The Fillmore Ch 2

Hey there! First of all, thank you for taking the time to read my work. This is my first attempt at a novel, and it is proving to be a challenge! I welcome encourage any and all feedback. Tell me what you think, good, bad, or otherwise. I try to always return the favor with a review or gp's, so don't hold back! Thank you again, and I hope you enjoy...
NM

Chapter 2
         It was dark. There was no sound, save for the rain pelting the window of Zoey’s small bedroom. The teenaged girl peeked out from under her comforter and looked around. She didn’t want to risk getting up, but the pressure in her bladder urged her on. The room was empty, so she got up and quietly moved to the door. Peeking around the edge, the hallway was just as dark and empty as her bedroom.
         She held her breath as she passed the closed door she knew her father was sleeping behind. Pausing, she heard his snoring, so she crept forward.
         After an eternity, she reached the bathroom. Easing the door through the minor squeak in the hinges, she closed it and hurried to the toilet. She didn’t bother turning on the light, she knew the bathroom well enough to avoid the risk.
         Once she was finished, she pulled the door open again, prepared for the long, quiet walk back to bed. She forgot about the squeak though, and cringed as the sound seemed to cut right through the darkness. Abandoning the door, she hurried as silently as possible back to the safety of her bed. At thirteen years old, she knew her bed wasn’t truly safe, but it provided a false sense of comfort.
         Suddenly, a streak of light appeared across her back. She froze, much like an animal caught in the headlights of a car coming right at it. Her father’s voice bellowing about something, his thick, meaty hand grabbed her by the arm. She cried silently, pulling against his immense strength, begging forgiveness, as he dragged her into his room.
         She pleaded with the man until he silenced her with the back of his hand. Her eyes were pressed so tightly shut, the tears didn’t even leak out as he began the nightly ritual. She’d gone to sleep, thinking she’d been lucky enough to be forgotten that night, but he never forgot.


         Zoey awoke again the next day to a dark and empty room. Sitting up in the bed, her mind felt sluggish and her mouth was dry with an unpleasant taste. She wasn’t sure how she’d gotten into the bed, she didn’t remember Sheena leaving the room. All she remembered was getting very, very angry and striking out at Sheena, and more people coming in and striking at them too. She felt bad for lashing out, but Zoey did not know these people, and what was worse, she didn’t know what they expected of her. That scared the hell out of her.
         Even now, she was terrified. What would they do to her? She knew she would be punished, a fit like that didn’t just go unnoticed. Zoey was silently going over plans in her head. She knew she had to get out of there, and fast. They had provided her with supplies that could last her a long time, all she needed was a backpack of some sort. She made her decision.
         Turning on the lamp next to the bed, Zoey spotted an envelope and what looked like a glass of juice on her night table. She picked up the glass and sniffed it, it smelled sweet and almost fruity, but it was a bright blue color, and thicker than juice. Not trusting it, she set the glass back down and picked up the envelope instead. It had her name on the front, so she slid the note out and began to read:


Zoey,

Please drink the contents of the glass left on your night table, it is a potion to help clear the remaining sedative from your body. It tastes pleasant and should help with the dryness of your mouth.

When you are finished, please clean yourself up and get dressed. I have enclosed a map of this floor directing you to my office. I trust that you will be able to find your way without much problem. Please make haste and do not delay.

Also, I must assure you that no one in this organization is going to hurt you, let alone punish you in any way for last night. That is not our intention.

Claire Sharp
-Fillmore Counselor

         Zoey hesitated, contemplating her next move. She wanted to get out of this place and finish what she had set out to do in the first place, but she did not know the layout of the building. Judging by the view from her window last night, she thought the city was several miles away. They could be completely isolated out here.
         Deciding that obeying instructions was her safest route for the moment, she picked up the glass and gulped down it’s contents. It was pleasant tasting and the uncomfortable dryness in her mouth was relieved almost instantly. She was surprised when she felt a jolt of energy and her mind also cleared considerably. She still didn’t know what to make of all this though. She’d been lied to by one person or another for her whole life, and she knew she could not trust these people.
         Not wanting Claire to come looking for her, Zoey got up to make her way into the bathroom. As she stood, she realized all her muscles were aching, and she felt light headed and hot. She wondered how long it had been since she last ate, but it didn’t matter, so she got moving.
         Stepping into the bathroom, Zoey found everything she needed to get cleaned up, as well as many luxury items she’d never been allowed to have before. One of those was the huge, fluffy towels in the cabinet by the shower. She quickly stripped and got into the shower, cleaning her body thoroughly and efficiently as she’d learned years ago. Showers were places of vulnerability, and she did not want to stay there long.
         Once she was dried off, she went back into the bedroom. Standing in front of the open closet, she had more time to look through it’s contents. It appeared as if everything inside was adorned with some designer label or another. Zoey had never had any say in the clothing that she wore, so she didn’t know much about labels, but she knew enough to realize there were thousands of dollars worth of clothes in here. Again, she picked out the most modest looking items and put them on. The outfit was much the same as the one she had worn the night before, jeans and a long sleeved top.
         Map in hand, Zoey set out to meet her fate. The halls proved rather easy to navigate, as the hand drawn map was very detailed, and most of the doors had brass plaques stating what was inside. The whole time Zoey was walking, she was so sure she was being summoned for some form of punishment, that once she reached the door reading “Claire Sharp: Counselor”, she was nearly hyperventilating. She wasn’t sure if she was supposed to knock here or just come in, so she raised her hand to knock. Before her knuckles could come in contact with the heavy oak, though, a voice rang out from inside.
         “Come on in Zoey!” Startled, Zoey looked wildly at the door and then up to both sides, looking for a camera. Seeing none, she took a deep breath and pushed the door open. Inside, there was an empty desk that could serve a secretary and several comfortable looking chairs along the wall. It appeared to be a waiting room. Raising her eyes, she found the source of the musical sounding voice standing in an open doorway across from the one she herself was hesitating in.
         The woman was closer to Zoey’s height than Sheena had been, around five feet two inches. She had pale skin with cute freckles, and brilliant green eyes. Her wavy red hair fell clear down the small of her back, and seemed to shimmer even when she wasn’t moving. She appeared to be in her early twenties, but Zoey knew that could not be right, she could see it in Claire’s eyes, she was old. The woman held herself with the kind of poise you only see in the incredibly rich, the kind of people who go to things called ‘galas’. But at the same time, gave off an air of playfulness that intrigued Zoey.
         “How-” she started before getting cut off immediately.
         “We will get to that in just a minute dear, we have much to discuss and little time to do it in. Please come in here and have a seat.” Claire turned and walked into the room, so Zoey just followed. Inside, she found walls painted cheery yellow and two overstuffed couches with matching arm chairs. Claire planted herself on one of the couches, so Zoey chose an armchair across from her and sat down warily, waiting for the other woman to say something.
         “My name is Claire Sharp, and I am the counselor for the Fillmore Orientation Center. You can call me Claire. First of all, you need to eat, and now.” She produced a covered dish from a small table beside her and placed it on the coffee table between her and Zoey. Zoey looked at it suspiciously but peeked under the lid. As she did so, the most amazing scent rolled out to meet her nose, meat, and bread! She tucked into the food eagerly, keeping one wary eye on Claire the entire time.
         When she finished, Claire went on, “Now, Zoey, I am familiar with the circumstances of your first death, as well as some of your life leading up to it. Having said that, I will admit that your introduction should have been handled much differently. I am sorry I allowed you to be put in a position that caused so much discomfort for you. The purpose of this establishment is to provide you with a safe and comfortable environment to adjust to your new life.”
         “I don’t understand what you mean when you say ‘new life’. I also don’t understand why I did not die.” Zoey replied quietly.
         “Did Sheena get to the story of Our Lady?”
         “Um…no…I kind of-”
         “Ah yes, it’s alright dear. Those kinds of- episodes- are not uncommon here. But before I tell you this story, I need you to understand something. There are some horrible people out there, ones who do awful things to good people, and we are not them. This place exists to help the people unfortunate enough to have come into contact with them. We want you to be happy, comfortable, and most of all, safe. We will never hurt you here.” Zoey seemed to physically relax, she was slowly beginning to trust this woman, so she simply nodded.          
         “Okay,” Claire took a deep breath and began. “You and Our Lady had much in common believe it or not. She was born centuries ago, to two despicable, pathetic people. Her mother was a drug user and was often too stoned to pay attention to her child. The father abused her body and her mind from the age of six until her eighteenth birthday. She chose that day to leave her home and her parents behind, and start a new life. He caught her just as she was packing the last of her things. He lumbered, drunk, into her room and demanded to know where she thought she was going. Her will to live was incredibly strong and that hateful man had never broken it. She intended to stand up to him that day, so she told him she was going, and that he did not have permission to touch her ever again. He hit her across the face so hard he broke her cheekbone and her jaw. He then proceeded to violate her for the last time, more violently and brutally than ever before. She was left there, bleeding on the floor and alone in the last moments of her life.”
         Zoey did not say anything. The sorrow in her eyes was more than enough for Claire.
         “The story does not end there though. Instead of dying, the girl got up several minutes later, enraged. She was so angry, that her skin and her bones began to shift. Her entire body shifted and changed until there was a great lioness standing in the middle of her bedroom. The girl could not be bothered by this though, she was too determined to take her revenge. She went into the den, where her father lay, asleep, in the chair. She stood in front of him and growled, until he woke up and saw the creature in front of him. Then she had her revenge.”
         “She killed him?” Zoey asked, looking up at Claire.
         “Yes, Zoey, she did. Life is a precious gift given to each of us equally and without discrimination, and should not be taken lightly. But sometimes it must be done. Our Lady was not the first shifter, but she was the first to acknowledge the strain other shifters must be under, trying to adjust to a new life. She dedicated her life to establishing places like this one. We as a species now flourish, thanks to her.” From the moment Claire mentioned the lion, Zoey knew she was being put on. They were giving her hope, just so they could rip it away later. She resolved to get the heck out of there as soon as possible. Claire seemed to realize the thoughts going through Zoey’s mind.
         “Maybe this will help honey.” Claire stood and walked over to a corner of the room, where a screen had been erected. She stepped behind it and began removing her clothes, tossing them onto the top of the screen. Then, she turned on a lamp so that Zoey could see her silhouette, and it was some silhouette. Suddenly, Claire’s arms began lengthening, and growing more muscular, as did her legs. Her back got longer as well, until she was down on all fours, and then the really scary thing happened. A long thin something emerged from the base of Claire’s spine and began to grow. It was a tail. The entire process took only about three minutes, but before she knew it, there was a lion sitting in the room.
         “Oh…my…god…” Zoey said. She stared at the large cat for awhile, acceptance sinking into her mind. The lion moved back behind the screen, and a couple minutes later, Claire emerged.          
         “Take a look at yourself Zoey. You jumped off the top of a thirty story office building last you remember, correct?” She waited for Zoey to nod in agreement before continuing. “That was four days ago. You have no injuries or scars, and no pain right? Any pain at all?” Zoey began to nod again but stopped herself. Concentrating, she felt absolutely no pain at all. It was a little disconcerting to realize how many aches and pains she had been living with when confronted with their total absence. Claire seemed to take her expression as confirmation and continued.
         “Everything I’ve told you is the truth. You died four days ago, but you came back as a shifter. One of our staff has the ability to sense when a human is about to turn, and we collected your body before anyone could identify you.”
         “I am not supposed to be here.” Zoey said flatly. “I killed myself, and I am supposed to be dead. I do not deserve to live.” Claire’s eyes widened in concern, but her face softened, showing compassion.
         “Oh Zoey, I do not believe that for a moment. I highly doubt you could have done anything horrible enough to warrant this belief. You are a good person with a good heart.”
         “You don’t know me. I am a worthless waste of space, and too weak to ever amount to anything. I am stupid and there is no point in me staying in this world! I killed myself so I would not have to live with the pain anymore!” Zoey had come to her feet at this point, fists clenched at her sides and leaning toward Claire as if to make herself look threatening. “I cant handle the pain and I DON’T WANT IT!” she screamed, her anger and pain boiling over into her words. The things she had fought against and kept inside for so many years were finally showing themselves and Zoey didn’t think she could stop them from pouring out. “If I was a good person like you said, then Sissy never would have-” she cut herself off before that thought could complete itself. Sissy was someone she did not think about anymore, the pain from that part of her life had been far to great to deal with, and it was better buried under all her other, more bearable, pain. Dropping back into the chair, Zoey seemed deflated. Claire knew many of the details of the girl’s previous life, but obviously not all of them.
         “Who is Sissy?”
         “No one. I don’t talk about her. I’m just not good like you say.”
         “When a person becomes a shifter, they usually develop a special ability. Mine is the ability to see auras. I can tell what you are feeling, and what kind of person you are. I can tell if you use drugs, and if you have any psychological disorders. My ability does not lie. Do you want to know what I see?”
         “No.” Zoey replied. She went on anyway.
         “I see someone who has suffered a great deal of pain in her life, as well as a great loss. I see someone who has learned to appear hardened to others, but deep down is a kind, caring, good hearted woman. Someone who is terrified of all people around her, and has good reason to be. Zoey, I know you better than you probably even know yourself, and you are a good person. Even more, I sense that you are capable of doing good things, can and will do great things for others.” For the first time in her life, Zoey felt like someone believed in her. No one had ever told her she was a good person, or that she had any good traits. But here was this woman she had only met a little while ago, telling her all the good things about herself. She stood up, and Claire hugged her around the waist. She tensed as if to pull away, but relaxed a moment later, hugging the woman back.
         “It’s going to be alright honey. You’re safe here.” The two women talked for awhile longer, establishing somewhat of a relationship.
         Just as Zoey was deciding she would trust this strange woman, Claire sent her back to her room to get some more rest, explaining that new shifters needed lots of sleep for all of the changes to take place in their bodies. “Please speak freely with me Zoey, if you have any questions or just something you want to yell about, come and see me, ok? I’ll take good care of you.” She gave Zoey a maternal smile and saw her to the door.