Chapter 02: The Monster They See.

Violet’s POV

I was still standing there, body burning from the inside out, chest heaving, heat curling beneath my skin like it was trying to claw its way out.

Liam wasn’t moving, he just lay there, blood trickling from too many places, staining the floor, his mouth hung slightly open and eyes were unfocused.

I couldn’t look away despite wanting to.

Around me, voices buzzed like angry flies, phones were out, recording, whispering and filming me.

Sasha took a step forward, face twisted between fear and disbelief. “Violet…” she choked. “What the actual fuck...what did you do?!”

I blinked at her, then at Liam and suddenly, the room tilted cause my eyes were clearly heavy, I took a slow, shaky step toward him.

But Sasha screamed. “Stay away from him!”

I froze as more phones were up now, more eyes watching me with nothing but fear and horror.

“She’s a monster,” someone muttered behind me.

“That monster hurt Liam.”

Another voice shouted, “Call the police! No, the army...call SSS! We have a fucking monster in our school!”

I stared at them, numb.

Monster?

I turned to explain, to tell them I didn’t know what was happening, that I didn’t mean to hurt him, but the moment I lifted my hand...

Then I saw it, my hands weren't mine.

The fingers were longer, stretched, claws replacing my nails. Fur...actual fur...sprouted along my wrist like it was growing out of me, wrapping around my skin like a sick costume I never asked to wear.

I gasped loudly, it echoed in my ears, but it didn’t come out as a gasp, it came out as a growl, low, deep and inhuman, the kind of sound you’d hear in nightmares right before you died.

A few students screamed, one girl threw her phone at me, another hurled a water bottle, something hit my shoulder, another hit my leg, they were throwing things at me like I was some kind of rabid animal.

“No, wait...” I tried to say.

But what came out was another growl, louder this time, broken and wild.

I stumbled back, eyes wide, trying to look at my own arms, trying to make sense of what the hell I was becoming as people shrieked louder, someone shouted that I was going to kill them next.

I wasn’t. I swear, I wasn’t.

I didn’t even know what I was doing.

And then, one guy, one of those sports jocks who always smelled like energy drinks and ego crouched beside Liam, his fingers pressed into Liam’s neck, checking his pulse.

Everyone held their breath, the boy’s expression slowly morphed from focused to horrified as he looked up.

“He’s not breathing,” he said. “He’s… he’s gone. His pulse is gone.”

For a second, the hallway held its breath, then chaos detonated.

Some students bolted like wild animals, sprinting down the corridor, slipping on the tiles in their panic. Others stayed frozen where they stood, too afraid to move, eyes wide with horror, phones still aimed at me like I was a caged beast they weren’t sure would break loose or drop dead. My body remained rooted in place, arms trembling, claws twitching. I felt every gaze pressing into my skin, branding me with fear and judgment I hadn’t even earned and I… I couldn’t move.

I wanted to scream that it wasn’t supposed to be like this, that I didn’t mean it, that I didn’t know how or why.

But every time I opened my mouth, the words refused to form, my lips moved, but all that escaped were low, ragged breaths. My throat burned as if my voice had been scraped raw from the inside out.

Panic rose like bile, my breathing turned sharp and shallow. Everything was too loud, too sharp, I could hear footsteps from the other side of the building, conversations from classrooms I wasn’t near, I could even hear the cruel things they weren’t saying aloud.

“Freak.”

“Monster.”

“She’s not even human.”

“She killed him. She really killed him.”

I clutched my head, blinking rapidly, trying to shut it all out. “I’m not a monster,” I rasped, but it came out broken, cracked, and barely human."I... I need to leave, I need a doctor or a pastor." I cried.

Sasha’s voice suddenly sliced through the noise.“Don’t let her escape! The police are near.”

I turned to her sharply, eyes wild, and found her pointing straight at me with a look that made my stomach cave in.

She didn’t just look afraid, she looked like she hated me, like I was a plague she wanted wiped from existence.

Tears welled up in my eyes, my throat tightened so hard I could barely breathe.

“What did I ever do to you?” I whispered. “I’ve always been your sister. I...I protected you. I cleaned up after your mess, I covered for you, I loved you.”

But her stare only hardened and I took a step back.

“I’m not a monster. I didn't kill him!” I said again, louder this time.

Then I heard them.

Sirens, loud, close and real.

A sharp chorus of tires screeching and boots hitting the pavement. The students began to split, parting down the center. The crowd made room, and through it came armed officers in black gear, bulletproof vests, and rifles already raised... Did they come for me? But I'm not a criminal!

“There!” Sasha screamed, pointing right at me again like she was proud. “She murdered Liam! That thing is not human, it’s an abomination!”

The moment her words hit the air, red laser sights flicked onto my chest, guns were drawn, trained and safety catches clicked.

“Violet Black!” one of them shouted. “You are under arrest for the suspected murder of Liam Henry!”

I stumbled backward, shaking my head violently. “What?! No... how is a slap supposed to kill a fully grown man?! That doesn’t even make sense!”

“Stay where you are!”

“Hands up!”

The officers fanned out, forming a barricade, slowly circling around me, my body was burning from the inside out, I could feel it, something was trying to claw its way out of me again but I was still just standing there, trembling, terrified, still wearing the pain and confusion.

Then Sasha laughed... It was quiet but I heard it loud and clear.

She folded her arms and shook her head, loud enough for everyone to hear. “You were always desperate to belong, weren’t you? No matter what you did, no one ever really wanted you. Not dad. Not Liam. Not me. Because deep down, we all knew you weren’t one of us.”

“Stop…” I muttered.

“You’re just a mistake that survived too long. That’s all you’ve ever been.”

“Please stop.”

More people were staring, some students nodded in agreement, some were whispering behind their hands again, I could still hear their voices,

"She’s dangerous."

"She should be put down."

"Kill it before it kills someone else."

Sasha’s voice pierced through it all. “You were born to ruin lives and now everyone knows.”

Something in me cracked, like a mirror that had been shattering piece by piece… and had finally given up.

I let out a scream, louder than before, wild and broken.

The sky outside darkened instantly, clouds surged unnaturally fast. Winds howled through the hallway windows, the fluorescent lights above us began to flicker, and then they exploded, showering sparks across the floor.

I couldn’t breathe or see clearly, there was fire inside me, a fire filled with lightning and pain.

I saw people running, tripping over each other, police screaming for backup.

“Violet Black...get on the ground now!”

But I couldn’t move, I didn’t know how to stop it.

Sasha was still there, still staring, still holding onto that look like it was her trophy, "You should have stayed dead when I tried to kill you many times, now the whole world knows the kind of monster you are."

I snapped toward her, heart racing. “Shut up!”

A blast of blinding white energy erupted from my body and hit her directly.

She screamed, hands flying to her face as she dropped to her knees, her cries piercing the air. Smoke curled from her palms, and the raw skin beneath blistered, blackened, and peeled. Her shriek turned animalistic as blood mixed with fire, dripping between her fingers while her body trembled in agony.

I didn’t mean to hurt her, God, I didn’t mean to but before I could even process what I’d done, the police lunged, guns raised, commands shouted.

Too late.

My body reacted before my mind could catch up, panic gripped me as another surge of power exploded from my chest, louder, wilder, unstoppable, my scream tore through the air, and the ground beneath us split like it had had enough of holding me up.

Walls cracked, lights burst, a deafening wave of energy rippled out of me and officers were thrown back, some slammed into the walls and two caught fire.

Everything burned...again. The air, the floor, the people who got too close alarms blared somewhere in the distance, echoing over the cries, the chaos, the ruin I’d left behind.

And then...White, everything turned white.

My knees gave out and I hit the ground, except it didn’t feel like a fall, it felt like the world finally gave up on holding me.

I collapsed into a pool of light and blood and smoke, shaking, spent and barely breathing, I was unconscious and alone.

A murder suspect with claws and glowing skin, if this is what being alive felt like...

Then God... please. Let me die now.