The Beast Within (Book One of the Changes Series)

-Danielle’s POV-

This was all wrong.

I fell asleep cuddled next to Nathan. It only made sense for me to wake up next to him. There shouldn’t be any way to have a menu in my hand in the middle of a bustling restaurant.

Maybe I was dreaming? That had to be it. This was another dream. Shit, Nathan, what pills were you giving me?

The familiar smell of fresh tortillas wafted in the air.

Did I smell things in my last dreams? I didn’t think so, but I couldn’t remember for sure. Was Nathan here? Maybe he was in the bathroom or parking the car.

No, no, no, this has to be a dream. Dreams didn’t need to make sense. Panic swelled in the pit of my gut as I studied the menu as if my sanity depended on it.

“Mexican Cantina,” I mumbled.

I wanted to take Porsha here next weekend. That was why I was dreaming about it, but this felt real. Then again, the dream of my father’s ranch felt real too. No, my gut told me this wasn’t a dream. I needed to talk to Nathan.

The weight of my purse in my lap caught my attention. Frantically, I placed my purse on top of the table. The toppled glass of water barely registered as I searched for my phone.

Tears brimmed my lids, threatening to fall the longer my cell eluded me. The relief I felt as my fingertips grazed it at the bottom of my purse was indescribable. Lifting the cell towards me, it sprung to life as my fingers swiped the screen. I expected to see my kids’ picture of them at the pumpkin patch. Instead, it was an image of Lexi and Cameron with their Camp Bear Paw shirts on, right outside the camp entrance.

There were at least ten different pictures of Nathan and me dropping the kids off at camp. I didn’t have any memory of it. Yet I was in a picture, squatting down and smiling beside my children in front of the camp’s Bear Paw sign. I numbly thumbed through the images again, left in a state of disbelief.

That couldn’t be right; Lexi and Cam weren’t scheduled to go camping until a week from now. How did I miss a whole damn week?

“Hello again, ma’am,” the server smiled while I tried to hide how he startled me. “Oh, you spilled your water. I’ll get that for you.”

He busied himself with the mess on the table before placing his attention back on me.

He politely continued, “I’ll get you another water, but I was wondering if you wanted to order or continue waiting for your friend to show?”

“What’s today?”

“Ma’am?”

“The date?!”

“It’s the eighteenth.”

I tried to control it, but my eyes darted around the surroundings. There had to be something to ground me or help me remember. The waiter’s look of concern served as an added irritation.

“The eighteenth of what?”

“Do you mean the month?” He didn’t wait for me to answer, “Um, it’s June, ma’am. Are you alright?”

I waved him off, and by the speed of his disappearance, it was apparent he was more than happy to leave the table.

My concentration returned to the cell phone in my hand. The waiter had to be wrong, and the calendar would prove it.

The calendar lit up. Oh, God. My hand began to tremble uncontrollably. I lost a whole fucking week!

Past panicked, I called Nathan’s phone and the house phone, not reaching him on either call. Desperate, I called Porsha; no answer there either.

The feeling of impending doom took root and started to rot. The air thickened, making it difficult to breathe, triggering my racing heart to beat even faster. I had to get out of here, but I was too terrified to move.

The scents of meat, lime, and seasoning punished my nasal passages. At the same time, countless fragrances of people’s perfume and cologne did the same. This was what it felt like to lose grip on reality.

What had I done to deserve any of this? The question repeated over and over in my mind until I felt as if my brain was screaming.

My quivering fingers fumbled over the cell’s contacts. The phone rang once before it went to voice mail. This time I waited to leave a message.

“Nathan, when you get this, I need you to call me. I’m at the Mexican Cantina. Um, I don’t think I’m getting any better. I’m starting to think I never will.”

My voice cracked as the tears and sweat fell down my face.

“Baby, I need you. Please come and get me now.”

I managed to hang up the phone, still unsure of what to do next. I noticed the waiter from the corner of my eye, making his way back to my table. I was in no condition to deal with him again.

I jumped out of my seat, ready to leave.

“Hey Danni, I hope you weren’t thinking of leaving me hanging again.”

I would know that voice anywhere. My head snapped up, finding a very familiar face. Porsha gracefully walked the few steps that separated her from my table.

“Porsha Banks!”

Her silk, emerald-green dress matched her eyes perfectly and made her red hair seem more fiery than usual. She looked around the room, noting the unwelcomed attention we received from my boisterous greeting.

“Yes, it’s me, but I think we’ve been friends long enough for us to stay on a first-name basis. Oh, and I no longer go by my married name, so it’s Gallagher from now on,” she stated as she took her seat.

I was stuck in the position she had found me in, glad I was no longer alone, but the urge to leave was still overwhelmingly strong. Porsha restrained herself from gawking over my strange behavior, readjusting the deep plunge that showed a little too much of her flawless, milky skin. The look in her eyes made it obvious to me she knew something was wrong.

“So, are you going to sit down?” she asked.

The thought of leaving just to be alone again didn’t seem appealing. Maybe I should stay until Nathan called or showed up.

I sat down as the waiter reappeared, seemingly happy to have another customer seated at my table to talk to other than me.

“Hi Ladies, can I get you started with something to drink?”

“Yes, could I get a cape cod with an extra shot of vodka, please?” Porsha asked.

The waiter hesitatingly turned his head in my direction.

“No, thank you.”

I didn’t need alcohol. I already felt disoriented all on my own. Porsha and I looked at each other as soon as the waiter had walked far enough away. I planned to give her as many answers as possible, but I knew most of my explanations would only end with her having more questions.

“So, how have you been?” she genuinely asked.

“Not so good, and I’m sorry for lying to you the last time I saw you.”

Porsha looked relieved that I had decided to tell her the truth.

“I know you are,” she said as she reached over the table to take my hand.

Her gesture made me feel a little better. She might even be willing to listen to my craziness. Who knows? Maybe she would actually believe me.

I readied myself, taking a deep breath, locking my gaze on the table to keep my nerve to continue.

“It all started at Lexi and Cameron’s school—”

“Wait, something else happened there? I thought they were at camp. What were you doing at their school?”

I snapped my head up, searching her expression, “What are you talking about?” I nervously asked.

The waiter interrupted the conversation to deliver our drink order and a pad and pen to take our dinner orders. I tried to keep my eyes on Porsha, afraid if I moved, I would become unhinged. Thankfully, she dealt with the sever and politely waved him off.

“I was asking if another encounter happened, other than the day you lost a few minutes at the kid’s school.”

My body instantly began to heat up, causing all of my senses to go haywire. Fear, hopelessness, and anger churned within me.

I forcefully pushed myself out of the chair with no plan of sitting back down.

“That’s bullshit, Porsha. I haven’t even spoken to you since the time you showed up at my house uninvited. If this is your twisted way of getting back at me, screw you!”

People started to stare at us, and it was evident from her expression she had no idea what I was yelling about. She had to be lying, right?

I fought the urge to lash out even more violently. It wasn’t safe for me to stay.

Suddenly, I turned away from her, storming out of the restaurant. The more I accepted she was telling me the truth, the more anger I felt, and knowing Porsha was trailing behind me didn’t help.

The cool evening air washed over me as I hit the entrance. Its calming effect didn’t last long before Porsha’s hand landed on my shoulder.

“Danielle, where are you going? I’m sorry if I upset you. I just thought you remembered we talked last Sunday. I called you after seeing your text message. To be honest, I didn’t fully believe what you told me, but your reaction in the restaurant fixed that.”

I should’ve felt happy that Porsha believed me, but the rage that flowed freely within me wouldn’t allow it.

“I think meeting up with you was a bad idea.”

I started towards the parking lot, not giving her time to respond. Porsha grabbed me again with a little more force than the first time. I turned towards her, knocking her hand away.

The look of determination plastered over her expression almost made me laugh. She was taller than me, but she felt small and fragile. I wanted to test just how easy it would be to physically break her, but why would I want that? She was my friend.

My dark friend stirred, and it felt challenged, threatened.

“Danni, you’re not leaving here by yourself. My car is close, and I’ll drop you off at home, okay?”

My dark entity began to vibrate deep inside as I continued to size her up. Her sparkling green eyes were full of worry, but I couldn’t shake the feeling she should be worried for her own wellbeing. Taking my silence as compliance, she pulled me in the direction of her car. The further we were from the restaurant, the louder the darkness’ twisted fantasies played.

How pretty would she be with a broken neck? The sound of cracked bones, the sight of her disjointed spinal cord, the smell of Porsha’s blood as it sprayed out of her all played in my mind’s eye. A shiver ran through me. My body felt heavy. Did I really want to do that to her? If I lost time right now, I had no idea what I would be capable of.

Porsha’s car came into view under a broken street light. She stopped, seemingly put on guard from the shards of glass that showered her vehicle, but she ignored the real threat to her safety: me.

Porsha searched for her keys as the rhythmic thump of her heart set my blood ablaze. Its slow, thick bass played in my ears as my sight fell over the gentle slope of her neck. I instinctively knew I could break her like a twig. Why did the dark entity want me to know this, and why did it relish in it?

Seeming to act on her own instincts, Porsha turned to face me. I watched as her expression quickly changed from concern to confusion. That change made my dark presence squirm and slither away from me, leaving me alone to control my own body. The new sensation left me scared shitless because I felt lonely without the presence. I felt empty.

“Danni, what the hell? You looked like you were about to slap the shit out of me. Now it looks like you’ve seen a ghost. Do you need to go to the hospital? Just say the word, and we’re there.”

I couldn’t answer her. If she knew what my dark friend wanted to do to her, what I might have allowed it to do…

The shame I felt made it impossible for me to look her in the eye. The guilt I felt didn’t have time to build as voices started to blare their familiar earsplitting rant. My hands lifted to guard my ears in vain.

I turned away from her. “You need to leave now!”

“I told you, I’m not leaving you here. Either you get in the car, or we call Nathan, and he can come to pick you up.”

I walked away as my dark friend made every step feel as if I wore lead shoes. Porsha tried to stop me again. She had no idea of the battle that waged inside me and how close I was to losing it.

“Porsha stop. Now!”

I quickly looked at her. Her response was immediate, as was mine. Everything from that point seemed to slow down as I scrutinized her expression. Porsha’s cool demeanor shattered. Her eyes flashed open as her skin was drained of its remaining color. Her mouth was the last to react as it dropped open into a look of horror. The frantic beat of her heart was the only audible tell given of her terror.

Her wide-eyed stare was focused on something behind me. My growing apprehension made me turn. Then everything went black.

Before I had a chance to react, someone had grabbed me and lifted me into the air. I struggled in vain. The pressure around my diaphragm from the person’s tight hold made breathing almost impossible as they carried me away.

The sound of an idling vehicle became all that I heard before being dropped inside of it. The warmth of my breath ricocheted off the sack over my head, thickening the air around me. Porsha’s perfume soon filtered in as her rapid heartbeat kept its frantic rhythm.

The thud of Porsha’s body hitting the floor sounded right before her desperate gasps for air followed. I felt cramped as the unknown people joined us, slamming the sliding door shut. Porsha’s whimpering was all the sound she could manage as the van drove away.