatever.) then I would probably have to find one of the ‘holy’ gates, and learn from there. Spontaneously, Carlos asked, “Try now!”
“What?”
“You heard me! Try now!” He face was almost glowing, “I think if you try it spontaneously, it might work!”
I stood, “Worth a try.” I said with a shrug. Now standing, I set my arms straight out in front of me, palms facing outward. I took a deep breath, and closed my eyes, trying to “center my being” like they say in those dumb yoga CDs.

Nothing happened. Absolutely nothing, except Harukia trying (very badly) to cover his laughter. It looked like he was having a seizure. I threw a rock at him. It landed with a satisfying thump. Carlos looked apologetic, “I thought it would work…? What happened?” I was still fuming, “I threw a hell rock at Harukia.” I retorted. He sighed, “Try again.” I took the stance, but I couldn’t get the picture of Harukia having his spaz attack. Gritting my teeth, I felt a dull roaring, I tried to stay calm, but, as you might have guessed, once something gets under my skin, it stays there. I felt a force push me back, or rather; I was hit with the recoil of the force. I hit something, and black out.

When I opened my eyes, Carlos was holding me up to his chest, we were both in a sitting position, his back pressed against a rock, and for some odd reason, we were both soaking wet. I was shivering, although Carlos seemed to be warming me up somewhat, and at that I blushed slightly. Groaning as I sat up, I looking around, I saw the whole warehouse was wet, and Harukia was a sodden lump, looking rather pitiful. Except he was cursing in Japanese, I didn’t even have to under stand, to know he was REALLY fouling the air. “What was that?” He hissed at me, what ever happened, he had gotten the worse end of it. I shrugged, “I don’t know. I blacked out.” Carlos smiled tightly, “You sent a wave of black water at Harukia.” He answered my unasked question of,
What happened?
Harukia spat up some water, still cursing at the air, and, apparently, me. Carlos was still holding me, but I pretended not to notice, after all, he was warm, and I was freezing. “Well,” I said, “I know what to do… kind of.”
Carlos looked surprised, “Really? Sometimes it takes years for gates to learn the trigger.” I nodded, “I think mine has to do with my emotions. I was really angry at Harukia, and, him, being the usual jerk he is, just got under my skin and stayed there.” The cat boy in question pulled an exaggerated bow, “Glad to be of service.” He said bitterly and sarcastically, still put out I had managed to hit him. Carlos stepped in front of us, on arm still around me, to stop any further argument that could end up in a fight.
“Alright!” Always bright, good dog, stop me from murdering the cat, “Morgan found out how to use her powers, and fairly quickly.” Harukia stomped to the other side of the warehouse, unhappy, while I turned heel, and stood straight, back to him.