Julie Glover - My Neighbors Shapeshifter

My Neighbors Shapeshifter

Julie Glover

Caroline Jo Bakers family has a trailer in the boondocks and pinches pennies to make ends meet. So she cant help but be a little envious of her new neighbors with their huge home, fancy cars, and luxury pool. But when her distracted gawking lands her in a ditch, the cute guy across the street comes to her rescue.

At least she thinks hes a guy. Until he turns out to be something moresomething with a beak, claws, and wings. Forget the richesis she ready to have a shapeshifter for a neighbor?

My Neighbors Shapeshifter

Written and published by Julie Glover

2022 Julie Glover

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Cover design by Julie Glover

Photo credits: @mimagephotos, @justdd, and @TimMossholder

Chapter 1

Fly, Birdie, Fly

I stepped off the school bus just as the red BMW pulled into the drive across the street. My chest tightened. Dang. While Id love to own a sports car, I was mostly jealous of the air conditioning my new neighbor enjoyed on her ride home from high school. August in South Texas rivaled a bonfire, and the buss vents blew tepid air at best.

The bus pulled away, leaving me on the shoulder of my rural highway, right in front of the drainage ditch, watching the new girl in my gradeJasmine, I thinkstep out of her shiny, cool car onto their cobblestone driveway.

It was only a few weeks ago that her family had moved into the estate property across the road. Theyd spruced the place up some, but what had really caught my eye was a cage-like structure theyd added to house a single hawk. Apparently, rich people could do whatever they wanted, including having a pet bird of prey on the same ranch with their swank mansion.

With one last look at her Beamer, I shouldered my book bag, sighed, and turned toward home. We might have rich neighbors, but our patch of land included a dirt road with wild bushes lining both sides and a generous stretch of dead grass and overgrown weeds that manicured our seen-better-decades trailer.

Before I could take a single step, my phone buzzed. I pulled it from my pocket. Hey, Mom, hope you have lemonade waiting. Im sweating bullets, and

Sorry, Caroline. Moms voice was low and quiet.

My shoulders fell. Extra shift?

I wish I could say no, but...

I was disappointed, but not upset. Mom had too much on her plate already, trying to care for me and my little brother on a small-town waitress salary.

Its fine, I chirped back. I make amazing lemonade too, you know.

Thanks, sweetheart. Leftovers are in the fridge. Make sure Rhett does his homework. And

A screech drowned her out. Hang on, Mom. I cant hear.

I looked to the sky where a winged something flew overhead. It curled and dipped in circles above our rural highway, then flew back to its home next door.

I cupped my hand over the phone. Our new neighbors are weird.

What happened? Mom asked.

Their hawk. Its loud.

She chuckled. Yeah, but their son is nice. He came into the diner the other day and tipped really well.

Oh well, in that case, fly, birdie, fly.

Her short-lived laughter on the other end of the line lightened not just her mood, but mine.

Gotta go, honey, she said. Cant be late.

Ill take care of everything at home. Dont worry. As soon as we hung up, I realized what a pointless ask that wasmy mothers middle name was worry.

Some days, it was her first name too.

Id offered to get a job to help outmultiple times. But she always said I provided more value watching Rhett than I could with some part-time, minimum-wage paycheck.

Someone squealed, and I turned to see my neighbor again, this time standing on the diving board of her pool. Only a sliver of her resort-like backyard showed beyond the corner of her house, but I could still see her wearing a bikini and laughing easily, heartily, rapturously into the thick summer air, knowing shed be cooled in moments when she crashed into the cooling arms of the water beneath.

I licked my lips, tasting sweat, dust, and envy.

The rumble of an old pickup rose in the distance, but I kept my eyes on my new neighbor and her lush life. The truck swished past, bringing a welcome wind to my face.

Followed by a cloud of dirt that stung my eyes, rushed into my mouth, choked my lungs.

I gasped for air, but opening my mouth just made me swallow the dust and break out in uncontrollable coughs. The hacking wrested my torso, forced me backward, burned my throat.

Through the haze of dust, I caught sight of the neighbors hawk againswooping and swirling, beating its wings, and searching the landscape.

My feet recognized the drop-off too late. They slid out from under me, and I fell into the drainage ditch. Something in my ankle popped. I clenched my teeth as the pain wracked through me then stilled my body to keep from making whatever had just happened worse.

My back registered damp then wet as drainage water soaked through my shirt to my skin. Great . Now Id have to shower, do laundry, and treat my ankle, all before Rhett got off his own school bus. Assuming I hadnt broken anything and could hobble home.

I tilted my head back, squinted against the fiery rays of the sun, and steeled myself to roll forward and get up when that hawk swooped past.

Its pearl-tipped, charcoal-brown wings flapped, and its cinnamon-red tail feather gleamed in the sun. I didnt move, just watched it soar above me, then nearer and nearer.

The hawk closed in, and a gripping fear clutched my chest. I should have moved out of his way, but I didnt. Couldnt. The bird turned his head this way and that, then returned its paralyzing gaze to me.

Its wings rippled and thinned. Its body lengthened and broadened, no longer bird-sized but something else, something...not possible.

My breath caught cold in my throat. The world blurred, tilted. Time stretched like a late-afternoon shadow. The flip-flap of wings echoed in my ears, and the bird landed.

Its head shifted and reshaped.

Not a bird.

The hazy figure approached. My breath grew solid, and the world went black.