The Monster Hero

Chapter 2 - Oh Boy

I miss my mom. I fear for her. She had to be rushed to the hospital late last night, which felt like the longest night of the year to me. My dad went with her to the hospital, leaving me at the castle with my 17 older brothers. Only this morning, we were allowed to come to the hospital and see Mom. Except, we haven't even seen her yet. I am worried. My dad seems to have been kicked out of the room, because he's out here with us. I sit down in a plastic chair and put my head in my hands. "Stop slouching, Son," says my dad, "You should be sitting up straight, like all your older brothers! 'Cause unlike you, they know how to act in public or anywhere!" I roll my eyes. Leave it to my dad to compare me to my older brothers. At least my mom loved me or she showed it. Suddenly the door opens and the doctor comes out. "You can go in now," he says. I leap up. My father glares at me. I calm down and walk towards the door. When I go in my mom is sitting up, with her beautiful smile on her face. She says my name. A smile pulls at my lips, and even though I don't normally like to show my emotions, I smile back. I run over and hug my mom. She hugs me back. Tears sting my eyes, though I don't let them out. "I was worried about you, Mom," I say. She pushes me back far enough to see my face but not enough to break the hug. "My wonderful brave Slash, afraid? You know I would try my hardest to stay with you!" she says. I smile again. My mom is one of the only people I know that is capable of making me show almost all my feelings. She breaks the hug and looks over my shoulder. Then she smiles even wider. I feel a hand on my shoulder. I look up and there is my dad, smiling at my mom with twinkles in his eye. My mom is the only person in the galaxy that can bring that smile out of my dad. I step back and look around. Everyone else has already come into the room. I look back at my mom, she's hugging my father. I hear a wail. So does my mom and dad. From a door in the corner a nurse walks out holding a bundle of cloth very carefully in her arms. My dad backs up beside me and the nurse gives the bundle to my mom. I walk up and peer inside the bundle. Nestled inside the cloth is my new baby brother. He is very small to me. He has his face screwed up and his eyes shut tight. It looks like something is bothering him. It may have been the noise; it was pretty noisy in the room. I study him some more. His skin is tan and his hair is dark brown, like my mom's. His ears are a lighter brown than his hair. I may have forgotten to mention this before, but we are Wolfums. Wolfums are half human, half wolf, hence the name Wolfums. All Wolfums have two sets of ears, one pair like normal human ears and the other pair is on top of the head and are wolf ears, which means we can hear better than humans. Wolfums also have tails and can run faster than normal humans. Wolfums have retractable claws at the ends of their fingers, and by the way we do still have finger nails. The retractable claws just kinda appear like magic at the ends of our fingers, but if they are retracted you don't even know they're there. Other than those differences, we are the same as humans. Anyway, my brother's wolf ears are a lighter brown than his hair. I look up to see my mom staring at the baby with so much love in her eyes. I don't know why but this makes me jealous. I lean down and yell in his ear, "Wake up!" His eyes jerk open. I smirk at the reaction I just got from him. "He's awake!" says the nurse that came in with my brother. Everyone looks over at him. I look at my brother's eyes and notice that the right eye is a vibrant blue and the other is gray. "Something is wrong with his left eye, I......I think his left eye is color blind!" exclaims the nurse. Everybody starts talking at once. "Quiet!" yells Mom. I back up next to my dad when she says this. "What are we going to name him?" my mom asks. "I like the name Elliott!" My dad runs over to her and yells, "Are you mad lady!? What type of name is that for a Wolfton?" I look down and stop paying attention. A few seconds later, I look back up and my dad has come back over to me looking surly. Looks like my mom won that particular fight. I look at her and see her looking down. She says to Elliott, "Welcome to the world, Elliott!" He smiles a gummy smile and reaches up at her face. She smiles back and takes his hand in hers. It makes me sick to the stomach with jealousy. I look away and see my dad staring at Elliott with knives in his eyes, though I don't know why. I look down at the floor and watch a bug scuttle by.