They Called Me FIVE

LANCE

Magnus paved his way towards us. He snatched my hand from Seven's palm. 

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"That's impossible!" Magnus said. We both turned to Seven. She looked a bit lost. Then tentatively shake her head. 

"I'm gonna try something okay? If you feel discomfort and a repulsion, tell me. If there's no reaction, then it proves my guess." She take my hand again and transferred a mellow warmth to my skin. My black veins retracted. I can feel the warm sensations pulsing with my blood.

I'm caught in the urge to sleep. My eyes droop. My shoulders sag. I want nothing more than to curl in a comfortable bed and tuck myself to dreamland. The anxiety I felt disappeared. The drive for revenge a miles away.

I couldn't care less about Dad. About Lista. I'm vaguely remembering all the things they've done to us. The tortures, the constant kill, the constant regeneration and cut my throat again cycle. I see them happening. I see myself on it. But it feels like I'm watching someone else. Like a movie. I felt bad for him.

At the same time, I feel so relaxed I could just sleep my life off until I die. And I did.

"Seven, what did you do to him?" I heard Magnus demanded. His voice a thousand feet away.

"Stimulate his glands. Don't worry, I let him relax. The exhaustion must have been great for him to pass out like this."

They're talking about me. But I'm slowly drifting off. Conciousness turning off and on. I want to listen to them more...at the same time rest. My body has been deprived of it for months, I'm craving sleep. Like how a child lust for toys and sweets.

Magnus...maybe the kid here isn't Alpha Beast after all. Maybe it's me. Seven said if I feel repulsion, then my blessing didn't totally disappear. But what happened is the opposite...

I find comfort in her touch. And that could only mean one thing.

***

I wake up staring eye to eye with the world's ugliest parrot with upturned pecks and bloodshot eyes. He looks like he had too much beer to drink. Or wine. I can see the purplish hint under his small chin. He's already wobbling and unstable on his little toes. When he bit my lip, I smack him too hard, he tumbled off to the curtains with a loud eek.

"What the funk?!" He screeched.

"You're kissing me. Eew. " I scrubbed off my lips. Good thing there's no blood from his bite.

"Kissing?! I'm trying to sleep here man." He grumbled. He flock his wings and tried to fly away but he's not getting a good balance off air. He crashed into the bedside cabinet with a creeek.

I was about to ask 'what's wrong?' But the words that came out is "What are you?"

The parrot snort. "I'm the Alpha Beast. Duh. You've been asleep for so long you finally lost your brains huh?"

I ignored him. Trying hard to remember what happened. The escape from our cell, finding Seven in a crystal sphere, the fight at the rooftop. And then Seven's words of "You're blessing...it disappeared."

Sick feeling dominated my gut and I doubled up to barf. Nothing came out. I can feel the parrot's eager stare. He's studying me. I don't know what for.

And then something happened. He outgrew his parrot size and transform into a human body. His limbs became similar to mine. Until I'm staring face to face with a boy my height, my build, my face.

You ever have that weird feeling staring yourself in the mirror? Knowing you look awful and all. How about staring face to face with a double ganger?

Engaging eye to eye... Feels strange. It's like I've been slap with harsh reality that... I'm downright ugly. And no face surgery can change that.

I twist my mouth in disgust. I just remembered this guy said he can take on any form he fancies. And I'm no exemption.

"Why did you turn into me? Get back to your parrot form." I said.

"Why?" He cock his head. I mean my head. His bird nest like blonde hair falls into his sharp shoulders. Evident it's never been visited by hair salon. I mean mine.

Ugh. So confusing.

"You're ugly." I waved him off with a hand. He took two steps back. Staring from his foot up to his shoulders.

"You do realize you're insulting yourself right? I'm you after all."

I slapped my forehead.

"Please don't talk to me." I turn my back on him, removing myself from the bed. We're in someone's apartment. And the owner don't know how to clean. There's a stack of delivery lunch boxes, pizzas, sodas, feasted by maggots and flies.

"Where's Seven and Magnus?" I asked. Not looking directly at him.

I can feel him shrugging his shoulders when he said. "I don't know. Been in and out of the room these past few days. Master came back every few hours bringing fresh clothes and food. While Magnus gets home at the dead of night looking very tired. They said I should alert them when you wake up."

I paced around the room. It's totally decaying and obviously abandon. There's not much furniture. The wallpapers are tattered and some dark red paint was splashed in and out of the walls. I tried scrubbing off one.

"That's actually human blood by the way." He pointed out. I whipped around to face him. And he's still me. Still ugly.

"Say what?"

"I don't know the details but the humans across the neighborhood feared coming in to this abandon apartment. Saying a serial killer used to live here and drug his victims and butchered them inside of this room."

The temperature suddenly drops. I'm getting all the chills which isn't strange due to the rain outside and the occasional swoosh of chilly wind from the window. To make things worse, I felt something whispered beside me. Dangerously close to my ear it said,

"Why are you here?"