Just a flesh wound by: Pent Ghelsburg
Disclaimer: The characters depicted in this work are portrayed as underage and are purely fictional. They are the original and rightful intellectual property of their creators. I use them with permission and respect is given to their owners. Any similarity to real persons, alive or dead, is purely coincidental. Furthermore, there is a prominent micro/macro theme presented within this story. You have been warned.
Every day is a chance to experience the world. No day should ever be wasted no matter how old or young. You never know what any given day might hold. This is why each person is responsible for living their lives to the fullest. No matter what life might hold, everyone is capable to overcome whatever challenges might come throughout any given period. However, it is within the contexts of how one responds to crisis that builds character.
Youth is especially on the front of figuring life out. Each child is expected to overcome any number of obstacles, often left to their own devices depending on age and situation. But it is often in those sometimes harrowing moments where one feels alone, that leaves one stronger. Of course, there is always the opposite case, but let us not focus on the negative. After all, life is what you make it and each of us strive to make it best we can.
In the early part of his youth, Eralo Sinret lived in the outskirts of San Francisco, California. Living in the suburbs of the big city offered him more opportunity to express himself and find hobbies he might not have had otherwise among the overabundance buildings and traffic. The boy was a wolf of 11 years of age. His parents had opted to let him go to one of those ritsy private schools as they were wealthy and didn't want to be bothered with the general populace.
The wolf family was of the timber wolf breed and had recently moved in from a much more wooded area in the Midwest of the country. They were frankly glad to be out of no man's land and to be in a more metropolitan area. Eralo was pretty happy about the situation as well, especially since there was a little gym nearby that had trainers that had no problem with allowing kids his age to train, so long as they had supervision doing so.
The cub was fairly physically active and made a habit of going fairly regularly. He rather enjoyed lifting weights though he was not allowed to do so without someone overlooking his form. As a result, he was rather lean and muscular for his age. One of the side-effects though was that the cub was small for his age and despite being rather imposing his form, was often picked on for how he looked. But it didn't bother him much and he tried to manage regardless.
The cub went to a local middle school and was in the 6th grade. School had recently begun and Eralo had a new chance to re-invent himself. One of the more interesting things about the school was one of the electives it offered was Geology. The wolf had always been interested in the earth and this was his one chance to explore in the subject. Especially since he had recently found an outcropping of geodes near his home.
The boy was on a block schedule and he didn't always have the class but on the day that he did, he looked forward to discussing relevant issues with his teacher who was a retired surveyor for the US Geological Department. Over the weekend, the gray wolf had found a little rock which he was very excited to bring in and show Mr. Gates. Gates was always in early in the morning. Sure enough, he was near an examination station looking over some various gems.
“Hey, Mr. Gates. Check out this Rock!” The cub approached the man who looked behind him as the boy approached.
The older male was a feline and much more frail as he was quite old and near retirement. Once the cub was close enough he handed over the little rock to the man, in the process he knicked his finger. A small drop of blood dripped out of the tip of his finger. It stung a little but it was nothing serious enough to cause alarm.
“Ouch...” The boy licked his finger in an effort to stem the small flow of blood leaking from the tip of his finger.
“You alright?” The armadillo took hold off the little rock before bringing it close to his eye to examine it.
“Yeah. What kind of rock is it?” The cubs curiosity was getting the better of him.
“I'm not sure. I'll have to run some tests. If you come back later, I'll tell you. Alright?” The armor-plated creature went over to a station in order to look over the rock.
“Okay. I'll be back then.” Eralo headed back outside, strangely an itching sensation was overcoming his body and he began to lightly rub at his fur.
The wolf was feeling rather frisky and began to head outside. He wanted to run around and spend some energy on the track and field. Looking at the clock, this time of day the gym was normally closed off for cleaning. Making his way outdoors was simple enough. Most of the PE field was empty minus some of the school workers who were busy readying the field for later when sports would be in session.
Eralo was on his free period, he had an hour to burn and began to run freely around the track. It wasn't something he normally did but he felt incredibly restless. Even after running around the small oval track, he still felt rather energetic. He managed a whole five laps before he became bored with the activity. But something was bothering him, he wasn't tired, nor was he sweating, and yet his clothing was feeling rather tight on him.
The wolf looked himself over. Nothing seemed overtly off but the fabric was definitely clinging to him more than is should have. He decided to play it off as nothing. The cub was rather bored this point of just running around and decided to go inside as his next hour of class was about to start anyways. For the third hour of the day, the boy had math, one of his least favorite and weakest subjects. In his grade, they were supposed to be learning curriculum leading up to pre-algebra.
Eralo made his way down the hall. The time between classes was one of the busiest of the day besides dismissal and release from breakfast. The wolf looked around seeing if he knew anyone but he was still relatively new to the school so he hadn't made any large amount of friends yet. Besides with the crush of people around him, it was difficult to pin anyone out let alone socialize due to the hubbub of noise going to and fro.
But the wolf boy was able to make his way to Math without much of an issue. After all, they were given a good four minutes and anyone who was late was often punished. Eralo was not one that liked to be ridiculed or punished otherwise, so he never tested his luck. After he arrived at the door, he was greeted by a human woman who wore thick glasses and eyed him carefully as if something was wrong with him.
It bothered Eralo a little bit that she was basically staring at him, but he decided to ignore it and go to his seat. It wasn't long before the teacher shut the door and began teaching a lesson about coordinate planes. Each of the students had been given graph paper as well as a compass. The idea was to be able to make scale drawings of circles and parabolas. The overall concept seemed rather simple in concept in comparison to the often mundane task of problem-solving.
The wolf was able to manage rather easy and produced several drawings as the old woman came around to check the progress of the class. As she went by him, she patted him on his head ruffling his black hair a bit. The old woman was seemingly satisfied with his work for once, it was a surprising change in demeanor. The last challenge was a word problem involving the concept and after some trial and error, the lupine was able to best it.
After that was completed it was just about the end of class. The wolves shoes were becoming rather uncomfortable on his and causing him to squirm a bit. His clothing too was becoming much more restrictive on his form. The threads on his clothing were becoming rather tacit strained as they hugged his seemingly larger form. But just before he could think about it, the bell rung. It was time for the fourth period.
Eralo packed up his things as one of his friends came over to the desk while he was getting ready to leave. It was another boy who went by the name of Scooter. The boy was a fur just like he was, however, his species and build were that of a boar. As such he had two tusks growing where his snout was and was heftier than the wolf was. But it didn't bother Eralo much since he hadn't made any friends yet.
“You alright? You seem uncomfortable.” The suidae asked his friend who was just about done the packing.
“Yeah, I guess. My clothes are uncomfortable.” The wolf stood up as his pants rode up on his ankles and shirt rolled up his chest.
“Wow, none of that stuff fits you. Didn't you get new clothes for school this year?”
“Yeah, all of this is basically brand new. My parents just bought it for me. I don't know what the deal is. It fit fine this morning.”
“Hmm. Maybe you're having one of those growth spurts?” The boar overlooked his friend who was now eye level to him.
“I suppose. But this seems pretty unreal. Maybe I shouldn't worry about it.” The wolf decided to shrug it off as the two exited the classroom.
As with last time the hallways were packed with kids. Both furs and humans alike went to the school and most of them got along pretty well. But for Eralo and Scooter, neither had really attempted to congregate with the humans. The same could be said with other first-year students of both races. The two friends made their way to the next class, which was science. Both boys shared classes until the end of the days where their electives diverged.
For Eralo this was the second Science he was enrolled in. But this was more generally focused than his elective was. It was more physical and astrological science than earthen sciences. While the wolf found it interesting, it wasn't as enthralling to him as Geology was. Regardless he found the subject to be easier to endure than was the often boring drolls of English and History. The two sat near the back of the class as the session began anew.
Today's lesson was about solar energy and renewable fuel. It was an actual lab where the kids were expected to use fertilizer in order to power some little toy cars which had been outfitted with an engine that ran off the stuff. It was rather a flimsy technology and the teacher had decided the risk was worth the reward. After explaining the directions, each of the kids was set up in groups of two and given a car to work on.
Eralo and Scooter's car was no different than anyone else's but the boar began pushing it around as if it were a toy. The boys playful nature was more immature than the wolf and often times the lupine boy found it amusing.
“Come on, we have work to do.” The wolf was keen on being efficient as the instructor often allowed free time after the students were done.
“Fine, fine. You're no fun.” The boar puffed out his chest in a show of frustration.
“Yeah, whatever. I just want to have free time.” The lupine boy began fiddling with the cell on the top of the car which had already been charged overnight and connected it to the engine.
Once the two wires met, the wheels began to spin. The item seemed to have no real control over its mechanics. So quickly, the wolf had to disconnect and try to figure out a way to keep it from going haywire. Sure enough, there was a little controller nearby. All they had to do was to program the item into the wiring of the little car. Directions sat on a little piece of paper put to the side of each station where the groups were assembled.
Eventually, the two cubs were able to figure out how the contraption worked. The second time the wolf connected the two wires, the wheels didn't immediately turn on. Which meant the solution to their original problem worked. Scooter couldn't help but smile and Eralo smiled as well. The instructor stopped over and patted them on the head after examining their successful trial. Now the boys had free time and they were very keen on looking over each others Yugioh cards.
Each of the two cubs had a binder full of them and both held their cards as a personal prized possession. Of the two boys, the boar was more invested into it since his parents were better off and less frugal with purchasing them. The two spent some of the period trading and the rest in a short battle which ended rather abruptly with the bell sounding. After it did, the friends began rushing in order to pack all their beloved cards, careful not to damage any of them.
Just then the boar overheard a muffled ripping sound. He wondered what it might have been and looked around before looking at his friend. Sure enough, Eralo's shirt was beginning to tear. The seems were becoming undone and the boy's chest fur was peeping out of his formerly well-fitting clothing. Looking down, Scooter could see that his friends pants button had popped off and that his zipper was becoming undone.
Looking back up, the cub could see his friend was even taller than he was now. Scooter couldn't help but bite his upper lip as he was a little nervous.
“My body is really sore and achy.” The wolf complained out loud, rubbing his arm a bit.
“You've gotten even bigger...You're taller than I am now.” The boar remarked before sizing himself up next to his friend.
“Hehe, I guess I have...This is sorta cool. Now I'm not the shortest in class.” Eralo made a sheering motion before the threads on his shirt finally gave way.
“You need new clothes...But why are you so big all of the sudden. What happened to you?” Scooter couldn't make sense of what was happening.
“How am I supposed to know?” The lupine swished his tail behind him casually before bringing his paw to his head as if he intended to think about it.
“Well..?” The boar was impatient as he knew the next class was soon.
Just then the teacher stopped by since they were now the only ones left in the room.
“Mr. Sinret. Walking around without a shirt is inexcusable. Please go to the office and fetch a new one.” The man spoke before pointing to the door.
Neither of the two boys was brave enough to protest authority and decided to drop the issue at hand.
The boar decided to accompany his friend as he guessed that maybe the school nurse could diagnose Eralo.
“Let's go to the nurse first, she'll check you out.” Scooter calmly suggested.
The two walked up front to the main office where the clinic was. Inside was an old buzzard who was a retired nurse who had long since been removed from a more full-time medical position. Still, the woman rather liked working with kids and had specialized in pediatrics. When they arrived, the woman looked over the wolf who was still naked from the waist up. It wasn't a sight she often except when kids got into fights, and this didn't seem to be the same case.
She began examining the boy over and nothing seemed to be really wrong with him except the small blood stain that covered one of his fingers. Checking it over, it didn't seem like a serious wound but she decided to investigate it anyway. After running some tests, she came to the conclusion that there was a small infection in the boy and gave him some ointment along with a band-aid to cover it. The Buzzard also provided him with a fresh set of clothes.
After explaining her findings to them they were dismissed. No real solution was offered and the real problem still remained. Why was the wolf getting bigger and when would it stop? Only time would tell...
