All the Little Things Chapter 1!
#2 of All The Little Things 1 - Tests of the Soul
Intro <- Please read if you have not.
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The alarm clock rings loudly as the second hand passes over the twelve, making the time 6:35 A.M. Merlain opens his eyes a bit, rubbing them sleepily. The day was Monday, and he had school today. The first day of the week was always the toughest for Merlain, although that is not entirely true.
Every day for Merlain was always tough. He had many problems in his life as a high-school student. Living off of whatever money he could make, doing whatever jobs he could scramble to find. School put an extra tough life on him, because he was not well liked by any of his classmates. They had some sympathy for him since both of his parents had been killed in a tragic car accident when he was the innocent age of eight years.
Now six years have passed since that, the anniversary of their death on this upcoming Saturday. It is especially difficult for Merlain, as he does not have any known family to join him in his mourning. Merlain here is the sort of being that has no real connection, no real family, and no real life. His life is full of pain and regret, full of remorse and misery, full of hatred, and yet full of love. He was the kind of being that tries to please people to any extent, not wanting to hurt anyone, wanting to make people happy, no matter the cost to him. Merlain went out of his way to be caring and loving towards people, and he did not care that he didn't get the same kind of respect back.
Merlain was a fourteen year old wolf breed that was unknown to him, since he has no family. He was roughly five foot, six inches in height. He had a shoe size of nine and one-half. The fur on his back and sides were a dark blue and gray mix. This was the same for the back and sides of his neck, his arms, legs, and most of his face. His chest, the front of his neck, and below his muzzle was a white and gray mix. His paws up to his ankles and wrists were the same way. His fur was shiny with a coarse, yet fluffy texture, and short-to-medium in length. He always kept his fur nice and clean. His tail was roughly about one foot, eight inches long, base to tip. The fur on his tail was more of a black than his back, and the bottom of it drooped slightly downwards. His nose is black and always wet. His ears were a bit small, and were perked up under most occasions. His fur-hair was longer than his fur, and swept over his eyes most of the time. His eyes are a bright blue-green color, very vibrant in the sunlight.
Merlain loves to spend his free time sun-bathing, reading, playing video games, and talking. Even though he didn't have many friends, he still talked to the ones he had, if for however long he was allowed to, since they seemed to betray him when they were around others when he was around. He didn't mind this though, and loved whatever time he had with them. He likes walking along the beach, playing fetch sometimes, and napping underneath trees on a warm summer day, in the shade.
He sat up, and yawned, stretching out his whole body. He got ready for school by 6:50 A.M., and had a few minutes to spare before he had to leave at his usual time of 7:00 A.M. to walk to school. He dreaded going to school each day, but his caretaker made him go to school, who never woke up until about 9:00 A.M., which meant he had to take care of himself most of the time. When his caretaker was there, she was always on the computer, sleeping, or working on whatever she did that he was not allowed to look at or partake in. His tail wagged slowly back and forth as he sat at the kitchen table, eating a little breakfast before heading out the door.
After he was done cleaning up from his breakfast, he brushed his teeth, and was ready to walk out of the door, when suddenly, Ms. Shilpland, a middle-aged raccoon like lady, with a gruff look always on her face, came walking downstairs.
"You are up early this morning, Ms. S," said Merlain
"Yeah, I am. I couldn't rest anymore. Too restless," she replies.
"Why is that?" asks Merlain.
"Oh, you know...work."
"I would like to find out one day what you 'work' on so much."
"Now, that is none of your damned business, is it child?"
"No, I guess it is not."
"That is what I thought. Now, don't you have to get to school?"
"Yes, guess you're right. I will see you later then, Ms. S?"
"Uh-huh. I don't have anywhere to go today."
"Alright, see you later then." Merlain says as he walks out the door. Oh how he didn't like her. She was awfully rude by the way she treated him. But he was lucky to be taken in by her. She was the only one that seemed not to mind his ways, or at his beliefs. And it felt like there was something strange about why she reluctantly had to take him in. The reason I state this is that there is one big detail that marks him different from a lot other people that made him the usual target for being bullied or not liked. Merlain was an open homosexual.
Merlain being gay, and open about it, made him the usual target for people. He was bullied by everyone at school, even people outside of school. He was bullied by furries and humans alike. No one seemed to like him, but he did not care. Because as you learned earlier, he is the type of person not to hold a grudge or get mad at someone. Although, he was getting quite tired of everyone making fun of his sexual orientation, or the manner in which he walked, or the way he talked. It was getting to the point in his life where he just wanted to run away. But he knew he could not do such things, because Ms. Shilpland was the only one that would take him into her home.
As he walked to school, a few of his classmates walk up to him. These few that he talked to, he considered his friends, although they ridiculed him in front of everyone else, they meant nothing when they said it, and had sympathy for him, even though all of them were straight themselves. The entire group was around the same age, all in the same grade, had similar likes and dislikes on things. One of his classmates, Rowley, nearly tackles Merlain to the ground when the group of four reaches him. Rowley was a St. Bernard, around the age of fourteen-fifteen, and had good posture. Although most of the time he spent with friends, he was always hunched over slightly, and he had a big brown circle around his left eye.
"Hey there, Merlain, what's up?" Rowley asks.
"Oh, you know, just walking to school and stuff, like I do every day during the weekdays." Merlain responds sarcastically and playfully.
"Hehe, you're a smartass. You know that, right?"
"Haha, yep, I try so very hard to be one, you know. It's very hard work."
Rowley lets out a howling laugh, "I bet it is," he says after laughing.
Another member of the group joins into the conversation. Shelby, the neco girl, who has a funny personality, is someone heartwarming that made friends with anyone. She was about the age of thirteen, nearly fourteen. "Hey there guys. What're you talking about?" she asks as her kitty tail swings slowly side to side behind her, carrying her books in her right arm from the previous days homework assignments.
"Oh, not much, we are just talking about how much of a smartass Merlain here is." Rowley replies.
"That sounds like fun." she says back.
"Hehe, both of you guys are asses." Merlain says to the both of them.
"We are only one for you, Merlain." The both of them answer back to Merlain.
The group walks through the front door of the school after the ten minute walk there. They disperse immediately after saying their goodbyes until after school. Merlain is again left alone to face the school day himself, taking the bullying and ridiculing of the other classmates, especially of the jocks. His temper was beginning to shorten each day that passed since he first told his class he was gay. They laughed at him when he did.
He sort of regrets telling his 5thgrade class that he was, but he was tired of sitting by while they cracked gay jokes at him. He regrets telling them, because it only got worse, and he thought his life would be over that year. But he survived, and made it through the years, and now he is in 7th grade, at the age of fourteen. The jokes and ridiculing only got worse after that day. Some stopped, but most of the others continued with what they said and did.
He had never had a mate, because none of his classmates were the same way as he was, and that made it especially hard, and he got envious of all his friends and classmates going out with their girlfriends, their mates. He just wished that he had someone like that to himself. Someone that he could love, that he could hold, that he could make happy, and to make himself happy. He was the kind of person that would protect their mate, never letting them go. He just wished that he could find a good mate, but unfortunately, this was not his luck.
Although he is treated badly now, he still has a long way to go before he learns his true destiny. This is way long before he learned his real purpose in this world. He has no idea on what lies ahead of him in the years to come.
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