Spirit Animal Ficlets

Lab Creature 1

Shane lived his whole life inside of the lab. He never ever had seen the world outside of its prefect white walls and never needed too.

His life was absolutely perfect in the lab. Nobody was mean, nobody gawked at his odd appearance, he had all the food he needed to grow up correctly, medicine to keep him healthy, caretakers that treated him like he was normal.

The only problem? He hated it.

When Shane was younger the lab needed away to keep him distracted somehow. He didn't care for toys or balls or sports or exercise so they got a tv and sat him down in front of it and began playing a show on it.

They kept him perfectly distracted for his morning, noon, and nightly check ups. He didn't notice when they stuck the needles in his arms to give him shot or draw blood or whatever they were testing.

He'd watch the show all day unless for feeding or exercise time. Otherwise, little Shane was glued to the screen and it's little animated people. He grew up watching that show from start to finish and begged the scientist to play it again for him.

He stopped watching it after he turned 6 and saw his reflection on the tv's black screen one night. At first Shane thought it was a monster from the darkness until looking closer did he realize that monster on the screen was him. It was scaly with golden eyes and fangs. Shane never saw himself before that night, nothing in the lab had a reflection on it so seeing himself in the darkness had sent the child into a crying fit that had his caretakers confused about why he was scared, crying, and pointing at the tv screen. Eventually it was taken away and they made sure Shane never got a good look at himself until he was 10 and carefully explained to him why he lived in the perfect white world of the lab.

It was a side effect of some old medicine that his mother had taken once but it was discontinued a few days after it was made and all users stopped taking immediately after. The side effect had caused some genes in his body to morph and turn him into a crocodile hybrid.

As Shane grew older he understood more and more about the outside world.

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At the age of 13 Shane saw two kids sneak into the lab, a pair of boys. He stalked them for a moment until the security guard appeared around the corner. The boys had turned to run but stopped dead when they saw Shane standing right behind them. He smiled and waved which caused one boy to start screaming and called him a monster.

The crocodile boy froze. The childhood memory of when he was younger came back and the smile dropped into a frown. Shane didn't we t them to see him cry so he let out a growly hiss and turned away from them, running to his room.

He curled into a tight ball on his bed. His tail between his hands and tracing each scale with his sharp nails. He cried himself to sleep with the word Monster echoing in his thoughts.

At 17, Shane began taking online lessons. The lab had set up a computer in his room, dolled him all up to hide his condition, and fabricated a new life to cover up for his real one.

When the screen came on he was face to face with a green eyed, blonde hair boy. He waved at Shane "Hello! Can you see and hear me?" He asked.

Shane nodded "Loud and clear," he replied. The boy backed away from the screen, revealing 5 other kids in the room.3 boys and 2 girls. Shane smiled at the group "Hi, I'm Shane," he greeted.

The kids greeted back with a "Hi Shane!" In unison which was a little odd.

The boy sat at an empty desk as a tall woman came into view of the screen "Alright well class this is our newest student Shane Kingsly, he'll be attending class from online, so why don't we introduce ourselves?" She said.

A girl went first, she had long black hair that was stuck into a neat bun "Hello Shane, I'm Meilin Teng and I'm known to dabble in all sorts," she greeted with a tiny smile.

Shane tapped a book beside him "Teng? Like General Teng?" He asked. He knew everything about history from ancient Erdas to modern times. General Teng was famous for her war tactics and one of the few famous Zhongese women known for fighting in war.

Meilin nodded "Yes, she's one of my great ancestors," she replied.

The other girl went next, she was dark with braided hair "I'm Abeke, I'm on the archery team," she said.

Shane placed the laptop to the side of him and grabbed a news paper of the coffee table "I recognize you from... Where is it... AH HA!" He found it. A week old Sunday paper. He held the article in front of the Screen "You won the Tri-School Archey Tournament with a perfect score for all six rounds!" He said.

After putting the paper back and place his comput in his lap, Shane saw the girl looked embrassed "Yep, I'm that Abeke."

A brown haired boy with tan skin "I'm Rollan, think you can guess anything about me?" He joked.

Shane picked up his new paper from years ago "Evidence much?" He countered. Rollan had made it into the news claiming he had gone in the laboratory and saw this weird human animal creature. Shane had read that article so much it was burned into his brain.

Rollan frowned "I was nine! I don't get how important that was!" he said. Apparently Rollan thought differently about his break in fiasco.

Another boy went next, dark like Abeke with short puffy hair "I'm Karmo, on the fencing team with Devin," he greeted. Gently nudging the arm of a brown hair and blue eyed boy next to him.

Shane snapped his fingering "I saw you two on tv, somebody had recorded you two making out!" He said.

Devin erupted into a blush "Not True!" He countered.

Rollan was laughing "Devin, everybody knows you and Karmo are dating!" He said. Devin threw his pencil at Rollan, which caused the tan boy to screech.

Next went the boy from before "So I'm Conor, Macfenray" he greeted.

Shane couldn't recognize him from anywhere. No articles came to mind, no news reports, no history text, nothing. Shane pressed his lips together "Anything else?" He asked.

Conor shook his head "I herd sheep but that's about it," he replied.

Shane opened another tab and searched up Conor Macfenray but nothing about his classmate showed up besides accounts for people with the same name. He tipped his head "Nothing? Really?" He asked.

Conor blushed as he smiled "Yep, nothing," he replied. Shane smiled softly at his mysterious classmate.

At 17, Shane fell in love for the first time.