literature

ShapeShifters Chapter 2 By: DeAndre L Moffett

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"Hey! Sorry I called you so much :/ I just wanted to see you before we left. Luv ya! ~Mia<3"

Jason almost had a heart attack. He fumbled his fingers and quickly responded.

"Wait, I’m on my way!"

He took off running as fast as he could. About a block away from her house, he saw their car pull out and go in the opposite direction. He saw her waving through the back window. She was smiling, but her eyes were sad.  His phone buzzed again with another text message.

"Too late sorry :(

He walked over to her house and sat on the stairs, sighing. He typed,

"Where are you going? When will you be back?"

A few moments later, she responded

":("

Jason got the hint, he sighed broken-hearted. “She’s not coming back..." he thought to himself sadly.
He got up and started to walk home, his head hanging low and his eyes watery, threatening to break into tears at any moment. His phone buzzes again, it’s another text message.

"Won’t be back till end of summer :(
I'll miss you soooooooo much!!!"

He smiles, relieved as he texted back

":)
I'll miss you too. Try to have fun still, alright?
;)"

“Ok, baby, I’ll try~ ;) <3”

He sighed happily. She will be back, even if it’s just in time for school again. He then remembered Alex and the weird thing he said at practice. He texted him.

"Hey what's up?"

He began to walk back home.


As he was walking he passed the Wilkins’ mansion. He noticed that the guy from before is unloading a big black bag from the back of his SUV. Jason began to slow down, watching as he dragged the suspicious bag toward the back of his house. As he dragged, the bag got caught on a corner of the house’s foundation, causing it to rip a small hole. Blood began to leak out and down the drive way. Jason noticed the blood and quickly jumped behind a tree, but he continued to watch. The man looked around and continued to pull the bag to the back. Completely freaked out, Jason grabbed his phone out of his bag. He was shaking so much he almost dropped it. Quickly, he dialed Alex’s number. It seemed to ring forever before Alex finally answered.

"Hello?"

"Alex, where are you?"

"I'm at home, why, what's up? Are you okay?! You sound really rattled, bro!"

Jason explained what he had just seen told him to hurry up and come.

A few minutes later, Alex arrived.

“Ok, I’m here. What’s wrong?”

Jason pulled him behind the tree. He pointed across the street, toward the bloody driveway. Alex was shocked. He started to walk out from behind the tree to get a closer look. But, just as he was about to cross the street, the weird guy and three other guys came out of the house. Alex ducked back behind the tree. One of them pointed to the blood and told another to clean the blood. The other three men got into the SUV. Alex and Jason watched from behind the tree. The man grabbed a hose and sprayed the blood away. Once it is all cleaned up, he put the hose back and walked toward the SUV.  Before opening the door he looked in the direction of where the two boys were hiding. A small grin spread across his face. He hopped in the SUV and they drove away.

The two watched as the SUV drove away. Alex grabbed Jason by his shoulders. "Dude, we HAVE to check it out!"

Jason eyes widened at his friend’s enthusiasm. "What, are you crazy!?"

Alex looked at him, his face serious. "Dude, isn't this what you called me for? I know you didn't expect me to just sit and watch from behind a tree! We HAVE to check this out, stop being such a baby." Alex started to walk across the street. He looked over at Jason and signaled for him to come on. Jason shook his head. Alex was anxious to see what was in the bag, he began to run toward the back of the house. Jason looked around to make sure the coast was clear, then darted across the street, catching up with Alex.

"I though you weren't coming?" Alex said in a mocking tone.

"Shut up…” Jason said as he gave Alex a slight annoyed push around the corner of the house.

The two of them walked around to the back of the house, looking around for anything suspicious.

"Great, there’s nothing here! We came back here for nothing. If I wanted to see a nice pool and huge backyard I coulda just watched MTV cribs or something." Alex said with joking sarcasm starting to turn around to leave.

"Wait!" Jason whispered rather loudly, signaling for Alex to come back. He pointed toward a door with traces of blood leading inside.

"It must be inside, let’s go." Alex said, pushing past Jason and walking up to the door.

Jason grabbed his arm. "Are you insane?! You can't just walk into someone else’s house like that!"

Alex smirked. "Sure I can, I walk into your house all the time, don’t I? You know, your mom bakes the best brownies ever. She makes some sick kool aid too."

Jason just stared at him, not impressed with his friend’s humor.
Alex grabbed the handle and the door opened a tiny bit. "See, it isn’t even breaking in, they left the door unlocked. We’re practically invited inside." He opened the door all the way to reveal a dark room. Tiny drops of blood made a trail on the floor. The two walked in carefully and began to walk around, looking for the bag. Both of them used their phones as flashlights, following the trail of blood. Just then, Alex hit his head on something.

"Shit, what was that!?" They shined their lights up, revealing a huge gorilla standing over them,his teeth bared sharp. Both of them gasped, their eyes wide with terror.

“RUN!!!” Jason shrieked.

The two quickly ran out of the room, slamming the door behind them as they passed it. Once they decided they were safe, they stopped to catch their breath. They were both breathing extremely hard.

"D-did you see that thing!?" Alex said between gasps.

"I told you!" Jason said, holding the handle as if he were trying to stop anything from coming out.

"I-I don't think its coming…I think we’re safe." Alex said, breathing a little easier now.

"Alright let’s get out of here!" Jason said, letting go of the handle. They began to run, not exactly sure where they were going, but anywhere was better than back there. As they turned the corner, they ran into the older guy, before knocking the both of them down.

"Can I help you?" asks the old man, looking down at the two.

Alex rubbed his head and looked up at the man. "Uh, n-no its. It’s our fault. We were just…" Alex’s voice trailed off.

"Just what?" the man inquired, reaching out his hand to help Alex up.

Jason explained all that had happened. "And, we saw em drag the black bag back here.".

"Yeah, and it had blood coming out of it." Alex added.

The man began to laugh. "You kids have such active imaginations. I bet we instantly became killers in your mind, eh? You probably thought that there was a chopped up body in that bag or somethin’ didn’t ya?"

The two boys looked at each other.

"Come on, follow me, you two.” the man said, walking toward the door, opening it. Alex let out a small yelp, grabbing Jason's shoulder. The man looked over at them. "Is your friend ok, son?"

Jason nodded. "Yeah, he's just a little shaken up."

"Ah , I see… Alright, boys follow me." He led into the room.

Once in the room, he turned a light on, revealing that they are in a garage full of boxes and household items.

"Forgive me for the mess, we haven't finished unpacking."

He noticed the two boys were staring at the huge gorilla in the corner, their eyes wide with terror.

"Ah, I take it you two have met Amos. He's been in the family for many years, passed down from generation to generation. Legend has it that he was once the great alpha male of a large troop of gorillas. I have had a bit of trouble figuring out somewhere to put him, so have him staying here in the garage. I figured he would scare off any intruders." he explained with a smile and a little chuckle. He walked over to a big wooden box and opened it. Inside is the black bag sitting on ice.

“I believe this is what you two wanted to see, am I right?" he asked.

Alex and Jason both gulped, nodding their heads slowly.

The man reached in and began to unzip the bag, revealing a dead buck.

"I was out running around earlier today, and I hit him. Poor guy ran right in front of me, he didn't stand a chance."



"I think I'm gonna be sick..!" Alex said, gagging.

The man closed the box and turned around. "Now that you two have seen what you wanted to see, let me escort you out."

"Sorry for intruding, sir." Jason said.

"Ah, no harm done. I would have done the same thing if I saw someone dragging a body bag. You two stay out of trouble, now. I wouldn't make a hobby out of going onto people's property without an invitation. Most people aren’t as forgiving as I am, you know." He said, smiling as he closed the door behind them. They walked around the house. "I didn't catch your names." he said, looking at Alex.

"M-my name is Alex."

"Alex, now, is that short for Alexander or is it just Alex?" he inquired.

"No, just Alex, sir."
"And you?" he said, looking to Jason.

"My name’s Jason, sir."

"Well Jason and Alex, it was nice meeting you. I trust you can make it from here?" he said looking down the drive way.

"Yes, thank you, sir" Alex said.

Just as the two reached the end of the drive way, the black SUV sped into the drive way, stopping only inches before them . Jason had an odd feeling rush over him once again and looked up into the SUV. He noticed that the guy is in the back was staring at him. He grabbed Alex, who was still dazed from almost being hit. Jason pulled him off to the side and the SUV drove past them.

"They almost hit us!" Alex said, about to go and give them a piece of his mind.

"Yeah, but we were just trespassing on their property. Let’s just get out of here.” Jason said, pushing Alex along.

"I wouldn’t call it trespassing, for say. We were invited in by that old man" Alex argued in a smart manor.

"Yeah, after being caught on the property! C'mon, hurry up. I wanna get as far away from here as I can."

Alex looked at his friend, confused. "What's the rush? It's not like we're in trouble or anything."

"They gave me an unnerving feeling. I can't describe it, but I don't want to be around them.” Jason said, beginning to walk faster.

"Hey, what’s with the speed walking?"

"I just wanna get out of here."

"Alright stop!"

Jason looked back to see Alex just standing there.

"If it’s that big of a deal, we can go back and apologize.

Jason let out an irritated huff and continued to walk, even faster than before.

Alex stood there for a brief moment, trying to figure out what was wrong with his friend.
"Dude what the heck?!" he said, running to catch up to Jason.

"First the mysterious amnesia and now this, what’s happening to you, Jason?”

Jason stopped and turned back toward Alex, looking at him in confusion.
"What are you talking about?”

"What do you mean “what am I talking about”?! You’re running away like a scared puppy with his tail between his legs, and can’t even tell me why?!"

"I already told you, I get a weird feeling from those guys! I don't know how to explain it, but any time I'm near them, something feels, just off.”

Alex confused was still pretty confused. “I guess you have a point…”

"Wait, you mentioned something about amnesia. What do you mean?"

Alex looked Jason in the eyes. "Are you feeling alright?"

"What are you talking about? I’m fine.”

“You seriously don't remember?"

"Remember what? Cut the questions and fill me in would ya?"

Alex told Jason about the events of last night, how he asked about all the children born on his birthday and the report about a young couple killed by some strange animal.

"Okay, what the heck are you talking about? I don't remember ANY of that happening. Are you sure it wasn’t just a dream or something?"

"No, it really happened Jason. And that’s not all." Alex continued the recap, telling Jason about the newborn son the couple left behind, the only boy born on his birthday still alive.

"I-I don't understand. So you’re telling me, what?" Jason asked, totally lost and confused.

"I'm telling you that, last night, you believed you were adopted and you were supposed to ask your parents about it this morning!" Alex said, now irritated with his friend’s forgetfulness.

Before Jason could say anything else, a horn honked near them. The two looked back to see Alex's mother pulling up in her car.

“Alex, come on! You’re going to grandma’s with me to help move some things."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Right…I’ll catch you later, Jason."

"Hey Jason, how’s your mother?" Alex’s mother asked, waiting for Alex to get in the vehicle.

"She’s fine." Jason answered simply.

"That’s great to hear. We missed her this morning; she didn't come to the coffee shop. Could you have her give me a call?"

Jason smiled. "I can text her now." Jason looked at Alex, who had now gotten in the front seat. The two nodded at each other.

Alex held up his phone.  "Text me." he said as he and his mother drove off.

Jason laughed and texted Alex.

"That was a pretty intense story you told me, bro lol "

Alex responded almost instantly.

"It’s true!!!!"

Jason laughed again. Alex was acting even crazier than normal.

"I'm sure it was a very real dream, bro. But I'm telling you, whatever it was, it didn't happen. I've had a lot of dreams like that, I know the feeling."

Alex gave up. Whatever happened to Jason totally screwed his memory.

"K"

He couldn’t think of anything more to say. Jason obviously wasn’t going to recall the events of last night for whatever reason. It was better just to drop it.

Jason put his phone in his bag and jogged his way home.
When he got home, he went about his normal routine. He took a shower, ate dinner, then watched TV for a while. While he was lying in bed watching TV, he decided to text Mia.

"Hey wyd?"

It showed that the text had been received, but he didn’t get a respond. He sent another text,

"Everything ok?"

He still received no response. He didn’t think much of it. She was probably already in bed or something. He put his phone under his pillow and continued to watch TV. After a few minutes, Jason had fallen asleep. Just then, he got a text message. Half awake, he reached under his pillow for his phone. Instead of his phone, however, he felt something else. It was…a ring? Now fully awake, he grabbed it and began to examine it. Curious, he put it on. Instantly, the orange gems of the ring began to glow, but only for an instant. Jason looked at the ring in confusion. He then looked around his room. Something was wrong. He was in nothing but darkness. The gems began to glow once again. The light dimly lit the room. The dull light revealed a mysterious man standing across the room, staring eerily at Jason.

Jason’s eyes widened with fear. He crawled backward to the edge of his bed.

The mysterious man began walking toward him, mumbling the words "Remember, you must remember!" The man was now standing right in front of Jason's bed. He reached out for his face. Jason gripped the wooden baseball bat at the side of his bed. He jumped up and swung, aiming for the man’s face. He hit his target dead on. The man wasn't even fazed. He grabbed Jason by the collar, throwing him to the ground. He grabbed his face, holding it firmly.

“REMEMBER!”

Jason snapped awake. He shot up, looking around frantically. The TV was still on. Everything seemed to be normal again. Suspiciously, he shot his hand under his pillow. The only thing there was his phone. He grabbed the remote turned the TV off. He lay back down, falling asleep once again. He began to dream about the conversation he and Alex had had earlier. Something was different. Jason kept noticing the mysterious man in dark areas as the dream progressed. Every time Alex stopped talking, Jason could hear a faint "Remember…", just like the man had said before.

His dream then changed. He saw himself riding his bike hastily in the direction of Alex's house. The only thing on his mind is a report he has found on the Internet. He sees Alex showing him birth records.

"That's just it,” he says. "One of them died shortly after birth and the other is a girl, leaving you as the only other child born on that day."

He then saw himself in the back of his parents SUV. The conversation he had had with his father replayed. The scene quickly changed to him walking into a therapy room angry and coming out like nothing ever happened.

Jason jumped up, fully awake. He settled down a bit, thinking of how odd his dream was. As he observed his surroundings, he noticed that his pillow was no longer on his bed and his blanket had been thrown to the side. His phone wasn’t on his bed either.
“I must have been tossing and turning.” He observed. He got down on the floor and looked under his bed. To his surprise and utter shock, he finds the same ring from his dream right next to his phone. Jason quickly grabbed both and goes over to his computer. He went to his computer. Maybe he could find something online about this. However, when he opened his computer, several reports pulled up. They were the same reports Alex told him about earlier. The same reports that were in his dream. Jason suddenly began to have flash backs of past events that had happened...

After seeing these flash backs, Jason quickly came to the conclusion that he had somehow been brainwashed and his parents were hiding something from him. He remained calm and collected, but still confused as to why they did what they did in the first place. He began to look further into the couple who died. He found their names, relatives, last known addresses, and so on. During his research, his phone went off. It was Alex calling.

“Hello?” Jason said, continuing to read his computer screen.

“It’s me.” Alex replied. “What’s-“

“Alex, I found something really important.” Jason interrupted. He told Alex about everything he had seen in his dreams and had found during his research.

“I hate to say “I told you so”, but I told you so!” Alex said. “You didn't believe me, acting like I was crazy!” Alex barked out in an overly confident manor. “Maybe next time you’ll listen to what I have to say!

"I know, I know. Look, I don't want to talk about this over the phone. Can I come over?" Jason asked.

“Sure. My mom is on her way home now. I'll let her know you’re coming.” Alex replied.

“Ok, sounds good. I'm on my way over.”

Jason hung up. He packed up his laptop and headed for Alex’s house. He made his way over quickly, hoping that he and Alex could shed some light on all of this madness.

He got to Alex’s house and knocked on the door.

"Just a minute!” called a woman’s voice from the other side of the door. Alex’s mother opened the door and greeted Jason.

“Hello, Jason. Alex told me you two had some sort of school project to work on.” She says, gesturing for Jason to enter the house and closing the door behind him.

“Uh, y-yeah, that's right.” Jason replied with a slightly suspicious smile.

“Alex is up in his room, and dinner will be ready in about 45 minutes.” Alex’s mother said. “I hope you’re hungry, I made a big batch of spaghetti with my homemade meat balls.”

Jason grinned widely. “Sounds great! I'm starving!” He said, making his way upstairs to Alex’s room.

As he entered, Alex turned around in his computer chair.
"Alright, so here’s the deal. I've already cross referenced a load of information on the couple that was killed. I looked up last know addresses, school records, and a bunch of other information.” Jason said, excitement filling his voice. “What did you find?”

“Well, the man was an only child and both his parents are now deceased, but the woman has family near here! Her brother, (name), lives in their parent’s old home on the corner of 31st and Crenshaw.” Alex said.

“Awesome! Did you see if there was a number so I could call him?” Jason asked.

“I'm way ahead of you. I was just seeing if I could find a number for him.” Alex replied, continuing his search. After a few minutes, he found a number. “Found something!” He said, quickly dialing the number.

“We are sorry, but the number you have tried to reach is no longer active.” An automated voice answered on the other end of the phone.

“Dang! It's out of service…” He says, hanging up.

“Boys, dinner is ready!" Alex’s mother called up the stairs.

Alex looked at Jason. “Looks like we’ll just have to pay him a little visit. After dinner, of course, because I’m starving! Race you downstairs!” He said, getting up and taking off for the stairs.

After dinner, Alex and Jason went back upstairs.

“So what do you think we should do?” Alex asked.

Jason thought for a moment. “I guess the only real lead is this “uncle”. Let’s go to his last known address.”
The two got on their bikes and headed out.

They arrived at the address within ten minutes. A man was outside working on an old car.

Jason got off his bike and walked toward the man, Alex following closely behind.

“Excuse us.” Jason spoke up.

The man looked up. “Can I help you two?” He asked, wiping his hand on an oil rag.

Jason explained why they had come to visit, how he was researching his family history and he found a link leading to him. The man stated that no one knew his sister was pregnant. It had been several months since he had seen her.
“And then one day, she just showed up with her fiancé and a baby!” The man explained. “You can bet I was shocked! You couldn’t even tell she had had a baby, she was such a small thing!”

“What happened after you found out?” Jason inquired.

The man took a moment to respond. He choked slightly. “Well, a couple of days later, she was killed in an accident. The only survivor was the baby.” He gestured to Jason. “That would be you, correct?”

Jason and Alex nodded.

The man swallowed the lump in his throat. “Well, I was only fifteen years at the time, too young to adopt. The parents didn't want you. They were an “old fashioned” white couple.” He mumbled something under his breath. “You shoulda seen the looks on their faces when they opened that door! The sight of your dad and a mixed child in his arms. I was overjoyed, but they were disgusted. They didn't want anything to do with you, and neither did rest of family.”

Jason was a bit surprised. “No one…wanted me?”

Alex stood speechless.

The man nodded sadly. “But, I believe with all my heart that, if that accident hadn’t of happened, they would have warmed up to both of ya after a while!”

They talked for at least an hour about the family. The man even went inside his house at one point and brought out some pictures.

The man snickered. “I always joked how you didn’t look like either of your parents.” He smirked at Jason.

Jason was too deep in thought to remark at the joke.

After a bit more talking, the man gave Jason the number of his dad’s first child’s mother. “I’m close friends with her. Tell her Louie sent you if she asks.” The man said with a wink.

“Thank you, sir.” Jason said. He gave the man his number. “Just in case we need to contact you again.”

“Glad I could help.” Louie said.

Jason and Alex got back on their bikes and started off.

“You boys take care now!” Louie called after them, waving his rag before going inside.


The two rode quietly, both deep in thought. Alex finally broke the silence.

“Jason?”

Jason snapped back into full consciousness. “Yeah?”

“What are you going to tell your parents about this?” Alex asked. “I mean-”

Jason cut him off. “I’m not going to tell them anything.”

“What?!” Alex exclaimed. “How are you not going to tell them something like this?”

“Look. They clearly don’t want to talk about this with me right now. They will when they feel like it. In the mean time, I’m going to try to figure this thing out on my own.”

Alex went silent again.

Jason thought to himself as he rode. “Why won’t they talk to me about something like this, though? And why do I seem to not wonder about it all of the time? Are they…Am I…Am I being controlled?” His mind suddenly shot to his medication. He shook the thought away, but it kept returning. “My medication can’t be behind this…Can it? Are my parents really controlling me with some sort of medication?!” He nodded to himself. “Well, there’s only one way to know for sure…I’m going to have to stop taking those meds. If something happens, I’ll know the real answer.”
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takkuya's avatar
where is the other part?