• To hate life so much is a crime. I had thought I had everything. My parents left nothing to want. We were well off. I had friends. I was well liked. Well groomed. A force to be reckoned with and then the summer before my freshman year of high school they pulled me aside.
    Mom. Dad. Cullen. That’s the way our life had always been. I was their child. They always assured me. Even when I didn’t need it. So I thought nothing of it when that’s the way my last conversation started.
    “Cub, love.”
    My nickname. Cullen being Celtic for cub.
    “We just want you to know that no matter what, you are our child.”
    I stared at them. I had never realized just how rusty my father’s hair was. Or that my mom’s eyes were hazel.
    “So we’re going to tell you something and we want you to know that it means nothing.”
    Ok… So why tell me then?
    “Cullen, you’re adopted.”
    I could physically hear my life shatter. My mother screamed as her bare feet side stepped the shattered glass and soda.
    She couldn’t have waited until I set the cup down?
    “Cub it doesn’t make a difference! It doesn’t matter! You’re still our son!”
    “No I’m not!”
    My hair was dark brown. Theirs was copper and gold. My eyes were the color of honey. Theirs were pine green and hazel.
    The world became two separate places.
    Mine and Theirs.
    And so I ran.
    Right out the door. No shoes. No coat.
    Who was I if not Cullen Radcliff? Who were my parents if not Nancy and Todd? Why was I given up? What was wrong with me?
    I refused to let the tears spill passed my eyes. That was admitting defeat. It was a lie right? A joke? A sick twisted joke. The world couldn’t possibly be this cruel could it?
    My legs finally stopped moving as I tripped and fell down a steep rocky incline. Roots and sharp stones tore into my skin, beating me like a rag doll.
    I opened my eyes. I had fallen into a clearing. I tried to move. Instead I screamed. It was hard to breathe. My ribs had snapped like twigs. My left arm was under me angled in such a manner is was most likely broken in several different places.
    My leg… well I was looking at the BACK of my kneecap while laying forward on my side. The thick woods kept me shrouded away from humanity. Darkness had fallen hours ago. How long had I run? How far?
    I was exhausted. I was in pain. My vision was hazy. There was something lopping towards me. A dog? No way a dog was that big. I heard it shuffle its massive weight. It gave a call. I couldn’t move.
    It was a bear.
    A huge frickin bear. I laughed at the cold cruel irony. Cub was going to be killed by a bear. And yet I couldn’t find myself too terribly upset at the fact I was probably staring death in the face.
    Instead I was wondering idly ‘Do bears give their beloved children away? Could one of them be adopted out?’
    I knew the answer.
    No.
    And I found myself uttering the words that would seal my fate just as it had so many others.
    “I hate humans.”
    When I woke up it was dark. There was no pain. My body was stripped of the clothing I had been wearing and there wasn’t so much as a scratch on me.
    “I’m dead.”
    “You could only wish.”
    The voice was hushed and small. It echoed in the vast emptyness of the steel and concrete room.
    I sat up.
    If I had died then I was staring down the cold pink eyes of an angel.
    She was at least four years younger then me. Shorter. Very cute face. Shoulder length abnormally vibrantly red hair.
    She wore a hospital gown that did nothing to hide her form.
    “I would tell you to take a picture but at this point I’ll probably last longer. So instead maybe you should start by shutting your mouth”
    My jaw snapped closed with a click of teeth.
    “Where am I?”
    “A research facility. Congratulations. You’re no longer human.”
    I shoved my entire body against the stone slab of wall.
    “What do you mean I’m not human? Of course I’m human.”
    “You’ve been out for a week. When they brought you in you had been mauled by a bear. It was let you die or change you.”
    “Change me into what!? Why wouldn’t THEY take me to a hospital!?”
    “The chemicals are faster. A hospital would have taken one look at you and pronounced you dead. We know better. Your blood was still pumping.”
    I shook my head.
    “Who is WE?! What am I!?”
    A thought struck me. I wasn’t human. Chemicals. Blood. We.
    “Am I…a vampire?”
    To my surprised she laughed. I could feel my face flush with embarrassment. Vampires. What was I thinking? Though I found myself enjoying the sound of her amused laughter.
    “No. Not a vampire. Those are in the other wing.”
    She rolled her beautifully colored eyes.
    “What am I?”
    It was a hushed whisper. A pleading.
    “Look at me.”
    How could I NOT look at her?
    “Watch closely”
    I watched.
    I watched as right before my eyes her form shifted and molded. Melting into something new until it was a boy I was staring at.
    Still younger then me. Older then her. With glittering red eyes and the same bright flame hair.
    “You are….whatever you want to be.”
    I screamed. I screamed as loud as I could for as long as I could. And she just sat there and watched me. Finally my voice gave out. My throat should have been scarred but instead my voice was back within seconds.
    “What’s your name?”
    “…Cullen. What’s yours?”
    “Eloni Bradford.”