Travelling: Chapter1
Aaron sighed. The bus had finally shown up and you weren't allowed to have your headphones in on the bus. He took his customary set in the back, completely alone. He always sat by himself; people were just... not his forte, at least, not since he had left all his friends. His mom had died a few years ago, and his dad just... lost it. She was everything to him and me, and without it we were both lost. My dad and I never had the closest relationship, but when she left, it felt like a gaping chasm separated us.
Someone pushed me. My customary morning bully, Michael. I just got up and sat back down on the seat. I was pushed again, and again I just got back up and sat in my seat. The same thing went on for about 5 minutes before Michael grew bored and walked back to his seat. The bus driver didn't care. Nobody did. My dad drowned his feelings in drink, and I threw mine out the back door, only to come scrabbling at it for scraps of my attention. The only one that ever got in was sadness, and even then only when I lost control.
The only thing my mother left me was a beryl necklace, and I only took it off for showers now. If I ever lost it, I would never feel whole again.
The bus dropped us off at school and everyone flowed into the main else in the day passed normally. Lunch was disgusting, and classes were a bore. The bus ride home was short, because it was a Friday. My stop was the last one, so there was only a few kids left, and we all filed out. I went down the street, and succumbed to my fate. My front door was locked, the back door was kept closed by a wall of crap so I climbed through my window. The smell of alcohol burned down my lungs, so I pulled out an air freshener. Cherries and lilacs. My mother's favorite smell.
My homework took all of 5 minutes, so I sat back and looked around my room. I was seated at a desk, placed under the window, with my bed to the left. I had a small bookcase to the right, simply overflowing with books, and a closet right next to it. My dresser was on the other side of the closet, but other than that my room was bare, devoid of all personality.
"Aaron, its dinner time!" A voice called out. I jumped out of my chair, and turned around. My dad made dinner?! I was amazed. He had actually gotten out of his drunken stupor long enough to make dinner. The feeling of amazement quickly passed however, and I fell back into the emotionless void.
The house was clean, and the alcohol smell was completely covered up in... was that steak? I loved steak! Wait, I don't love anything. Emotionless void. The kitchen table didn't have any beer cans and vodka bottles on it, and actually looked decent. There were three places set though.
"Aaron! We have a guest coming over for dinner. Would you wait at the door for her please?" He said with enthusiasm that I hadn't seen in a while.
"Sure." I mumbled back.
I walked to the front door and waited. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, and I pulled it open. There was a woman there. Tall, lithe, brown hair, professional attire. She simply screamed government agent.
"Hello Mr. Herren, would you mind directing me to your father?" She said in a voice that almost seemed to reverberate. I numbly led her towards the kitchen. Had my father finally given me up to the foster care system? Was he under arrest from the FBI? A witness in some horrible crime, and being protected by the witness protection program? What was going on?!?
"Mr. Herren. Please sit down, I have the papers here." That knocked out crime perpetrator.
"I assume my son will be joining me?" That knocked out foster care system.
"Of course Mr. Herren. Although belongings allowed on the trip will be severely limited. Mostly clothes, maybe a few sentimentally valued items." So no witness protection program. What the hell was going on!?!
"Aaron, eat your dinner, then go pack." My father directed towards me.
I sat down and stuffed the steak down my throat. It was actually pretty good, but I hardly took notice. 5 minutes and I was done. My room was dark, so I flipped on the light, and walked over to my closet. My suitcase was on the top shelf so I pulled it down, and stuffed a bunch of random clothes into it. Then I grabbed my favorite book, The Call of the Wild, and put it gently on top.
Next thing I know, I'm walking down the sidewalk towards a dark colored car, my suitcase rolling behind me, and my father pulling the front door open. Rain started falling, pattering gently onto the concrete as I stuffed my suitcase into the trunk, and ran for the back door. The interior was a dark leather, and smelled heavily of mint.
Travel was quiet, and long. We had been in the car for almost 1 hour and a half when I reached and touched something cold. My Ipod! I pulled it out and plugged my earphones in. My music selection was all classical, so I flipped through my songs slowly, and finally stopped on Speaking Unto Nations by Beethoven.
Someone shook my shoulder. I must have fallen asleep without realizing it. My dad looked at me. I couldn't see anything because of how dark it was, but I could feel him grinning at me.
"You snore real loud, son," He commented," now come on, were here."
"Wait!" I said quietly," Where are we going?"
He didn't say anything for a few seconds them," A second chance."
He opened the door and stepped out. My door pulled open and he was standing there.
"Where's the FBI lady?"
"She's telling them were here."
"Them?" I asked, but my dad was already at the back of the car popping the trunk and grabbing our luggage.
I just stood there for a second, gathering my bearings. We appeared to be in some sort of complex. Their were a few lights on, but for the most part it was rather dark. The car was parked in front of a big gray building that looked like a hangar/military complex put together. There were no windows and only 1 door, which was currently open. My dad was already walking through so I ran after him.
Inside was no different than outside. Gray walls, gray ceiling, bright white lights, and everything smelled sterile, not quite like a hospital, but some kind of science lab. My dad turned at a corner and I ran to catch up, but when I got there he had already turned around another corner. I ran past the halls, looking for him, but every single one was deserted. The hall ended in a door, so I pushed it open, and stepped through. Another hallway, and there was no way my dad had come through here so I turned around just in time to see the door click closed.
"Damnet!"
The door was locked from this side, so I ran down the hall looking for an unlocked one. I'd checked about 10 doors when I came to a big empty stretch of wall with no doors on either side. There was a corner up ahead that I could see, so I sprinted towards it. I ran up to it, turned, and slammed into someones chest. A big, hard, ... furry chest?
I bounced off and landed on my butt, and looked up, and up, and up. I could barely believe my eyes. There was an... anthro standing above me. A big wolf anthro. He was visibly stooping because the ceiling was too low.
"Holy shit!" I said in a squeaky voice.
" Interesting. You must be a human cub. Have you lost your parents?" The huge wolf said, in an extremely deep voice.
"Uhhhhh...... N-no. I lost my dad. M-my mom is d-dead." I was able to stutter out.
The wolf stared at me strangely, then leaned down and offered me his paw. I just stared at it for a moment before realizing he was offering help. I rammed my hand into his, and he pulled me up. His paw was HUGE, absolutely engulfing mine, and I felt puny. He let go of my hand and sniffed his paw.
"Strange, you smell like oranges. I have never met a human who smells of oranges."
"Oranges? What?"
I sniffed my hand, and surprisingly there was a faint hint of orange there. I hadn't even been near oranges for a week and half, why did I smell like one?
"Would you like me to escort you to your father?" The wolf asked.
I closed my eye for a second.Emotionless void. Emotion is pain. I opened my eyes again and responded cooly.
" Please."
The wolf noted my change in attitude, but didn't comment. I was lead through hall after winding hall, until I was led to a door and it was opened by the wolf, which walked inside. My father was inside, talking with the FBI lady, and when I walked in he barely acknowledged me.
"Oh, there you are Aaron."
I felt a small pang of sadness, but stuffed it deep down inside.
"Yes, here I am father."
The room we had stepped into was square, with a table in the center, and chairs set against the sides. My legs moved of their own accord towards a chair on the far side of the wall, far away from everybody. I pulled out my Ipod, plugged the earphones in, leaned my head back, and closed my eyes.
There was suddenly a presence in front of me, and my eyes snapped open to peer into the huge wolfs eyes. They were a strangely relaxing color. Deep silver, and it seemed to swirl around and around, almost hypnotizing. I pulled my headphones out and looked at him.
"Are you alright?"
I tried saying yes, but my mouth seemed to have a mind of its own.
"No."
The wolf looked at me for a few moments longer than leaned up and said, "We will speak later" and walked through a door on the other side of the room I hadn't noticed. My father was still speaking with the FBI woman, so I plugged my headphones in, and cranked up the volume.
-
Many hours passed in that room. My IPod had died a few minutes ago, and I was just staring listlessly at the wall now. The door the huge wolf had walked through was suddenly pulled open, and a small...ish otter walked through. I couldn't help staring. He was smaller than the wolf, but still much larger than a human being, and his eyes were a bright, almost glowing golden color, with silver veins flowing through them. He looked around the room, and his eyes stopped on me.
"We will take the cub first."
Emotionless void. Emotion is pain. I stood up and walked towards the otter, who turned around and walked through the door. I followed. The next room was exactly the same, except there was no table or chairs, just a huge glowing silver disk on the floor.
" Please step on the pad."
I did so.
" There might be some pain, but do not worry, it should pass quickly." He then promptly stepped onto the pad with me and it began to glow brighter, and brighter, and brighter. I closed my eyes, but the light eventually burst through the thin flaps of flesh and a searing pain drove itself into my brain, then down my spine, then through the rest of my body. It didn't stop, or get better. It only got worse, and worse. It felt like my every nerve was on fire, and I tried screaming, but I could only managed a small moan.
" Something is going wrong! Are you okay human?!"
I could only moan. I crumpled to the platform, and the pain grew to an excruciating level. Then it stopped, and I opened my eyes. I was in a circular room, with more anthros of all types standing around with worried looks in their eyes. Then another wave of pain hit, this time even more excruciating then before, and I screamed, before falling into unconsciousness.