Natalie Scott was the kind of girl who seemed to have it all together. She was popular at school, effortlessly maintaining stellar grades while her classmates looked up to her with a mix of admiration and envy. Despite the attention, Natalie was more comfortable in the background, where she could quietly observe without drawing too much attention. She had a gentle demeanor that made her approachable, but she often kept her thoughts to herself, preferring the solitude of her friend circle. Beneath the surface, though, there was a growing unease—a sense that something within her was shifting, something she couldn’t quite name but couldn’t ignore.

But lately, something had changed. The uneasy feeling that had always been a dull sensation in the back of her mind had grown sharper, more insistent. The signs were subtle at first—a sudden aversion to the scent of cooked meat, the way her mouth watered when she passed groups of humans, the faint, rhythmic thudding she could hear in people’s chests when they walked by her in the school hallways.

She told herself it was nothing, that she was imagining things. Everyone got strange cravings from time to time, didn’t they? And maybe she was just hearing things—overworked, overtired, stressed from school. But deep down, Natalie knew these were lies, and lies had a way of revealing the truth.

The first real sign that something was wrong came on the night of her sixteenth birthday. It was a simple family dinner, the kind Natalie had grown used to—her parents exchanging small talk, their voices filling the quiet spaces in their old house. The kitchen was warm with the scent of roast chicken and freshly baked bread, and the table was set with the nice plates her mother reserved for special occasions. But as soon as Natalie took her seat, the smell of the food hit her like a wave, turning her stomach. She stared down at the meal her mother had carefully prepared, bile rising in her throat.

“What’s wrong, dear?” her mother asked, concern knitting her brows together. “You love roast chicken.”

Natalie forced a skewed smile,. “I’m just having a stomach ache is all.”

Her father gave her a curious look from across the table, his knife pausing mid-slice. “You sure you’re alright, Nat?”

She nodded, picking at the roasted chicken. “Yeah. Just ate something bad at school I guess.”

But the truth was, she was starving. Starving in a way that frightened her. It was a hunger that clawed at her insides, relentless and demanding, a hunger that the roast chicken on her plate couldn’t hope to satisfy. She pushed the food around, her appetite gone, replaced by a gnawing emptiness that nothing could fill.

That night, she lay in bed, her stomach a hollow pit, her body trembling with the need for something she couldn’t name. The dreams came in fragments, flashes of darkness, teeth, and blood.

Natalie awoke with a start, her body drenched in sweat, heart racing from the remnants of a nightmare she couldn’t quite remember. But as she shifted beneath the covers, something heavy and foreign tugged at her lower back. Confusion turned to horror when she threw off the blanket and saw it—a long, sinuous tail, covered in white, iridescent scales, snaking its way out from the base of her spine. Her breath caught in her throat, and she scrambled backward, nearly falling out of bed as she tried to distance herself from this grotesque new appendage. But it followed her every move, responding to her fear with an unsettling fluidity. Natalie’s hands trembled as she reached out to touch it, hoping—praying—that it wasn’t real. But the scales were cool and rough beneath her fingertips, the tail twitching as if alive with its own terrifying awareness. A scream built in her chest, but all that escaped was a choked gasp, her mind reeling with disbelief and terror.

Natalie stumbled into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her, her breaths coming in ragged gasps. The tail—her tail—dragged across the tiled floor with a sickening weight, leaving her feeling unsteady on her feet. She caught sight of herself in the mirror, her wide eyes locking onto the monstrous appendage that swayed behind her. Panic surged through her veins, and she clawed at her lower back, desperate to rip the thing away, to wake up from this nightmare. But the tail remained, a grotesque reality she couldn’t escape.

“N-no, no, no,” she muttered, her voice trembling as she backed into the sink, gripping the edge until her knuckles turned white. The cold porcelain bit into her palms, but the pain was nothing compared to the terror gripping her heart. She could feel the muscles in the tail tensing, as if it had a mind of its own, reacting to her fear. Tears welled up in her eyes, blurring the reflection of the creature she was becoming. This couldn’t be happening—it wasn’t possible. She was a normal girl, not some kind of horrifying monster.

A knock on the bathroom door jolted her out of her spiraling thoughts. “Natalie? Are you okay in there?” her mother’s concerned voice called out. “We heard a noise.”

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Natalie froze, her heart skipping a beat. How could she possibly explain this? How could she let them see her like this? She tried to steady her voice, but the fear choked her words. “I’m…I’m fine, Mom! Just…just give me a minute!”

There was a pause, and then her father’s voice joined her mother’s. “Natalie, what’s going on? You’re scaring us. Open the door.”

She pressed her back against the door, as if that could keep them away from the horrifying truth on the other side. “No! Please, just…I’m fine! I swear!”

Her parents exchanged worried murmurs outside, and Natalie could hear the doorknob jiggle as they tried to open it. She panicked, her mind racing as she tried to figure out what to do. She couldn’t let them in—not like this. But the tail… how was she going to hide this? Tears of frustration and fear spilled down her cheeks as she sank to the floor, curling into herself, the tail wrapping around her legs like a serpent.

“Please,” she whispered, not sure if she was pleading with her parents or the universe itself. “Please make this stop.”

But no matter how hard she wished for it to disappear, the tail remained, a constant, terrifying reminder that nothing in her life would ever be normal again.

Chapter Two: The Beast Within

“Natalie, we need to talk,” her mother’s voice was firmer this time, though it trembled slightly. “Please, sweetheart, just open the door.”

With a deep, shuddering breath, Natalie forced herself to stand. Her legs felt weak, and the tail—a part of her she still couldn’t fully comprehend—unwound itself reluctantly. Her reflection in the mirror was haunting, a girl she no longer recognized, but she couldn’t keep her parents in the dark any longer. They deserved to know.

Hands shaking, Natalie unlocked the door and opened it slowly, her heart pounding in her chest. Her parents stood there, eyes wide with a mixture of fear and something else—something she couldn’t quite place.

The moment their eyes fell on her tail, her mother gasped, a hand flying to her mouth. Her father’s face went pale, but he didn’t flinch. Instead, he took a cautious step forward, his eyes filled with a sorrow that made Natalie’s stomach churn.

“We…we didn’t want you to find out like this,” her father said softly, his voice thick with emotion. “We hoped… we thought we had more time.”

Natalie’s breath hitched. “You knew? You knew about…this?” She gestured helplessly to the tail, disbelief warring with the fear that still gnawed at her.

Her mother lowered her hand, her eyes brimming with tears. “Yes, Natalie, we knew. We’ve known since the day we found…and saved you.”

“Saved me?” Natalie’s voice wavered, her mind struggling to keep up with the barrage of revelations. “From what?”

Her father sighed deeply, running a hand through his graying hair. “From what you really are — an aixist. A species that once roamed this planet, until they were hunted down and nearly wiped out.”

“Aixist?” The word felt foreign on her tongue, heavy with implications she couldn’t yet grasp. “What does that even mean?”

“It means,” her mother began, stepping closer, though she seemed hesitant to touch her daughter, “that you’re not just human. Aixists…they have abilities, traits that humans feared and misunderstood. Your tail, it’s… it’s a part of that. A part of you. And it’s not just the tail… you have other needs, too. Dangerous ones.”

Natalie shook her head, her vision swimming. “Needs? You’re not making any sense.”

Her father’s expression darkened. “Aixists eat humans, Natalie. That’s why they were hunted to near extinction. But when we found you… when we realized what you were… we couldn’t let you die like the others. We’ve done everything to suppress your instincts, to give you a normal life, but we knew this day would come.”

The world seemed to tilt beneath her, and Natalie gripped the doorframe to steady herself. “Eat humans?”

“We didn’t want you to live in fear of yourself,” her mother whispered, tears spilling down her cheeks.

As the weight of their words crashed over her, Natalie felt a rush of emotions—betrayal, fear, confusion. Her knees buckled, and she sank back down onto the floor, the tail curling protectively around her as if trying to shield her from the truth.

Just then, a sound echoed from the stairwell. Footsteps, hurried and anxious. Natalie’s older sister, Emily, appeared at the top of the stairs, her eyes wide with alarm. “What’s going on? I heard—”

She froze mid-sentence, her gaze locking onto the tail. Emily’s face drained of color, and she stumbled back, nearly losing her balance. “What…what is that? Natalie, what happened to you?”

Natalie couldn’t find the words, her throat constricting with the weight of everything she had just learned. Her sister’s reaction was like a dagger to the heart, a reminder of how alien she had become. She was no longer just Natalie, the shy girl who managed to be popular and keep up her grades. She was something else entirely—something terrifying.

Her father moved to stand between the sisters, his hands held up in a placating gesture. “Emily, listen to me. We need to stay calm. Natalie is…an aixist.”

“An aixist? Those man eating…”

Her mother stepped forward, her voice gentle but firm. “Emily, we should have told you this sooner.” Emily shook her head, backing away slowly, her face twisted in fear and disbelief. “No… no, this isn’t happening. This can’t be real.”

Natalie reached out to her, desperate for some connection, some reassurance that she wasn’t completely alone in this nightmare. “Emily, please…I’m still me. I’m still your sister.”

But as Emily recoiled from her touch, horror etched on her face, Natalie felt the last remnants of her old life slipping away, replaced by the cold, harsh reality of what she had become. A monster.