It's starts with one thing, I don't know why, it doesn't even matter how hard you try….all I know is time is a valuable thing, I watch it fly by as the pendulum swings, watch it count down till the end of the day, the clock ticks life away it's so unreal…watching time go right out the window tryin' to hold on but didn't even know, I wasted it all, just to watch you go, I kept everything inside, and even though I tried, it all fell apart, what it meant to me will eventually be a memory.
- In The End, Linkin Park
Tommy watched the clock, and smiled as the bell rang. He got all of his stuff together and put it into his backpack. He stood up and walked out of the classroom, dodging a few over-stimulated freshmen who were running around the halls. He walked down the hall and got to his locker. He opened it, and exchanged what he needed and didn't need for the weekend from his locker and backpack.
He walked back down the hall and outside, where Merton and Lori were waiting. He walked down the steps outside the school to meet them.
"Hi Tommy, you coming to the Factory tonight?" Merton asked him.
"Yeah, Fridays are the best nights," Lori added as she smiled at him.
"Sur….I can't," he said with a sigh.
"Why?" Lori asked.
"Oh, yeah. Now I remember, full moon is tonight," Merton said with a sheepish grin. "I forgot."
"I wish I could," Tommy said. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."
"Bye Tommy," Lori said, with sympathy in her voice.
"Bye," he said quietly as he walked off.
It wasn't the first time he was forced to give up something because of being a werewolf. However that didn't make it any worse. Every time he was asked to do something, or go somewhere, and he had to cancel it because of what he was, he got the same sick feeling. His whole life was changed by this, and most of it was not for his own good.
He hadn't asked for this, and he didn't need it. Why did it have to be him? Why was he the one in that particular place, at that particular time? Why couldn't it have been someone else who got this. Someone like Merton who wanted it, who would have known more about it than him. Yeah, he had to admit that he did do some good, but in his mind it wasn't worth it. Someone else could do that good, he didn't need too.
He had reached his street. His family didn't even know him like they used to. He had to lie to almost everyone he knew. Yeah he could talk to Merton, but usually it was about what it was like to be what he was, or what he could do with it. He would talk to Lori, but after what happened between them…it just wasn't the same anymore.
He was being forced to live a solitary existence, if he had asked for it, things would be different. But he hadn't. He hadn't asked to be made a freak, and he wished more than anything he could get rid of it. He remembered a quote he saw once reminded him of himself.
'The real hero is always a hero by mistake; he dreams of being an honest coward like everybody else.'
It was said by a guy named Umberto Eco. Everyone thought he was a hero. But he wasn't. He was just a guy in the wrong place at the wrong time, and now he was stuck here. He had to help people and all the other things he did because there was no one else. If there was anyone that could do it, he would have stepped to the side in a minute. All he wanted was a normal life, without the wolf part. He didn't need it, or want it. He reached the house, and went in.
"Hi sweetie," His mom said from the kitchen.
"Are you going……" she asked as she turned around, but he was already up the stairs and in his room. It seemed like he spent most of his time up there recently. She wasn't sure why, but she figured it was a phase he was going through. He was bound to grow out of it.
Tommy walked up to his room, and locked the door as soon as he was in. He threw his backpack down and laid on his bed staring at the ceiling. It was going to be another long night.
"Have you noticed something wrong with Tommy?" Lori asked Merton. They were sitting at a table next to the lanes at the Factory.
"What do you mean?" he asked before eating another French fry.
"He seems…depressed," she said.
"You don't know him as well as I do…he's always like that, the whole …" he looked around and lowered his voice. "Werewolf thing."
"Yeah, but he seems to be acting more depressed than usual," she told him.
"Probably because of how close graduation is, I don't think becoming what he is how he pictured his life at this point," Merton said.
"Yeah…but I'm worried that he'll do something stupid," she said.
"I don't think he would," he said as Lori grabbed the last fry before he could eat it.
"Let's go," she said as she stood up. Merton got up and followed her.
"You're sure he wouldn't do anything?" Lori asked.
"Lori look at me," he said stopping and grabbing her arms and making her face him. "You don't have to worry."
"Thanks," she said. The stood there looking at each other, kind of awkwardly before Merton realized that he was still holding on to her, and she was holding on to him. He let go and gave a nervous laugh before they both went off in opposite directions to their homes, nervous about what they were feeling.
Tommy watched from behind a tree the awkward moment between Lori and Merton. He knew nothing would come of it, they both were afraid of what would happen to him if he found out. He knew that Lori and him were through, and he should get over it, but he just couldn't. He turned and left running. It was the only good thing about what he was. The running. It felt good to just run away. To forget everything for a while.
He made it to the woods and he ran through them. It was almost like being more animal than human when he got like this. It felt good. Animals didn't have to worry about the same things he did. They didn't have problems with girls, school, figuring out what to do with there life, they especially didn't have to worry about being freaks. He ran faster, he reached a clearing when he stopped and stared at the moon, howling.
"I would be more careful if I were you, never know who's watching," a voice said behind him.
