Ahhh… no, why me, why today of all days? I thought the last time would be the last time, however how many have I thought that before.
I walk over to the mirror near the foot of the couch to see what happens. I look in the mirror, I see a thick wooden frame, a glassy surface but more importantly, I see a vulnerable girl with jet black hair and grassy green eyes staring back at me. My friends call me Sheena, well my one friend does - I don't have many. When you change forms as much as I do you can't really keep many friends. Soon beads of sweat start to form on my forehead, I hold my breath, I squeeze my eyes tight, I know I don't want to open them, I don't want to look to see what I am becoming. I am compelled to look! I'm always compelled to look! This is my 2280th change since I came to this strange land. Since arriving in convict shackles in 1820 I've been through many changes; some good and some bad. I can feel my molecules changing shape and their size changing; my heart rate slowly returns to normality. I grab the dresser next to my mirror and slowly haul myself to my feet. I look in the mirror and I see a thick wooden frame with a glassy surface, but more importantly I see a stranger with bright blonde hair and sapphire eyes staring back at me. The pink mouth moved as my lips moved, I wish I wish I wish…
My thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door; I hope it's not Rem, he hasn't seen me in this form yet. Think, think, come on Sheena… I summon the courage to look in the peep hole. Thank God it's not Rem. It's my neighbour. She must have heard my screams. It's hurting more and more every time I change. I open the door and she looked surprised
"I thought that Sheena lived here".
"She does, I'm just her cousin. I'm late for work. Sorry, I'm in a rush, I need to get to work or my boss will be really mad. Do you need me to give her a message?"
I tried not to slam the door in her face, but I did. Last time I encountered Rem I barely escaped with my life. I'm a pretty accomplished shape shifter but regenerators like Rem, now that's a power to have. I have seen him lose his leg and the next day he had his leg back, I've seen him charcoal black from fire yet the next day his skin is as pink as mine. I've seen him lose liters and litres of blood yet he can still have the strength hunt me down. Imagine what a shape shifting regenerator could do. That's why I must defeat him.
How to defeat him I haven't found out. It's hard to keep a steady job but since I have been changing forms I have realised that keeping different jobs is the only way out for me until I find out how to control the curse. Rem found out about my curse when he was a guard on the ship. He's been following me ever since. Once he came up and jumped on me and started to hurt me. When I found out that I couldn't hurt him back I was lucky that one of the guards that was looking after me walked passed. He was pulled off me by the other guard who then kept hurting Rem until he was unconscious. The guard then left. As I slowly walked off I looked back at Rem and noticed that his broken nose was no longer crooked and his wounds had healed. I knew then this was a bad omen for me. Rem didn't like me and would do anything to hurt me.
That was a while ago. I haven't seen Rem since but bad memories stay around for a long time and this one is no different. Where was I, I was on my way to work. A job I had picked up a couple of days ago, after all we need to eat and live. The money's not bad but it won't keep me in luxury or buy the good things that dreams are made of. I had an incident at work the other day when I had a form change, just as I was preparing a three course menu for some business people. Lucky for me no one saw it happen and I managed to finish and duck out into the freezer. I've learnt that the cold slows down the change and it isn't as extreme and usually it only changes the style of my hair and height. I'm glad I have a way to slow it down. My job allows me to specialise in making soups and main courses, so it gives me a variety of jobs to do and also to keep my form changes at bay.
It was a day that I will never forget. After a long day in the kitchen I was ready to go home and relax and watch a good movie. That was the plan which became unstuck as soon as I got out of my car. He was waiting. The nightmare I had dreamt about. I thought and felt he was waiting for me, in the dark. I could sense his smell or was it just my imagination. Perhaps it was the smell of danger I was sensing. I heard footsteps coming towards me and I steeled myself not to panic and tried to work out a plan quickly before he reached me. Too late - his big form was standing over me menacingly. I automatically raised my arms to protect myself and my face as he lashed at me. My face felt a burning sensation and I knew he had hit me. The next minute I felt myself go up in the air and land on my sofa. I was lucky I was unhurt, but this made me angrier and I decided to rush him with all my strength. He saw me coming and quickly side stepped and, as I reached the wall, I quickly turned around and jumped off the wall with my left foot and rushed at him again. He was unprepared for the quick turn around and as my body temperature started to rise I could feel a change coming. This time he wasn't able to move as quickly. He put out both hands to stop me. I managed to get a jump on him and land on his head while I was changing. He was trying to regenerate from the damage to his head. While he was regenerating his power started to fade and I noticed I had stopped changing. The next minute he fell to the floor and was still.
It's been a year since my last change. It would seem that when Rem lost his power when I changed, it seemed to have cured my curse but I'm not sure.
Although I haven't had any more changes, my life has changed a lot. I'm still doing chef work but there is no need for me to run in the freezer any more. I now have a lot of friends and I'm a lot happier with my life.