Blood trickled down my forehead into my eyes, smoke filled my already burnt lungs, tears slipped down from my eyes mixing in with the blood, pain was spiking up my legs and finally... Black.
Eleven years since that day, and I still have nightmares. I had only been five when I somehow ended up killing my mom, step dad, three step brothers, and most of the neighborhood. Not to mention blowing up the whole house, setting fire to the streets, and destroying the entire neighborhood. All because some guy had knocked on my door and asked for a place to stay for the night. The police and fire department never found his body.
Class had started off with talking about famous disasters, so of course my mind went here. Ms. Hanshaw was going on about some hurricane and I was doing pretty well for my first day but something was bugging me, though it wasn't the new school or the social anxiety that was making me anxious, it was the way one of the kids kept staring at me. I was too used to them staying as far away from me as possible and avoiding meeting my emerald green eyes. But this guy kept swiveling his head towards me and sniffing the air. It was completely creeping me out, and that was not a good thing, I needed to at least last a week before something blew up!
Ms. Hanshaw looked around at the class, her eyes searching for a participant, shoot! I was so lost in my thoughts I forgot to pay attention. Then her eyes landed on me. Uh oh. I made sure to clear my head before staring right back at her, she flinched a little, not surprising.
"Mr. um, Paxton was it? Why don't you come solve this problem for the class. It, uh, seems that the rest of them need help, and if I know them, they might need a push," she ended up glaring at some of the kids.
I nodded curtly and stood from my chair. I headed towards the board, as I passed down the aisle, the kids scooted their chairs away or leaned away from me. This was normal, but when I got near the kid who had kept sniffing the air and looking at me, he flinched and stood up abruptly, stumbling a little. This piqued my interest, he had a limp.
The entire room stared at him, even Ms. Hanshaw, "Cedar Brook! Why do you feel the need to stand when we are in the middle of a math problem?" she snapped.
Cedar blushed, "I-I need to use the bathroom?" his answer sounded more like a question than an answer, he shifted on his legs nervously.
"Is your need to use the bathroom so great that you need to stand?" she asked, she was fuming, and it was making me a little annoyed, nope, calming thoughts, calming breaths. Whereas the rest of the class was snickering and covering their mouths in attempts to hide their laughter.
Cedar just stood there with his head hanging down. "Fine! But be quick about it, we have a test coming up and I really don't want to give out another C or an F". She started rubbing her temples and Cedar booked it out of the room, I was a little surprised at how fast he ran. You'd think he would run a little slower, but if anything he ran faster than the normal human.
Ms. Hanshaw looked at me sternly, "Well, are you doing this problem or not?"
My head snapped around to face hers, I went to the board and started working silently.
♙♟♙
Cedar never returned to class, which was either normal or no one cared since no one acknowledged this. I found it a little unsettling, some part of me suspected he was hiding something, and that something was about me somehow.
When the bell signaled lunch the room emptied in a stampede of bored and hungry Sophomore kids. The hallway I took to the cafeteria was slightly deserted, and I had a small idea why, but it didn't bother me. I preferred deserted quiet places, they made me feel at peace with myself. Giving me a moment of clarity, the halls seemed to darken and grow, and, if possible, even quieter. Tacking a small breath, turned around and said, "I know you're there, giving me what I wanted? A small give away, but nice try, I never get what I want".
A woman with curly brown hair, caramel brown eyes, and darker skin appeared from the middle hallway, along with the Cedar boy. Her eyes were wide and surprised. She was longing for someone, my guess was her boyfriend, or maybe husband? Whereas Cedar's were just plain scared, his legs were shaking a little and did I see fur on them?
The woman's eyes searched me, she seemed a little bothered by me, but not a lot. Her eyes also carried the personality of someone who has seen too much sorrow, greif, and blood. I should know, I carried it with me everywhere I went.
"How did you know?" she asked, her voice kind.
My own eyes narrowed, "I just said, you gave me what I wanted, I never get what I want. Now who are you, and I don't suggest lying, it ends badly".
The two shared a look and the woman took a brave step forward, "My name is Hazel Zhang, and this is Cedar Brooks. We are here because we suspect you are," pausing, she tilted her head and finally said, "Different," .
"Me, different? No, what gave you that thought?" Don't lose your cool Paxton.
Hazel frowned, "Your smell."
"My smell? How nice"
She shook her head, "It's not like that, you have great personal hygiene, I assure you, but," she gestured to Cedar, "He smells different things, for different people and strange people, like me, have a certain smell."
I just stared at her, "Does it have something to do with the amount of, what is it fur? On his legs?"
Her eyes widened and Cedar looked down at his legs, noticing that his 'fur' was showing, he muttered something I didn't pay attention to because a cool presence had crept up behind me and had started to whisper in my ear, "Trust them, they only want to help".
I slight chill passed through my body, that voice again, I didn't want to trust them, but that stupid voice was usally right.
My eyes zeroed in on Hazel, "What do you want with me?"
Hazel sighed, "Nothing, but we do want to help, we have a safe haven for people like you, like us. We can take you there, learn why you're so different and…" she was cut off by the speakers.
"Paxton Antoniou, report to the office immediately"
My whole body stiffened and my gaze traveled to Hazel and Cedar who were looking at each other strangely, "Paxton, don't go.." I didn't hear the rest because I was already gone.