[T]he [O]ther : A Wolf's Tale

Chapter 1

"Mm...Huh? OH..." I announce to the world out loud, the dissatisfaction in my voice as I slowly arch my body upward. The concrete on this warehouse floor is as cold as ever.

"I gotta find other places to change back into" I remind myself as I manage to pull up to a standing position. I take in my surroundings; I was unaware the size of this place. It's so quiet yet I can hear even the insects marching along the corner wall, the cars racing outside...the siren's chasing, tailing them behind,

"heh...idiot" I laugh to myself, thinking of the fool who decided to speed past a cop car. I take one last deep breath in, and exhale as if it's my last.

"It's time to go" I say out loud, just to hear my own voice echo. I clutch onto my necklace as I march towards the exit and step outside, I only have about 30 minutes to get to class on time.

Cloudy and like usual, I run across the street without looking, honestly if I'm going to get hit by a car, I fear for the driver more than I fear for myself. However, since it's so early, and most of the people that live around this area have night jobs, the streets are kind of deserted, giving me free reign to run at top speed. Within minutes I can already see the back field of my high school, I sigh to myself as I slow down, the other school busses are already unloading the students, there's so much chatter around me yet I can clearly hear everyone's conversation. All the gossip, all the complaining and teenage angst, honestly, I don't know how these humans don't tire themselves out with the amount of stress they create out of nothing sometimes.

I manage to pass by everyone, without drawing much attention to myself, in a school as diverse as mine, no one will really notice a 5'8 black male who really...really needs a haircut.

As I pass through depressed angsty teens, I manage to get about five steps into my homeroom class before I'm found. "Aye! Terry! What's up man! Where did you go last night? You left right before things got good!". I take a deep sigh before I turn to answer my so called "friend" Harold. He's on the short side, probably 5'6 ginger boy with freckles and glasses.

"I told you...I had something to take care of at home" the excuse I give him in hopes of him dropping this subject.

"But I went by your house later that night, your mom said you weren't home! She thought you were with me man hahaha" Harold says, a little bit beyond a normal conversation noise level.

"You went to my house—You probably got there before I did" I reply to him. By this point I'm starting to slowly panic, other students have lowered their own voices to tune into my little exchange that's going on here.

"Are you sure? You walk pretty fast man I'm sure you would've gotten home before me! Bruh if you got a girl just tell me man it's alright hahaha I'd be happy if you finally got someone! I mean you've been single for quite a while—"

"Alright Harold god dam! Lay off him!". I heard her footsteps down the hallway before she even walked into the room. I turn and slightly grin at Sarah. One of the very...very few female friends I have. Lemme rephrase that, one of the only female friends that I would actually refer to, as a friend. Sarah on the other hand is not that short compared to me, her forehead reaches the bridge of my nose. She has her pale, but not vampire pale, skin with her short black hair. I can tell she's wearing contacts with ease.

Sarah walks by me and smiles, then moves past Harold and pats his shoulder "Your concern over Terry's whereabouts a little too much there, it's giving off a small stalker-ish vibe. Maybe that's why Terr left". A small round of laughter from other students is followed at the end of Sarah's joke, and with that the three of us take our seats in the back of the class. Mine close to the window, with Sarah in the middle and Harold on the far right of her. The two of them start their normal morning routine of roasting each other while I watch and listen, rest the side of my cheek on my right palm.