Man, I'm really cranking these out. Thank you all for your support, it means the world to me. I hope you all like this chapter, which I titled after a Coldplay song. I'm going to see if I can title all the chapters after songs or lyrics; let's see if you all hold me to that!

Current music: She Looks So Perfect - 5SOS

CODY HARVARD, 14

I remained hospitalized for the next week as I "recovered" from the wound that Lycanroc had inflicted upon me.

As the doctor and nurses had told me, there wasn't going to be a full recovery; that much had been made clear. No matter how long I lived, I would never be able to shake the curse that had been placed on my...well, would you call it a soul?

Terminology aside, it was a pretty miserable week.

For the first day or two, I spent most of my time asleep in bed. While the nurses would make me get out of bed for a few minutes every so often to walk around the room, that small bit of exercise was enough to exhaust me so thoroughly that I couldn't stay awake much longer once I returned to the hospital bed.

I'd fight to stay awake. I'd tell the nurses to stop giving me pain medication, since that was making me sleepy and I feared sleep. What I didn't tell them was that every time I drifted off, I found myself in the same cave, dressed only in boxers, with a pack of Lycanroc looking to tear into me.

Of course, the nurses could probably guess why I didn't want to sleep. But they told me that if I wasn't on the painkillers (which, they insisted, weren't even that strong), I would be in a world of agony, and would, and I quote, "be begging for the sweet release of death." I believed them, but that didn't make the nightmares any less frightening, even if it was the same thing every time.

After the first two days, I began staying awake for longer stretches, so I had a lot more time to wonder what my new life would look like.

It was the middle of October, and 8th grade was in full swing. Since Skylock was a small town, we only had one secondary school for all grades six through twelve. Being that it was a small town, it felt like everybody knew everybody else.

And therein lay the problem. The rumors would spread like an uncontrollable, ridiculously contagious virus; why was Cody off from school for a week? While the school would have to respect my medical privacy, that wouldn't stop the other students from speculating.

My parents tried to cheer me up. They brought me the newspaper each day so that I could try (and fail) to do the crossword. They would visit for as long as the nurses allowed them to, before being kindly ushered away, leaving me all alone with nothing but the were-Lycanroc for company.

One day, the seventh after my injury, the head doctor from the first day came into the room. He wore a smile on his face, one that seemed almost offensive after I'd endured one of the worst weeks of my life.

"I've got good news and bad news, Cody," he told me. "Which would you like to hear first?"

I probably should have saved the best for last, but I needed a pick-me-up at that moment, so I told him that I'd rather hear the good news first.

"The good news is, you get to go home today. The discharge paperwork has already been completed, and as soon as you feel able to return to school, you may do so."

Well, there's no question that I'm going to school on Monday. Even if I don't feel up to it physically, I want to put the inevitable rumors of my death to rest.

I nodded to show that I had understood, and then asked, "So what's the bad news?"

The doctor's smile ran away from his face.

"The bad news is that you'll have to keep taking wolfsbane every month, for the three days preceding the full moon and during the actual full moon, for the foreseeable future. Until we discover a cure for the enemy, as it were; the enemy being lycanthropy, obviously."

I raised an eyebrow. "That's news?"

The doctor shrugged. "Some people who've survived these wounds and become were-Lycanroc have held out hope that someday they'll be normal again. But it's false hope, because barring a miracle, that's not going to happen."

Of course, I'd known this prior to the head doctor telling me. Even so, the fact that he was once more confirming it was like he was hammering another nail into my coffin.

Isn't that analogy a bit melodramatic? It's not like you're about to die, so don't think like that.

To me, however, there was no question about it; my old life was dead and gone. No matter how much I wished I could be convinced otherwise, the fact remained that I would never be the same again.

After that, the doctor once more gave me the instructions on how to take the wolfsbane. He also told me that the prescription information would be written on the bottle, which would seem to negate the need for him to tell me right then. But I wasn't going to complain so long as I could finally get out of here.

My mother entered the room soon after. She appeared absolutely delighted to see me again, even though she'd visited every single day that I'd been in the hospital.

After she confirmed with the doctor that she would help me follow all of the protocols, such as not to do any heavy lifting for a few weeks, to come to the ER if any sign of infection appeared around my stitches, etc, I was officially discharged from the room that had been my home for the last week.

Knowing what I know now, I liken the next two days to the calm before the storm.

Since I had been released from the hospital on a Saturday, I had the weekend to think about what would happen next. Even though I was mostly sitting around the house and not doing much of anything, time passed surprisingly quickly.

It's funny, really. When you're greatly looking forward to something, whether it be the release of a new video game, or simply the end of a long and boring school day, time seems to slow down to a Goomy's pace. It just drags on, minute by minute, second by agonizing second.

However, when you're dreading something, like a dentist appointment or, in my case, a return to school after you've been out for a week, time has a weird habit of speeding up. Before you know it, the event you dread will come to pass, and you'll be wondering where all your time went.

I did have work to do, of course. My teachers weren't going to let me fall behind the rest of the class, so they sent me all of my assignments. Given that I was still only fourteen, these assignments weren't too complicated, but they were at least something to occupy my time and get my mind off of Monday. It was one of the few times that I'd ever be grateful for schoolwork.

On two occasions, I did go for walks with my parents around our small neighborhood, just outside the main town center of Skylock. I didn't go downtown, for two reasons.

One of those reasons is obvious. The other reason is only slightly less obvious; after what I'd just been through, I tired much more easily than I had before. It was not unlike those "Before" and "After" photos that you see on social media, only my transformation had been to having less energy.

Still, I knew that my physical stamina would come back eventually. My self-esteem, on the other hand, was a different story.

On Monday morning, my mother made me one of my favorite breakfasts: Kalos toast. She was no doubt trying to butter me up so that I wouldn't refuse to attend school that day, but I wasn't mad at her for this.

After all, the longer I wait to go back to school, the worse the fallout is going to be.

"You'll do fine, Cody. People are out sick for a week all the time; we are heading into flu season soon."

I snorted. "Yeah, but most of the time their illnesses don't involve gaping stomach wounds."

"But nobody has to know. Just don't let your shirt move up at all, and you'll be golden."

She was right, and I knew it. Even so, I still really didn't want to return to school. I'd never liked being the center of attention, and I was virtually guaranteed that title today.

Over the course of the day, I did get a decent amount of stares, with some people expressing their gratitude to see me back. That was, of course, better than them making fun of me for having become a were-Lycanroc.

Of course, they don't know what happened. They don't know that every month, if I neglect to take the medication, I'm going to be lethal.

I suppose it is a good way to test your friendships. If somebody is truly a good friend, they'll stick by you unless you do something truly horrendous. In my case, I was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time; hopefully the few friends I did possess wouldn't hate me for it.

But I'm not going to test it. I'm not, because this is just too personal a secret to share.

While I had done a good portion of my make-up work, I still felt behind whenever the teachers would go over the lessons. As it turned out, however, it didn't take too long for me to get back in the grind. It's a wonder how quickly you can adapt when you really need to.

It seemed as though all was well until lunchtime.

Normally I ate with my best friend Frank Speech, but I didn't really want company right now. The social stimulation of school was far more intense than what I'd known for the last week, and it was to the point that I felt physically exhausted.

However, I didn't want my classmates to think something was wrong, so I sat next to Frank as soon as I'd gotten my sandwich with potato chips from the counter. We ate in silence for a few minutes, but eventually, Frank got curious.

"If you don't mind me asking, Cody, why were you out for a week? I hope you're all right now."

I gulped. If our conversation (or rather, lack thereof) had been sailing on calm seas before, Frank had steered it into rough waters.

"I do mind" I responded sternly, as though I were Frank's parent explaining why he couldn't stay up all night playing video games. "That's personal."

My best friend frowned. "Cody, you're not like this normally. You aren't one to keep things from me, and when you're away from school for a full week, it's not like people don't notice. Is everything okay?"

No. Not everything's okay. My life has changed forever thanks to one Lycanroc bite, and now I'm a danger to myself and others!

To be frank (pun intended), there was no way in hell that I'd say the above statement out loud. Frank Speech might have been my best friend, but even close friendships have their limits. Besides, if someone I wasn't so friendly with overheard, that would be the end of me.

"Yeah, it's fine. I'm just...I don't generally give out my whole medical history to other people. It's just not what I do."

I might not have been very eloquent in my response, but Frank seemed to accept it. He smiled at me.

"That's fine, Cody. I'm sorry for asking."

The rest of the meal was heavily awkward, and I was quite relieved when lunch was over and classes resumed.

Once I got back into the rhythm of my normal, everyday life, things seemed manageable again. I slowly recovered my stamina and eventually returned to the hospital to get my stitches taken out (which hurt a lot more than I'd been expecting it to.)

The leaves continued changing color, red and orange and yellow in a variety of shades, and then fell off the trees. The air grew crisper and colder with each passing day. Winter was coming, and that made me even more aware of the passage of time.

Every day, after I ate my breakfast but before I went to school, I checked the lunar calendar. It probably wasn't necessary to do this every day, since the information would never change, but I had no desire to risk missing the necessary doses of wolfsbane.

Speaking of the wolfsbane, it was currently sitting in the refrigerator in its bottle. The medication was in liquid form, and was a sickly shade of burnt orange. I dreaded the day when I would have to start taking it.

That day arrived a few weeks later. When the day of reckoning came, my mother called the school to let them know that I would not be coming to school for a period of several days the following week Who knows if they were aware of the real reason for my absence.

Even though the medicine would make me harmless to those around me, I would still become a Lycanroc. Ultimately, my parents and I had come to the decision that it would be better for me to skip school for a few days out of every month than attract the boatload of attention that I'd get from showing up to school as a Lycanroc.

I took the bottle of wolfsbane out of the fridge, as well as the small cup that had been provided for me to measure the dosage. The substance looked revolting, but the instructions stipulated that if I diluted the medicine with water, or added any other substance to it, this would make it useless.

After I poured the wolfsbane into a cup, I raised it as though I were making a toast. Perhaps I was toasting Arceus in hopes that he would have mercy on me, but I didn't know if the big man upstairs was listening or not.

Here goes nothing.

I opened my mouth and quickly gulped the wolfsbane. It was horrendous, the worst thing I could ever remember tasting! I didn't want to know what earwax would taste like, but it was probably something just like this.

As the wolfsbane made its way down my esophagus, I shivered. Suddenly, I felt cold even though the heat was on (it was a cold day even for the middle of November in Sinnoh.)

It was as though ice were flooding my body, like I was drowning in a melted glacier. Every breath was an effort, and before long I found myself dropping to my knees.

My father must have heard me gasping for air, because he ran into the kitchen. "Cody, what's wrong?"

I could barely muster the strength to answer. "I...took...the...wolfsbane."

My dad was facing me, and I saw him frown. He didn't seem mad at me; why would he be?

No, his expression was one that suggested he felt very, very sorry for his poor son. His son, who would have to take the wolfsbane and experience the horrific side effects, every month for the rest of his life.

My father left, presumably to get my mother, but I didn't want my parents to hover over me constantly. Even though I was now different from others my age, this didn't mean I was completely useless and couldn't take care of myself. Because of this, I slinked off to my room before my mother came, for that was no doubt going to happen.

Once in my room (after I had of course gotten my breath back enough to make it there), I slammed the door and sat down.

It's just not fair!

Of course, life wasn't supposed to be fair; that was just the way things were. But when you're the one on the wrong side of life's unfairness, it's a lot harder to believe that it's okay for life not to be just.

My bedroom had blinds behind the windows, which could easily be shut so that nobody saw me turn into a Lycanroc. Indeed, that's what would need to happen, because I wanted my condition to be known by as few people as possible.

The first transformation, according to the prescription information for the wolfsbane, wouldn't happen until the night of the full moon. I would remain a Lycanroc until the moon left that phase, at which time I would return to my human form.

What is the transformation going to feel like? Will it hurt?

That was a rather childish question to even consider, but I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to be forced out of my own body and into that of a Pokemon. Would my entire bone structure have to rework itself?

Well, that's an obvious yes. I just hope it isn't THAT bad.

And this was something I would have to go through every single month. It might not be as unpleasant as having a bad cold for a few days, or it could be worse. But either way, I would grow accustomed to it. Hopefully. That was all I could hope for, because everything else was so uncertain and complicated.

I heard my mother calling me from outside my bedroom, telling me it was time to unload the dishwasher, and I stood up. If I wanted to be treated like an adult who could look after himself, it was time to put up or shut up, as some would say.

This is my life now.

I am aware that, for a chapter with three distinct "scenes", none of them were very long. But I'm just getting warmed up, and I'm really excited to keep writing Werewolves of Sinnoh; I'm having a great time with this story, and I have, in part, my fans to thank.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and I'll see you guys next time.