New Years was an absolute blast this time around, as Cree and the others of Sector V took me to a place known as "Lime Ricky's" for the first time. It felt so liberating for me to be able to cut loose for once as we all partied, danced and drank a bunch of soda all night until we made our way back to the Tree house around 4 in the morning and passed out on the spot. Cree and I were among the last to fall asleep. She made up a make-shift sleeping bag of comforters and blankets with lots of pillows on the floor between the couches and the huge TV.
"Hey..." Cree whispered, "When, um... when's your thirteenth birthday?" I noticed a hint of worry in her voice. "Oh! My birthday is April 5th, so I think it's a couple of months away. Why do ya ask?.." Cree paused for a couple of moments. ".. just making sure." she smiled awkwardly before we both laid our heads on our pillows and finally fell into a deep slumber.
March 27th, 2001
For a whole nine days starting on this particular date, Cree seemed to have disappeared almost completely.. I couldn't find her anywhere, except for a few brief moments at school where I'd see her either walking to class or putting things into her locker. But the one thing that I noticed is that her expression was one of anger and sorrow.. at first I wondered why she was upset, but I did a little more thinking at one point - she's 13 now, which meant that she wasn't in the Kids Next Door anymore.. I then realized something else: our birthdays were 9 days apart, meaning that my time was also drawing near.. I tried to swallow the lump in my throat as I watched her walk off, presumably to her next class. Wiping a couple of tears before they fell, I opened my locker and packed the supplies I needed for my next class before slamming the door shut and heading to art class.
The next few days were hell for me, emotionally and mentally. I couldn't stop thinking of how I wasn't gonna be able to see Chad and Maurice for a long time - how all my memories of our times together would soon be torn from my brain, just like they did to poor Cree.. the night before my 13th birthday, I found it nearly impossible to fall asleep. I lay under my blankets and stared up at the ceiling fan, and it must've been around 30 minutes to midnight when I finally fell into a deep sleep.
Around a quarter after midnight, I was awoken by knocking on my window, and whoever it was gestured me to open it. I did, and to my happiness, it was Cree!.. and she was wearing some sort of armor. "Cree, you're back! I missed you so mu-" she was quick to hush me. "There's no time to explain right now, just come with me." Cree proceeded to pick me up before closing the window and taking off into the sky.
"Cree.. what's going on? Where are ya taking me?" I asked in a sort of naive manner. ".. I'm helping you escape decommissioning," Cree responded in a soft yet melancholy tone. "Wait, really?" I chirped, almost gleefully.
"Yeah.. I've been planning to ever since last year, because I care about you far too much to let them do such a thing to my little buddy.." Cree paused for a few moments as she soared through the air and hugged me close. ".. i-it's bad enough I had to leave Chad, Maurice, and.. Abby.." Cree's voice broke a little at the mention of Abby as tears threatened to well up. ".. but you.. y-you're all I have left right now.." I could see a few tear drops fall from her face at that moment.. "I-I'm so sorry.." she choked out before briefly landing behind a mini-mart, still holding me close. ".. this last couple of weeks was absolute hell for me.. and for my little sister. I c-couldn't even b-bring myself to look at her the day I was taken away by the decommissioning squad.. especially because she.. she wouldn't s-stop crying and begging me to c-c-come back.." at this point, big, salty tears were flowing down Cree's face at a heavy rate as she tried to take a deep breath. "It was then that I made my decision.. I released myself from their grasp and made a break for it, running as far away as I could, until a few other teens found me and took me to their hideout, where the leader told me: 'Either you decline and we turn you in.. or you accept and keep your precious memories, but you work for US now..' and so I accepted their offer.. j-j-just to p-preserve what I had w-with all of you.." with that, Cree completely broke down, to which I wrapped her in my arms and gave her the biggest, tightest hug I could muster. I could feel a few of her tears drip onto my helmet during the tearful embrace. After around five minutes, a voice called out: "Hey, who's out there?" Cree almost instantly wiped her tears away hearing the voice. "Coming, Steve.." Cree turned to me, "Let's go see our new hide-out, okay?" Cree took my hand, forcing a smile, to which I hesitantly nodded yes.
I was greeted with a few hellos from the other teenagers, to which I slowly waved at them as I shyly walked in. Then a teenage boy in a red shirt, jeans and shades walked up to me and shook my hand, "So you must be Delilah," he said with a slight chuckle. "You can just call me Steve. Welcome to our hide out!" I looked around and said, "pretty neat place yall got here!"
"Yes, I think you'll enjoy it here, but ONLY on ONE condition.. I'm gonna give the same choices I give every other kid on their 13th birthday: either you decline and we turn you into moonbase, OR, accept and keep your memories of the KND, but work for us, and ONLY us." I nervously accepted his offer, much to his appeasement as he removed my helmet. "Heh, I was hoping you'd say yes.. Cree taught us lots about ya, especially your interest in animals, and we and our boss at the Delightful Mansion decided to give ya a little some'n for your special day." Steve picked up a cardboard box and handed it to me. The box was a crimson red with a golden paw print on the lid, along with writing that said, "The Darwin's Bell". I delicately opened the lid, making sure not to damage or rip anything.. then I saw it: a red, human-sized cat collar with a golden bell. "Well? Try it on!" I did as I was asked, and clicked in the button on the back of the collar after placing it around my neck.
Seconds after, I felt a sharp pin-prick in the back of my neck, causing me to flinch before I fell to my knees. An intense, scorching sensation flowed through my veins and my body grew tense. I felt pain in the small of my back, ears, and teeth, but the pain went away as quick as it came. Standing up, I noticed something weird - my ears weren't where they used to be. Moving my hands up further, I found out why.. they've turned into wolf ears! AND I now had a big fluffy tail.. "wait.. DARWIN'S Bell.." I thought. "Yea y'know, that Charles Darwin dude, the guy who studied zoology n stuff." I felt a shifting sensation as the others' eyes widened. "Wh-what's goin on? Y'all look like ya just saw a grizzly bear-" a teen girl with brown hair held up a mirror and said, "See for yourself."
I looked in the mirror and gasped loudly, covering my mouth in shock. "Ah, it works after all!" Steve said with a smirk. "Now you've got animal shape-shifting powers, which could easily give us teens an advantage, heh.. tho it may take some effort to keep under control at first.." I didn't know whether I was happy or afraid.. how would my family react? I turned to see that Cree was gone, which made me tremble as she wasn't there to experience my new powers.. what if I scare her off at one point?..
Once the store opened the next morning, I went to buy myself a new helmet, since I wasn't allowed to wear my previous one anymore. The one I chose was a black and red motorcycle helmet complete with a visor: perfect to hide my new wolf ears! After I paid for it and left the store, I made sure no one was around and after a couple of tries, I managed to shift into an eagle and finally flew back home. Once I went through my window and shut it, I tied one of my jackets around my waist, and other than the helmet and jacket, my family didn't notice a thing! For now, that is..