Tiger's Blood

You really don’t see it at first, but your life does flash by. I mean just look at me, 12 years of my life and it is all a blur. My mother died months after my little sister Lily was born. My mom was very wise, well to a four-year old she seemed wise. When Lily was born she had many issues. She came out very quiet and frail. When she tried to scream or cry, no sound came out of her mouth. The doctors told me they have never seen someone with Lily’s condition. Mom and dad still loved Lily no matter what she was like, and it seemed like they loved her more than me. Mother was an Owl Blood before she died.

In our world, Bitotem, everyone has a special Blood that they discover in a time in their life. Bloods are mutants, half animal half humans.We can mutate into our specific animal Blood whenever we feel that it is necessary. We mainly use our Bloods for hunting and traveling. No one knows where Bloods came from or what happened to normal humans some say we just evolved into these forms ourselves. Bloods have been in the world for centuries now. Your Blood is based off of your personality. When you discover your Blood, you have to learn how to use it and control it. Normally you discover your Blood between the ages of 16 and 20. It is rare if you discover your Blood before 16, extremely rare.

My dad is a Bear Blood; he has some anger problems. Ever since mom died, he has never been the same. He always has an eye on little Lily.

“Kira, get down here!!! Where is Lily’s medicine?!?!?” He yells angrily.

I run quickly down the stairs and I hand him the small white bottle.

“Kira that is the third time I asked you, why didn’t you listen to me the first time?” He looks at me with disappointment in his eyes.

“I’m sorry I just overslept. I haven’t been feeling well lately,” I tell him. “Well your sister is more important. She could be gone any day now,” he says then places Lily’s medicine on the counter.

He looks around the room and Lily starts coughing. “You give Lily her medicine then put her down for a nap. I’m going to the market to get more food or I’ll hunt. Whatever’s faster,” he grabs his key to the house then slams the door behind him.

I groan loudly then walk over to the living room. Four year old Lily is coughing up a storm. I give her a sip of water. Lily grabs my arm and starts crying and screaming silently. “Daddy went to the market. He should be back soon,” I say then held up a spoon of her medicine to her mouth. She frowns and shakes her head and I groan. “Please Lily, please take your medicine for me. I know you don’t like it, but the quicker you take it the quicker we get to storytime,” I say. She opens her mouth and takes her medicine. I pick her up and drag her to her room. I tuck her into her bed and pull out her favorite book, The Tale of The Two Tribes. “Ready for storytime?” I ask her. She nods and looks up happily into my eyes.

“The Tale of the Two Tribes. Once there were two great tribes that ruled in our glorious land of Bitotem hundreds of years ago. There was the Tiger Tribe and the Lion Tribe. They were two strong and brave tribes, but they had different views on the world. The Tigers value life in everything and believed that everybody should be equal and in peace. The Lions believed that everyone should follow under one leader and that leader should be King. There was a young boy Lion named Lyell and a young girl Tiger named Tullia. They became friends and later on, fell in love and wanted to get married. The Lion and Tiger Tribes refused to marry them because of their differences. Because of that, Lyell and Tullia ran away from the tribes and later had a child together.”

I stop reading to look at Lily rubbing her eyes. “Are you sleepy?” I ask her. She shakes her head then yawns. “I know you like this story, but I think we should stop for today and get some rest,” I say. She crawls on her hands and knees and bares her teeth like a Tiger and I smile. “I know you like the Tigers, but they are all dead now. Did you hear about the giant fire that killed them all years ago? You probably won’t remember Lily, it happened before you were born,” I say. She frowns at me then gives me a hug. “I know it’s sad. The Tigers seemed like great Bloods. Let’s get to bed now and I’ll tell you the rest of the story when you wake up ok?” I say.

She nods and lays back in the bed. I pull up the blankets and she rests her head on her soft pillow. I stroke her dirty blonde hair and feel her forehead. She has another fever again. This is the worst I’ve seen her. Maybe sleep will help her. I kiss her cheek and wait until she falls asleep. She closes her eyes and I stare at my little sister breathing lightly and I slowly stand up from her bed. My eyes get really heavy and I decide to go to sleep.

I am woken up by a loud, echoing cry. I jump out of bed and run swiftly across the hall to Lily’s room. Dad is crying, and in his hands little Lily is not moving or breathing. My dad looks at me and his face is red with anger. I silently walk away and go back to my room. I crawl under the covers and stare at the ceiling.

I can still hear the dreadful sobbing of my father in the other room. This is the first time I’ve ever seen him cry since mom passed away. His crying gets softer and softer until the front door slams loudly. I hear the wagon wheels squeak outside and I shift around in my bed. I think of the things that he might do with Lily. Take her to the hospital, go to the cemetery, and bury her next to mom, but I would rather not think about it and sit in silence. I stare only at the darkness around me.

The next morning, I have a raging appetite, which is not normal for me. I go downstairs and have a bigger breakfast than usual. I have two bowls of grapes, three glasses of milk, and five pieces of toast. “Wow, I ate almost the whole fridge!” I walk up to my dad’s room to ask him about my appetite. Hopefully he is back from wherever he went last night with Lily. I open his door quietly in case I wake him. “Dad?” I whisper. No response. I go up and pull the covers from his bed and throw them on the floor. The bed is empty. I start to think that he is still in the hospital with Lily. For a sickly four year old, Lily has been holding strong.

When she was born, the doctor said that she wouldn’t live longer than a couple of weeks. She pulled through and was getting a lot better. Lily was a cute sister. She had short, dirty blonde hair, light green eyes, and was a little clumsy. She was my only sibling, but now I know that she is happy in the next life with mom.

I sit on the couch and wait for dad to get home. Ten more hours slowly pass by and there is still no sign of him. This makes me a little mad. I look through the books that we have to see if there is anything about my strange appetite. After skimming through five books, I find no helpful information.

“AAAHH!!” a loud high pitched scream rings in my ears. I hear it again and I run outside to see who is screaming. I see nothing outside and I begin to walk back inside.

“SOMEONE HELP!!!” My ears sting and vibrate to the girl screaming in the distance. Who is that person screaming?

I start running in the direction of the screaming voice. I keep walking for 30 minutes or so and I stop when I see her. A little girl who looks five, maybe six. The worst part is she looks like Lily. She is stuck in a steep hole in the ground.

“C-Can you help me?” She asks, sobbing. “Hold on, I’m coming,” I say looking around.

I don’t have a rope or anything to pull her up with. I feel a strange urge and unexpectedly, I jumped down in the hole. She comes up to me and wraps her arms around my legs. I felt that urge again in my body and my arm twitches. It’s like my body is telling me I have to save her. I pick up the girl and I place her on my shoulders. She holds on really tightly as I start making my way up the hole.

I slowly go up step by step. I feel my legs wobble but it doesn’t stop me. I keep going until I’m on my knees at the top of the hole. The girl climbs off my back and starts walking away. I get up on my feet and brush dirt off my knees.

“Thank you so much,” the girl says. I turn to face her, but she is gone. That was strange. I look around for a few moments then turn around and go home. How did I hear a girl screaming from over a mile away? Why did she look like Lily? I ignore these questions for now and focus on getting back home.

I see my house up ahead of me. There is no wagon in the dirt driveway. He is still not home. This makes me so mad that my hands clench into fists. The least he could’ve done is left me a note or call me to tell me when he is getting back and where he is. I have a feeling that he left me here on purpose. Does he really hate me so much that he would leave me alone for a day and a half? He has never done anything like this and it makes me worry.

I open the door and the first thing that caught my eye was a note in the middle of the dinner table. That’s very odd. That wasn’t there this morning, at least I think it wasn’t there. When I got up this morning, I never saw it. I curiously pick up the note and read it. Daughter, I am at the hospital with your sister. If you need anything there is food in the fridge. Love you, Father. At the end of the letter, there is a strange symbol. It was a golden lion symbol with a large, fluffy mane and sharp teeth baring with red blood dripping down the fangs.

There are a couple of things that seem wrong about this letter. The first thing was he called me daughter. He has never called me that before. The second was the symbol. What is that symbol? Is he trying to tell me something? He has never written a symbol on any of his notes before. Come to think of it, he never leaves me notes when he leaves. Questions spin around in my head so fast that it makes me dizzy. I think for a moment before I decide to go to the hospital and see him.

I grab my purple backpack and fill it up with food, water, books, a couple of knives, and the note. I close the door behind me and walk in the direction of the hospital. Because of Lily’s medical needs, we needed to live by a hospital. The hospital is about 10 minutes by dads wagon. It shouldn’t take me too long to walk there. The ground is dry and hard as I walk at a slow pace. The trees stand tall and they blossom with green leaves and pretty flowers. About 20 minutes later, I arrive at the hospital. I walk in and it is like a dry desert in here. I walk around and see if anyone is here.

“Hello?” I yell. All I hear is my own voice echoing back at me. I walk upstairs and it is as quiet as a ghost. I start getting very curious. He told me he was at the hospital according to the note. This is the only hospital he would go to. Then why isn’t he here? This makes me so angry. I start pacing around in a circle; my hands turned into fists again. I scrunch up my face and close my eyes tightly while tears race down my cheeks. I give up, he said he was at the hospital, and I go there and find no one there. He’s probably dead now too, what am I going to do? I start breathing heavy and my heart beat faster than normal. Before I knew it, I was facing the ground…

I blink my eyes slowly. My body feels heavier than solid gold. I suddenly realize that I am still on the hospital floor. I pick up myself and I notice that I’m walking on all fours. I look down at my feet… they are not feet but paws the size of gloves.

Paws? It sounds creepy when I think of it. I look around for a mirror or something reflective. I try to walk to the bathroom, but I’m not doing do well walking on these paws. I slip and I trip everywhere. I finally stumble my way into a bathroom and look in the mirror and… I see paws, black stripes and white fur, sharp teeth, small round ears, and a…tail? Well, I’m obviously dreaming. I close my eyes and try to wake up. I open them and I am still looking at this creature in the mirror. I try to wake myself up. I take one of my claws and pierce it into my other paw. I feel a sharp pain and roar ferociously. I see blood dripping out of my paw then it hit me like a slap to the face. I’m not dreaming. This is real; I never knew that this was who I am. My name is Kira, and I am a Tiger Blood.