Jonas had his back to the man, not paying him any heed, when suddenly, there was a knife pressed into his back.
“Give me your money and I won’t shank you,” the voice told him, it was raspy, as if he didn’t use it often, and it reeked of alcohol.
Jonas was stunned. He went to reach for his wallet then stopped. Why should this man get his wallet, or his money? He was a drunk on a train looking for an easy target. Jonas was not an easy target. Not anymore.
He was a lion. He could shift. He could tear this man apart, without breaking a sweat. Trying to call upon his lion, he tried to use it to defend himself… and nothing. Panicking, Jonas couldn’t figure out why his lion wasn’t listening to him. His life was in danger and his lion was eerily silent. No magic tingle, nothing. What’s the use of being a shifter if he couldn’t control it when he needed it the most?
“Didn’t you hear me; you stupid fucker? Give me your wallet, or I’ll take it and make you a few liters of blood lighter.” The man said and poked him harder with the knife, digging the tip into his back just hard enough for Jonas to feel it cut his skin.
“Back pocket,” Jonas finally told the man, feeling completely humiliated. He should be awesome and know Kung-Fu, or be able to turn around and shift mid-air and take the guy down. He should have been able to do something besides realize that with a knife pressed against his kidney, all he could do to survive was hand over his wallet. He felt completely humiliated by a man that smelled like he hadn’t bathed in months.
The man slipped his hand into his back pocket, and took his wallet, without removing the knife. He flipped it open, took his cash out, and threw the leather at his feet. The train stopped, and the hobo slipped away from him and off the train-car as other people came onto the train completely unaware of what just happened to Jonas.
Bending down to pick up his wallet, Jonas was seething inside. He pushed past the people and followed the bum off the train. He couldn’t see him, but he could still smell him. It was like his nose was leading him in the direction the man went. Jonas felt like he was on the prowl, or the hunt. His footfalls were silent, and he moved with a steady purpose. He stalked his prey, wanting to find the man who accosted him and set him straight.
Following the smell, Jonas kept his eyes swiveling through the crowd. He saw the man laughing with another, as he showed the bills he’d stolen from Jonas. He paused mid stride, with his nostrils flaring. The laughter rang in his ears, causing the anger and shame to flare and encompass all his thoughts. Jonas saw red, his heart rate shooting up, and his breath hissing between his teeth. Before he knew what he was doing, he shifted. In front of all the people in the subway. He settled on his haunches and lunged at the bum. The roar escaped his throat as he came at the man. The hobo dropped the cash, and jumped out of the way narrowly missing the cat’s claws. He scrambled away from the lion. Jonas finally regained his sense, realizing what a mistake he had just made.
Screams started to echo as people ran in all different directions, trying to get away from the lion that was suddenly in the middle of a highly populated area. Jonas groaned inwardly, his anger evaporating immediately. This was the worst time for his lion to decide to come out. He panicked, and he ran. He bolted into the nearest restroom using his head to butt the door open wide, and luckily it was empty. It took him a few tries to shift back to his human form. Finally succeeding, he hid in a stall. His clothing ripped in his shift, he was naked and cold while he waited, trying to figure out how to get out of this mess. Eventually, someone came in to use the restroom, laughing on a cell phone.
“Excuse me, is there any way I could borrow your phone for a minute? I was robbed and I need to ask a friend to bring me some clothes,” Jonas said, sounding embarrassed. “A hobo robbed me on the subway.”
The teenage boy who’d come into the stall paused, then started to laugh hysterically, “Yeah, sure pops, whatever you need. He really took all your clothes?”
Jonas lied through his teeth, “Clothes, wallet, cell, everything. I’m lucky I made it into here before being arrested.”
“Yeah, um, just let me get off the phone and you can borrow it, one second.” The boy explained to the person on his phone why he was hanging up and he’d call them right back. Handing his phone over the wall to Jonas, he waited while Jonas called Lissa.
“What the hell is going on?” She asked when she answered the phone. She’d made him memorize it just in case of an emergency, but she’d never expected him to have to use it.
“Listen, it’s complicated. It involved a robbery, and a hobo. Could you please bring me some clothes?” He felt completely embarrassed even having to ask.
He listened to her rant and rave at him for a couple minutes, then she finally said she’d be there soon and hung up on him. He handed the phone back over the stall, thanking the boy.
An hour later, Lissa got there with a pile of clothes. She knocked on the bathroom door and waited for him to reach through and grab the stuff. He got dressed and then went out to the lost and found. He hoped maybe someone had been kind enough to turn in his wallet and phone and keys from his ripped up clothes when he shifted.
He got lucky, someone had turned them in and he was able to reclaim them. Minus a couple of credit cards. He would have to cancel them when he got home. Of all the things that could have gone wrong, he knew that a couple missing credit cards were the least of his concerns.
Lissa followed him home, and slammed the door hard behind her when she walked into his apartment.
“What the hell happened?” She asked him bluntly, crossing her arms over her chest. “Do you realize what you did?”
“I didn’t do anything. I was robbed. I tried to shift in the middle of the robbery, nothing happened. Do you know what it’s like to feel totally helpless and KNOW that you have the power to stop it, but you couldn’t?” Jonas was angry.
“No, I don’t, but I can imagine you being put down by the shifter council for being stupid in public and a safety concern. You shifted in the middle of a subway terminal in front of hundreds of people. Since no one saw the large cat, they are now reporting it as a big dog that must have just ran through the subway and startled people. You got lucky no one got picture evidence since it happened so fast.” Lissa poked him hard in the chest. “You are no longer safe to be here anymore. You can’t be around this many people, you need to get your shifting under control. This is completely unacceptable.”
Jonas stared at her, then finally sighed. “You’re right. I do.”
“Good. So I can call Amanda and tell her to expect you?” She asked him, looking at him.
Jonas nodded, and looked around the room, realizing that her bags were packed and sitting on his sofa. She was leaving and he was going to be alone. If he wasn’t still shell shocked from the experience, he probably would have tried to ask her to stay, but he knew it wasn’t a good idea at this point.
“I’ll text you all the information after I speak to Amanda about what to do next. Okay?” Lissa told him as she got her bags off his couch. She hugged him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “I’m not really mad at you J, I’m just worried. Please don’t say no to this. You need to go.”
Jonas nodded, finally realizing she was right. As much as he wanted to stay here, he knew he couldn’t if he still had no control.
His time with Lissa was bittersweet. He would miss her, but he realized that his journey needed to go down another path. It was time for him to accept the hand fate had dealt him.
He called his office the next day and quit his job. He had enough in his savings and retirement to figure out his life for the next couple years without working, if he was careful. He wasn’t rich by any means, but he’d survive until he could learn how to be Jonas, and a lion shifter at the same time. Long enough so he could find his way in society again.
Part of him wondered if he ever would, or if he’d even want to come back once he’d tasted freedom.
Realizing that he wasn’t as scared of the fu
ture as he might have been, he was feeling pretty content when Lissa texted him all the info for the retreat a few days later. He ordered his tickets, packed his bags, and let his landlord know what was going to happen. He gave the landlord almost a years’ worth of rent upfront, to hold the apartment for him and to watch his things while he was gone.
He didn’t have any pets, or plants to worry about. So he wasn’t too worried about it just sitting here, waiting for him to come back.
The part that had him a little worried, was wondering if he wanted to come back when his vacation was over.
Deciding he wouldn’t worry about it until the time came, he made a choice to just look forward one day at a time. He was going to try not to worry about the future. That’s what this African vacation was for.
The End
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