FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 3

I stepped quietly out of the front door and closed it behind me. "Great, just another day in typical Florida," I sneered at my dad's truck as I walked past. "It's way too hot, I can't wait for winter." I continued my daily trek to my bus stop, replaying the events of my middle school years in my mind.

It was my first day of school at Wagner Middle school, and I gotta tell you, I was excited. The best middle school in the state, and I was accepted. I couldn't wait to make a whole bunch of new friends and actually have a challenge.

_ I walked through the front doors and gawked at the layout. 3 stories and most of the grounds were outside, yet covered by the gigantic overhang MOSI put over us. I pulled out my schedule and map and started heading to my homeroom class on the second floor. As I was walking past I started hearing furs I didn't know insult me. "Great, apparently I'm a loser no matter where I am," I said to nobody in particular, my ears lowering a bit as I felt defeated. It was the usual 'loser' or 'retard', with a few more eccentric ones thrown in here and there. I shook my head and ignored them, and tried my best to keep my spirits up._

As I was walking past a group of snickering furs leaning on some lockers I heard a new nickname, one I was apparently destined to be called throughout my middle school years. The second the furs were out of my line of sight one of them yelled "FAGGOT!" after me. This caught my attention, and my ears perked as I spun around to look at the group. I glared at them for a few seconds, pretending to know exactly what it was they called me, but was wondering what in the world a faggot was supposed to be.They reciprocated my glare, as if trying to tempt me to walk over to them. I decided it would be best if I didn't, and instead continued my way to my ever so elusive homeroom class. Unfortunately 'faggot' and what seemed to be it's abbreviation, 'fag', seemed to have woven their way into the quilt of insults I had apparently carried with me.

I got home that day and dropped my stuff off in my room, them made my way downstairs for dinner. While everybody was eating I decided to pop the question.

"Hey mom, what's a 'faggot'?"

She paused for a second, and both my parents stared at me momentarily, apparently at a loss for words. "I... a faggot is a term for a bundle of sticks. Why, where did you hear that?" She looked at me questioningly.

"Well some kids in school started calling me 'faggot' and 'fag' and I didn't know what they meant," I said, then added, "why would being called a bundle of sticks be funny to them?"

She paused again before answering "I don't know, honey. Just eat your dinner."

The next day whenever I was called a faggot, I'd reply with something along the lines of 'And how am I a bundle of sticks?" Everybody either laughed or walked away, or in most cases, both. I sat at my desk thoroughly confused until the lunch bell rang.

As I was making my way from the third floor to the first for lunch, that same group of furs yelled out 'FAGGOT' again, this time from the rear staircase. I immediately spun around and looked the fox in the middle dead in the eye. "Just WHY is calling me a bundle of sticks so FUNNY to you guys? I mean seriously, that's just about the lamest insult I've ever heard." To which they doubled over laughing. "What's so FUNNY?!" I demanded out of them.

"You really don't know what 'faggot' means, do you?" He replied after standing up.

"Well apparently not. Just what is it then?"

"It means you're GAY. You know, a tail raiser?" The look on my face told him I clearly had no clue what he was talking about.

His friends were having a hard time not bursting into another fit of laughter, this time at my ignorance. The fox had a sadistic smile spreading across his muzzle, then looked at me for a second before continuing. "It means you like guys."

"What do you mean, I have friends that are guys, how is that supposed to be insulting?"

"No, it means you REALLY like guys. Like, instead of you having a girlfriend, you'd want a boyfriend." His sickening smile grew a bit.

Then I got what he was getting at. I stared at him blankly for a second before a look of disbelief and then one of disgust splayed across my face. I shook my head and looked at him, still not believing that he'd go so far as to tell me what goes against what my family and my religion goes against. I couldn't think of anything to say at first, so I glared at him for a while, putting all of my anger and hatred towards him into it. I then pointed my finger at him and said, "Don't you ever, EVER call me that again. You got that?" Of course, this was an extremely bold move since I was smaller than every one of them, but I couldn't think rationally anymore. I then turned and started to walk away when I heard it again.

"What are you gonna do if I do, faggot?" He snickered.

Immediately I spun around and lunged at him, but his groupies were ready for me. Right after I lunged the otter on his immediate right Landed his fist right underneath my ear, and suddenly there was nothingness.

I woke up a few hours later to nothing but pain. After struggling momentarily I opened my eyes and looked around me. Apparently I was sitting against some sort of metal container around the back of the school. I tried to stand but as soon as I put pressure on my legs immense pain shot through my body and I instantly stopped trying. Instead I looked over my body.

From the looks of things they dragged me back here and beat my unconscious self for a bit befor leaving me here to suffer. My shins were severely bruised and my shoulders and chest felt like they were kicked countless times. I slowly lifted my paw to my throbbing head to make sure nothing bad happened. There were a couple of sore spots but it didn't feel like anything serious. However, as I pulled my paw away from my head it was caked in blood.

That freaked me out a bit. Adrenaline rushed into me and I stood up, and felt the same pain but I ignored it. I walked gingerly over to the nearest bathroom and looked in the mirror. Blood was all over my head and shoulders, and as I lifted up my shirt I realized it was all over my chest as well. My mind completely numb, I washed all the blood out of my fur and clothes, locking the bathroom before I did so. When I finished I put my wet clothes on and the adrenaline finally wore off. I collapsed and started crying into my wet clothes, and after a while I drifted into an uneasy sleep.

I looked up and realized I was almost at my bus stop. I wiped the tears from my eyes and picked up my pace a little. "I hate what they've done to me, because of those furs I was afraid to show my emotions for FOUR YEARS!" My ears folded back as I realized I yelled the last part of that, and continued my trek, bus stop now only yards away, as I stared at the ground in front of me, genuinely depressed.

I stopped as I usually did a few feet from the sign and looked up, realizing there was something in front of me. I stared, dumbstruck, as the wolf from yesterday turned around and looked at me, a small smile on his face.

"Hey, what was that about four years?"