Beast Soul

"Well, that couldn't have gone any worse…" Max let out a heavy sigh as he lay down on his bed, his eyes glancing at the roof of his room.

After returning from underneath the sequoia tree, Max was met with the rage of his mother right in front of his house, who had figured out that he had lied to her about schools being open today.

If this had been the usual Max, there'd have been a lot more yelling and shouting from him, and the two of them would have had a literal screaming contest for god knows how long. 

But the Max of today was completely exhausted from everything that had happened just a few hours prior, and he simply stood there, listening to his mother's anger filled scoldings, waiting until she eventually sent him to his room, grounding him for a whole week.

"It does suck that I don't get to use my phone or my computer.." Max clicked his tongue and rolled over to his side, facing the wall as he let out another long sigh.

He clutched his face, and then immediately began twisting and turning on the bed, burying his face deep inside his pillow by the end of the long tussle.

"Why the hell did I do that?" Max thought to himself, as he remembered how easily he moved towards the sewers as soon as he heard the loud noises.

It was as though his mind was controlled by something else. He felt like he was being guided by someone…

"And I even dragged my friends into it as well," Max clenched his fists. That was the part that he was most ashamed and angry about. That he actually allowed his friends to follow him as well. And in the end, they too, were turned into freaks, along with him. 

'Why did I bring them? Why couldn't I have just stopped them from following me?' Max scratched head as he tried to figure out why he did all that. 

'Right… that corpse…' Max's eyes widened as he remembered the dead body that was covered in sand, and he rubbed his chin, his face now having a very serious and complex expression. 

"It was the monster that guided me towards the sewers," He whispered softly under his breath, and clicked his tongue as soon as he finished speaking.

"Right, the monster spoke to me…" Although faint, Max could still remember the fact that the monster had communicated with him. It didn't speak like how a normal human being would communicate, and yet the noises it made was, for some unknown reason, understandable to Max. 

He turned his head and shifted his gaze towards the small bonsai tree that was sitting on top of his study table. "It hurts…" He mumbled to himself as he moved a few inches towards the bonsai tree and lightly stroked its branches, which made it wave left and right.

"That's what the monster said," He continued his words after pulling back his hand, and then closed his eyes as he lay down on his bed once again. 

For some reason, Max couldn't help but feel sad for the monster. Even though it was responsible for bringing him and his friends into this mess, he couldn't help but feel sorry for the creature.

"But then, why give this power to us?" Max couldn't understand. If the mutant power that the monster had was hurting it, then why on earth was it so insistent on handing it over to a bunch of teenagers?

"Don't tell me it's so that we can become superheroes…" Max couldn't help but roll his eyes as he completed his sentence. He didn't do it before when Noah was around as he was afraid of getting on his bad side, but Max wasn't exactly keen on becoming a superhero. At least, not after everything that happened today.

"I don't want to encounter another monster again…" Max said to himself. He really wanted to say it out loud back when they were all discussing it, but he couldn't find the courage to say it. After all, he was the one who was responsible for getting them into this mess. And now he wanted to stop them from using their powers to do good things? 

He was afraid. Max feared that he would be hated by his friends, and so he didn't say a single word. And he intended on continuing to do so, even if that's not what he personally wanted to do.

"Why on earth did the monster choose me?" Max sounded frustrated. He didn't know why the monster picked him, as in his eyes, he certainly wasn't someone who can be considered worthy to wield such powers. He considered himself cowardly and fearful. Not exactly someone whom you'd call a hero. Although he doesn't look or act like a coward, he knew that deep inside, he really was one. He liked to act as though he wasn't, and he'd lie within a heartbeat if it meant that he wouldn't look like a coward, but Max knew the truth about himself.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

As Max was lying on his bed and sulking, a gust of wind flew off a small leaf from the mango tree that was right outside his window, and the leaf glided through the air and landed right on his pillow, which made him get up and stare at the window with intrigue.

Max then looked back at the leaf that was lying on his pillow, and picked it up after a few seconds of deliberation. 

The leaf was small and wrinkly. Although it had just fallen off from the branch, it looked like it was already near death before it got severed from the tree. 

"Why'd this land on my pillow.." He mumbled under his breath as he picked up the leaf, curious and intrigued as to how the leaf accurately landed right next to his head. 

Shoosh!

All of a sudden, as though it was magic, the small and wrinkly leaf in Max's hand began to vibrate furiously, and it's color slowly began to change from brown to green.

"What the f*ck?!" Max, who was caught off guard by the strange incident, freaked out and dropped the leaf onto the bed and leapt back, and the leaf reverted back to its original color and structure within mere seconds.

Max took a few seconds to breathe in and out, as his mind processed what just happened. 

"No f*cking way…. What the f*ck was that?" Max murmured under his breath as he stared at the leaf on his bed, not able to believe what just happened in front of his eyes. He had seen some crazy stuff today, and yet he couldn't help but be surprised yet again. 

He picked up the leaf and looked at it with his still widened eyes, and whispered softly, "Is this… am I the one who's doing this?"

Shoosh!

As he thought about the incident, the leaf in his hands began shaking furiously once again, and it began to straighten itself and return to the green coloured leaf that it once was.

"Come on…" Max whispered once again, as he watched the leaf lose its wrinkles and stretch out as though it had regained its youth.

BAM!

All of a sudden, a loud noise entered into his ears, which made Max groan in pain as he tilted his head sideways, and the leaf fell from his hands once again, losing its green colour and reverting back to its original form.

"What the hell was that?" Max said with an annoyed expression on his face as he rubbed his ears with his fingers, and his gaze shifted to the outside, where the noise had come from.

It didn't sound like it was from anywhere nearby. And it definitely didn't sound like a normal noise.

Noah, who was also lying on his bed, immediately leapt up as soon as he heard the strange noise, his eyes narrowed as he whispered softly, "Another one…"

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Clarice dashed out of the living room of Marty's apartment and headed towards the balcony, placed her hands on the railing and leapt over the railing. She stood at the tip of the balcony, her hands still clutching the railings that were now behind her.

"Oh god…" She then began to slowly drop one of her legs down from the balcony floor and onto the garbage bin that was straight down, attempting to get a perfect landing.

"Come on, come on…" She said to herself as she let her other leg free as well, which meant that she was now dangling from the balcony, and her legs were waving in the air, trying to find the top of the garbage bin. 

WHAM!

As she was trying to place her feet on the garbage bin, she accidentally knocked it over onto the ground, which made her groan in pain, and out of instinct, she stretched out her legs even more in an attempt to catch the bin.

BAM!

All of a sudden, Clarice's grip on the railing slipped, and she fell down onto the garage bin with a loud noise.