Chapter 4: Afraid

Ferral stared at her, confused. “Dead? What is that?” He asked. “Huh? Oh, well…that’s uh…well…” It took a while for her to respond, “Dead is another word for being asleep forever.” He looked at his mother, “I do not understand. She will never wake up?” The woman nodded. Ferral’s eyes became blurry again, and my chest became tight; he started breathing rapidly again. Was she asleep forever? Why? WHY? What is this feeling? As this flood of unwanted emotions bubbled up, a new one began to surface. If he were with her, would this have happened? If he hadn’t left, maybe she wouldn’t be asleep forever. So, was this his fault? It’s because he wasn’t there. Yes? No? Ferral didn’t know; he didn’t even know what these feelings were.

The woman could see Ferral’s distress; he was on the verge of breaking down in tears. She walked over and placed her hand on his left shoulder. “Look, I’m gonna call 911, they’ll help you.” He looked up at the woman who was pulling something Dr. Amber had. A phone, Ferral remembered it being called. He tilted his head, “911? Those are numbers.” She looked at him, “Yeah, an ambulance will come to help out. Just stay here while I call them.” She told him before leaving the alley. Ferral watched her leave, then looked back at his mother. He walked over and sat down beside her. She was asleep forever. He will never hear her again. Never see her smile again. His heart ached once more. Tears flooded his eyes, and despite how many times they were wiped, more would fill them again.

The woman walked back into the alley, “So they’re on their way,” She told him, “So if you can pick her up, and I’ll wait with you, okay?” Ferral nodded, “Okay.” He picked up Amber’s body, and they waited for the 911 to come. No, she called it something else…an ‘am-bu-lance.’ Ferral turned to face the woman. “You are nice.” He said to the woman as she stared at the ground. She looked up at me and gave me a small smile, “Thank you. I’ll help anyone in need.” Soon, Ferral heard a faint wailing coming from the left. It was getting closer and louder; the nice woman heard it too. A large red and white car stopped in front of us, and a man and woman came out of the back of it. The nice woman walked over to them and started talking to them, pointing in Ferral’s direction. Then, she walked back over to him, “They said they’ll help you and your mother,” She said, placing her hand on his shoulder again. “I’ve done all I can do. I’m sorry.” He looked at her, confused, “Sorry for what?” He asked. She gave me a small smile again and walked off, leaving me with the 911 people.

The man walked over to me. “We’ll take her now, son.” He said calmly. “Why?” Ferral asked. “Well, we need to get her to the hospital,” He told him, “Not that it would do any good. But…there still could be a chance.” The man clearly lied just to ease Ferral’s mind. He looked at his mother before handing her over, but eventually did. He took her and started walking back to the ambulance. “Wait!” Ferral shouted, and he stopped, “Can I have her jacket?” He asked. “Oh, sure, I guess.” The man placed her on some kind of bed, took off her jacket, and went to hand it to Ferral, but when he did, he dropped it and stepped back. Ferral picked up, then looked at the man. He looked terrified.

“What?” He asked. “What’s wrong with your hands?!” The man pointed, frightened. The woman walked forward after hearing the commotion, her eyes widening when she saw Ferral’s hands. “My hands? Oh, these are just my claws. I also have them on my feet, too.” Ferral took off his shoes to reveal his wolf-like feet. Both the man and woman looked at him, horrified. The woman looked at the top of my head, “I thought those ears were those headband kids where. But…are those real too?!” Ferral nodded, and the woman moved next to her friend. “What the hell is this kid?” The man asked. “He’s a frea,k that’s what he is!” The woman exclaimed. It took a while to realize, but people were watching us, and they were all looking at Ferral, scared and disgusted. He could feel them surrounding him, gasping and saying, “Is that a monster?!” “What’s wrong with him?!” It was suffocating.

They kept surrounding. Getting closer and closer. It felt harder and harder to breathe. His eyes were darting all over the place. He was scared. Terrified. His breathing sped up as they just got closer…AND CLOSER! “Freak!” “Monster!” “What is that?!” They all shouted. Scared. Closer and closer, Ferral couldn’t breathe. He started sweating, “I….I…” He stuttered, “MOTHER HELP! PLEASE! I’M SCARED!” He shouted, but quickly remembered…she wouldn’t help him this time. His breathing sped up more. He didn’t know what to do…Ferral was frozen. Closer…CLOSER! Suddenly, Ferral remembered something one of the scientists told me when he was younger:

“Fight! Fight when you are scared. When you are angry. ALL YOU KNOW IS TO FIGHT!!!”

Ferral suddenly snapped, “FIGHT!!!” He roared, lunging at the 911 man and pinning him to the ground. “GRAAAAH!!!” He howled at the man. The 911 woman turned and began running, Ferral looking up and eyed her, bolting toward her. Using his claws, he slashed her back, and she fell to the ground. Ferral panted and snarled, his eyes darting around as people fled in fear. He threw his head back and roared to the sky. More wailing started coming from these black and white cars that were coming toward Ferral. Police cards. He didn’t know how to fight cars. So he ran, and the three cars followed me. Ferral kept running, pushing people out of the way. His mother always told him that if there was something he had never seen before to always run. As he ran, Ferral picked up a familiar scent….it was the nice lady! So he followed the scent. Managing to outrun the cars, he turned a street corner and headed toward a building.

He climbed up to the top and ran across the roof. He hopped from building to building, getting closer to the scent. The nice lady will help, Ferral thought. He knew she would!