Somewhere in Shanghai in a small, compacted apartment on the 6th floor, a woman's wails of agony could be heard. The curtains covering the windows fluttered, as if a breeze had kissed it, before it stilled and left a gap for the dark night to peep in, and a single star watched. With trembling hands, the woman reached down under her covers and pulled out something slimy and soft, covered in blood. She sniffed it once, and the thing in her hands shifted, its tiny face scrunching up in a crying expression. Her heart wavered as the thing tried to tug at her hands, but a feeling of unease stopped her from trying to comfort it. This child…
It wasn't hers.
Sure, she had given birth to it, but the woman just had that restlessness in her nerves, screaming at her to drop the thing and run away. But she knew she couldn't do that.
The woman glanced outside her bedroom window, through the gap of the curtains illuminated by two full moons which were pinned to the black night like decorations. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw a sparkle, a speck of light. Whatever it was, it was there, and it was watching her —before it blinked and disappeared. The woman turned her gaze back to the child. It was asleep now, and the blood on it had mostly dripped onto the bed covers, revealing a round and adorable face. She managed a tired smile, cradling it close in her arms as the child gurgled and rested its head on her chest, listening to her heartbeat.
BA-DUMP! BA-DUMP!
The woman closed her eyes and sighed, "Perhaps you were meant to be born today, on a day where the moons are their brightest and fullest. I do not know why you are mine, but let this be fate. We will spend the rest of our lives together, connected with the link of Mother and Son. May our Gods, Ajax and Alba, gift us their blessings for your birth. I shall name you…
Esme."
* Esme means "kind defender." He'll grow up to protect others in the time of need.
BE READY FOR TWISTS AND TURNS UnU !
CONTINUE CHAPTER 1
The moment Esme was born; he knew he was different. To be exact, he didn't just know. He felt it. Everyone in this world looked like human, but they all had some animal characteristics. For example, his mother had the beautiful face and body of a woman, but she also had the ears, hind legs and tail of a deer. And so did everyone else (of course it wasn't just deer characteristics, though). Some people didn't have animal-like hind legs, but just ears and tail. Or, they only have animal characteristics at certain times of the day, like daytime or nighttime. There was also a small amount of people who only had the eyes of an animal, but they were really rare.
However, nobody can compare to Esme, the rarest of them all! He had nothing; no tail, no animal ears, no hind-legs and no animal eyes. He was just… human. But that didn't make him shy or diffident, he knew that differences are what makes one unique, so he was proud of what he was! Although that did make him an easy target for bullies to pry on, but they only bad-mouthed him so it wasn't that serious.
Esme's mother loved her son's resilient personality, and how he sees the world through bright eyes but Esme could be a mischief-maker sometimes, and their neighbors often complained about his tricks.
"Mrs. Roa! This is the 3rd time Esme has kicked his ball over my fence and broke my windows! I know he's a kid, but seriously! You need to discipline him more properly," one neighbor had said when Esme had accidentally used too much strength on a new soccer ball his mother had given him and it went flying over the tall fence separating the two houses, and smacked right into a magnificent tainted glass window.
Another slightly unpleasant memory was when one of Esme's mother's friend's daughter had to go on a field trip to Australia and she had left Esme her pet bird to look after. She had given him a list of things to do and not to do, however, Esme stupidly lost it by soaking the list in hot chocolate to see if the paper's colour would change. By the time the girl came back, the bird was half dead from lack of water and food (Esme's mother had gone out for work so she couldn't take care of the bird either) and she had screamed at Esme on how he was "useless" and she never wanted to talk to him again. Esme's mother apologized to the girl's mother on his son's behalf and gave Esme a fierce scolding. And by fierce scolding she meant this:
"Esme, you need to take better of the bird next time! She trusted you to look after it, so the least you could do is just do what she says," Esme's mother exhaled, rubbing her temples.
"I'm sorry, mother. But I just needed to see if the paper would change colour if I soaked it in hot chocolate! I didn't know it would later be all soggy and rip as soon I touched it…" Esme replied with forlorn look on his face.
"Oh, my little Esme… c'mere."
And then they would hug and Esme's mother would give Esme a little treat.
The little boy wanted nothing more than to continue the life the way it is now; with his gentle mother by his side and her sweet voice singing him to sleep. As long as this stayed the same, he didn't mind the talks behind his back or the other kids bullying him. He won't even mind if people hated him!
But good times never last.
They only become a memory, a reminiscence of what life once was… before everything changed
forever.