The next morning I woke up feeling something akin to excitement. Phillip watched me from my bed as I did got dressed. When I began to tie my tie Phillip seemed worried. I reassured him he wouldn’t need to wear one too. Although I admitted to him the thought of him wearing one on his antlers was very funny to me. That comment made him hop off my bed and out my door. I grabbed my backpack, stuffed it with spare clothes, and headed to my living room, where Phillip sat on the couch.

Because he refused to come when I called him, I went over to him and picked him up. Phillip squirmed in my hands until I assured him I would never put a tie on his antlers. Once he stopped, I placed him under my arm as one would do to a small rolled up rug.

I shouted at my sister letting her know I was leaving early like the day before. No noise came from her room. I shouted once more informing her I wouldn’t be coming home because of the sleep over. I then headed out the front door.

When I arrived at school were children outside playing as best they could. Inside the building other children were walking aimlessly. Homeroom would be in half an hour so I hoped Mallory hadn’t arrived yet. I headed to my homeroom with Phillip under my arm.

There was a bookshelf standing at the back of the classroom, on which I placed Phillip. There were stuffed animals on it which lead me to hope he wouldn’t be obvious there. Phillip tried his best to twist his face into a frown. It was a terrifyingly adorable sight.

“Sorry Phillip, I can’t be carrying you when Mallory gets here.”

Phillip jumped off the bookshelf but I caught him before he hit the ground.

"You can’t explore either," I said to him as I placed him back on the bookshelf. "We wouldn’t want you to get stepped on."

Phillip glared at me.

"Hey, it was your idea to act like a stuffed animal."

He continued to burn a pea sized hole in my soul with his eyes.

"Fine. But don’t get stuck anywhere."

Phillip quickly jumped off the bookshelf and darted towards the door.

"Don’t get eaten by a wolf." I yelled as he left the room. I sat at my desk for a moment then whispered to myself, "God, that idiot is going to get eaten by a wolf."

"What’s this about a wolf?"

I turned my head. Mallory sat at her desk.

“What?” I asked.

“You said a wolf is gonna eat someone.”

“Yes,” I responded.

“Uh… Anyway, this is for you.” Mallory handed me a lunch bag, “I told my mom about you and she made us breakfast!”

I opened the lunch bag. Inside it was a peanut butter and banana sandwich and a carton of calcium drink.

I said thank you and we began to eat. Shortly after homeroom began.

The day went on as it normally would have. Though in science class no one seemed to notice Jason was absent. Even his twin sister acted as though she never had a brother to begin with. When I left class to use the restrooms I would catch the occasional glimpse of Philip hopping through the empty hallways. When lunch hour came I took the same food I usually got along with the unusual cactus pad. I thought Philip would appreciate the fact they had their spines removed. I tossed the cactus pad into an empty hallway, knowing Philip would be able to smell it. Once I saw his antlers peek around a corner, I went back to the lunch room and sat with Mallory. She and I talked for a while about what we had learned in our classes so far. The conversation carried into and through recess. Though calling it a conversation would imply I talked as much as Mallory did. No one talked as much as Mallory, not even me.

With the end of our conversation came the end of recess. Mallory and I went to our classes then met up in math. After that we went to our history class, during which we learned about some precursors to the great war between the North and South. The entire class period, Mallory was bright red.

When class was over she and I walked out together.

“Are you ready to go?” She tilted her head when she asked.

I looked around, trying to catch a glimpse of some ivory colored antlers, and when I couldn’t I said, “I guess so.”

“Do you need to wait for your sister? I’m sure she can make it home by herself.”

“I guess you’re right."

Phillip has a good sense of smell, he’ll be able to follow, I thought to myself

“Let’s go!” Mallory clapped once and went on her way.

As we walked side by side I occasionally looked behind me hoping to see Phillip. Eventually I noticed a fluffy mass following us. A sigh of relief left my chest. I soon realized that he seemed to be struggling so I fell behind Mallory by a few steps.

“Having trouble keeping up?”

“Nope.” I admitted.

Mallory laughed and kept walking onward.

Phillip caught up to me, I didn’t know why he decided to get so close. He was risking himself being discovered by doing so. I then realized Philip wasn’t accustomed to hopping for so long. I took pity on him and decided to take him in my arms.

“No more chocolate for a while after this,” I told Phillip.

Mallory, at this point, was a good half block ahead of us. I increased my pace to get to her. When I was a few feet behind her I became worried that Mallory would turn around. My Heart pounded in my chest, creating a noise louder than anything humanly possible. I was certain Mallory could hear it, but minutes passed and Mallory never turned around.

She still spoke to me, though, but she never turned around when she did so. Even when the drumming in my chest became thunder, she never turned.

Shortly before we reached Mallory’s house I realized we were now on the Northern side of Cyprianus. A handful of blocks ahead of us stood a forest topped hill, the same hill I would sit at.

Familiarity hit me, causing a small part of my fear to be lost, which then caused me to loosen my grip  on Phillip.

Mallory’s house was the last house just before the meadow. When we reached the front door Mallory turned to me. I tossed Phillip into a nearby bush before she could fully turn.

“We’re here! Fair warning, my parents are a bit weird.”

I glanced at Phillip then smiled at Mallory, “I like weird.”

She returned a warm smile. She opened the door and headed in.

“Pee all over the outside of their house, just like you do to ours.”

Phillip nodded as best he could. He then hopped around the side of the house.

Mallory was on a set of stairs, “I’m going to go change. My mom’s in the kitchen, go say hi to her.” She pointed to an archway beside the kitchen before she climbed up the stairs out of sight.

From the kitchen came wonderful smells of simmering spices. Mallory’s mother stood at the stove.

She turned her head, “Oh, hi! You must be Mallory’s friend. I’m Nicole! Her mom.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” I said after telling her my name.

“Nice to meet you too! I’m a bit busy at the moment, feel free to look around our living room! We have tons of books in there.” She smiled a smile dangerously similar to Mallory’s, I couldn’t help but smile.

The living room had hardwood floors and a big brown couch. Two large bookshelves stood opposite the couch. Each shelf was packed with books. Some leather bound, some paperback, some hardcover, but all were clearly well taken care of. I opened a leather bound book to a random page. It had hand drawn images of odd plants I’d not seen in science books. On the page next to it was a hand drawn image of a human lung. "Medicine book," I whispered to myself.

“Find anything you like?” Mallory had approached me from behind. She had put on a short sleeve shirt and a pair of jeans. She had put her hair into a ponytail and had swapped her flat dress shoes for comfortable slippers.

“Oh, not sure yet.” I handed her the medicine book, “I like the drawings in this one.”

“I like this one too! My dad wrote it! My dad and I love reading, my mom doesn’t, though. She misses our TV.”

“What’s a TV?”

Mallory became confused. She stayed quiet for a bit before saying, “I don’t remember.”

We stared at each other.

“Want to come upstairs?”

“Sure.”

Up the stairs and at the end of the hallway was Mallory’s room.

"This is my room!" Mallory put her hands up in celebration, "isn’t it the coolest?"

"Yeah, very cool." I said

Mallory’s room was very simple. There was a bed, a desk, images of comic book characters all over her walls. Multiple stuffed animals were asleep on her bed. She had some toys on the desk in the corner, where I assumed she did her schoolwork. There were a pair of folding doors on the wall opposite the desk, the closest. But what she was clearly proud of was her book shelf. Almost as big as the ones downstairs, but half as filled.

"I know it’s not as full as the ones downstairs even though they’re about the same size, but I’ll get it filled up as I get older!" She then began to explain to me her organization system. It confused me then, and I wouldn’t be able to do its complexity justice.

“What book would you like to borrow?" She asked.

I reached for a book, "What’s this one about?"

"It’s about a young king whose uncle overthrows him in a violent coup. So the king goes into hiding but with the help of a few faithful servants he tries to build an army to invade his old castle to reclaim the throne!"

"That actually sounds like a good read." Interested, I put it on a side table, making a mental note where it belonged in case I decided not to take that one. I took another book, "and this one?"

"A guy buries his dead daughter in a cemetary meant for pets, so she becomes a zombie. I haven’t read that one properly yet, it kinda scares me."

The thought of Phillip popped into my head, “where is your bathroom?”

“Downstairs, it’s the door just before the kitchen.”

I grabbed my backpack went downstairs past the bathroom door. It was closed, and presumably locked. Mallory’s mother wasn’t in the kitchen, so I wakked in without worry. I opened the back door where Phillip was patiently waiting.

“How did it go?” I asked him.

The flush of a toilet prevented Phillip from explaining.

"Damn, explain later. We need to get you inside." I let Philip into the house. He hid behind the kitchen island as Mallory’s mother exited the bathroom.

"Are you looking for something, dear?" She moved towards me

"I just needed to use the bathroom," I tapped Phillip with my foot, letting him know to move around the island.

"Go on in!" She walked past me to the stove, and began to stir what was in the pot.

Phillip quickly hopped into the bathroom, I glanced at the back of Nicole’s head before following. Once inside I locked the door behind me. I began to formulate a plan with Phillip.

I crouched to get closer to Philip, "so I think you should stay in each room of the house for a few minutes."

Phillip tilted his head so his antlers touched my dangling tie.

"I don’t know when we’ll go home." I picked him up and put him up to my face, "I know you haven’t eaten since lunch, so I’ll sneak something during dinner, and you can eat it on our way home."

Phillip seemed fine with that.

I let go of Phillip then changed into my spare clothes.

I opened the bathroom door and took a peek. Mallory’s mother was still occupied with what she was cooking. Immediately after I opened the door enough for Phillip’s antlers to get through, he hopped into the living room and began to urinate next to one of the bookshelves.

Once his business with the bookshelf was completed I scolded him, “your’e not supposed to pee on books!”

Philip looked at a leatherbound book on the bottom shelf. It looked to be of a less durable hide than the others.

"So what? You’re not even a rabbit!"

Phillip looked back at me. He stared at me with as much intensity as he could.

"You’re an oddity, you know this." I sighed, "it’s fine let’s just get you into their rooms." We headed up the stairs.

Luckily the master bedroom was unlocked, allowing Phillip access. We planned to have Phillip stay in the master bedroom until dinner. At which point he’d head into Mallory’s room so he can urinate a small amount into a corner.

I came back into Amanda’s room, she looked at me with concern. "Are you okay? You were gone for a while."

"I’m fine," I walked over to the bookshelf, "I just ate a lot I guess." I lied to her. One of the few lies I ever told her.

"Now you have space for my mom’s cooking!" She smiled.

I smiled back at her. I started a stack with a few more books that seemed interesting based on Mallory’s synopsis. Eventually I picked a comic book from the shelf. "What’s this one about?”

She went into great detail about the comic, it was her favorite series. Midway through her long explanation, Mallory’s mother called us down for dinner.

In the dining room Mallory and I sat at the table. Food was served on the plates in front of us. An empty chair sat at the head of the table, I assumed it was for Mallory’s father.

We ate in silence save for the occasional question from Mallory’s mother. They were easy to answer questions, and conversation could not spark from them. Although I completed the blend of Northern spices with southern rice which led to a brief talk about dishes from our respective cultures, at least as much as we could remember about our cultures.

A few minutes into dinner a man as pale as Mallory burst into the dining room.

"You would not believe what I caught a glimpse of today!" The man said, grinning. He wore mudded boots and overalls. The shirt underneath was dirty as well. He had a thick brown beard and short curly hair. His green eyes locked onto me.

Mallory’s mother smiled softly at him, "what did you see?"

He responded, refusing to move his eyes frome me, “a… uh, I saw a rabbit with antlers.”

Shit! I thought.

The man stuck his hand out at me, “My name is Richard, I’m Mallory’s dad.”

I shook his hand and told him my name.

His smile returned, "outstanding name lad. Say? Do your parents read much?"

"I don’t know. Why do you ask?"

He left the room.

"Okay, I guess. Don’t answer my question then." I whispered to myself.

Mallory’s father returned, with a book in hand. "This is a classic in Northern literature." He handed the book to me, "the hero of it has your name, I’d bet my left nu- uh I mean leg you’d find it a good read."

Both the cover and back were blank. I had no clue as to what the book was about, but still I thanked him for it.

"No need to thank me, it’s my pleasure to share knowledge with Mallory’s friend.” He turned to Mallory, “ I can’t even remember the last time Mallory made a friend.” He furrowed his eyebrows and contemplated something.

"Dad!" Mallory yelled, turning red in the process.

"What? I’m just being honest" He returned to his happy self and laughed a hearty laugh. "Oh, Nicole, do you know why the living room smells of roses?”

Mallory’s mother smiled, “oh does it? That’s so nice!”

Mallory’s father sat at his chair, “It’s a rather odd thing to smell after a day in dirt!

“Why were you in the dirt?” I asked him.

“A while ago a water pipe burst and I’ve been fixing it.”

“How have you all been showering?”

Mallory became bright red once again, “our drinking water pipe is the one that burst, the other one is fine.”

We no longer ate in silence once Richard joined. Mallory’s father was incredibly talkative. The most insignificant comment could send him into a conversation. That, mixed with Mallory’s propensity for never shutting up, forced us to sit at the dining table well after all food was consumed.

Eventually a loud thud came from the second floor. Mallory put her hands on the table and stood up, "well, thank you for the dinner mom, but we should head upstairs."

I stood up to follow Mallory, but she grabbed my hand and practically dragged me up to her room. Once in her, Mallory closed the door behind us. I scanned the room, the stack of books I had made was now a pile on the floor.

"How did these fall?" She wondered aloud.

"I probably stacked them weirdly on the edge." I shrugged.

Mallory turned to me, her face filled with suspicion. "They were in the middle of the desk," she accused.

"You think I did it?" I asked.

"Maybe." She got close to me.

"I was downstairs, how could it have been me?" I backed up a bit.

"Dunno, maybe you brought in something to do it?" She grew closer to me, practically forcing my back against the wall.

"I brought something into your house to specifically knock over a stack of books?"

Mallory put her finger on my nose, "where is it?"

“Where is what?” I looked into her green eyes, there was a hint of insanity in them. “Am I going to get murdered,” I asked her.

Mallory smiled, but before she said anything her attention was caught by a noise coming from behind her. I looked past her shoulder and noticed the folding doors of her closet had been opened.

"Oh my goodness," Mallory squealed. She turned the rest of her body towards the closest. She bent over and picked something up.

"It definitely can’t be Philip," I whispered to myself.

Mallory turned around with Phillip in her arms.

"Oh, damn it Phillip." I sighed.

Mallory’s father burst through the closed door. “Are you alright lumpkin?”

She held up Phillip, showing him off like a prize won at some fair.

“Woah, how did he get in here? He was outside where I was sure he was going to make a mess of all my hard work.”

“I don’t think it would have." Mallory moved Phillip closer to her, holding him like a human baby. She ran her fingers up Phillip’s antlers, "it seems friendly enough."

Phillip rolled his eyes to look at me.

I mouthed the words, "I don’t know."

"Alright, make sure to set him free once you two are done playing with him." Mallory’s father turned out the door, leaving it slightly ajar behind him.

"Lumpkin?" I asked.

Mallory, still holding Philip, turned red before responding, "I used to not be able to say pumpkin. I’d say ’lumpkin’ and my dad thought it was cute. So it became a sorta nickname."

"Makes sense," I shrugged.

Mallory walked over to the door and fully closed it. She held Phillip up at me, “Why were you carrying this earlier?”

Phillip stared at me. His nose twitched.

“Can you stop calling him an it, he doesn’t really like that.”

Mallory brought Phillip up to her face, "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you." She put her nose on his, then forced him to nuzzle her.

I scratched my forehead, “I’m sorry you asked me what?”

“During our walk you were carrying him, and you threw him into the bush. Why were you carrying him?”

Had I really not noticed her turn around?

“I think Phillip is the reason my sister and I aren’t fuzzy. I wanted him to do the same for you.”

Phillip aimed his nose at the ground and twitched it.

"Do you mind putting him down, he doesn’t like being held for too long." I asked.

Mallory let Phillip go, after which he hopped over to me and hid behind my legs. Though, I’m fairly certain his long ivory branching antlers were difficult to conceal behind my skinny legs.

I scratched my head once again, "why aren’t you freaking out about this? Phillip isn’t supposed to exist, not in Cyprianus at least. But you’re acting as though he’s not a freak of nature." Phillip whacked his antlers on my legs, "Ow, you know you’re one of a kind." I crouched down to pet Phillip, but he kept using his antlers to block my hand from his scalp.

“Well, I know animals are rare here but, I feel like this is a moment I’ve been waiting for.” She crouched down and stuck her hands out at Phillip. He refused to come out, making her scowl.

I crouched down with her, causing Phillip to come out from behind me. He hopped between us.

“Why have you been waiting for this?”

“Dunno.” She seemed hollow for a brief moment. Her happiness returned in an instant, “maybe it’s for an adventure! Like in my books! Would you two like to go on an adventure?”

“Maybe. What would we even do?”

“Dunno, we could explore Cyprianus,” Mallory smiled. “Wait, have you explored the town at all?”

“Not really.” My legs grew uncomfortable by this point forcing me to sit cross legged on the floor.

“We can do that then! Whenever we have time and are done with homework, of course.”

“Of course.”

Mallory suddenly jumped to her feet. She took a notebook from her bookshelf and tossed it at me. It missed my lap and hit Phillip’s antlers before hitting the floor.

Phillip scurried far from us.

“Sorry Phillip,” she said.

I picked up the notebook off the floor. “What’s this?” I opened it and flipped through the pages. There were drawings in it, of weird creatures that took most of their respective pages. Next to the drawings were a small description of what it was. Though, the drawings were crude, as if drawn by a child.

“I filled this with all sorts of things!” She sat down next to me, uncomfortably close. She smelled nice. The distance between us became more than comfortable.

“Things?”

“All sorts of animals that I’ve seen,” a look of minor disappointment appeared onto her face, “at least I think I’ve seen them.”

“You think?”

“It’s a bit blurry, but I vaguely remember these animals, and this is my art style, so.”

“I get it. I’m still a bit fuzzy at times, usually whenever I try to remember things before Phillip.”

“I want to make him an entry!”

Mallory pulled a pencil out from her pocket. She asked for the notebook and when I handed it to her she began drawing Phillp. This drawing was of a much better quality when compared to the others. She drew quickly, darkening the lines as she finished.

Phillip hopped onto my lap. He let me pet him as he watched Mallory create an image of himself.

Mallory exhaled with satisfaction, "there! I think I’ve gotten better over the years!" She showed Phillip the final product, "how do you like it?"

Phillip tipped his antlers to touch Mallory’s hand as his nose sniffed the notebook. After a moment or so he turned his head behind him.

"His antlers are longer and he doesn’t think he’s that fat." I lightly slapped Phillip’s fat sides. "Though I think he needs to cut down on chocolate."

Phillip hopped off ofme. He sat at the foot of Amanda’s bed, staring at us.

"How can you two understand each other?" Mallory asked.

I thought for a second, "I’m not sure. I never really thought about it." I stared at Phillip, "it’s a but it is a bit weird I guess."

Mallory said what she wrote down in her notebook, "can communicate with a human that has emotionally bonded with it. Method by which communication is done is currently unknown."

I leaned forward, my arms extending towards my jackalope. I motioned him to return to my lap.

"Is there anything else he can do? Like maybe something with his antlers?"

"I think his antlers are just normal antlers. There’s nothing else fantastical about him, except his good luck." My arms still extended towards an unwilling Phillip.

"Good luck?"

"Yeah. He… emanates… good luck, or maybe he’s made of luck? Don’t know, but I know it rubs off on my family and I."

Mallory bit her pencil, “you don’t seem to be sure.”

I shrugged.

“We can figure that out later then,” she closed her notebook.

Phillip finally hopped onto my lap. I scratched the spot between his antlers.

“You said you also can’t remember. You can’t remember at all?” She looked at her notebook.

"Well, it’s not that I don’t remember. It’s more of a fuzziness rather than completely blank." I stared at the floor. "A while after I found him, life seemed more real. Less, misty I guess. Eventually my sister and parents cleared up too, but not as much as me. I figure it has to be some form of good luck, he doesn’t deny it either. The only bad thing is, everyone around me was, and still is, fuzzed up." 

A wave of sadness suddenly crashed into me, flooding my soul in an attempt to drown the minuscule amount of hope that had decided to call it a sanctuary. Hope I refused to acknowledge with its constant insistence that the town I was too afraid to truly live in, would one day be as alive as I yearned to be. I knew hope was hidden within me, but being the only lamb amidst a pack of wolves would never result in anything pretty. I had to ignore it. The past year I had been unfortunate enough to witness the unapologetic apathy of Cyprianus. The faces of people taken amidst the darkness of night, forever in my memories. I admit I chose to remember them, no one else would have. I couldn’t have done anything to stop their abductions, the least I could do was remember them. Unable to express much of anything with my fellow citizens, I was forced to suppress my discomfort with the town. At that moment I became painfully aware of my desolation. Phillip had been the only living thing I could connect with. Despite that, even though I would have never admitted it for as long as he lived, I was afraid he was incapable of understanding me.

Mallory sensed she had touched a nerve, “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to make you sad.

“You didn’t make me sad,” I was already sad. More than sad, I felt so lonely. Perhaps that’s why I so quickly clung to Mallory. I looked down at Phillip.

He twitched his nose.

“Do you have anything for Philip to eat?.”

“My dad has a garden, I can ask him.” Mallory walked out her room.

Phillip and I stared at each other. "Why did you knock over those books?" I asked him.

Phillip broke his gaze from me, turning his head out the window. Night had fallen onto Cyprianus

"Don’t blame the darkness. I know you can see better in the dark than me."

Phillip tilted his head towards the floor, clearly unable to make up an excuse.

I sighed, "it’s fine. She didn’t freak out, so that’s good." I did some stretches, "it’s really lucky she didn’t freak out. If she did, you might have been experimented on."

Phillip returned to being on all fours, then tilted his head so his antlers were aimed at me.

"I’m not saying theres going tobe experiments done on you right now. I’m just saying you could have."

Mallory came back shortly after, holding onto a small cactus pad. The pad wasn’t despined, so she held it from the base before tossing it toward Phillip. He sniffed it, then began to chew on it, spines included.

She smiled, "he’s kinda cute dontcha think?"

I nodded in agreement, though Phillip baffled me. He was adorable, yet he was difficult to look at. Often I had found myself avoiding him, as if I subconsciously knew he wasn’t supposed to exist.

Mallory sat on her bed, watching Phillip devour his cactus pad. "My dad said you can sleep over, since it’s dark out. He doesn’t want you to walk home so late."

"Where will we sleep?" I asked.

Mallory swiftly turned her head to me, “uh, we?” She had turned bright red.

"Yeah me and Phillip."

The redness in her face faded a bit as Mallory said, "ah. I think my dad’s setting up a sleeping bag on the third floor."

I thanked her for her hospitality. We conversed for a while longer before Mallory’s father came into the room to let her know she should go to bed. Not knowing what to say I wished her goodnight. Mallory wished Phillip and I a goodnight as we exited her room.

Richard led me down the hall. At its end he reached up toward the ceiling and pulled a cord. A hatch opened, causing some stairs to fold out from the ceiling. Before I stepped on the stairs he handed me a sleeping bag and a few pillows.

"That little guy sure has taken a liking to you." It was difficult to decipher the look on Richard’s face, it was a mix of bewilderment and child-like excitement.

I was unable to find the proper way to tell him that Phillip would legally be considered my property. I simply shrugged, to which Richard gave a hearty chuckle. He slapped my back and let me up the stairs. I took Phillip under my arms.

The third floor wasn’t too impressive. What it was was dark. A single window let moonlight through, so I decided to put the sleeping bag by it.

Despite the loud rhythmic creaking of a metal bed frame coming from below me, I eventually fell asleep. I don’t know the hour, though it must have been an hour or so before midnight. Deep into my sleep I was awakened by sharp pain in my face. Phillip had repeatedly jammed one of his antlers into my cheek. He hopped up onto the window sill, letting me know I should look outside.

I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be looking at, the street was empty. Phillip stared attentively at the patch of grassland. Movement caught my eye. My eyes took a moment to adjust from the brightness of the streetlamps to the shadows it produced in the field. For a moment the slow moving blob was simply a slow moving blob. That is, until the screeching of metal rubbing against metal jabbed at the clouds, parting them in the process. Moonlight flooded the field, washing away the shadows.

My mouth dried and a lump formed in my throat as I glued my eyes on to what the moonlight revealed. A child lay motionless in a wagon that had stuck in mud. Another screech jabbed at my eardrums. I reasoned the wagon’s wheel must have gotten caught on debris that littered the edge of the forest. Another screech was produced followed by a loud grunt. My eyes moved from the girl to the hands that held the wagon’s handle. Hands attached to arms with skin so thin and tight the visible veins seemed to be choked to near bursting by it. Lack of biceps hidden by the rolled up sleeves of a dark shirt. A moment passed before I realized I was looking at The Scarred Man. Phillip had realized it before me, much earlier than that he had the time to dig through my backpack to bring me a notebook and a pencil. I began to sketch him, this was my first good look at the man.

I was already aware of the scar which seemed to glow in the moonlight, what I was a surprise to me was the creamy whiteness of the eye above it. The Scarred man had a very sickly bestial face, reminding me of a deer or a wolf, maybe a mix of both. Though I had never seen either one in person, science textbooks did well enough informing me of animals I believed I would never see. I could clearly see his face was long, his nose thin with nostrils too big for it. His left ear had a chunk missing from it, its cartilage stretching as if it was torn off. Maybe even bitten. The Scarred Man’s mouth curled into snarl, revealing jagged teeth. He let out another grunt as the metallic screech rang out in an attempt to free the wagon. I continued to draw the man.

I soon realized he would free the wagon, I couldn’t focus on the Scarred Man any longer. I flipped to a new page and began to draw the girl. As I sketched her face I realized she was Jason’s sister, Jasmine. The two looked very similar, with facial structure identical to one another, I’m not sure how I didn’t realize it sooner.

My pencil continued to glide across the paper. The tip of it soon snapped, forcing an annoyed sigh from my throat. I lifted my pencil from the paper and pointed it at Phillip.

"Hey, do mind sharpening this for me?" I asked, keeping my eyes glued to Jasmine. A few seconds passed but the pencil was still in my hands. "Phillip?" I turned to my left. The section of the window sill Phillip had been sitting on was empty, he had jumped off. I found Phillip pressing himself against the wall beside the window, as if cowering in fear. I turned my head back to the outside but kept my eyes on Philip, "Phillip, we’ve seen him take kids before. Why are you just now being a coward?" My eyes were once again fixed onto Jasmine.

I hadn’t noticed it at first, but it had been a while since the metallic screech rang out. The wagon’s handle no longer held by The Scarred Man hung low, a hair away from the mud. My eye shifted to where The Scarred Man had stood, he had gone, leaving the wagon stuck. My eyes darted, searching for him. Once found, he appeared to have grown, an ominous aura emanating from him.

A putrid smelling aura forcing me to gag.

He grew bigger.

An aura of pure undying anger known only to those who have been so utterly fucked by life.

Even bigger.

An aura of insatiable hunger, so much so it consumed even him.

Stillness.

At this point in my life I hadn’t seen many animals in the forest, despite science textbooks suggesting it was full of creatures. My textbooks also informed me of the territorial nature of predators, many of which refused to venture into the territory of a larger, much more terrifying predator.

The Scarred Man became much more furious, the smell of it awful. Hatred appeared in his eyes. Not a murderous hate. No, murder would have been far too kind. He nursed a hate that would cause him to commit vile and unspeakable things.

I knew why animals stayed away from Cyprianus. As I searched ever so desperately for a soul in that pile of meat I mistakenly called human, I knew. As he leered into me, he grew hungrier.

Next Chapter: A Call to Adventure, but I Refuse to Answer Because I Don’t Know the Number