Shifter: A super hero story

Liam wasn’t sure he heard what he thought he heard. He took his headphones out and paused his progression towards work. There it was again, a deep rumble followed by a higher shout. It sounded like two voices.

Scanning the street, Liam looked for the voices. All that could be seen were the cookie cutter houses that held the lives of boring suburbanites, the divide at the end of the street where the lawns became less manicured, the building became taller, turning into businesses with semi-functional flats above them, and a few cars. Everything was as it always was. Still, Liam had the feeling you get right before you turn around to see that one friend getting into another bar fight and knowing you are going to have to help security drag him out.

Liam listened but he couldn’t hear the voices again. He shoved his headphones into his pocket and kept walking, watching the sidewalk fill with progressively more cracks as he neared the business side of town.

Movement caught Liam’s attention, stopping his progress once more, and he heard the high pitched shout again.

Jared had been standing outside smoking his first of cigarettes for the day. It was quite early yet so he the business he was loitering in front of had yet to open and he suspected he would be alone for a bit longer before the morning work commute brought people this way. That’s when a woman with long wavy black hair and according to Jared curves in all the right places walked by.

After a long slow drag from his cig, Jared let out a low whistle. “Ooo, baby aren’t you fine.” he stepped out in front of the women.

She attempted to push by him but he grabbed her wrist and pulled her into him. The woman let out a shout. Jared looked around to see if anyone heard. The only other person around was some skinny dude, actually he wasn’t even sure if it was a dude, with messy brown hair. Whoever he was, he wouldn’t be a problem Jared thought and returned his attention back to the woman.

The woman struggled and pushed away. “Now, now.” Jared pulled her back to him, securing her to him by wrapping one of his big dirty arms around her waist. “A girl like you. You like it.” He punctuated his words with a thrust.

“Let me go!”

That skinny dude, Jared saw earlier was standing a few feet away now and glaring. “What do you want? Get out of here.” Jared pulled the woman from the sidewalk towards the side of the building.

“Ouch!” Jared looked down and saw a tiny brown dog biting his ankle. He shook it off. The dog bit him again, this time going through the pant leg and piercing his skin. This caused him to loosen his grip and the woman managed to run away. “Damn it.”

He looked back to the dog and could have sworn it doubled in size. The dog growled and lunged at him, tearing a piece out of Jared’s pants. “Fuck!” he took off running. The dog continued after Jared biting at his legs every chance it got and shredding up his pants. Everytime Jared looked back the dog appeared to be bigger.

He was sure the dog would give up if he just kept going but after several minutes Jared’s lungs felt like they’d been raked with hot coals and the dog showed no sign of stopping its pursuit. It seemed as if the dog had a personal vendetta against him. He looked back again and wondered if it had been a mastiff chasing him the whole time.

The dog took Jared’s moment of distraction to jump up on his back. Jared fell face first breaking his nose on the ground. He managed to wiggle out from under the dog but left part of his shirt behind.

Wiping blood from his nose, Jared began running again. He cut into an alley between two buildings and hopped a fence. He ran a bit farther just to be sure the dog wasn’t still following him. Looking back he saw standing on the other side of the fence not the dog but the skinny dude from earlier. “The hell” Jared, bleeding from his legs and face, barely covered by torn up clothes, kept running.

At the fence where the dog stopped, stood Liam panting and staring at his watch. He was going to be late for work. Again. It was always on the way to work that these distractions happened it seemed. Always at the least convenient time but then when is anything ever convenient.

In a brief second Liam was a dog again, this time opting for the faster greyhound breed over others. He ran down the streets towards his work. When he arrived his dog form walked into an alley and out he walked in human form. The bell chimed as Liam entered his shop. He didn’t see any sign of his co-workers on entrance. Maybe they were all in the back and his lateness would go unnoticed. It was only a few minutes after all.

“You’re late” Darren stepped out from the back carrying several books.

“Oh, come on,” so much for not being noticed. “It’s only three minutes.”

“Seven.” Darren walked to the counter. “And you might want to straighten up your close next time.”

Liam looked at his reflection in the widow. His shirt and vest was doing a strange impression of the leaning tower of Pisa. He sorted it out and turned back to Darren. “Sorry, I had a rough morning.”

“Yes, how many more of those are you going to have?”

“I don’t know. It’s not something I plan.”

“Liam you’re an adult.”

“I know. I’m not a deadbeat.”

“Uh-huh”

“Come on, honey. Give me a break. I’m trying.”

“Okay, I conceded. Just don’t call me honey at work.” Darren walked towards the back. “It’s unprofessional.”

“And what we did on the front counter after closing last night was?”

“Liam!!”

“Sorry…” he turned to take his place at the customer service counter. “I’m not sorry.”

“What was that?” Darren called from deep within the store.

Liam tripped and hit his knee on a shelf of books. “Shit.” he rubbed his knee. “Nothing just getting to work.”

“Mmm” Liam could picture Darren shaking his head wherever he was.

Liam walked over to the register and took inventory, making sure it was properly stocked for the rest of the day. It always annoyed him when there wasn’t the proper amount of money to make change correctly. Now that was unprofessional.

The bell chimed and in walked a short blonde man with an immaculately trimmed goatee, wearing an all white linen suit, no tie, and the first three buttons of his shirt undone. Liam looked when the man approached the counter. “How can…” coughing after fully taking in the man’s appearance and trying to maintain composure he started again. “How can I help you?”

“Hello, I’m Arthur Tenson . I was wondering if your establishment holds book signings and who I would talk to in order to set one up?” He drummed his fingers on the counter.

Arthur Tenson sounded familiar to Liam but he didn’t know why. “Well, Mr. Tenson we hold book signing on occasion but I’m going to need more information before I can set you up with someone who can help you.”

“Fantastic” his fingers stopped drumming, he popped his collar and leaned forward on the counter. “What do you need?”

Liam took a deep breath. “I just need to know what the book is, who wrote it, and briefly what it’s about?” he took out a pad and pen from beneath the counter.

Arthur stood up. “Surprised you don’t know already. Well, I guess not everyone can keep up with the times.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I’m Arthur Tenson.”

“You’ve said that.”

“I’ve written a book called ‘The Way: Everything They Aren’t Telling You’. It’s the only self-help book anyone needs. You see I’m a healer.”

Liam looked up. It all made sense now. “Oh, you're that faith healer.”

“Some might view it that way.”

“Yeah, yeah. You’re one with a cult in the south part of town.”

“Now! That’s not quite the case.”

“Yes it is. You are nothing but a scam artist.”

“Mm. I’m sorry you feel that way but there must be someone else I can talk to.”

“Sure, Sure.” Liam turned away from Arthur “Darren!”

Darren walked out from behind the sci-fiction section. “I’m right here. Don’t shout.”

“Yeah, who does this guy have to talk to if he wants to use the store as a venue for his book signing?”

Darren stared blankly. “Why? Why do you do this?” he disappeared into the history section.

“Right.” Liam turned back to Arthur. “Unfortunately for you, as co-owner of this shop I’m actually in charge of public relations. So I have the privilege of keeping scam artists from ripping off our customers.”

“You don’t know what you are doing.” Arthur smiled. “This is a great opportunity for you and your business.”

“No. Stop. Leave my shop and while you are at it leave town.” Liam turned around and went back to working.

Arthur stepped back and crossed his arms.

After several minutes of feeling the creeping stare borrow into his back Liam spoke again. “Doors over there, have a great day.”

“I know what you are.”

Liam looked up but Arthur was out the door. “What the fuck?”

Darren appeared again from behind the shelves. “So, what was that about?” He came behind the counter.

“Just some faith healer that wanted to use us as a way to further scam people.”

“Then why does it look like you saw a ghost?”

“He was just a strange guy. He said something weird before leaving.”

“What was it?”

“Nothing probably.”

“No it was something. What was it?”

“I know what you are.”

Darren put a hand on Liam’s lower back. “You think he knows you are trans.”

“I don’t see how he could. I’ve never met him before.”

“Is he going to be a problem?”

“I doubt it. Just a petty man trying to freak me out.”

“Are you sure? You’ve gotten death threats before.”

“And this is nothing like that. Don’t worry so much.” Liam kissed Darrens cheek. “Really, he’s just a silly man that caught me off guard by saying a weird thing.”

“Okay…” Darren ran his hand through Liam’s hair. “I trust you. Now back to work.”

The two men separated and went about running their business as they did everyday. Liam couldn’t help feeling that Arthur had another meaning behind what said. Perhaps Arthur knew something about him that he kept secret even from Darren. This worried him more.

Several hours later Liam was in the back of the shop taking inventory when he dropped his pen and it rolled under a storage unit. “Damn it” he laid on the ground and tried to fish it out. After a few attempts he concluded that the pen was out of reach. He stood up and looked around to make sure he was alone. There was nothing but boxes and boxes of books around. He paused for one second longer and shifted into a mouse. The mouse crawled beneath the storage unit and pushed the pen out.

“Liam.” Darren entered the back “Liam, you still back here?”

Liam shifted from mouse back to human and jumped up. “Yeah, over here.” he breathed deep.

“Did you just hear that?” Darren found his way to Liam.

“Hear what?”

“It sounded like a mouse.”

“We don’t have mice. That be bad for the books.”

“I know but…” Darren shook his head. “What are you doing?”

“I dropped my pen.” Liam scanned the ground trying to figure out where he left it.

“That’s not what I meant. Aren’t you late for your thing?”

“Hmm,” Liam looked at his watch. It was tuesday at 3:30 in the afternoon. “Oh, that thing. Shit.” Liam kissed Darren and ran. “See you at home.”

Once outside Liam quickly ducked into an alley turned into a pigeon and took flight. It would take but a minute to get to the hospital as a pigeon, where if he stayed human and walked it would take twenty minutes and he’d be late for his shift in the children's ward. Every Tuesday afternoon Liam volunteered in the children's ward tutoring and hanging out with the kids that needed it. Typically these were kids that either needed long stays or were frequently in and out for whatever reason caused them to be sick.

Landing between two cars in the far part of the hospital parking lot, Liam once again changed back into a human.

He walked through the rows of used cars belonging to med students and the sports cars belonging to the head full fledged doctors. Inside the hospital Liam checked in at the front desk. One of the pediatric nurses, Molly was picking up some charts there at the same time. “Hey, you're on time today.”

“I was late that one time, stop ragging on me M.” Liam and Molly strolled through the pristine white halls from the main part of the hospital to where the kids stayed. “Hey, M what happened to Jonathan I haven’t seen him in a few weeks and I thought he was due back for another treatment recently.” Jonathan was one of the kids Liam had bonded with most strongly over his time volunteering at the hospital.

Molly stopped Liam and pulled him to the side. “I thought someone had already told you.”

“Told me, what?”

“Liam, the funeral is on friday.”

“But he was doing better.” Liam leaned on the wall.

“I know but his parents decided to stop his treatments.” Molly placed a hand on his shoulder. “He faded fast after that.”

“Why?”

“I’m not sure. I heard that some guy named Arthur Tenson got involved. The parents thought Jonathan was cured.”

“That dick!”

“You know him.” Molly backed away from Liam’s outburst.

“I know of him.”

“Who is he?”

“Some scam artist claiming to be a faith healer.”

“I should go talk to my boss about this. The buzz amongst the nurses is more patiences are stopping treatment because of this guy.” Molly walked a few steps. “Are you going to be okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I can keep it together. I have kids to help after all.” Liam watched Molly leave. “And then after, I’ll beat the shit out of Arthur.”

While working with his kids, helping them keep up their school work, Liam’s temper cooled a bit. However, by the time his shift was over he’d worked himself up again. As soon as he hit the edge of the parking lot he’d changed into a bird again. This time he headed south, towards the old baseball fields where he’d heard Tenson’s cult had been set up in an elaborate village of tents.

Liam flew above the village and watched. In the center there was a very large tent where he assumed meetings were held or sermons, whatever cult leaders did. Around the large tent there was a bunch of smaller tents and then, off to the side, was a medium size tent. That would be where Arthur stayed, he thought.

He landed near the tent and hopped inside the cloth door before releasing his body back to original form. The tent was more like a house with fabric walls. There was a wood floor, a twin bed, and table with chairs at which sat the despicable Arthur Tenson himself.

“Ah, the book shop owner. I didn’t expect to see you again so soon.” Arthur looked up undisturbed by Liam’s sudden appearance.

Liam felt fire boil inside him, leaped across the table, and landed a punch right to Arthur’s jaw. He toppled backwards, body and chair hitting the ground with a loud bang. Liam stood looming above, which was pretty difficult as he wasn’t a big man but neither was Arthur.

Arthur pushed himself up. “That was expected.” A man burst through into the tent and Arthur turned to him. “Leave!!”

“But sir?” the man caught Liam’s glare.

“Jared, I said leave.”

Jared was already tripping on himself to get out.

“Not only are you hurting good people, children, but you… you associate with that rapist piece of scum!” Liam lunged again.

Arthur sidestepped and put up his hands. “Now, there you’ve got it wrong.” Liam paused but his fist still hovered in the air. “I’m not hurting anyone and though Jared may be a bit misguided he’s not…”

“Bullshit! He’s a cunt and A kid is dead because of you.”

“Nonsense. You really have no idea what’s going on here do you. As a shifter I thought you’d have more of a clue.” Arthur took a step towards Liam and crossed his arms.

“I know you are a twat with terrible fashion sense.” Liam dropped his hands.

Arthur threw his head back cackling like a hyena. “You didn’t know I could tell.”

“Get to the point or I’m just going to put your head into the table.”

“What no shifting into a bear and mauling me?”

“I’d prefer to take care of this with my own hands.”

“Wrong!” Arthur moved into Liam’s face. “You’ve already shifted too much today haven’t you. You can feel the strain on your body.” He stepped back. “I can help you with that you know.”

“Like you helped Jonathan.” Liam stepped forward and shoved Arthur.

“I’m not sure who you are talking about but I probably did.”

Liam’s fist made hard contact with Arthur’s stomach. “Then why is he dead?”

Arthur doubled over. “I told you I had nothing to do with that. I just take people’s pain away.”

“What?”

“You shift forms. I shift pain.” Arthur puffed and hissed.

“Pain?”

“Yes. One touch and the pain is gone.”

“And sick people think they are cured.” Liam moved into Arthur’s space. “Do you know how dangerous that is?”

“I don’t think you do.” Arthur placed a hand on Liam’s shoulder.

A cold burning sensation ripped through Liam’s body. He saw white, bit back a scream, and collapsed to the ground.

Arthur leans down. “I can take and I can give.” he stood up and walked towards the door. “Now, I wanted to help you but you’ve proved quite disagreeable.”

“This isn’t over.” Liam muttered from the ground.

“No, I imagine not.” Arthur left the tent.

Not eager to hang around for his return, Liam pushed himself up and crawled out of the tent. With a groan he shifted into a crow and took off.

After the pain he experienced holding form was a difficult task and Arthur was right about one thing, he had already shifted more than he should have that day. Every muscle in his body ached. It became harder to focus on his flight over keeping form as he headed home. He spotted an alley where he could safely change and then walk the rest of the way.

He swooped downwards towards it and smack. He found himself human form, rolling off the hood of a car and onto the pavement. If his body ached before, it certainly would continue to do so now. “Ouch.”

A crowd gathered around and the woman who’d been driving the car got out in a panic. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you. I thought there was a bird. I’m so sorry.”

“Liam!” A shout broke the crowd.

Liam rolled his head and tried to find the voice in the clutter of people and panic. He blinked slowly and saw someone kneel down next to him. He squinted to focus. “Darren.”

Darren put one hand on Liam’s shoulder and waved the crowd away with the other. “Yeah, it’s me.”

Liam moved into a sitting position and flinched at the pain that shot through his ribs. “What are you doing here?”

“Running errands. What happened? Are you okay?” Darren moved under Liam’s shoulder to keep him from falling as he stood up.

“Yeah, Just a bit of a bump.” together then moved slowly out of the road and passed the people still nosing around.

Darren raised an eyebrow. “Alright, but I thought you’d be home by now. Something happened at the hospital?”

Liam remained silent.

“Something did happen.”

Liam moved to walk without support but Darren stopped him.

“Talk to me, you difficult man.”

“Jonathan is dead.”

Darren gasped. “I thought you said he was getting better.”

“He was but that faith healer guy, Arthur Tenson, brainwashed his parents.”

“I guy from earlier today.”

“Yeah, The very cunt. I wish… I just. I could kill him.”

Darren stopped Liam with a hug. “I’m so sorry, babe.”

Liam sighed. He'd only been able to tell Darren half of it. “Let’s just go home.”

Darren took Liam’s hand and led him home. “Tenson will be stopped. Don’t worry. I’ll help you stop him if I have too.”