How about my Beasts? How did it gets attached to me and how I became a Shapeshifter in the first place? Well, if I didn't relate earlier in the chapters, it would be hard for someone to comprehend the chapters later on.
I was born as the only child and daughter in the family, and my name is Angelica Mae Tan, aged 26 years old, and those who knew me called me Ah-Mei or Mei for short. I am part Chinese and American descendant and am considered as a 3rd Gen Chi-Am. Mandarin was not part of my daily life since there's no one to practise it with.
How do I get these beasts in the first place, you may ask yourself this question, right? Well, it happened one night, when I was about 10 years old, I had a dream. A dream where I was walking in the kind of hazy mist, a flatlands with sparse trees and vegetations, and was walking around barefooted with just my teeny weeny frock.
I was literally calling out to everyone, my school mates, my pen pal buddies and even my parents and grandparents... But there was no answer, no hoot or squeak from the names I had been calling out to. I was getting scared out of my wits and the dream was surreal...! I couldn't shake off the dream as easily as I could and seems to be encapsulated in it.
I was walking around and saw a small cave, the entrance was enough for a small body of mine to fit in. The air surrounding me seemed to suck me towards the opening of the cave as I trudged in barefooted towards it. A smell of burning twigs and dry grass emitted near the opening of the cave and the slight smoke twisted out of the cave and into the air.
In my dream, I was tired and hungry and it seems to be hours that I had been walking aimlessly in the hazy most, from a densely forested area, right till I had reached a small knoll and a few spruce trees were around the grassy flatlands.
"Come in my child, take shelter within here, away from the cold and wet. You seemed to have your way here, despite the feeling of being lost in this dream world of yours."
A gentle elderly woman's voice floated near the entrance of the cave, beckoning me to enter through it. From the wavering shadows of the small flickering campfire, I could see that she was dressed kinda weird as if I was thrown into the era of Native Americans.
She was brightly dressed, a long loose dressed the was white with the imprint of a great mountain on her chest accompanied by other designs such as the sun and moon with wisps of clouds, and the paw prints on certain parts of her robe. She had a long wooden staff on her left hand and had several necklaces made from carved stones and pieces of bone or teeth.
She beckoned me closer and my feet seemed to have a mind in its own. As I glided, yes... Simply glided towards her in that particular dream, the elderly lady held out her hand and reached for mine as she ushered me inside.
"You must be tired and hungry, my child... Come and take a seat here and share the food with me that I had long prepared. Come... Don't be afraid."
She patted on the ground beside her that had been covered with a thatched flooring that was made from a kind of leaves that had been woven. I timidly approached her and smoothen my girly frock before I sat down, cross-legged, facing the elderly lady. She doesn't seem too old, in fact, she does seem to have some crows legs next to her eyes, and other than that she seems to be in the mid 40ish.
She scooped up something from her sides and passed me a wooden bowl and spoon which I reached out with both of my tiny hands to receive it. I looked at it and found to contain some steamed rice with bits of greens and sprinkled herbs.
"Thank you... Errr, auntie." I said to her and addressed her as 'auntie' as it was a commonly used term for me addressing an elderly woman with no relations at all to me. "Hahaha. Don't call me that. I am not too old, you know. Call me Milagra or just Mila would be fine. I am from the Moscagee tribe that worships the earth and those who dwells in them."
"Thank you, Auntie Milla. Its a habit to call someone with the term 'auntie' even though it is not related to show respect, my parents taught me that." I was explaining to her as I took and spoonful and stuffed it into my mouth. I was hungry and I don't mind the herbs and spices that were sprinkled on the rice along with a taste of fish.
Suddenly I felt something nudged at my knee and when I held my hands to it, I felt something furry and warm. Puppies...! How I love those cute, adorable, playful puppies...!! I placed my half-eaten bowl of rice in the floor in front of me and I groped for the warm fuzzy puppy head. I can feel two of them, and both had warm and fuzzy furs and long tails too.
"Mew... Mew..." the two puppies began to mew in my hands as I reached and caressed them in the semi-darkness. Eh... Puppies weren't supposed to mew right? They supposed to give a kind of weak bark or a squeal that sounded like piglets.
"Auntie Milla, you have puppies in here? They felt like one but they sounded like kittens to me..." I asked as I tried to pull one closer. "Come, I help you, my child. Those are cubs actually, and they seemed heavier than your usual puppy which you had in your mind."
Milla stood up and went over to my sides and carried the cubs that she mentioned. "Cubs? What are those? I know only cats and dogs but I don't know the term cubs before..." I thought to myself as I squinted my eyes to see those two 'cubs' that Auntie Milla was cradling in front of her while she took a seat at her spot once more.
She cradled the two 'cubs' on her lap and it looked cute beyond words..."Oh... These puppies... I mean the cubs are so cute and adorable...I like this one, the colour of the fur and the spots on its face that looked like an American Footballer. Hii... Hii... Hii..." I can't help giggling as I looked at it after I had stuffed my face with the remaining food that was in the bowl.
It was purring in the arms of Auntie Milla while the other one had black lines across the face till it reached its sides of the mouth. Its ears were round and it looked at me with its lovey-dovey eyes and squeaked a little catlike mew to me.
"Hii... Hii... This one looks cute too. Waahhh... They looked rather like kittens to me now rather than puppies. Hii...Hii..." I giggled and it filled the little cave with a slight echo as my giggles trailed off in its semi-darkness.
I reached out and sat closer to Auntie Milla as I stroked its head and rubbed underneath their throat area and both closed their eyes in delight and swished their tails about. My giggles had made me forget the lonesome feeling when I was literally walking aimlessly in the mist and in the jungle. It even made me forget that it was part of my dream...