• I hate my life. That’s what I’ve been telling myself for around…my whole life. I had good reason to say that. My dad hated- still hates- me. I got kicked out when I was, six. Or something like that. I had to fend for myself, even before I got kicked out, and I never had anything good happen to me.
    I steal, just one of the things I do. I don’t always want to steal, but I’ve had to so I could live. I never got caught…that is, until one July afternoon came along. They sent me here after that, maybe to remind me there are rules everywhere. Maybe they hoped it would keep me in line. Trust me, I can’t be held down, so this isn’t gonna work. I suppose I should tell you how I ended up here. It would make for a good story. That’s what one guy- Jason- said after I told him. He said “Your life sounds interesting. Tragic, sad, horrible, but interesting. You should write a story about it or something. Here. A journal. We’re all supposed to have one.” He handed me this flimsy leather-bound book and a pen. So, here goes; part of my life.

    ~ ~ >< ~ ~

    Like I said, one July afternoon. Last July, actually. I was coming out a store I had just robbed. Some gullible people in the back had given me their meat and some other of their groceries. I was in the parking lot, and I saw a police car come in. A guy came out... he was fit and tall, and had some gray in his blonde hair, but just some. He was in uniform, and he looked over at me. He smiled. I tried to smile back to not look suspicious, but I hadn’t smiled for who knows how long, so it didn’t work.
    The man looked away and walked toward the store. I figured the manager or whoever had called would tell him about me. I was rather easy to spot in a crowd. I have wolf ears and, I don’t really hide them. So, instead of waiting for my punishment, I thought I would...go take a walk down the highway. The cop came out of the store and saw me. I started to run. He jumped in his car and was pulling out onto the road as I was running full-speed downhill.
    Now, having wolf ears isn’t the only abnormal thing about me. See, I’m part wolf-demon, so I can run about as fast as a wolf.
    Anyway, I was running downhill and the cop was chasing me. I knew this highway, though. Next to us was a hill and open grass as far as the eye can see. After you get to the intersection, though, there’s this forest on the left instead of grass. So I figured that I could run into the forest and live out there for a few days or weeks.
    So, I was running down the highway with the cop car gaining. I was almost at the intersection, and the light facing me turned red. I hadn’t noticed, so I kept running. When I was almost at the intersection, another cop car came around the corner and nearly hit me.
    He put on the emergency brakes right before he ran into me. We looked at each other for a second or so when the other cop car came to the intersection. He stopped and got out.
    “Hey you!” he called at me. I looked over, still holding the bag of stolen food. “Get over here.”
    “You’ll have to wait ‘til I’m dead to get me to come with you.” I told him. Then I ran up the hill. I figured it would be easier then going around the car. Well, to tell the truth, I didn’t really think at all.
    So I was running up the hill when the cop who nearly killed me got out of his car and chased me. The first cop was chasing me as well. I ran fast as I could straight across the top. There was a river that was about ten or five miles away. I could jump. Then they might think I was dead and they’d leave me alone.
    So I was about halfway there, with the men still chasing me, when I heard something. It was high-pitched and really irritating. I can’t exactly tell you how it sounded, but if you know what a dog whistle sounds like to dogs, it was like that, but, like, with a pitch ten times higher.
    I dropped my bag and fell to my knees. I was sure my ears were bleeding. I threw my arms over my ears, but I could still hear it. I thought my head was going to explode. I fell to the ground, and I thought I heard screaming. Maybe it was me screaming. The two cops caught up to me. I think they said something, but I was in too much pain to hear anything. The man who had chased me from the store kneeled down in front of me. He said something, but I blacked out.

    I don’t know how much time had passed, but when I regained consciousness, I was sitting in a wooden chair. I was in the middle of a police station. My hands were cuffed behind the chair, and my legs were tied to the legs. A heavy set man was sitting at the big desk in front of me. He was watching me, so I figured that I shouldn’t try and escape.
    “Ah, you’re awake. I would be interested in knowing your name, son.” He asked. He really did sound interested.
    “Tom.” I told him. I tried to escape, even though the man was watching me.
    “And do you have a last name?” he asked.
    “No.” I was still trying to escape.
    “You don’t have a last name?” he looked at me intently. I shook my head. Since I got kicked out, I never bothered with a last name. I don’t think I really have one.
    “I see. Gaven, would you come here, please?” The man who was chasing me from the store walked up to the desk. He started whispering with the man.
    I continued at attempting to escape when the man who nearly killed me came in front of me.
    “Hey kid. Why’d you fall back there? Scared of being forcibly dragged here?” He snickered.
    “No, there was this noise. It was like...” He was looking at me, a bit confused. “Oh, why should I have to tell you anything?” I was struggling with the handcuffs, but I only ended up cutting up my wrists.
    “Okay, Tom.” The man at the desk said. I looked up as blood trickled down my hands. It was warmer than a human’s, but it was mine.
    “What?” I heard my blood hit the floor. I figured only I could hear it, just like the dog whistle, or whatever it was.
    “We decided that it would best if you stayed at Gaven’s house until they are ready for you at the boarding school. You will then go there until... Gaven, should we tell him?” The man asked, quietly. The man who must have been Gaven shook his head.
    “I don’t think the kid could handle hearing it.” He said back, just as quietly.
    “Hey, I can hear you, ya know.” I told them. “Tell me what? I can handle anything.” They looked at each other, and then back at me.
    “Well,” Gaven started.
    “Kid, hey kid! Tom! Your wrists are bleeding. Pretty badly.” The guy behind me said.
    “Huh?” I asked, twisting around, trying to see him.
    “Your wrists are bleeding! Stop trying to escape!”
    “Huh?” I realized that I had been trying to get free after I had found my wrists were bleeding. I stopped. I felt my blood run down my hands. It was going pretty fast. I suddenly began to feel a bit light headed. I began swaying a bit.
    “Hey, are you okay?” the man at the desk asked. “Roger! Uncuff him before he losses any more blood!” The man behind me uncuffed me, and I began to fell forward. He caught me from behind and held me up.
    The man at the desk got up, and started to come towards me, but Gaven got to me first. He ripped part of his selves and walked behind me.
    “Move Roger.” I heard him say. Then, he began to wrap my wrists with the part of his uniform he ripped. The bandaging was tight, but when he was done, I didn’t feel any blood run down my hands.
    “Alright Tom, I guess you can go now.” the guy who had been at the desk told me. He had been untying my legs while Gaven had been bandaging my wrists.
    I got up, and swayed a bit, but quickly regained my balance. I started to walk toward the door when I saw the puddle of blood behind the chair. It was dark and it looked like it was a lot.
    “That’s a lot of blood.” I murmured. I started walking towards the door again. Gaven followed me, and led me to his car. I got in the passenger’s seat and looked at my wrists. They looked expertly wrapped. Maybe Gaven had kids who got hurt a lot, or his wife worked at a hospital. Gaven got in the car and started the engine. I put my hands down.
    “You didn’t have to do that.” I told him.
    “Do what?” Gaven asked as he drove down the road.
    “Wrap my wrists.” I looked out the window.
    “I, well, I felt I had to.”
    “You didn’t have to.”
    “You would have died.” He told me.
    “I should have. It would’ve saved everyone a lot of trouble.”
    “Don’t talk like that.” He sounded a bit hurt.
    “But it’s true. No one likes me. The only things I’m good at are causing trouble and getting into it. If I died, there’d be less trouble.”
    “Princes don’t talk like that.” He said, kinda quiet.
    “Well, I ain’t no prince. And don’t think I am one, ‘cuz if I were, I’d kill myself.”
    “Please, don’t say things like that.” He sounded like he was close to tears, so I shut my mouth. If he started crying, I’d have to deal with it. I probably couldn’t get out of this one without planning.

    So we arrived at a huge white house about an hour later. The yard was also huge and I wondered if they had a guy come and mow it or something. I figured Gaven didn’t have any kids; the yard was too perfect for that.
    He drove up the driveway and I saw a basketball hoop, so I figured he had a son. There was also two pair of roller skates, so he had two daughters. He stopped at the top and looked at me.
    “Well, this is our house.” He told me.
    “It’s huge.” I said back.
    “Yup. My wife will be waiting. We should go in.” He got out of the car. I got out too, and walked to the other side. Two identical girls were hugging him. They both wore little dresses, and bows in their braided hair. They looked young, like six or something.
    They looked over at me, and they clung closer to their father who hugged them and looked at me. He nodded towards the door.
    “You can go in.” He told me. “Just tell my wife you’re here with me. She’ll let you in. Wait in the foyer, I’ll show you around.” I nodded and walked to the door.
    I was about to knock on the door when someone started screaming. It was like a battle cry. Or more like someone trying to impersonate a battle cry anyway. So I turned my head to see some guy running at me with a baseball bat.
    I was going to fight, but I had already sent my hand to knock on the door. Unfortunately, I had been looking at the kid running at me instead of the door. Some woman gasped and it sounded like she fell on the floor.
    I made the mistake of looking back at the door. It was open and a woman was on the floor, holding her nose. It was bleeding a bit.
    “Dang. That was an accident.” I told her. She moved backwards. “Uh, I’m here with-“ I was knocked to the ground before I could finish. I looked up and saw it was the kid. He had the bat raised and was going to hit me again. I rolled to the side and off the front step onto the grass.
    The kid jumped down next to me and was going to hit again, but I was up before he expected me to. I grabbed his bat and whacked him over the head it. He was knocked to the ground harder than I had been. I was gonna hit him again, but the bat was grabbed outta my hands, and some grabbed my shoulders.
    “Tom, this is my son, Jack.” Gaven said. He turned me around to face his family. The two girls were with their mother, who had gotten up and was standing in the door way. “Sally my wife.” He gestured. “And my twins, Linda and Mary.” Linda was in a green dress and Mary was in a pink one.
    “Go over to them, Sally will give you a tour. Then we’ll have dinner.” He gave me a little push towards them, and then started talking to his son.

    Sally gave me a tour, but she kept her distance. The house was big, but the tour didn’t take long; only a few minutes. We ended the store in front of the guest room.
    “You may want to wash up before dinner.” She told me. “If you know how to, that is.” She added. I glared at her.
    “I know how, I just- never mind, it’s none of your business anyway.” I told her. She was getting on my nerves. She was looking at me, so I decided to go to the bathroom. I would take a shower. This lady meant nothing to me, but I wasn’t gonna give her the satisfaction of thinking she was better than me. I didn’t look back, but I could tell she was sneering or something.

    So, when I was finished I looked in the mirror. It was the first time I had seen myself in around six or seven years. I saw myself, but it wasn’t really what I expected.
    I saw a kid with slivery gray hair. He was skinny- like really skinny, but he looked like he could hurt you if he wanted to. He looked like he had ruffed it out on the street his whole life, and had fallen too many times.
    But what stood out most were his eyes. The one that could be seen was a golden-green, and it had a look in it. It nearly scared me. I didn’t recognize that the person I was looking at was me, until I backed up and hit my head on the wall. I didn’t look too good, but I figured it was the best I got.
    I walked out of the bathroom, and got knocked down. At first I thought it was Jack, but it was a golden retriever. I petted him and he licked my face. For the first time in a long time, I felt like I was accepted.
    “What’s your name boy?” I asked him.
    “His name is Lightning.” A small voice in front of me said. I looked around Lightning and saw the girl in the green dress, Linda. “He saved Jack during a thunderstorm once after school.” She walked next to me and put her hand on Lightning’s back. “He was coming home, and it was raining hard. Lightning almost struck Jack, so Lightning here pushed him out of the way. He’s our little hero.” She scratched him behind his ears. I was kinda jealous of him.
    “Anyway, dinner’s ready. Common.” She got Lightning off me and helped me to my feet. She looked me over. “You could have asked for another set of clothes.”
    “Or I could wear this.” I told her. She looked a bit disgusted, but she didn’t say anything else.
    We got to the dinning room, and Linda pointed to a seat. Lightning had followed me, and was sitting nearby. Sally already had food out on the table. It was the most I had seen on a plate in my whole life.
    I practically inhaled the first three helpings, and was finished before everyone else was finished the first plate. I had two more plate-fulls before I was finished. I left the table, went over to the couch, and sat down. Lightning came over and put his head down on my lap. I scratched behind his ears. I was sleepy, but I refused to sleep in this house.
    Once everyone was finished eating, Gaven came over and sat down next to me. My head was resting on my hand and I was falling asleep. Gaven shook my shoulder.
    “Uh? What?” I asked, looking over.
    “You tired?” He asked. I shook my head, but I yawned, so he figured I was lying. “Go on. You’ll be safe.”
    “Heh. Doubt it.”
    “Go. You’re tired.” I got up, a bit reluctantly, and went upstairs.

    I found Jack in the guest room. When he saw me, he looked startled and a bit scared. He was by the bed, doing something.
    “Uh… I-I was just lea-leaving.” He stammered. I watched him as he went past me, down the hall. I decided I wouldn’t sleep in the bed that night.
    I walked over to the window and looked out. There was a lake in the distance. It was dark out, and the moonlight glistened off the water. I brought a chair up to the window, and was gonna close the door, but I saw Lightning come in. He stayed by me. I smiled, and closed the door a bit. He followed me to the chair, and when I sat down, he put his head in my lap again.
    I looked out the window at the lake for a while. I figure I fell asleep, right there in the chair around 11. Lightning stayed there with me the whole night.