Haphephobia

Ben led a very boring life.

No, really. He was a nerd. He loved his family; not that they spent so much time together. He went to school every day, he had a normal girlfriend, and he had normal friends. He kept up an A-average grade. And Ben would have stayed boring, for a very, very long time, if it wasn't for her.

In a fit of drunken rage, a troubled, teenaged girl stole Ben from his world during one of the worst moments of his life, and hurt him. During the fight that resulted, he mistakenly cut himself on a shard of waste glass covered in odd-looking fluid. Once the mysterious substance had entered his body, he finally changed- not only mentally, but physically. He had turned into a bear and passed out, scaring the girl away just before he changed right back to normal, unconscious, and the police arrived.

After that, though Ben had no memory of turning into the bear, he was different. He was more easily frightened, more antisocial, and suddenly he couldn't bear to be touched. Not by anybody. He watched, helpless, as this steadily crumbled to ruins every type of relationship he'd previously had. Now, he was alone, and he was different.

But soon, Ben would realize how "different" oftentimes becomes the antithesis of "boring."