Chapter 1
“Shut your eyes, Vanessa; we’re almost at our last stop”. I quickly closed my brown eyes and squeezed the strap of my small leather purse, excited for my boyfriend’s big surprise for me on our week long road trip. To celebrate our 1st anniversary together, we were originally going to go see a musical in Manhattan, New York, where we live; But then Michael's mom suggested a week long road trip to Ontario, Canada in her red SUV.
And since then, me and Michael drove there and saw quite a few amazing tourist attractions; Niagara Falls, Calypso, Parliament Hill, The Nature Museum and the Toronto Zoo. Michael parked the car right across from the attraction and nudged me a bit. “We’re here. You can open your eyes″. I opened them and got out of the car, fixing my gaze on a tall skyscraper across the street. “Is that the-”. “CN tower? You bet” interrupted Michael, as he got out of the driver seat and stood next to me.
My happy smile vanished, knowing that I might freak out in the building once we go to the top. “I remembered how fascinated you were about the tower, so I went and bought tickets for us to get a tour of the place” he beamed. “Oh, that’s very thoughtful of you” I said, swallowing hard. “We better get going before we miss the tour”. Michela grabbed my hand and he bolted over to the front doors, with me just behind him. Oh no. This is not going to go very well. Michael handed our tickets to the tour guide and he gave us passes, to let everyone else know that we were just touring the place for the day.
We waited for the rest of the tour group to arrive before the guide started the tour. We followed him to the elevator and the entire group piled in, just barely fitting everyone in. “Is the tour starting at the top?” I whispered into Michael's right ear. He looked at me like I had bees in my brain. “Yeah, of course. There’s not much to see at the bottom of the tower”. What felt like hours of being stuck in the elevator was actually only an 8 minute ride. Once we got to the top, I could feel my hands and knees starting to shake. Keep it together Vanessa, I thought as Michael weaved himself and I out of the overcrowded elevator.
I regret leaving it. “Come on, Vanessa. We’re about to see one of the most amazing views in all of Ontario” he said, as he pulled me through the crowd. I could feel my stomach starting to do somersaults as we got closer and closer to the wide, clear windows that make up most of the top of the CN tower. Then he suddenly stopped pulling me and let my hand go, for we were both up close to the thick glass, looking at one of the most beautiful scenes. The sun was setting over lake Ontario and the sky above was pinkish-purple color, just behind the tiny cityscape.
This isn’t so bad, I thought, staring at the breathtaking scenery. “You haven’t seen anything yet” commented Michael, as if he could read my mind. “Look down”. Fear swelled up in my throat as I slowly looked down at the ground-where I thought it was-is actually clear glass. I stumbled back in terror, accidently slamming into people wit my back. My heart raced as I instinctively grabbed onto the closest metal pole and wrapped my arms around it tightly. It only took a moment for Michael to realize why I suddenly became a ghostly pale color and was gripping onto the pole.
“Oh Vanessa, I didn’t know that you were afraid of heights; If I knew you were, I wouldn’t have dragged you up here in the first place” said Michael, softly, as he came up to me. “Do you want to explore the base for the tower instead?”. I nodded my head. “Yes, I-I-I would like that”. I slowly took my trembling hands off of the pole and reached my left hand tout towards Michael's outstretched hand when I started to feel a bit tingly. Oh no. Michael watched me flop down into a leopard seal with wide eyes; Confused, yet curious.
How did I shapeshift into an animal without thinking about it first? Then I realized, I shapeshift by fear, not by will. I need to calm down. But staring down through the clear glass floor below me only made my heart pump faster. My seal figure shifted to a black panther. By now a lot of tourists looked my way, some too stunned at the sight to move. I need to get out of here. If I shapeshifted into a whale, I would accidentally bring down the whole CN tower and kill hundreds, maybe thousands of innocent civilians.
There’s no other way. I start to head towards the elevator, breaking into a run when I saw that the doors were beginning to close. In the midst of a leap, I shapeshifted into a black mamba, landing on my scaly stomach. I slithered my way towards the elevator, trying to avoid being stepped on by the shuffling feet of panicked tourists.
The End
*Thank you for reading my story!*
-MarvelousM
