
Rain fell from the skies, splattering loudly on the warm asphalt of the road. It mixed with the stench of burned rubber and garbage stocked on either side of the alleyway. The alleyway is empty except for the lonely cat who had taken shelter inside a garbage can under an upturned cardboard box. The cat’s glistening amber eyes stare at me, and I stare back, unwilling to get up from where I lay even though the rain is making my clothes all soggy. My whole body hurts from the beating I took, and I’m pretty sure there are cuts on my face, given how it fucking hurts when I try to move my mouth a little. The water flowing down the road is dangerously close to rising to be leveled with my mouth.
Because I did not fancy taking a gulp of road-washed water, disregarding the pain in my body from the blossoming bruises, I shake myself and get up.
Each step I take toward the direction of the road hurts. The rain gets harder and harder as I trudge towards the miserable building my studio apartment was situated in so I could change and get to my job.
I did not anticipate constant bullying being part of my university life when I moved to Empire city in order to attend King’s College University. I had been so excited when I got the final acceptance letter. King’s College was the most prestigious academic organization in the country, and its acceptance rates were very low. Their graduates were guaranteed to be much-sought experts in their relative fields, and being chosen was an honor.
I confess I was idyllically naïve when it came to university. I thought all the students would be respectable and good-mannered, polite and friendly.
How wrong had I been.
Kings’ College students were instead snobbish and arrogant, snotty and privileged. I’d rather eat rocks than be friends with them given how much they tend to backstab each other for their own advantage. So, rest assured, I did not gain many friends in my first year.
However, I gained many enemies. And Stone Jeffreys was the worst of them all.
He was a football player, a star athlete, and an academically gifted student. And he was also a bully of the worst kind who seemed to be especially targeting me.
And today was one of those days where I was caught in his rage.
Showering was torture, and I get dressed in clean, dry clothes in my apartment as fast as possible. My whole body aches, but I can’t afford to call in sick.
I make my way to the café where I do a part-time job. My boss barks at me to get my ass to serve the tables immediately before I can even say, “hello”. I exchange a short greeting with the floor supervisor and my fellow waiters before donning the mandatory apron with the café logo, grabbing a pen and a notepad, and making my way to the tables to start my job as a waiter.
I try to immerse myself in my job, but the pain is too much. Stone had made sure to target my ribs when he punched me as two of his friends held me by the arms, and now breathing itself was difficult. As time goes on, the ache in my side heightens to a point where I have to crouch when walking. I pray that no one notices my discomfort.
“Hey, waiter,” One of the ladies at a table calls me as I lean over a counter to take a breather, “I need a refill. Hurry up.”
She taps her glass with her fork, getting some of the sauce on the glass as well as the table. Oh, great, she’s one of the messy customers who get everything dirty. I am so not going to enjoy cleaning that one up.
“Yes, ma’am,” Taking a glass jug of water, I make my way to the table.
Just as I’m only a step away from her, the pain in my side flares up, blinding me for a moment. But that moment is more than enough for me to lose my footing. My hand goes up, and a shriek comes. Water splashes on the woman who called me.
Oh, shit.
The woman begins to scream immediately as I apologize, but it’s too late. The manager comes to see what had happened. And just as he gets closer, the woman gets up and slaps me hard across my face.
Fuck.
“This dress cost me ten thousand dollars, you idiot!” She starts to scream, “Who is going to pay it back?!”
That dress is so not ten thousand dollars, it was most likely thrifted.
“I’m so, so sorry, I did not mean to do it, I just slipped,” I try to apologize again, my face burning from humiliation, but it’s not enough.
“What the hell did you do now, Jace?!” My manager gets in my face.
“I’m so sorry, sir, it was a mistake, I sincerely apologize…”
The manager’s eyes narrow on my face, “Is that a bruise on your cheek, Greyson?”
Oh, crap, there’s a bruise on my cheek? I didn’t know Stone got me there.
“Is this how you expect to work here, Jace?” The manager blows up on my, “Sporting bruises like some criminal, being negligent and spilling water on our customers? What kind of a server are you? Do you think we pay you to come and act like thugs?”
God, make it stop!
“No, sir,” I murmur, knowing that arguing with him is pointless.
“I demand to be compensated for my dress,” the woman declares, “Otherwise, I will sue this place!”
She is clearly bluffing; nobody can sue a café over a mistake like mine. She was being ridiculous.
“We are so sorry, ma’am,” the manager apologizes again. “We will compensate your loss, of course. And your meal is on the house.”
Then he turns back to me
“You’re fired.” He speaks. My eyes widen.
“But-“
“You’re fired! Get out of here, now! I’m docking your pay to compensate for her dress. Now get out!”
***
And now I am jobless.
I scuttle back home, sorrow heavy in my mind. It wasn’t the best job, but it paid my bills. And now I have to look for another.
As I get closer to the apartment, my phone rings. It’s a familiar number, and my heart skips a beat.
“It’s Jace,” I answer the phone, and a familiar voice comes.
“Young master,” Gerald said, “I’ve been trying to contact you for ages.”
“Hello, Gerald. I was busy. How are you?”
“I am fine, master, but your father is asking for you. He misses you very much,” I scrunch my eyes shut. It’s the same plea over and over again, “Please come back. It’s been a so long already. It is time.”
“I’m sorry, Gerald, but for the last time, no. I will not come back to Clandestine city, that part of my life is over. I start the new school year tomorrow. Have a good night.”
With that, I end the call.
No matter what happens, I need to find a way.

Latest Chapter
261. Supernatural?
“Oh, fuck!” I let out as I spring away from where I’d been lying with my head on Estelle’s lap. “Holy shit, I’m normal! I’m normal!”I pat at my body, and sure enough, it’s two-legged, hairless, and my hands are actually my hands! With fingers and pink skin, with only some fine hair on my forearms, and no black fur in sight!I immediately look behind me, and nearly cry in relief when I see that I have a normal, human posterior, not one with a tail.And to my surprise, my clothes are still intact though I had ripped them when I had turned into a dog, but they were still here. Thank God, because I did not fancy getting naked for the second time today.“I did not think that would happen,” Estelle comments, and I turn to her. She doesn’t look too shocked at my reappearance as a human. She stands up from where she had been sitting, brushing off her pants as if on habit before turning to me with a smile, “Well, it’s a good thing I didn’t call that hospital.”I stare at her for a moment, won
260. Scream
I cower near the toilet, scared out of my fricking mind as the door opens, hoping to everything holy that she would not freak out, which is stupid considering who would not freak out when they see an animal in a room where they initially left a human in?But to my utter surprise, when Estelle opens the door, she does not scream or throw anything at me.Instead, she blinks.Once.Twice.And then she opens her mouth to say, “Oh.”I blink at her. What did she mean oh? There’s a fricking dog creature in her bathroom and no sign of a human, the human that came to her house naked in the middle of the rain! Why does she look so calm and curious? Why is she looking at me like this was every other Tuesday in her life? I feel so confused that a whine falls from my throat, and that seems to snap her out of her contemplative stare.“I didn’t realize that you were one of them,” she tells me in a confused tone, brows furrowed, “I mean, it’s not like I’m new to this, I should’ve been able to smell y
259. Coming in
I felt different.It was like everything that made me myself, my personality, my conscience, my thinking, and my control over my body, had been plucked out of the said body and then put into a small box somewhere in my mind. I didn’t have any control of my body, although I could feel my body, but then I could not actually feel like I did every day. No, it felt like it wasn’t my body, but then it felt like my body, but not my body again…I didn’t know what to make out of this. My head hurt, and I felt like my breathing capacity had increased and my legs had shortened, and I couldn’t stand up regardless of my somewhat dubious control I tried to open my mouth to talk but couldn’t do that either.And my visions feel weird, everything feels lower than it did before whatever happened to me happened, and the pictures flitting through my eyes seem far more intense than normal. I can hear so many noises as well, the fill of water in the tank somewhere, the sloshing of liquid in the septic tank
258. Get out.
“Okay, so this is going to sound utterly unbelievable at first,” I say, “but bear with me, okay? This really happening and I am not lying, not one bit.”Estelle raises a brow at me. “Okay, normally, if someone tries to defend themselves that much, I might get a little suspicious, but then again what happened to your girlfriend made it to the news and I would never have thought anything like that taking place outside movies or books so I’m going to let you tell your story and pass judgment afterward.”“Fair. To be honest, I don’t even know if I should tell you all this considering there’s still an active investigation happening,” not that the active investigation was doing anything to help. You would think that after being one of the centerpieces of a murder and kidnapping investigation you would be questioned by authorities daily and at least be sent to jail once, but so far, we were only hearing crickets from the police side. It felt like they were truly living under the impression t
257. Ex
Estele sighs, running her fingers through her hair.“I honestly don’t know at this point,” she says, “I’ve never really given any serious thought about this. I knew from the start that I was going to be very careful when having sex with people and was always prepared up until yesterday. And like I told you, I’m not the one for hookups and one-night stands. I love relationships, and I’d gotten out of one just mere months ago and still am not over it, not really.”“Oh, I’m so sorry,” I wince, wondering how two similar people like us could’ve done the same mistake, “was it a bad breakup? I didn’t bring back any memories or something, did I?”Estelle gives out a snort of laughter at that.“No, dude, I can’t even remember the hookup so nothing like that happened,” she reminds me, “and it wasn’t a messy breakup per se. I just…we fell out of love, you see. I never thought that would happen in a relationship. We had been dating for like two years now, and I honestly thought that the next step
256. Good news
After spending quite some time rifling through her wardrobe, Estelle comes downstairs to where I’m sitting on one of her mauve-colored couches with a fluffy blanket wrapped around my frame, holding some clothes.“Good news,” she grins at me, “there are some clothes one of my friends left here after staying the night, and she is about your size. So, if you don’t have an issue with pink,” she hands me the large pink t-shirt she’s got bundled in her hand with a wry quirk to her lips, “and basketball shorts,” she hands me bright red basketball shorts, “then these are yours.”I squint at the combination and comment, “You know, I don’t mean any offense, but who on earth wears this combo even to bed?” The t-shirt is fuchsia with cute, squiggly sheep jumping over a bright green patch of grass. It is truly an assault on the senses, and the less said about the shorts the better.Estelle snorts, “She’s a bit into the eclectic side of fashion. You want me to try and find something else?”“Oh, no,
255. Brain Injury
“Follow me,” I’m being instructed as soon as I enter the quaint little house through the doors. I take a brief look around, my newly deepened senses getting acquainted with the new surroundings I’ve found myself in, and there's nothing to complain about. The lavender and cream scent that emanated from Estelle permeated every available surface of the house and then some, along with the intermingling scents of the cut flowers artistically arranged in various cute vases on almost every available flat surface, one vase each, and the smell of firewood burning in the fireplace. The wallpapers are mauve themes, the skirtings are white, and the floor is made of polished hardwood, and the house lighting is ambient. There is a window seat near the large window I failed to see from the outside, and the wall next to the window is covered with a bookrack. I squint at the old-looking books, trying to see if there are any names on the spines. Some have names, but a lot of them are nameless.Interest
254. Cover
I try to see if there are any materials lying around in what seems to be the backyard of the house, but there are only flowering plants and herbs, neatly grown in flowerbeds and growing heartily, all over the yard. It’s not fenced or gated, and while to me that looks like a bad move security-wise, I guess the residents of this quaint little house do not think so.It’s actually a cottage, by the looks of it, and extremely old-fashioned at that. Blue in color, freshly painted, with white windows and doors, as well as a black tiled roof that had an opening for a chimney.Smoke is coming out of the chimney, and the glow of evening lights emanates from behind the white curtains that had been put behind the windows. It looks homely, and surely someone living in a home like this would not turn away someone needing help, would they?I desperately wish I had something to cover myself, but sadly there is not, so I try to use my hand. Never have I felt this humiliated by a circumstance, and I h
253. Woods
There's something wet on my face. That is the first thing that registers in my mind when I start to gain consciousness from the sea of darkness that my being had been submerged in. The wetness is cold, cold enough to shock me into the real world from wherever it was I had been before, where darkness was a constant. The second thing I register is pain. It's the kind of pain that you would expect to overtake your body after extensive surgery done by some amateur medical professional after a rather terrifying car accident. I feel like I'm cut up and being sewn off raw, with needles pricking onto my skin from everywhere all at once. The wetness starts to increase, and soon enough through the pain, I realize that this had got to be water. What kind of water, I'm not sure. But judging by the force of the icy drops colliding with my skin, I feel like it's rain. Why am I being drenched by rain? Why do I feel so hurt? What's going on? I do not know, but I have been through enough harrowin
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