Mistry by Moonlight

Preface

The Beginning of the End

I died when I was six. Drowned. I was out for a little over two minutes before my father, Doctor Mistry, managed to get me breathing again. But even that didn’t compare to now. I hadn’t seen death, really seen it until now. It was different from what I imagined, what I remembered. It wasn’t peaceful or reminiscent of life; it was cold, empty, and devoid of happiness and any other human feeling. It was lonely, unromantic, and completely downright terrifying. Somewhere at the back of my mind, I thought of the satire of how I would come to die now, after having gone through so much to be safe from the monsters that I never knew existed only hours before. Now, when things seemed possible, it would end almost as quickly as they’d started. But that’s what happens when you’re marked with death – it’s inevitable, a ticking time bomb. Tick, tick, tick, breathe in, breathe out; which would be my last?

I ran with as much force I could muster, feeling the balls of my feet push off the ground with raw energy, the shot of survival adrenaline pushing me further and faster than I’d ever run before until my lungs burnt fiercely from the exertion. My chest felt as though someone had poured kerosene over it and dropped a match on my flesh, and the only thing keeping me from collapsing from the pain was the knowledge of what was behind me. I knew if I hesitated, even for a second, that the monster pursuing me would indisputably kill me. I was alone now, and it was up to me to keep myself alive. After all this time, remaining hidden from the world, I almost couldn’t believe this was how it all would end. It all seemed unfair, considering everything I’d been through in the past year to get here. It felt too ironic to me that if I hadn’t worked so hard for my present life, I’d probably be dead already. I could never have run like this a year ago. But then, perhaps I wouldn’t have been marked with death in the first place if I hadn’t have left South Coast to make that life-altering change.

A blood-curdling scream sounded around me, and I tried not to let it distract me from my rhythmic paces. If I stopped now, it would all have been for nothing. Even if, realistically, I knew that I was not expected to survive this, and that realisation washed over me in a kind of morbid relief. It would soon be over.

Over.

Dead.

I felt my left leg buckle under the strain of exertion and let out a pained whimper. No, I couldn’t think that way. In the very least, I owed it to him to keep running. If I gave up now, I’d never see his face again, or feel his hand stroke my cheek, or hear the way he said my name as if it was the most sacred word ever uttered. I threw myself forward, hearing the leaves and debris crackle behind me, and knew I was almost out of time. The moisture began to overflow from my eyelids as I heard the steps grow nearer behind me, my head pounding with my heavy heart.

This was it. I was going to die.

I tried to push harder, but it was no use. I could feel my resolve weakening. To think that, up until recently, my biggest problem was the fact I couldn’t decide between the one I’d always wanted, the one who wanted me, and the one I could never have. To think that now, after I’d finally made the decision and achieved the life for myself that I’d always wanted, that it should be my time to die. At least it was a noble death.

Well, I guess you can’t live forever, no matter how hard you tried. This year was supposed to be my year – the year it all happened for me. But, instead, it ended up being my last. Who would have thought I’d see the light just when time was rapidly running out?

Such is fate.

Phase One

The Silver Dagger

I gazed out the small oval window of the aircraft at the Full Moon and took a deep breath. I exhaled slowly as my heart thumped unevenly in my chest, and I waited for the seatbelt sign to disappear so I could leave the plane. Home. South Coast. Finally, after a near twenty-four-hour delay at my stopover.

I’d left for Europe in the summer holidays separating my third and fourth year of veterinary science at university, and ended up deferring study for a year to stay. At the time, my decision hadn’t exactly thrilled my parents since my father, Doctor Jackson Mistry, had arranged an internship for me in Half Moon Bay, a small country town just north of South Coast City, for my first semester back. I didn’t regret passing up the opportunity, though. While the internship may have been priceless for my career aspirations, Europe had been an invaluable learning curve for my personal growth. During my time away, I was able to live in a different world where no one knew me. Where I wasn’t Jesse’s overweight twin sister, and where I could re-establish myself and really figure out who I was. For a year, I lived in Italy, moving around every couple of months and spending the odd long weekend in France.

I’d grown up a lot in that year after being forced into independent living, and I had changed more than just mentally and emotionally since I’d been gone. Before I’d left, I was invisible, miserable, depressed, and devoid of hope. The day I’d decided I needed to leave, I had hit rock bottom with brute force. I remembered the darkness of that plane trip to Paris. That day I’d cried every last tear that was left in me, and I’d made a promise to myself then and there that no one would ever make me feel like I wasn’t good enough. I never wanted to feel like I didn’t deserve happiness just because I didn’t look like everyone else. For as long as I could remember, I had been ashamed of my appearance. I looked in the mirror and saw a stranger staring back at me, a girl trapped in a body that didn’t belong to her. I remembered crying myself to sleep and praying that I wouldn’t wake the next morning, or maybe one day I’d discover I had a disorder which meant I was overweight for reasons beyond my control. Before that day, I had tried everything to lose weight and failed more times than I could count on one hand. That day, I began to formulate a plan to claw my way back up. The first thing I did was take control, which meant removing myself from the things that I’d used to hide behind. So, I decided a change was needed. I’d always wanted to travel, to experience Europe in its timeless culture and beautiful scenery, so I fled South Coast.

Every day I spent away, I’d made a conscious effort to meticulously plan every single piece of food that I put into my mouth, formulating the difference between grains, and milk products, between proteins and fats. I measured, weighed, and rationed my food, ensuring that my calorie intake was adequate to function without making me store in starvation. I then exercised to the point of my physical exhaustion. Luckily, the most effective mode of transport in France and Italy was by foot or bicycle.

It took a lot of effort and hard work over those eleven months, but by the time I began my long flight home, I had shed enough fat to take me down four dress sizes. For the first time in my life, the girl I saw when I looked into the mirror was one I could identify with. It was a long time coming, and after twenty-two years on this planet, I was finally accepting of myself.

Of course, with my new body came a newfound confidence, and when I met Leo, the scars from my childhood of being laughed at seemed to somehow heal in the way he looked at me. We forged an unforgettable bond in the less than twenty-four hours of knowing each other, and it was those final moments with him that I’d remember most vividly from my time abroad…

“I miss you already,” he whispered in his thick Italian accent, the memory of him tucking a piece of my long brown hair behind my ear swirling in my busy mind. His voice echoed in my subconscious. “Do not go; stay with me.”

I recall smiling shyly at the tempting offer. “You know I can’t, Leo. I have uni and my family and reality to get back to.”

“I wish we had more time. I wish I could have taken you out properly,” he sighed, kissing my hand tenderly. “Such is fate.”

I shook my head. “It’s better this way.”

“How can you say that? We have only had one day together. I still do not know you as well as I would like to,” he replied, my answer clearly offending him. I’d felt a small sense of delight in the fact.

“You know more than most people,” I’d answered honestly. People didn’t normally take the time to know me unless it was to use me to get close to Jesse. “What do you want to know?”

“Well, um, what is your favourite colour?” he whispered, a note of pleading desperation in his tone. It was as if the realisation that this was ending before it had the chance to begin was hitting him full force.

“Green – verde,” I said. “Though it changes. This week, it’s green.”

“Verde, si.” He nodded and then sighed. “You are so beautiful, Taylor….”

I exhaled at the memory of my last night in Rome. It had been only then that my transformation felt complete. When I felt like maybe I was good enough after all. I hadn’t seen any of my family or friends in the year I’d been away, and I knew that my makeover would come as a shock to them since twenty-two kilos was a substantial difference to anyone’s physique. The thought of going back scared me more than I allowed myself to admit because I didn’t know the new me in my old life. The world felt different now, and my former reality was an alternative one that I never wanted to visit again. My whole fundamental make-up had been completely made-over like I’d been irrevocably changed, mind, body, and soul – character shaped a little sharper from the experiences I’d faced and people I’d met while I was away. My entire world that had been lit fluorescently now felt like it was fading back to black, like a New Moon replacing a full one, with the sky being none the wiser.

My awareness faded back into my current aeroplane setting as the seatbelt light blinked off, and my attention snapped back to reality – to what I now had to face. Jesse.

“Oh my… geez, Tay, look at you,” my twin brother gushed, running his tanned hand through his ash-blond hair. “You look amazing.”

I smiled bashfully as I stepped forward to hug him with the arm not attached to my luggage. Jesse, on the other hand, wrapped both arms entirely around me, lifting me off my feet in a tight squeeze.

“Man, I’ve missed you,” he whispered into my ear. “I’m so glad you’re home.”

He released me and pulled back to look at me again, shaking his head incredulously.

“I missed you too, Jess,” I answered, unable to say that I was truly happy to be home. I had missed him more than anything or anyone, though. Regardless of us living in different social worlds growing up, Jesse and I were as close as twins get.

“You’re quiet,” Jesse said. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “I’m just tired. It was a long flight, and I can’t seem to sleep on planes.”

Jesse nodded and turned me towards the moonlit darkness outside, leading me towards his black Mercedes.

The lights on the freeway flashed sporadically overhead as Jesse drove us homeward, and I gazed absently into the passenger side mirror, watching as they passed as if each illuminating my homecoming.

“So, what’s it like?” Jesse asked, stealing a glance over at me. “You must feel different. Do people treat you different?”

“Yes, I suppose.” I shrugged. “I don’t know, I look different, but I thought I’d feel different, like, better or more comfortable in my skin, but it’s just the same.”

Jesse frowned. “You didn’t think losing the weight would change you into someone else, did you?”

I smiled weakly. “I kind of hoped it would. But all the insecurities are still there. I’m exactly the same, just with less to look at. It’s weird.”

“That’s a good thing,” he said. “We don’t want you to change; we love you the way you are – however you are.”

“Yes, you do,” I sighed, rolling my eyes. “But now I don’t know whether people… guys… want to be with me for me, or because of how I look. At least before I knew who my friends were, though they were few, they were loyal. I don’t know if I want to be around people who didn’t see me when I felt completely invisible.”

As the lights drifted overhead, my gaze caught sight of a sepia coloured animal limping by the side of the road. It was as if all my veterinary training came flooding back, and I jumped up in my seat.

“Pull over, Jesse!” I gasped, clutching at the door handle.

“What? Taylor, are you serious—?”

“Pull over now,” I repeated as he swerved the car. I told myself I wouldn’t have leapt from the moving vehicle, but I wasn’t entirely convinced of the fact, not that it mattered.

“Are you going to tell me…?” Jesse started, but I was already half out of the car. “Tay!”

“He’s hurt,” I called back over my shoulder, gesturing towards the obviously wounded animal.

“Taylor, are you crazy? Do you have a death wish?” Jesse barked. “Come back to the car! Taylor!”

I waved Jesse away and continued towards it as the large wolf turned its hypnotic eyes towards me, and my advance was momentarily suspended by the iced green of their colour. My pace slowed warily at the wild animal’s stare, but then its legs buckled from under it, and I noticed the shining silver weapon projecting from its right shoulder blade. I hurried over, sinking beside it, and gently stroked the animal’s fur as it whined in pain.

“Oh, God,” I breathed, pulling off my jacket and wrapping my hand around the handle of the protruding silver dagger.

“I’m sorry, this might hurt a little,” I whispered more for my own benefit.

The animal blinked in my direction, and there was something that resembled comprehension in its eyes. I felt it intake a breath as I pulled the weapon free from its body. I then pressed the fabric over the gaping wound.

“It’s deep,” I mused aloud. I was glad that, of all people, I was here to help the animal. Though, I’d only completed three of my five years of veterinary science. “I might have to—”

My inane muttering was cut off by a blood-curdling screech, and I reflexively covered my ears from the high-pitched noise. I turned to see the glass of the car windows and lights shatter behind me as a flash of white flittered past my back.

“Taylor!” Jesse called again, though unlike me, he seemed unaffected by the noise.

I couldn’t move, and my head pulsed with pressure as the scream continued. I squeezed my eyes closed just in time to feel four nails sink into the skin of my left shoulder, and then they shot open as the wolf sprang to life, knocking me onto my back as it leapt at whatever was behind me and then disappeared into the adjacent shrubbery. The screaming suddenly ceased, and I blinked in shock before grabbing my jacket and the silver dagger and running back to the car.

“What were you thinking? What was that?” Jesse asked angrily as I darted into the passenger seat, eager to get away from whatever was stalking me.

The car was already pulling back onto the road as I closed the door, the pieces of glass flying from the bonnet as he drove. My bloodstained hands shook with fright for the remainder of the silent trip home.

When Jesse pulled up the driveway to our childhood home, the front door swung open almost instantly, and my mum and dad ran to meet us. Their pace slowed as they momentarily assessed the damage to Jesse’s Mercedes.

“What happened?” my mother, Charlie, gasped. “Are you two all right?”

“Hi, Mum.” I smiled weakly, twisting my bloodstained hands around each other. She looked up at me and smiled widely.

“Taylor, honey, look at you! My baby girl,” she gushed, walking forward to hug me. “You’re tiny.”

I exhaled. “I’ve been getting fit.”

“I’ll say,” she sighed and looked back to my father. “Jack, doesn’t she look incredible?”

“Beautiful, as always,” my father answered as he stepped forward to hug me. “We missed you.”

“I missed you too, Dad.” I smiled weakly.

“Jesse, are you going to tell us what on earth happened to your car?” Mum asked. “And Taylor, why are your hands covered in blood?”

“It’s not my blood,” I replied instantly and then bit my lip. “But it’s my fault. Sort of. I saw an injured wolf on the side of the highway and tried to help it.”

“A wolf? Taylor, honestly!”