Outcast - Chapter 9
**Chapter 9** The next morning came all too quickly. Excited as I was to be starting this new page of my life, I couldn't deny the fact that my bed had felt just right...so warm...soft... It was tough to leave it behind. Of course, it...
Outcast - Chapter 8
**Chapter 8** Next morning, the place was heavy with the combined scent of _Tokia_ leaves and sickness. The first thing I did when I opened my eyes was to look towards where the cougar was sleeping to make sure she hadn't thrown up during the night....
Outcast - Chapter 7
Chapter 7 Control...that's what it's all about. Having it...wanting it...craving it...control is the one thing that seems to drive us. When we have control, particularly of our own lives, we feel invulnerable. We're the centre of the...
Outcast - Chapter 10
**Chapter 10** I never thought in a million years I could be so detached from time by something so simple as a conversation. Thinking back on it now, I'm not sure if it was the conversation itself, or the simple act of conversing I found so...
Outcast - Chapter 12
**Chapter 12** The next week brought with it a mix of emotions so complex, as well as so many questions and doubts, to this day I still wonder how I made it through. In a mere handful of days, I'm sure I experienced a gamut of emotions most...
Outcast - Chapter 11
**Chapter 11** Where does one draw the line? What makes them cross it once it's drawn? We'd like to think the law is absolute...that in spite of circumstance or context, the written word of law is cut and dried...black and white. In a perfect...
Outcast - Chapter 13
**Chapter 13** It never ceases to amaze me how one's priorities can change so quickly. Just when you think you're completely set in your ways, and you're positive you've finally mapped out the path your life is destined to take, in a heartbeat,...
Outcast - Chapter 14
**Chapter 14** There's an old Terran saying that a lot of Bengalans have adopted. I'm not saying we as a race are overly pragmatic, but when part of your heritage is that of a feral predator, patience is pretty much written into your...
Outcast - Chapter 15
**Chapter 15** Nightmares...we all have them. Young, old, rich, poor, stable, insane...we all have minds and sometimes they drift into that dark, swirling place in our subconscious where untold horrors dwell. For some of us, we're forced to relive...
Outcast - Chapter 16
**Chapter 16** The journey back home was a silent one. From the moment we emerged from the alley onward, we hardly spoke. At first I feared that she was somehow angry with me for acting the way I had, but whenever we stopped for a traffic light or to...
Outcast - Chapter 17
**Chapter 17** I remember watching old war movies on the telescreen with Grandfather when I was still a cub. There was no real substance to the movies; they glorified the heroes, demonized the villains, and gave a romantic flair to the whole idea of...
Outcast - Chapter 18
**Chapter 18** When my friend Risha Goddard was 4 years old, her parents bought her a stuffed tiger for Ascension Day. There wasn't really anything special about it; it was just one of the many plush animals you could buy during that time of the...