Long Claws and Broken Masks

Chapter 10-Joy and Pain-

It was a few weeks before Larry graduated from Nockfell high school, surprisingly he was allowed to graduate even Todd was surprised. I wasn't aware that Larry was even doing and turning in his homework but it turns out he was just so he didn't have to repeat the year. But now the biggest issue was in front of us, the day of his graduation fell on one of the three days of the full moon, both Larry and I are both a little panicked about the whole thing "What the fuck am I gonna do Sal.. My ears, teeth and eyes are gonna be showing while I walk with the rest of those fuckers" I Larry was panicking so bad "Lar-Bear, I have no idea what to do.. Maybe smile without showing your teeth and maybe wear contacts?" Larry sat down on the floor with a huff as his head landed in his hands as he let out a big ass sigh.

I walk over to him and sit down with him, I slide my hand into his just trying to comfort me. I even put my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes. Suddenly I heard Larry breathing heavily, I looked over at him and I saw that his eyes were bright yellow. I got up and took a step back, knowing what was happening. Larry had a panic attack last month causing a shift without it being a full moon. I backed up against Larry's bedroom door "Larry.. Calm down.. Everything is going to be okay.." I watched as Larry's teeth grow in size, he looked over at me, eyeing my hand that was inches from the door knob before letting out a low growl causing me to tremble a bit, Larry's transformations were always painful to watch but during the transformation he isn't very friendly to be around, angry like anything could make him go feral at any given moment. Larry slowly got up off the floor and started walking towards me, I quickly reached for the door knob but my wrist was quickly grabbed by Larry, I looked up at him and he now right in front of me, I was now shaking like a leaf, I gulped but before I had a chance I get away, Larry grabbed me and threw me across the room, I landed hard on my side, sliding on the floor and hitting my back against the wall, I winced from the pain.

I slowly sat up with my hand on my side, I looked over at Larry and he was down on the floor, I heard his growls and whimpers meaning his body was changing and before I knew it I saw his body grow as he rips out of his clothes, dark brown fur covering his body, his feet were hard paws and his hands had sharp claws with pads on them. Larry look over at me while snarling, baring his teeth with his ears pinned back against his head, he took a step towards me causing me to flinch, I looked at the back door to Larry's room so I got up as quickly as I could and took off running, Larry bolted after me, I made it outside but kept running but I started stumbling a bit from the pain, I tripped over a stone in the field causing me to fall to the ground with a painful thud. In no time Larry was towering over me, I stared up at him with fear filled eyes "L-larry.. Please... calm down.. It's gonna be okay.." I lift my hands to try and show that I'm not a threat but Larry did something awful. Larry snarled, lunging forwards and bit down on my shoulder quite hard making me scared, loudly from the pain. Lisa ran outside when she heard my scream of terror and pain "Larry!" Lisa ran over to Larry and I, she pulled me out from under Larry, I was gripping my shoulder tightly while trembling while staring at Larry, Lisa got between me and her son. Lisa grabbed Larry by the face, forcing him to look at her directly in the eyes "Larry Johnson! You listen here young man, you just hurt Sal. Now you snapped out of it!" Lisa then slapped Larry across the face, snapping him out of the trance he was in.

Larry looked at his mom with wide eyes then he looked over at me, I flinched at his gaze but when he took a step towards me, I backed away while still holding my shoulder with an iron tight grip. Larry slowly shifted back and slowly approached me "Sal.. I'm so sorry.. I didn't mean to.." Larry was now a foot away from me but I was trembling, he slowly knelt down and carefully picked me, I kept trembling as he brought me back inside the basement, placing me down in the living room on the couch before Larry and Lisa started rushing around grabbing medical then started to tend to my heavily bleeding shoulder as I just laid there, trying to stay awake but it becoming very difficult, my vision was fading in and out but pretty soon I passed out there on the couch.