Blood's Sacrifice

Chapter 7 - The World Changes

"The red curtain opens up again, and another scene is presented to the audience..." The dogged English teacher said, about ready to wrap up with the day's class. The sound of the ringing bell beat her to it, however... along with the familiarly eager, abrupt shuffling amongst desks.

"Alright everyone, please review Chapters 13-19 of your text for..." The black saluki spoke, voice fighting within the mixture of many steps.

That white uniform of his shuffled along the table. and from his head already being down, Marqes was vividly upset. But what day would grant him any form of promised salvation from this fate? The Grade 9's hopes ran dry through white brick walls and corridors, suffocating his being to the point where he was now. Lifeless.

With a groan, the teen had 'woken' up; white fox with slight grey shades to an empty classroom. It was currently lunchtime, and Chemistry would be next among PE to seal off the closing day. Marqes regrettably lifted his tired hinds and finally got out into the hallway. His grayish blue eyes glittered faintly like a fish, ready to keel over at a moment's notice.

Novus High was hated by Marqes— where in fact he did not try to fake it out like his peers. Rather, everyone knew he was 'different', and simply left it at that. Yet despite this, the fox was supposedly nothing special. He inherited no powers from his family, unlike those that did... although on the bright side this would also leave him without the feeling of being regulated.

Assumedly harmless, little flitters of tracking eyes would watch him as he passed by the hallways, about ready to head towards the cafeteria to engage in his daily 'slop-eating' (as he would put it).

"Hey, watch it!" A female voice sounded, which absolutely stunted him out of his zombie-like haze and brought some life towards his attention.

"Ahh," He said, looking back up at whom he had bounced into, "My stalker is here again, at long last."

"What was that?!" The nerdy gray fox-feline exclaimed, adjusting her square-rimmed glasses whilst she stared at him. A look of disgust swiftly matched her expression, "I'm not stalking you!"

"So they all say," He mused, staring off into a different direction.

"For your information, I was just about to go inside and bumped into you... do you have a problem with tha—"

Marqes did not care for the conversation. He had entered inside the lunchroom without a moment's notice. The girl outside was left with her sentence hung, similar to the pure fox's felt mood leftover.

From there, it was the usual lining. Take a tray, shovel the food, eat the food; leave. About ready to sit down by his lonesome, a familiar voice followed after him, but he simply ignored it.

He simply ignored it.

...Until he could not simply ignore it any longer.

"What." He responded after sitting down by the empty lunch table, practically bursting with the opposite of life as he readied to eat his rice and chicken, "What do you want—"

"I was hoping you would get the memo by now," A strange male voice that came from a black and white feline told him, "But I guess not."

"The... what?"

"See, you're just as bitter as before, like you've always been." The lithe, skinnier-than-him tom proceeded to sit without question, speaking his maw. "You don't really care, do you? I see you every day here, like this... and you just don't care."

"What—"

"When will you show feeling?" He berated on, "When will you understand that no one cares how 'emo' you look, or how much attitude you put on... all you're doing is making yourself look more and more like a clown."

"What the—" Marqes shouted, and suddenly rose to his seat with widened eyes and an abrupt display of anger, which seemed to attract those eyes again, flittering around and through him like needles.

"Where did you come from?!" He inquired, demandingly, "Who the fuck are you?!"

"It doesn't matter," The crafty feline shrugged, "I've said what I needed to say. Anything else is simply a matter of you getting what's coming to you."

Marqes heart beat fast, more-over ready to beat the brat-looking individual into next year. He didn't care for fighting, but this time there was no definitive depth to how much the vulpine wanted to tear his claws into that kid's skull. Although apparently younger than him, but perhaps actually the same age and grouping. He was surprised he didn't run into him before... but then, Marqes realized what was going on.

...Or so, he thought he did.

The white fox left without another word.

In the bathroom, there he was... washing off his face with cold water under the less-than-adequately clean school sink.

"I can't—" Marqes rasped, vomiting up a storm that had seemingly been due for a very long, long time.

He was under pressure. For some reason, the white-knighted brat who came to the girl's rescue had seemingly gotten under his fur. His fur.

Marqes heaved, and then sighed. He breathed heavily... and almost felt himself ready to cry. What was building up inside of him all this time, he thought? Animosity? Regret?

When he looked at himself in the mirror... those furred, strung out features... they were not what he was familiar with. It was like looking at a monster, rather than himself. Slightly reddened eyes widened with sharp fangs out... and wanting to bite into something desperately.

It was there that he laughed. Even now, he was alone again, in a smelly bathroom (as opposed to the other odorous places). This was how he would be forced to spend his lunchtime, until the bell would shortly ring minutes later. He felt this horrendous. He felt this wrong.

With another sigh, and some more contemplative staring under a dripping wet face, Marqes returned to his saddened lifestyle anew. Not a tear was shed, however. Perhaps another time, he figured.

As the next scene had already begun.