Invisible Scars

(Short Story)

     As the day of school finished, Cory exited the front doors of the school, went down the stairs, and headed up the sidewalk toward home. The first week of freshman year was complete. He had butterflies in his stomach. His throat was dry. He almost felt sick.
     As he slowly walked up the sidewalk, he thought to him self, "why do I feel like this? The first week of school is over. Sure I have the whole year ahead of me, but I should be excited."
     School had never come hard to Cory. It wasn't his favorite thing, but he still normally looked forward to it, so why did you feel like this? He felt anxious and warm; slightly light-headed.
     Deep in thought as he turned the corner, he didn't notice Kyle and Devon coming up behind him.
     "Ew, it's Cory cry baby!" Kyle instigated.
     "It's a plague. Gross!" Devon added.
     Coming up on both sides of him, they shoved Cory back and forth, knocking him to the ground. They quickly walked past him, giggling and laughing.
     He became filled with anger. His head began to spin. Kyle and Devon were no longer in sight, but Cory still burned with anger.
     The blood pumping in his veins felt like fire moving through his body. He moaned is he struggled to pull himself from the ground. Rubbing his eyes, he tried to clear his vision and straighten his head. The feelings began fading back to normal.
     As he began walking, he noticed sounds and smells that he wasn't used to. Some were pleasant, while others were wretched. Once again he thought to himself, "what is happening to me?" He shook his head and continued walking.
     All day Cory had been hearing and smelling unusual things. Most of them were familiar but still different. It was like his senses had been heightened.
     Cory approached the corner of town where the movie theatre was. He could smell the popcorn as he always  could, but he could also smell about thirdly different kinds of perfume and cologne. It made him sneeze.
     Curious, he decided to try to focus his senses. At first it didn't work. It actually caused him to loose all his extra senses. They were normal again. "Seriously!?" he thought to himself angrily. He focused on the movies theatre and tried again. He smiled as he thought he was hearing voices from inside the theatre again, but he quickly realized that the sounds were only a few people walking past him on the side walk. He sighed, gnashed his teeth, and tensed up his muscles as he quickly grew angry.
     "Relax." He thought to himself. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to relax before trying again. He focused on the people, trying to decipher whether he knew anyone inside. No success.
     Fire began to burn through his veins again. His heart pumped and his temperature rose. He yelled out and focused once more. Suddenly everything came to him clearly. He could smell everything down the to the sea salt in the salt shaker and the heat coming from the video and audio system. He searched for a familiar voice. While doing so he could feel himself getting warmer. He was in severe pain, but his curiosity and excitement distracted him from acknowledging it. Cory's sister Eliza's voice boomed over the sounds of everyone else as she laughed at one of her friends jokes.
     "What is Eliza doing there?" Cory thought to himself. He wondered if his parents knew she was there. Breaking his focus and train of thought. The fiery pain inside of him, overcame him. He winced as he tried to conceal the overwhelming feeling.
     Cory turned and continued heading for home. He now noticed that it was beginning to get dark. "How long was I standing there?" He thought to himself.
     Consumed in pain, he tried to focus on other smells and sounds that might take his thoughts off of his pain. He didn't know if he would make it home otherwise. The more he tried, the worse the pain got. He felt like he was burning from the inside out.
As Cory exited town, the pain intensified. He could barely walk. His vision became blurry. He began staggering around.
     An instant later he was laying on the ground in the park on the edge of town. The fire blazing inside held him to the ground. All he could do was scream in pain. He had never felt something so intense before. He screamed once more as he tried to pull himself from the ground. But he couldn't move. He wondered if it some sort of night mare that he couldn't wake up from.
     Now every movement intensified the pain by times ten. He felt as if all the bones in his body were being broken and put back together.
     Slowly the pain released. He pulled himself off of the ground, but he was still only crawling. As the pain released, it's absence was filled with adrenaline. Cory was no longer headed for home. He had an urge so strong he couldn't resist it. It told him to go up the hill that that looked out over the town.
Instead of crawling he was now running, but still on all fours. It was strange, but felt amazing at the same time. Reaching the bottom of the hill, he felt the air flow through through him hair; his whole body. He inhaled deeply, the scent of the lush grass under his feet. The dirt that molded to his feet as he ran past a small pond. He could hear the crickets chirping and frogs croak. It gave him a sense of belonging. He was exhilarated.
     As he climbed the hill he could hear the wind blowing through the trees. The leaves dancing. An owl queuing and bats peeping. He jumped over logs and through branches.
     He ran through a mud puddle. The water that splashed up on him felt amazing. His speed increased.
     Reaching the top of the hill, he glanced at a large mud puddle as he ran by it. His stamina dropped. "What was that?" He thought nervously to himself as he went back to the mud puddle. A dark figure showed up in Cory's place. "What is this?" He thought to himself. Cory was gone. Something else was now standing in his place. He sat down next to the puddle. "What's going on here? This has to be a dream!" He thought.
     He sat there looking I the paddle. It was a brown figure. With black color around the eyes and down the center of the snout. He looked down at his hands and feet. They were gone, but paws held in their place. He jumped up and spun around, looking at his body. Every inch of it was covered in thick brown hair. Streaks of black running through it. He had a long fluffy tail as well.
     Cory's adrenaline peeked as he noticed the full moon above him in the sky. It's radiance fell on him. It felt just as good to him as the sun did on a cool day. He gazed at its radiance more only a moment before remembering what was going on.
     He wanted to go home and hide in the security of him room. He knew that it was late, and his parents would be waiting for him. He was going to be in big trouble for coming home so late, but he didn't care. He wanted this nightmare to end.
     As he turned to go back down the hill, a deep thundering howl came from the hill top behind him. The sound came through his ears and reached into his soul. It paralyzed him. He fell to the ground. He desired so strongly to go home, but it didn't matter. His new body pulled itself off the ground turned toward the direction the frightening sound had come from. Cory shook with fear. He tried to fight, but he had no choice in the matter. He was trapped in this creatures body and it was taking control. As it reached the hill top he began to feel sick fear and he couldn't shake. He didn't know what to expect.
     He stood at the look out, but turned away from the direction of the town. Suddenly a black figure came out of the shadows directly in front of him. It was another wolf, and it was much taller than him.
A familiar voice came from it. It was slightly masked by the figures form. "Welcome home cuz." The voice said Gently. Cory's fear vanished. He was home.