Scraping By

Story by Phenomino on SoFurry

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Hey, I'm a fairly new user here. I've read some pretty interesting stories here, so I was inspired to write one myself. It has a darker tone, but also lighthearted moments. There is a bit of...colorful language involved, so fair warning on that end :P

Feel free to leave some feedback in the comments, I'm new to this and want to improve. Also, let me know if you like the story. Same goes with the tags, if there's something that needs to be added let me know. Thanks a bunch and I hope you enjoy what's here so far.


The liquid going down my throat burned while I drank with an unusual fervor. The Lemur-Snoff vodka would be my escape, that is until my father happened. The pounding on my room door would soon come to an end as my angry father forced the door open with a strong kick. "WHY AREN'T YOU DOING YOUR HOMEWO-." He stood rooted in place, with genuine shock spreading across his features as I drank the rest of the Lemur-Snoff.

He snarled with a dangerous tone, before barreling towards me in a blur of orange and black fur. His large muscular frame was still something to fear, even with the beer gut comically swaying. I suppose it's odd to be thinking of something like...that, at a time like this? When your own flesh and blood is about to tear you to pieces? I suppose I could fight back but I didn't have the heart to. This man had gone through too much and I felt nothing but a sad pity for him.

He tackled me to the carpet floor of my room, before scraping my face against the floor. The rug burn was painful, searing my skin. I simply whimpered as he started a barrage of blows on my back. Hitting me with the arms of a previous star wrestler, the wind quickly escaped my lungs. As I struggled to breathe he started to yell right into my ear. "WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU DRINKING, YOU HAVEN'T GONE THROUGH SHIT!" He turns me off my back, and starts hitting my face. Surprisingly, I can tell he's pulling his punches a bit. I've been through worse pain, but he isn't showing signs of stopping.

A crimson tide starts to flow out of my nose and mouth. I choke back a bit of blood in my throat while he continues to berate me. "YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A DISAPPOINTMENT, TERRA WOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOUR BULLSHIT!" I winced at the mention of my mother's name, certainly feeling the shame he talked about. I don't care what he thinks of me, but my mother has always been important. I start to sob while he continues to assault me. "WE SHOULD HAVE ABORTED YOUR WORTHLESS ASS!" He hits me with a full strength punch one last time in the face, before finally relenting.

He gets off of me slowly, still panting with rage. He picks up the empty bottle of Lemur-Snoff and throws it at the wall. It shatters everywhere, glass chunks barely sweeping by me. "If I catch you drinking again, I will ruin you." He whispers into my ear before sulking out of the room, drunk himself. I lay there, attempting to compose myself while I sob. It hurts like a bitch, that's for sure. With my face still bleeding and air finally returning to my lungs in quick breaths, I stagger to my bed. With a thud I collapse on my bed falling asleep exhausted, broken and drunk.

The wind whistles, tickling my white and black fur. My tail swishing in peace while I lay in the golden field, stretching for miles. I haven't felt so... relaxed in such a long time. My mind reacts negatively at first, not trusting the serenity of the field. However, I quickly adjust my position, putting my arms behind my head to serve as a temporary pillow. "Man... why can't every day be like this?" I sigh contently. Remembering the night before wouldn't help anyone, even if my father had gone overboard.

As I'm relaxing in the field, populated with a sea of sunflowers, daffodils, even the occasional dandelion. I've always thought dandelions were beautiful, at least for a weed. They remind me of my younger brother Kieran, being able to bloom even when you're considered a weed.His light smile is one of the few things that keeps me going anymore. He's too young to have to deal with dad... he deserves better than me. My thoughts stray to my father, and I suddenly start to panic internally. Something doesn't feel right in this deceptively serene field...

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING HERE, LEON?!" My eyes snap open, looking for the source of the baritone scream aimed at me. I simply lay there, there's no way I'm getting out of here. His voice turns into a loud growl "GET YOUR ASS UP AND GET TO THE HOUSE YOU LAZY FUCK!" When I get up, obediently listening to his commands, the verdant field in front of me is now bursting in flames with cinders bouncing from flower to flower.

I feel his callous hands grasp my ears, and yank me off the ground. The ringing sound in my ears is one that I'm used to, but still hurts nonetheless. I don't have the heart to say anything, my senses too focused on the fiery overload in front of me. All this beauty, burnt away with the smell of smoke and ash hanging on the air.

Then my father just started... screaming at the top of his lungs. This went on for what felt like an eon, but I eventually had the courage to look behind me. He was burning alive, his orange and black fur singeing off. The flesh was melting, revealing sinew and bone. I watch on in horror as he finally just... fades away into the air. But the screaming is still reverberating through the wind. I can feel it pressing into my core, surrounding me with anxiety incarnate. The strangest part? I don't feel any remorse, just a throbbing numbness in my head.

With a gasp I awake in my bed, sweat lining across my whole body. I feel around the bed while sniffing the air, making sure that there still isn't flames around me. My body feels exhausted, like I've already lived through a whole day. I groan while I push myself out of the covers. I've never been and probably never will be a morning person. I noticed my disheveled look in the mirror and sighed. "I look like I got hit with a rusty shovel and fucked with it after." I give a quick chuckle, but quickly return to a depressed state upon realizing what I looked like.

My face was covered with splotches of rusty blood stains. One side of my face had matted fur due to the scrape along the carpet. My white and black fur looked like a warzone. Some bruises were visible on my back and my face due to the fur flattening down. I choked back another sob as I examined the rest of my body.

I'm still surprised I managed to keep a somewhat muscular, toned frame. Being in a starved house like this required serious work to maintain that. My emerald eyes stared back at me, piercing even through me. One showed signs of a serious bruise and could barely keep itself open. Despite my five foot eight inch height, I appeared shorter due to my hunkered in stance. I was a wreck, but school was still a requirement for my father. Getting beaten again was not on the agenda of Leon's day.

I walk over with a grunt and start to clean up the shattered glass from the night before. Witnessing the mess, I realize with anger that I'm rocking a serious hangover. "Ugh... I need some coffee and a shower..." Gathering all the glass into a trash bag, I will myself to move downstairs to get my day started.

I breathe a sigh of relief seeing my father sleeping on the couch with the morning news playing in the background. I wolf down a quick bowl of cereal with some very black coffee and take a shower. Routine is such a nice escape sometimes, being able to think about getting the day started (even though I hate mornings) is better than thinking about my current state of being. Our house isn't the biggest, but it's sizable enough. It used to have a very cozy feeling, with pictures hanging up on the walls. Alas, those were made quick history after my mother's death.

The hot shower water helped me clean off the regrets of last night. My fur was no longer matted, and the rusty blood stains on my face quickly drained down with the cleansing sensation. I get out of the shower and dry myself off quickly, excited to get out of the house and towards school. However, the bruise around my eye is still ever present. I mutter a quick "fuck..." and get a hold of my makeup kit. Before you make assumptions, I'm not into mascara or anything like that. I can't go to school looking like I got a dump truck dropped onto me. I apply a layer of cover-up to conceal the bruise, and with some more dabbling I get it to eventually look clear. If they ask why my eye looks more closed than usual, I'll just say I slept on the wrong side of the bed this morning.

I went downstairs wearing a Monkeyz t-shirt and sweatpants. With my father sleeping and a nice shower/breakfast, my mood improved substantially. A smile stretched across my face as Kieran was pulling a last minute maneuver on some trigonometry. "Hey champ!" I said, being genuinely happy I could see his face again.

He had a smaller frame than me, being that he was two years younger than me. However, he was quite toned for his age thanks to all the soccer we played together. He had orange and black fur like dad, but he also had emerald eyes like our mother, Terra. He had a bright personality, giving me hope that maybe I have done a decent job of shielding him from the wrath of our father. Hearing him snore in the tv room made me shudder, but I shook it off quickly as I sat next to Kieran.

"Hey bro, you feeling alright?" He inquired with a worried tone. While he didn't face the brunt of the abuse, he still witnessed me getting hurt and faced some verbal assault himself. "Yeah... it wasn't as bad as some other times though." I gave him a little nuggie, and he grinned while working on his homework. I always have to show him that while it is a struggle, that we can still pull through. "I'm glad you're feeling good, Leon. Is it alright if we leave a few minutes late though? I really need to get this damn trig homework done..." He remarked. "Yeah, no problem. Take your time ya nerd!" He quickly finished and we headed off in my humble but effective Accord, both our tails swaying eagerly.

If you're wondering how I have a car, I work at a gas station part time. It's a small place called "Easy-Paw"... it sounds like a weird way to phrase a hand job, but regardless I still enjoy working there. Plus, it gets me away from the house so I don't have to face dad all the time. I also have a small tutoring gig at the school, mainly teaching others how to play the piano. Having a small keyboard in my room, a gift from my mother, really made me cherish the time we had with her. I quickly mastered it and played solo's at the school, sometimes even during lunch. It certainly got the ladies at school to swoon, although they weren't really my target.

"I know you hate it when I ask this, and I probably already know the answer...but are you doing alright in school?" I start a conversation with Kieran to get my mind off of last night. "Of course! Do you think I'm stupid?" He whines out. "Relax, buddy! I just wanna make sure you're doing okay. You know I care about your life and I want you to be doing well for yourself." He is a very smart kid, and he knows when to behave. I've always made sure he's feeling good, because I'm kind of the father figure to him at this point. If I don't step up for him, then nobody else will. Even though he procrastinates just as bad as I do, he still always manages to get straight A's.

"I know this is a weird time to bring this up... but I'm really proud of you, Kieran." I say with sincerity in my voice. "Yeah... thanks a lot, Leon. We'll always have each others backs, okay?" He gives me a toothy grin that I can't help but shoot one his way as well. "Of course, and I know you'll get that cute husky girl to warm up to ya soon!" I tease him while stifling a laugh. "Get out of here, ya loser!" He shoots back at me, snickering after. We eventually pull up to the school parking lot and head our separate ways, hugging each other before we leave.