BLACKOUT

Chapter 5- stereotypes

He held my eyelids tightly, examining my iris and the pupil. I could feel the stinging of eye drops, clinging onto my eyeball and dripping down through the bones of my skull.
"The shade of grey on your iris isn't natural. So is the shade of your pupil and the lining around it. It seems to be more of a plum colour. The splash of lilac on your skull above your eye isn't natural either but you were clearly born with it. There is definitely something different with you. Though it is genetics from your father, we don't understand what's going on with him either."
I already knew that.
"I have never seen anyone else look like this but you, your father and your friend Magenta. We may have to do more tests but for now just keep an eye out for anything else ok?" Mr Pantone says.
"Yes sir." I reply
"Well that's all for now. We'll email you with anything else Anx, see you both next time."
As I entered the car, my phone started to vibrate. It was a call,
"Hey Panic! How'd it go?" Magenta says.
"Not too bad. Told me things I already know but it was ok."
"Ok cool! Hope they find something. Also you know that fight that happened the other day?' He said.
"Yeah?" I replied.
"The reason Kent called you a "heartless bitch" was because his girlfriend is Citrus."
"Oh fuck" I thought. "She's probably told a bunch of the other popular kids about me. About how I killed her sister."
"Well that's why I guess."
I knew that if I ever were going to get into contact with her, I would have to prepare for it. Know what I have to say, know what I have to do.
"These girls real bitchy, lemme tell ya. She's got an en-suite. A person who's got an en-suite is definitely a bit on the rude side."
I was prepared for him to say something like that. .
"I remember when I had to design an en-suite for a rich person. He was really rude."
I mean, pretty much.
"But be careful with her." He said.
"Don't worry, I will."
"The only person in our group she hasn't bitched about is Valerie, but you know why."
In our world, animals that are known to be magic are heavily honoured like Pegasus and dragons.They have powers no one else has that can help fix the world easily. Any hate crime against a majestic animal would result in harsh punishment.  Dinosaurs are also heavily honoured since they lived the longest and died from a meteor that crashed to earth and killed them all. They are seen as stars and still live in our hearts forever. Valerie is a dragon. We aren't sure what type but they are very well respected.
And Valerie doesn't conform to a gender, so misgendering them is one of the worst things you can do. Unless it was on accident.
If a teacher misgendered them they would be fired straight away.
"I've only heard one person misgender them on purpose once, lemme tell you it did not end well." I said.
I realised that we started to park into the driveway, so I said bye to Magenta and ended the call, holding onto the door and pushing it open. Mum had already entered the house.
I was supposed to have school today, but I had the appointment. It was 3:45 so school only ended 35 minutes ago.
I remembered that I was going to the twins' apartment today for a study session. My other friends would have already been there since they were going on the train to home with Telescope and Quill.
I opened the jet black closet full of clothes to pick an outfit for the study session. It didn't have to be too fancy. I was only going to someone's apartment. The twins lived in the busy areas of the city. They were really close to the Scarlett central shopping centre. Although it was my closest shopping centre it was even closer to them.
I waved goodbye as I walked through the door,checking to see if I had everything.
Phone, check! Cash on the train app, check! Writing and textbooks, Check! Yup. got everything.
I arrived at the station, as the blaring sounds came past from the trains as they stopped, a large screech making my ears ring. But as I stepped in the train, it was packed, full of animals. All you could hear was chitter-chatting. It was uncomfortable. I could barely fit in between the hippo and the lion next to me.
This never really happened. I expected the overcrowded trains to be on the news. They were never really this loud. But oh right, today was the grand-finals of the Craynian crows VS the Scarlian storks. The XFL (Xanixir football league) was such a big thing in Xanixir society. Especially in Scarlett. (Craynar is a city of Karglia while Scarlett is the capital city of Karglia. Karglia is the capital state of Xanixir. And xanixir is the country.)
No wonder the trains were full. I mean, the Scarlian storks will definitely win. This is their homeground!
The hippo next to me was breathing very heavily. More heavily than they usually do. Hippos naturally have big noses so I could feel his breath swish against my fur. He was pushing against me though there was a clear space next to him. He was putting his arms up as the sweat was dripping from his armpits and in front of my snout. He was staring at me like I'd done something wrong. He was pushing against me on purpose. I decided to move somewhere else but I couldn't. I was blocked by everyone else who was squished up against the wall. There was no escape, which the hippo was about to tell me.
"What are you doing wolfy? Trying to escape? You know you're guilty. You know you deserve to feel uncomfortable. Am I annoying you? Good."
Again. Again I was targeted by a stranger. He knew who I was. He knew what happened years ago. But I wasn't going to let him bug me like this. I was at my stop anyways.
I quickly escaped the crowded train as the hippo was shouting for me to come back.
"Get that skull-faced wolf back here!"
I didn't do anything to you. So I'm not going to return to you just so you can sweat all over me.
The apartment was two blocks away.  It was really close to the football field. The apartment was across the famous Scarlett bridge, where many Scarlian supporters walked the streets to see the birds win the game. You could see the field from the bridge.
After I rang the doorbell, the door opened and a pink fox with a dark-grey mane appeared.
"Got all your stuff 'Nic?" Quill asks.
"Yup!" I replied.
As I entered the apartment, Valerie,Chrissie,Magenta,Telescope,Callie,Sunset,Drake,Coorey and Claw were all sitting in the room studying.
Quill's mum is in the kitchen, pulling out a batch of cookies from the oven.
"Hello Panic! Are you here for the study session too?" She says.
"Yes I am!"  I turn around the face of the young adults working on their studies.
"Hey guys!"
"Hey Panic!"
Everyone is working hard and is into their work. Some are helping each other while some are doing it individually.
"When we all finish our work we're gonna watch the XFL finals!" Telescope says, handing me a red and orange scarf with a storks face on it, representing the Scarlian storks.
"When we got here, the trains were full of Red and orange and blue and green! It was crazy." Callie says.
"Yeah I basically got squished!" I say.
After about two hours, everyone had finished their work and we all sat down to watch the grand final of who the winner of the Xanixir football league was!
"Caraiko from Craynian Crowes loses a goal, Casper from the Scarlian storks takes the ball, he goes and shoots for the goal! And that's time! The Scarlian storks have won the game!"
You could hear the screams of joy and pride of the animals after the Scarlians won. The other teams, like Evelyn Eagles and Dione Dalmatians all come out to commemorate the Scarlian storks for their win.
"Why does the XFL end in the autumn and then start in the spring again? It doesn't make sense." Callie said.
"Yeah it really doesn't," I said.
But just as I said that my phone started to buzz, but it wasn't a call, it was a text. Well, not just one text, more like 20 texts.
I pulled down the notifications only to see death threats and slurs thrown at me by an unknown ID.
"Kys."
"You'll pay for this."
"I'd rather you die."
"I'll beat you so hard."
"I'm not scared." I thought to myself.
Maybe I shouldn't show anyone. If I ignore it, then maybe nothing will happen.
I deleted the message.
"Panic you ok?" Callie says.
I didn't know how I looked until I found myself, tears falling from my eyes. My head was held low and the phone was slipping through my hand.
No. I'm not ok.
What a ruin of a day.
Callie snatches my phone before it falls to the ground and places it on the side of her.
I started balling my eyes out.
"No no no Panic whats wrong no!"
I showed them the messages. I never thought that homophobia and death threats would actually ever get to me. I didn't know that I was this sensitive, though it's not sensitive since it's easy to feel like this.
They were speechless.
Chrissie runs over to hug me, squeezing my arms so tightly. Her pink mane brushed along my bangs.
I was staring at my paws, watching the teardrop slide against my bone cheek. Everyone was staring at me. Valerie reaches over the table to grab the remote, pressing their claw down on the "shutdown" button as the TV goes all black. I rise up, rushing to get to the bathroom but Quill aggressively grabs onto my arm and pulls me back. She knew what I was going to do.
"Don't let them get to you. You know they had said that to get a reaction out of you. Ignore them and delete the message." She says.
"Ignore it." Coorey, who is Magenta's boyfriend, says.
"I'm trying! It's hard to think." I scream.
Everyone else rises up and steps over to my side, all surrounding me and hugging me all at once. I'm so grateful for them.
"Thank you guys so much. I love you all."
Quill's parents walk into the living room, rushing to the small group of teenage animals crowding one skull-faced wolf, who is told that their life didn't matter and that she deserved so much pain. Everyone moves out of the way as the twins mum pushes in and holds me tight, reassuring me that I was no monster and that they were all here to support this little black wolf. We were all going to work on this together. She pulls out something from a box full of plushies and hands me a small teddy that looks just like me.
"Scope made a bunch of plushies for all her friends so she thought now was the perfect time to give you yours."
"Thank you, Telescope. This really made my day." I say, bowing my head to show my appreciation of the art and beauty of the gift.
"No problem, 'Nic! Always here to help."
I didn't want to talk about the texts again, so I requested we not talk about them and delete them. Which, we didn't talk about again.
The only problem with that was that I realised I had to walk home, which is pretty risky considering I had just been threatened to get beaten up by a random person.
"Are you gonna be okay with walking home and to the train by yourself? Do you want one of us to come with you?" Callie says.
"I think I should be fine by myself. Thanks a lot for caring though."
I don't want my friends to get hurt, If something does happen. I don't want them to be in my place. All I knew was that I had to be extra extra cautious. Have my phone on, constantly check my surroundings and have equipment to protect myself with, which I have.
I stepped out of the apartments and back onto the road. The environment was quiet and it smelled of gastly smoke fumes that tickled the insides of my nostrils. There was no one around, which made the vibe intense like those scenes from those mystery movies you find on illegal movie websites. The only sound you could hear were rustles of the leaves from the trees that swayed from side to side. Surprisingly, there was not one peep that I heard about the XFL. After the games there were either sorrow cries or prideful screams.
I dragged my claws against the edges of the railings from the bridge, unaware of what was about to happen next.
Before I could assume that everything was going to be ok a loud, aggressive voice yelped out from behind me. I could hear someone call out my name.
I thought to myself, "Is it just a cry for help? Or is it the call for 'justice' against me?"
A hooded animal with a long beak had suddenly pulled over me, ending up with my face to the concrete floor, its knee on my tailbone. It held one talon on my neck, with the other talon tying a rope around my snout so I couldn't speak. It shined a light into my face, unable to see clearly. It pulled it back from my face, grabbing onto my hip and kneeling to face me.
"Kent?" I mumbled.
"Don't speak, wolf."   "Or I'll beat you."
I don't want to be hurt.
"Alright.." I said.
Kent then raised his wing as he slapped my face. I never knew birds wings were so strong. It hurt but not a lot.
"My girlfriend told me all about you. You're a bad one, aren't you?" 
He scrunched his eyes as he looked at me.
"I don't want anything to do with you." I said, trying to speak through the rope around my snout. I was hoping that I wouldn't get up and hurt him just like I did to his girlfriend's sister a few years ago, so I stayed down and didn't take off the rope. He held down my back, so I couldn't get up. "Good. I don't want to hurt you." I thought to myself.
"Don't move. I just want to talk." he said.
"I'm doing as you say. I don't want to hurt you." I say.
I felt butterflies through my stomach as I said those words. It felt weird to let someone I barely know take control over me, but I knew I had to surrender or things would get worse.
"Good. Now, however you treated Citrus' sister, Lemon,I will never let you treat Citrus like that ever. Don't ever try, wolf." He says, pushing onto my back with even more pressure.
"Now, Let me just say one more thing before I-"
I wasn't taking anymore bullshit.
Not today.
I'm a wolf. You're a bird. Who do you think is going to win this fight?
I jumped onto my hind legs again and pulled the rope away and kicked Kent's crotch. He fell backwards, landing headfirst and onto his back. I dropped down and wrapped his beak with the rope and looked him in the eye. Fear sparkled in those eyes. I like it. I love seeing the fear of my enemies.
"Not one more word,  Birdie. You think you're so much stronger. Just because the Felines and their allies won the war doesn't mean us canines lost our power. I won't take shit from the oppressors anymore. I'll let you go but, I do not want to hear one peep out of you reporting this to the police and the school or even the king. I spared you. You didn't spare me so it wouldn't be fair. I won't tell anyone and you won't either. Deal?" I said, pulling my paw out to handshake in deal.
"Y-yes." He replies as he pulls out his wings to shake hands with me.