It was 4:37 AM; my eyes were growing tired from reading. I sighed, marked my book, and got out of my chair. As I looked around at the living room, at all the trinkets, antiques, and bookshelves, I felt very spoiled. I lived in a small apartment looking over downtown Portland. It was fairly small for someone as wealthy as I, but you come to expect that of those such as myself.

      I walked towards the door, and shut off a lamp along my way to my chamber. At the window sat Aurelian, my white cat, who was staring intently at his reflection in the glass.

      “Come now, Aurelian, shall we retire?” I asked my pet.

      He looked up at me and let out a “Meow” before he jumped to the floor and rubbed against my cold legs. Aurelian’s reflection, however, did not follow but instead looked me in the eyes with its glowing pupils and let out an entirely separate, more sinister “Meow.”

      I jumped, startled by the demon reflection, but even as I was lurched, I realized it. That wasn’t a reflection, but merely a copy, or clone if you will, of Aurelian.

      I opened my window and snatched the cat on the outside, from the fire escape it sat upon, by the neck. The imposter hadn’t a chance, as my speeds were almost impossible to calculate, a gift I mastered early on.

      Aurelian mewed at the strange cat struggling in my grip.

      “Change into your own skin, NOW!” I snarled at the flailing feline. “You should KNOW you cannot fool me!”

      The cat didn’t respond except for an attempt to hiss. I squeezed tighter around its neck, and then released as I felt it swell.

      I dropped the cat as it transformed before me, its white fur retracted into its skin, which was turning a light mocha color. Before the cat landed, its paws turned into hands and feet, its pointy ears slid to the sides of its face and became round, the tail disappeared, and the teeth widened below the new grown lips and nose.

      In the end there sat crouched a young, naked girl who was trying to catch her breath. Aurelian hissed and dashed away.

      I was still full of rage from being spied on by a skin-walker, but I tried hard to hold back my “extendable dentures.”

      I took a step forward and she jumped up in a basic fighting stance, her fists curled tight and her eyes fixed on mine. At my age, it was hard to tell exactly how old someone was, but I could guess.

      “Eyes up here you sicko!”