What is normal?

What is normal?

I was scared but I was not going to let these strangers know it. I don’t know what I was doing here. Last week I was in the local school with my mates (two of) and now I was miles away in the middle of nowhere in a boarding school! What was that all about? I stood in the middle of a large hall with others milling around and I was very, very uncomfortable. I felt as though ants were crawling all over me, my skin hurt everywhere. And that was what was scaring me. I usually had enough confidence to carry anything off and if I didn’t, well, I have been accused of having a bit of a temper.

           A large voice bellowed for quiet, names were read out and kids were given their directions until there was only me left. Standing on my own in the middle of his great hall with his eyes on me.

‘Catherine Powell?’

‘Yes.’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Ah! Right. Follow me.’ I followed, what else was I to do? 

           I sat in front of this man and my whole life shifted upside down. Everything I thought I knew or believed went out the window. The first thing he said to me was: ‘Do you know what you are?’

           Huh? ‘I’m a girl?’ He gave me a long, long look but I refused to squirm.

           ‘I understand you were adopted.’ It wasn’t a question so I didn’t answer. ‘You don’t know your birth family?’  That was a question. ‘No.’

           ‘This school is for children who are different.’ He paused, waited for me to ask the obvious so I didn’t. ‘We don’t know how you are different yet, so you will be monitored closely.’

           ‘There’s nothing wrong with me! I’m quite normal thank you.’

           ‘Yes, you are, but there is normal and then there is – us.’

           He went on to talk about things out of horror comics. I kept waiting for the joke but it never came. He spoke of shape shifters, of human turning into wolves or leopards as though it was all quite – normal. I began to feel sick.

           ‘And you think I am one of these - these things? I’m getting out of here, you’re all quite mad.’ I jumped up and ran for the door. He sat there quite calmly. I pulled open the door and realized why. Two great wolves stood there and looked at me. Not a growl or a snarl, just a look. I was terrified.

           As I stared, frozen to the spot, they began to move. Oh, not towards me. Oh no, they rippled and moved and changed. Into two good looking young men, and they smiled.

           ‘Hi! I’m Damien.’

           ‘And I’m Graham. We’ve come to show you around.’

           So now I’m being led around by two - dogs? wolves? men? If I hadn’t seen them change I would not have believed it. I still didn’t believe that I was one of them.

           The next few weeks were just as surreal. I would be talking to a girl one minute and a cat the next. I even had someone change into a bird and fly from me. And all the time I was being watched – monitored was the word. The other students tried to guess what I was and when I wouldn’t tell them they would get offended and walk away. They didn’t seem to believe me when I said I couldn’t tell them because I didn’t know. It seems they had begun to develop their other selves early on, their parents had been there to encourage and help them develop, but as no-one knew who my parents were, I’d had no help.

           After I had been at the school for six weeks the Voice – Mr. Morgan, the Principal – summoned me to his office.

           ‘Well? What are you?’

           ‘A girl. Still.’

           ‘Hmm. Your DNA shows cat. That was how we found you. Any abnormal blood and DNA is flagged up for those, like you, who are not known. But I would have expected the cat to show herself before now, especially in like company. What are we going to do?’

           ‘It could be that you are wrong. I’m just a normal girl.’ I couldn’t help smirking. I didn’t like authority and certainly not authority telling me who and what I was supposed to be! I’d had enough of this place and these people. So they were different, it didn’t mean I was one of them. I was off the first chance I had.

           And that was now. While everyone was training and refining their ‘otherness’ I was off. It was getting dark but my eyesight had always been good. The wall presented no problem. I was soon away onto the moors. I knew they would come for me and with human dogs to track me my only chance was to get as far away to civilization as quickly as possible.

           I’d been running for a while, civilization seemed as far away as ever and I began to wonder what the punishment for desertion was when I literally stumbled across a campsite – well, three men sitting beside a truck swigging beers and laughing loudly, at what I didn’t know then. I soon found out.

           ‘Damien?’ I cried out, I couldn’t help myself, couldn’t be quiet, oh no, not me.

           ‘What the . . ?’ The men leapt to their feet.

           ‘Who are you? What are you doing out here?’

           ‘Maybe she’s another one of them.’ The voices all ran together. My brain now realized what my eyes had already seen. Damien was tied up, his face and body covered with scratches and bruises. He’d obviously been running when these men had come across him. Had they seen the wolf or the man? Suddenly the men looked very dangerous, only now did I realize they had guns and spotlights and I didn’t think they were out looking for rabbits.

           ‘He’s my boyfriend!’ My brain was actually beginning to work! ‘What have you done to him?’ I dropped to my knees.

           ‘He’s one of them, those monsters over at the hall. And if he’s your boyfriend, you must be one as well!’ The leader of the bunch had a nasty look in his eyes.

           ‘Does he look like a monster?’ The men kept coming, surrounding us. I shook, with fear and with rage. And the rage was winning. My skin began to itch, I felt as I was burning from the inside out. My body felt wrong but I didn’t have time to think about it as the big man made a grab for me. The other two hopped about not seeming to know whether to grab or run, so I kept my attention on the Big Guy. All the while my rage was getting out of control. I hated being out of control. My eyes were burning, my bones were aching, I was scared. And angry. I didn’t know what was happening, in my life, but most of all in my body, but there wasn’t time to work it out. I had to let go and let whatever was happening, happen.

           After that, things became confusing. It seems from what Damien told me later I let the cat out! With screams and growls, my body transformed itself into a leopard. I remember I seemed to be conscious of myself leaping on Big Guy and clamping my jaws around his throat. I felt like two personalities battling for control. I could hear Damien calling me, the other two men screaming and running for their truck but part of me wanted to slowly crush the life out of Big Guy.

           ‘Cat! Cat, stop it! We don’t kill humans.’ Damien’s voice was getting louder as he crawled to me. ‘The others. They’re coming, Cat, you can let him go.’

           Slowly, very slowly, my rage died down.

           ‘Cat, come back. Let go.’ Damien’s voice became quieter, smoother, soothing. I found myself back in human form. I looked down at Big Guy sprawled beneath me and leapt off with a scream of disgust.

           ‘What happened?’ I asked.

           ‘It seems we now know what you are.’ Came a loud voice from behind me. Principal Morgan stood there, surrounded by others from the school, some in human form, some in their ‘other’ forms.

           I don’t remember much of the next few hours but it seems my attempt to escape and return to a normal life was a bust. I knew my life would never again be normal, but then, what is normal?