Caged

"Choose your fate."

An array of color was in front of me, in many different forms. Dark elegant reds; Bright, happy yellows; Deep, serene blues. All in the form of masks. Masks that told the world who the animal inside of you was.

The world was full of shape-shifters and non shape-shifters alike. The ones who couldn't change were paranoid, wondering who around them were able to contort their bodies into any animal of their choosing. So, the government took action, tallying up everyone in the nation. Seeing who could shift and who couldn't.

The soft blue mask held my attention, the feathers curving out and away from the empty eye sockets.

All of us shape-shifters were herded like cattle. We were put under lock-down until the government could figure out what to do with us. They knew none of us were criminals, I could sense that, but I think they mostly feared us. Feared our power to change.

It took them two weeks until finally someone knew what to do about us "freaks". I remember the news report coming to life on the television, the middle-aged man in his business suit standing behind the podium filled with microphones. He spoke of us like we were from a different planet, like we weren't the boy or girl next door who you played outside with. I ignored most of what was said until he finally got to the point. "The shape-shifters are to wear masks displaying what they are to the public. Whichever mask they choose, they must change only into the animal that mask represents. No other animal."

He's the reason why I'm here picking up the feathered mask. The mask represented the falcon, a high flying bird who didn't take no for an answer.

"Nice choice," the man commented, noting the mask in my hand. His voice sounded friendly, even though he wasn't a shape-shifter. He was called up to distribute the masks.

"Thanks." I nodded at him before I walked away with the mask, letting the next shifter in line choose their fate. I walked outside into the cool air and sunlight, trying to find my family as I placed the mask onto my face. Many other shifters were outside doing the same, the masks on their face concealing their human identity and showcasing their animal identity.

"Connor!" I heard my name called and swiveled around, spotting a girl with hair as dark brown as mine, with hazel eyes like mine. It was my sister.

"Hayley!" I waved back and jogged over to where she was, dodging others this way and that. Mom and Dad weren't with her. "Have you found mom and dad yet?"

She shook her head. "They must still be inside choosing their masks." I realized her face was bare, and looked around her for her mask. She realized what I was doing and made an "Oh!" shape with her lips before she dove into the messenger bag hung around her shoulder. She pulled out a snow white mask with pointed ears at the side. A white wolf.

"Why aren't you wearing it?" I scolded, and quickly changed my tone when I saw the hurt look on her face, "You need to wear it Hayley. It's required of us. If we don't wear it there are severe consequences." I put my hand on her shoulder in a comforting motion, showing her I didn't mean to hurt her.

The consequences of not wearing the mask when you were a shifter was jail for awhile. Locked up, far away from family and anyone who knew who you were.

She nodded. "I know." She swiftly put the mask on, moving her unruly hair out of the way and behind her ears. She opened her eyes behind the mask and turned to me and asked, "Well? How does it look?"

I smiled. Her eyes paired with the white wolf made a beautiful combination. "You're going to be an amazing wolf," I replied. I watched her grin in excitement, her smile telling me "thank you" in it's own words. Recognition in the left corner of my eye caused me to turn my head. I saw our parents headed in our direction, our mom waving to us as they quickened their strides. I waved back, looking to Hayley to see if she saw them headed our way too, which she did.

"Wow, that took forever," Mom complained as soon as she reached us. Her mask was on top of her head, away from her face. She saw me eyeing it and pulled it down and situated it. "I'm a seal."

I smiled slightly. "Nice, mom."

"What Connor said," Hayley agreed, sticking her thumb out at me.

"Copycat." I shoved her lightly, and she protested and shoved me back.

"Hey, hey! No rough housing," Dad scolded lightly, his eyes shifting nervously around us behind his mask. The mask had a sort of wave pattern on the sides, like Batman's. "We need to go home, anyway. Your mom has to fix dinner." Mom rolled her eyes as we walked to the car.

We all settled into the car, and dad drove us home. Mom made small chit chat, but otherwise the car ride home was quiet. It gave me time to think, mostly about why anyone was afraid of us.

We were just as normal as them, aside from that we changed into animals. We couldn't help that. It just...happens. It's like being a muggle in the Harry Potter world and suddenly finding out you're a wizard at the age of eleven. Except I found out when I was five years old that I could shape-shift into animals.

I was so scared, not knowing what was happening to my body, and why I was changing into a lion cub. It makes sense now, because I was watching The Lion King and loved Simba so much, and wanted to be like him.

That's how we are able to turn into animals; wanting to be one is all it takes. But only certain people are able to, meaning only us shape-shifters are able to. If you're a non-shifter and you want to turn into a animal, no matter how hard you wish, you won't be able to.

I was startled from my thoughts by a tap on the car window. "Time to go inside," Dad said, before walking to the front door where Mom and Hayley were gathering, Mom getting her keys out to go inside.

I blinked slowly, realizing that the car had stopped and that I needed to go inside. I opened the car door and closed it, walking inside to help Mom with dinner.