• The night was cold and the trees still as the hunt began. I was stood on the outskirts of the group, seeing my friends turn into animals was never a comfortable experience. Watching their bodies shift and morph to hear their backs snapping and necks cracking, and then as they got up, their eyes glowing and teeth bared. I shiver every time. "Come on... who are you HUMAN?" A sly, silky voice spoke into my ear. "Oh shut up" I hiss, "You know how much I hate seeing this." he laughed and turned to face me "Of course Seth." Keen's eyes were like cigarette burns, and his mouth was like a cut, thin and red. His hair was smoothed down on his very pale head.
    "But... how can you watch this happen?" I shudder, averting my eyes. The popping and creaking still continued, I saw his gash of a mouth turn up into a shadow of a smile "ha. When you've been one of us for so long you get used to it."
    I shook my head, still trying to avoid looking at them, "I don't think I'll ever get used to it, aside from it hurting, we trick people into breeding with us, and KILL just to... well- Kill."
    He looked at me then, as if for the first time. His whole dry, silk demeanour had melted away, replaced by a panic and fear I have ever known in our kind. "You were born a passer, how dare you doubt your own family. Even worse, your own FATHER"
    This line sent shivers up my spine, filling me with almost uncontrollable rage "YOU AREN'T MY FATHER!" I roared, baring down at him, letting my natural power be my advantage.
    "I'm as GOOD AS!" He yelled back, his eyebrows furrowed. My ears rung as he finished shouting, and it was only then I realised everyone was staring at us, the people who'd changed and those who had not. It was completely silent, the eyes glowing brighter than the streetlights around our heads. Keen scowled, "WHAT IS IT? I HAVEN'T PULLED MY TROUSERS DOWN! CAN WE HAVE SOME PRIVACY... PLEASE!" and with that, every passer went back to their changing and cracking.
    "So... are you going to elaborate on that?" I taunt, my wild animal instincts bleeding back out of me. "come on then..." I push him hard, in the chest, harder than I wanted. I sent him, sprawling wildly with this arms falling in slow motion to the floor. the others again looked round, with shock plastering their faces. They looked at each other, then, at me. it was then I decided, I had to run. If I didn't I would be dead.
    So. Ignoring the clunk of his hollow head smashing against the concrete I let my feet carry me, as fast as I could. Nowhere in particular, just away. Down the silent streets, all I could hear were my footsteps. Clatter clatter clatter clatter. the same rhythmic pounding under my feet. 'you were born a passer, how dare you disrespect your family?' those words rebounded inside my skull, every time my feet touched the ground, burned into my brain seemingly with a hot poker.
    'You.. I was born a passer' I mumbled to myself as I continued on. 'there is no way that I can stop it.'
    I refused to believe it, I should be in charge of my own destiny. I don't want to be a victim of some stuffy and pretentious predetermined fate, being a passer shouldn't be the beggining and end of my life, it should just be a gift, sort of a key to the rest of the world. It was then that I looked around, and realised. I was stood just outside my old family home. The now dilapidated building, with it's dull red brickwork and windows covered with paper, looked almost haunted (sort of ironic considering)
    Looking up at it, I got an odd sense of nostalgia, it sort of hurt. Considering how long ago it had been when I was taken away from my childhood, ripped out of my comfortable life into a horribly perilous world of Passers.
    Like a magnet, something inside me was drawn towards it, I wanted to get inside again, to say goodbye again, in my own time.
    So I did, I walked toward it, vaulted the picket fence and reached out to touch the door. I closed my eyes, trying to focus, trying to attach to the reality I had once known, nearly 9 years ago. The memories came easily, buzzing back infront of my eyes.
    I see the moment when Keen first came, rapping hard on the door. "Mrs Worth?" he calls, I hide sheepishly behind the sofa, quivering with fright. Then comes the argument
    "You're not taking my son away! You filthy beast!" then the battering force of her fists against his body, "GET. AWAY. FROM. MY. SON!"
    I peeped up, slowly over the arm of the furniture to see what I never wanted to see, or ever understood. The me now paniced as these images flitted across my vision. Seeing Keen, touching my mum's forehead, a glowing light pulsating in his eye sockets. He stares deep and long into her wide blue eyes, she does nothing, she stands, entranced. Silent, I see her very life ebbing away as she slumps toward the floor. Then, I squeak. "No." he turns toward me, the devilish light disappeared. "ah.. Seth" he sighed, looking at me as a parent looks at a dying child. "it's going to be ok... I'm here for you now." he seemed to have forgotten about my mother. But I hadn't. Somewhere deep inside me I found my courage and spoke, boldly. "What did you do to my mum?" I asked, surprised at my own courage.
    "My dear boy," He mumbled, kneeling down infront of me. "She's dead."
    I felt my heart leap, angrily toward him, pounding against my ribcage. "What?" I mused. Shaking my head. "She can't be dead, she-she-she's my mum. Mums don't just die!" I began to yell, wanting to hurt this dirty, sneaky man so bad it almost burned me up inside with rage.
    "Im afraid sometimes, you need your real family."
    I stared at him, confused. "Mum was my real family."
    he laughed, a high screech of a laugh which I would really come to despise.
    "we think it better that you live with *ahem* your own kind"
    a light went out in his eyes then, replaced by a look of rage, bubbling just under the surface so it was just visible. He was trying to reason with me.
    "My own kind?" I asked, rubbing my chin thoughtfully. "what's that then?"
    that was the first time I was introduced to the word ; "Passer my boy, you're a passer."
    Still confused, not trying to be annoying I asked again "What's one of them?"
    "a Passer. We are a group of people who, have.... heightened senses," he blinked then for the first time, and then I saw a trickle of red weep from his eye, it slid slowly down his chalk white face and landed in a small puddle on the carpet. A gasp got stuck in my throat, blocked by a hard knot. "You mean.... I'm not a-a-a person?"
    Slowly the realisation sunk in, burning my head, breaking my heart. "Bu-"
    before I could finish my sentence he had his cold finger pressed against my lips. I could feel the pounding in my chest start up again, but all the air seemed gone from my body. Shaking his head, my stomach filled with acid, burning me up from the inside. I felt sick.
    "You were never a person, you were destined for-" he inhaled, a massive breath, filling his lungs to breaking point. "Much more."
    I looked up at him, the flame in my chest on the verge of imploding, turning my lungs to ash. "I don't want to" I stated, assuredly for the first time feeling in control.
    with solemn eyes he slipped his hand around mine, gripping me hard with his ice cold grip. "I'm afraid you have no choice... the wheels, have already been set in motion." Defiantly, the fire in my chest seemed to warm again, it gave me hope. "I'm not doing it... whatever it is."
    His eyes narrowed, he took in a short breath. Holding it for what felt like an eternity. before turning back around to stare at me. His eyes almost red with what I assumed was contained rage.
    In the future it would give him great pleasure to tell me how much he wanted to murder me then.
    But right at that moment I had no idea.
    I had no clue how dangerous he was in that moment.
    So I stupidly clutched at straws, not seeing how angry I was making him.
    "Are you going to take me away to somewhere safer now that you KILLED my mum!" I mumbled, trying to pull my hand away.
    Instead of answering me however, he reached out toward my forehead with his other hand, and touched me, a pained look now covering his previously fuming demeanour. The only thing I noticed at first was the chill which washed over my face, but after he lingered there for a few more moments a strange buzz of static electricity shocked my brain, pulsed up my spine. and then a clear thought, not mine, entered my head. nowhere is safe for us.
    I tried to pull away from him, to ask him what it meant but then another pulse, another thought became clear we are hated... everywhere.

    I gulped, my nine year old self could not comprehend what he was saying, nowhere to hide, nowhere to run where I could be safe, no mother or father to protect me. I would have to look after myself. As a 9 year old, it seemed impossible.
    I didn't realise, by now, that his hand had strayed from my head and was now tussling my hair. "Don't panic, you'll have us." I gulped, "Your family."

    That was it, I did NOT want to remember any more. So I snapped away from the door, and sat on the ground, tears stung at my eyes. Even though it had been 10 years, the memories were still truly revolting, heartbreaking, and terrifying.
    How I wished I could change my fate, but... as he had once told me, "you were born to breed, and that is all... we are nothing."
    the tears continued, slipping faster and faster down my cheek. the cold seemed to burn them on to my skin.
    Until something caught my eye, a flicker of shadow in the night, which drew me like a beacon. Something about the silhouette was familiar, but then deeply stirring as well. I gulped, as, some deep rooted fear stopped me from screaming. Instead I wanted to yell, after all, if it was a fellow passer, on it's own it could be a rebel. It really was a silly thought, but... what harm could it do?
    "Hey!" I screamed, hoping whatever it was, could hear me.
    Nothing, "dammit" I muttered, slapping my knee. Feeling more than a little stupid. I really shouldn't hope for something like that. I would go mad searching.
    Then all of a sudden, the shadow appeared in front of me. It's searching eyes piercing my own. It sniffed at me, around me, like a dog would. But, on looking down on it's paws, I realised it couldn't be a canine. It had, what looked like fingers... and feet.
    It was, a human... or at least, it had the anatomy of one. Just to check, I reached out. Slowly, my hand shaking, to touch it's head. I took a mental note of every shape I felt, Nose, Lips, teeth... Eyes,
    "Ow!" It shrieked, I jumped and backed away.. what the hell?
    As soon as I took my hand from it, it seemed different, scared, anxious, but also calmer. Respectful.
    It still wore it's curious expression, and stood, ready to spring, but I felt it's auror change, from a hungry flame red to a pale blue, almost invisible. It must have been trying to hide.
    "I'm sorry" I said, being careful not to touch it again.
    It nodded stepping out of the darkness so I could see it clearer. it's auror shifting again, to a rich yellow. I gasped, it was a friend.
    She, it was a girl. She had a slim face, her eyes glistened like Topaz, her teeth were pure white and slightly pointed.
    Her stance was, as I had noticed before, very much like a dog, she was on all fours, in the light I could see why, her hands, rather than being flexible and supple were stiff, a band of what looked like bone connected her fingers together. "oh." I sighed, still looking at them. I felt sorry for her, "that must be painful." I cooed, attempting to break the ice.
    "No... uh... not really, I'm used to it now... I guess." her voice had a hint of sadness, burried under her light, optimistic style.
    "oh.. ok..." I stutter, fumbling clumsily over my words. It was odd to see a passer with such, happiness. Also, a female passer was an odity.
    "so.. what're you doing here?" she asks, that same questioning look was on her face.
    "umm... I'm running" I state, sounding very silly. She obviously didn't think so, instead she looked concerned. "Oh, what're you running from?"
    I shrugged, not knowing exactly what to say. "Authority I guess..." I mumbled, shaking my head.
    "I've ran from that all my life, I don't think that's silly..." I gasped, how did she figure I was thinking that?
    "umm... that's odd..."
    "what's odd?" she asks, now bearing down a little more on me.
    "I didn't know that.. Passers... could do that.."
    "Do what? and what's a passer?" I was confused, how could this girl have no idea what she was? Surely she had experienced a similar childhood to mine.
    "A passer is someone who..." I stopped, trying to say something new, something kind, if I was going to drop it on her, I wouldn't do it as Keen had.
    "a passer is someone with powers, over people. Emotions, minds, feelings"
    She chuckled then, but I didn't understand what was so amusing. "My mother always called me a Tsukonin, I never knew what it meant." she explained. "I thought it was an insult, she'd say things like 'anata sukoshi tsukonin koko de shutoku!' and 'Anata namaiki sukoshi tsukonin'"
    "Aha!" I exclaimed "You're Japanese!" bouncing up and down on my knees. She laughed again, this time her smile lit up her entire face, "No... I was born there, but I was bought here" she swept her arm widely, nearly hitting me on the head ("sorry" wink "when I fell ill when I was a month old.. Still, my mother insisted on keeping the traditions.. parents are annoying like that."
    I shrugged, sat back on my bottom now. "I'd never know, I can't remember mine." while this wasn't necessarily true, I didn't want to bring up my troubles and plant them on a girl as innocent as this one. "that's really sad, parents are really important... my father saved my life" she stated, matter-of-factually, as if it barely mattered. I didn't want to dig deeper, I might hurt her. alternatively I asked her "so, what's your name?" Knowing she'll have no, depressingly factual and terribly thought provoking monologues about this,
    "My name is Kotonaru, it means Different in my home language. My mother always liked to point it out, and rub it in my face huh?"