Introduction
I hate this place, it's so dull and boring, unlike my old life. I leaned back, my back leaning against the wall. I looked at the plain, cream colored ceiling. I heard the door open, I looked over my shoulder. I didn't spring up, ready to attack like usual. So if it was a murderer or something, I could have been killed easily. "Come in" I shouted and the wooden door swung open. A small girl, about 16 (one year younger than me) stepped through the door, she was holding a purse and was wearing a gold necklace, I recognized her immediately.
Chapter 1
War is a horrible, depressing thing. I hate war, I despise it. Sadly, I cannot avoid it or how it affects me and my life. War had broken loose in my little town, and my brother had gone out to fight in it. I remember the day he announced it, I must have been 14. My brother, Ash, was sitting at the table, next to me, Rosa, and my sister, Alexandra. Ash looked at all 4 of us, he looked at my mother, Violet, and then my father, Anthony, with intensity. I was busy eating a piece of bread, which would have been my only large meal for the next 2 weeks, I savored every bite of the sweet, warm bread. Ash looked at his bread, uneaten. "Eat, Ash. It's good" I said, my mouth full of the delicious and savory brown bread. Ash looked at his bread, and as calmly as ever, he announced "I'm going to go fight in the war." There was dead silence. Violet dropped the spoon she was holding…that was the only sound in the entire house for about a minute. "W-what?" Violet's eyes were wide and her face was pale. Ash took another calm bite of his bread "I'm going to fight in the war, Ma." Anthony blinked "What gave you that crazy idea!" Violet added "My son is not going to fight in that bloody, horrible war!" Ash stood up, I looked up at my brother. He was 20 and very big and strong for his age, he was easily taller than my parents. "I'm going to fight, Ma. I don't care what you say. I'm going to join the army and fight." Now this was a bit too much for my mother. Violet turned a bit paler, she said quietly "Very well…" This stunned everyone in the house, even my father.
I remember the day Ash left to go fight in the war. As if God knew what we were feeling, the day was cloudy and gray. The smell of rain and tears faintly lingered in the gray sky. Violet hugged Ash, knowing that he had thought this through. Ash had hugged her back, "I'll be fine, don't worry." He said strongly, but I could hear a slight tone of hope in his words. Alexandra looked up at me, she was a bit shorter than me, "Do you really think he'll be ok?" she whispered. Honestly, this question from her shocked me. I looked over at her, I saw fear in her eyes. This was strange, I thought. Alexandra is always looking on the brighter side and is always so positive. I smiled slightly, trying to convince her. "I'm sure he'll be fine, he is amazingly strong and a good fighter. You know that." Alexandra looked over back to Violet and Anthony, both waving to Ash as he walked away, "I hope you're right…" she muttered quietly. I looked at Alexandra a bit surprised, I looked back over to Ash leaving. I waved "Bye Ash!" My voice was loud and strong, he turned around and waved then disappeared into the town. As it started to rain, we all went back into the house. The house was cold and silent, as it always was. I went into the room, I shared with Alexandra and sat on the long, thick windowsill and looked out at the window, watching the rain hit the ground. I loved the smell of rain, the cool scent was something like nothing else. "Rosa?" I looked over my shoulder, Violet was standing in the empty doorway. There was no door there, the one that was there had been broken and we didn't have enough money to fix it so we just took it down. "Yea?" I asked, pulling my brown hair up into a ponytail with a piece of string that I used. "Do you mind going outside with Alex to go look for food?" She asked quietly, Ash's leaving had impacted her pretty hard. I got up and stretched "Sure" I yawned. We went around the town looking for pieces of left-over food, usually it was Alexandra and I who looked. "Thanks." Violet nodded slightly and she walked to the family room where Anthony was. I nodded and put my hands in my pockets of my accidently torn up jeans, I exhaled and went on my way to look for Alexandra. After much searching I found her, sitting on the floor in the kitchen. Our kitchen was pretty small, the walls cream colored and tile on the floor, cabinets and tables made of beautiful caramel colored wood. Alexandra was sitting on the ground, petting our cat, Mish. Mish was a calico she-cat that we found, she was a small kitten when we found her. We were looking around for food a couple of years ago when we found a small kitten in an alley. "Alexandra." I said, a bit loud to get her attention. Alexandra looked up at me, her blue eyes sharp with alertness. "Yes?" She replied, Mish mewed and leapt onto the counter, I pulled her off and set her on the ground. "Ma asked if we could go out for food." I said, putting my hands back in my pockets. Alexandra waited, I rolled my eyes, "I said we would, so come on." Alexandra got up without using her hands, "Alright, alright." She stretched. I nodded and walked out the front door, the rain was falling steadily, not too hard though. Alexandra ran out after me, she caught up to me and started walking next to me. I looked at the sky, the cool rain hitting my face. I looked back down, looking around me. We lived in a small town, not much going on now because of the war. It seemed deserted to a normal tourist, there was more than met the eye. Look closely and you would see families in broken homes, or in no homes. People searching the streets for food and shelter. We were lucky. We had water, food and a good big home. I exhaled, thinking of the more less fortunate people. Thinking so deeply I didn't notice that Alexandra had run off. I looked around, and then saw her nearby. I felt a hand on my shoulder, I turned around and saw a young man, about 20, with golden brown hair. "Can I help you?" I asked politely. I heard Alexandra scream, I whipped around towards her. "LET ME GO!" She screamed as two men grabbed her, I ran towards her "Alexandra!" I yelled. I felt a sharp pain in the back of my neck and I fell to the ground, I heard Alexandra yell "Rosa!" I faintly saw her kick one of the men as hard as she possibly could and she tried to run over to me, "Rosa!" She yelled again. "Get up! Help!" I could tell that she was crying, crying for herself and for me. I gathered up all the strength I had left and pushed myself up, I felt blood dripping down the back of my head. Another sharp strike of pain and I fell. Alexandra screamed. That was the last thing I heard. Then everything went black and I was alone…
Chapter 2
"Rosa!" I heard Alex scream my name…with so much fear, so much pain, so much worry. I opened my eyes, sweat running down my forehead. I wasn't home, I wasn't lying on the dirt in my home village. I didn't know where I was. It was dark, pitch black, the kind that nothing is visible in. I got up but when I did my head hit something hard and metallic. I immediately sat back down again. I looked around, trying to make something out in this alone, cold darkness. "Hey you." I heard a voice snap at me, I looked around but didn't see anything. "Maybe I'm going crazy…" My thoughts suggested. "Behind you, smart one!" the voice scoffed, I looked over my shoulder. A giant tiger with silver eyes was staring straight at me, I felt my eyes widen. "Calm down, I don't bite." The voice sounded human…like a girl's voice, "Y-you can talk?" I stammered, the sound of my voice sounded strange to me. The tiger rolled her eyes, when I blinked there wasn't a tiger in front of me anymore. Instead there was a girl who looked to be my age; she had long blond hair and silver eyes. "Whoa." I breathed, wondering if I was hallucinating. "You alright?" The girl tilted her head and stared at me, she sat down in front of me. "I'm Athena, Half Tiger, and Experiment 48392." She said with sharpness in her voice. I blinked and looked at Athena, trying to figure out what was going on. "Looks like you're half panther." She tsked as she eyed me. "I'm not half panther or whatever!" I exclaimed. Athena snickered, she leaned back, "Look at your…" she raised her point and middle fingers and moved them up and down "hands." I looked at my hands and stumbled backwards in surprise. She was right! Instead of hands, I found that there were two big black PAWS. I stared at Athena who was laughing in amusement, "See! I told ya!" She snickered. "H-How do I turn back?" I asked, I was worried that I would be stuck like this forever but I remembered that Athena had turned back into a person.