Sam’s Journey, Part Four: Changes (2/2)

(Author Note: I had to split this episode into 2 parts due to Tapas' length limits for short story episodes! This is part 2 of 2)

CW: Hospital, therapy

~ Seven Weeks since Day 0 ~

Beckly crossed their legs and took a deep breath. “So. Before I came in here, I was given a brief report about you.” They pulled a folder from their messenger bag. “It looks like they know where you’re from, your family background, a bit about your powers, and a little about how you got to where they found you. But there’s still a lot that they don’t know. Like--”

“Who are ‘they’ anyway?” Sam interrupted. “You know I’ve been here for, what, a whole week? And I still don’t know for sure if these are the good guys or not.” She grabbed the cream-filled pastry from her bedside. “Scary dudes in uniforms were chasing me when I first changed, how do I know that y’all aren’t the same ones?” She opened the plastic and shoved the pastry in her mouth.

“Fair question.” Beckly replied. “They’re the military. Specifically, a more classified section of the Army known as STAR.”

“Star?” Sam said questioningly, her mouth still full of pastry.

“Strategic Task-Force and Assault Recon. STAR.” Beckly smiled. “I assure you that we’re good people. General Hilltop, specifically, is one of the best. He’s an advocate for variant rights too which, well, that’s good for people like you and me.”

Sam nodded and swallowed the pastry. “Okay…”

“So, I was hoping I could ask some questions about you. Specifically, filling in some of the blanks of your story. Things that could potentially help other variants as well.” Beckly pulled a pen and pad of paper from their bag.

“Like what?” Sam replied.

“Well, what is the full extent of your powers, as far as you are aware?”

Sam thought for a moment “I mean, aside from the fur and tail...I can hear really good, smell things from far away, I can see at night really well…” She adjusted herself in her bed. “I, uh, I’m really strong too...like...really strong.”

“Can you give me an example?”

“I ripped a door off its hinges one time...I’ve lifted some pretty big boulders like they were made of paper...But I mean, I don’t know what my limit is. Everything feels so light to me. I haven’t really found anything that’s given me trouble yet.”

“Okay.” Beckly nodded and wrote down some notes. “When did you first start noticing your powers? Did it happen gradually or all at once?”

“All at once. I mean...sort of? It’s kind of hard to describe. Things started happening and then one night I just…changed” She trailed off and looked at her hands. “Sorry…” Sam frowned.

“No problem, take your time.” Beckly gave a warm, gentle smile. The teen felt another wave of calm wash over her. “Would you feel comfortable talking about what led up to the night you changed?”

“Sure…” Sam adjusted her pillows and scooted down in the bed a little. “A few days before it happened, I kept feeling really weird. Like...everything pissed me off. Even stupid little things like weird clicking noises or someone accidentally bumping into me on the way to class. Normally that stuff doesn’t get to me but this time it did. I just thought...I dunno...puberty or something…”

Beckly laughed a little. “That’s a fair thought.”

Sam smiled at Beckly and laughed a little too. “Yeah...but then things got worse. I had this headache that just didn’t go away. It got worse and worse before I changed.”

“How long did you have that headache?”

“I dunno...a couple of weeks maybe? Aspirin helped...But it got really bad and the medicine wasn’t working anymore. My parents scheduled me an appointment with a chiropractor but he couldn’t see me for a couple of weeks. I guess I missed the appointment…”

Beckly continued to take notes. “So then what happened? Any other signs of your powers developing?”

“Sort of. My nails kept growing stupid fast. I’d trim them the night before and then the next day they’d be like half an inch long. I ended up just keeping a nail clipper in my pocket all the time...I just figured...puberty again? I dunno…” Sam’s face flushed at her ignorance back then. “I guess I should have talked to my parents more about what was going on but I was embarrassed. I thought it was weird and I didn’t really know how to approach them about it.” She shuffled a little in her bed. “That Friday when I got home from school, I just went up to my room. I was feeling grouchy and I didn’t want to talk to anyone. My older brother was bugging me though… He kept trying to ask me if I’d taken his console controller. I didn’t, but he wouldn’t listen and I just kind of snapped at him.” Sam frowned.

“How so?”

“I yelled at him, punched him really hard on the arm. He fell and got really angry at me. I slammed the door and locked it. My parents came upstairs to chew me out but I wouldn’t let them in…”

“Okay.” Beckly nodded. “When you hit your brother, what was going through your mind?”

“I dunno I was just...so mad at him. I wanted him to leave me alone. I didn’t normally hit people before all this. Jack and I don’t argue that much so it was weird. I felt really bad about it but I didn’t want to talk to anyone...”

“I see. That must have been hard.” Beckly looked at her sympathetically. “What happened after that?”

“I stayed up for a while, playing games on my computer, but my head hurt really bad and I couldn’t keep looking at the screen without it getting worse. I tried drawing for a bit but I couldn’t concentrate...So I went to bed.” Sam sighed. “I had trouble getting to sleep though. Every little noise kept making me mad. I couldn’t get comfortable and my head felt like someone was hitting it with a mallet. I remember finally sitting up around three in the morning when it felt like something was stabbing me in the stomach.”

“Did you feel like you were going to be sick?”

“No...It wasn’t like a pukey kind of feeling. Just...pain.” Sam’s tail twitched. “That’s when I started growing hair all over and my nails got all thick. Then I passed out. When I woke up...I was in my family doctor’s office. We don’t have a hospital in my town so when my parents found me, they took me to Dr. Hughes. My mom was with me when I woke up, but my dad was outside the room arguing with someone. I couldn’t see who it was, but dad was pissed. He was yelling at them about how he wouldn’t let them take me away. Mom shut the door when I woke up and gave me a big hug. She told me she was glad I was awake and not to worry...that everything would be okay.” Sam frowned. “She and Dr. Hughes explained that I changed overnight. That I must be a variant.” She sighed. “They handed me a mirror and... there I was…”

Beckly nodded as Sam spoke, occasionally writing down notes. “What went through your mind when you looked in the mirror and saw yourself for the first time since you had changed?”

“I felt...confused. Angry. Scared. Like I kept pulling at the hair on my face thinking it was all some kind of joke. Like maybe Jack did it as some kind of revenge prank for punching him in the arm.” She inspected her hands again, turning them over and tracing the stripe on her right hand. “In school we learned how some variants can switch back and forth, you know? Like...one minute they look like something out of a sci-fi movie and the next, they look human again. Like how people used to say in the past that werewolves were variants before they knew more about what variants were. But it’s been like, what, two months now? I’m probably stuck looking like a freak for the rest of my life…”

“I’m sorry that happened to you. But you’re not a freak, Sam.” Beckly said calmly to her. “And you’re certainly not alone in looking different. There are other variants out there who look different, just the way that you do.”

Sam thought about her encounter with Pound, and wondered if he could change back or not. “Right…” Sam cleared her throat, wanting to change the subject. “Anyway...the man my dad was talking to ended up threatening him, so Dad punches the guy across the face and knocks him out. That’s when he grabbed my mom, Dr. Hughes, and me, and said we had to leave…” Sam’s brow furrowed.

“Are you okay to continue?” They asked, a look of empathic concern etched on their face.

“Y-yeah…” Sam nodded and wondered if it was Beckly’s powers, or if after all this time it was just nice to unload everything to a kind stranger. Beckly’s gentle, caring nature reminded Sam of Prisha. She wondered if her friend was okay, and if the people asking Prisha about Sam were the same people who threatened Sam’s father. “When we left, I saw the guy in the uniform on the floor. I couldn’t believe dad knocked him out like that…” As she recalled the memory, Sam noted that the soldier’s uniform was vastly different than the ones she’d seen the members of STAR wearing. “They loaded me up in mom’s van. Some other guys in the same uniform as the first dude started chasing us, but we got away. We went home and tried to lay low, but I guess they knew how to find us. The next day they showed up with guns and everything! They told us to surrender or they’d take me by force. Dad refused though. Dr. Hughes took one car and my folks and me took another. We split up and managed to get away. Well...my parents and I did. I don’t know if Dr. Hughes…” Sam contemplated this briefly, although Beckly’s powers made that seed of anxiety unable to take root. “We drove a few hours before stopping for gas somewhere. Mom and Dad went inside to get supplies, told me to wait in the car. Every time someone drove by I kept ducking down. I was freaked out about being taken...But then I realized something…”

“What’s that?” Beckley encouraged.

“...I realized that if I stayed with my parents that they’d be in danger. People were coming after us. They had guns and they were shooting at us. I couldn’t...I didn’t want my parents to get hurt. I was scared but...I didn’t…” Sam frowned. Despite Beckly’s powers, a tear rolled down her cheek. “When they came back to the car, they said they were going to head up to my Aunt’s house by the lake. When we got there, I waited until everyone was asleep. I grabbed my backpack, some food and stuff...and I left.”

“You left to protect them?”

Sam nodded. “I left them a note so they wouldn’t be worried. I just started running as fast and as far as I could. I just...I just didn’t want anyone getting hurt because of me.”

Beckly nodded again and wrote a few more notes on their notepad. “I understand. I’m sure that wasn’t an easy choice for you to make.”

“No...it wasn’t. I miss my family. Hilltop says they’re okay but...I just want to see them, you know?”

“Of course.” Beckly nodded. “Would you like to take a break? Or keep going?”

“I think I can keep going.” Sam took a sip of her coffee.

“Alright. So you started running. What happened next?”

Sam thought for a moment. “For the first few days, I kind of just wandered and camped around. Ugh...one night though, I found ticks ALL over me…”

-- THE END --