Breaking Point

Maturity: Censored swearing, romance that won't go beyond kissing, maybe depression and cutting.
Fantasy: Werewolves, not out of Twilight for the record. These are my own werewolves now.

I'm having such a hard working on this one regularly, but I do really like this one, so we'll see where it goes. ^^

Prologue

-----The voices of my parents echoing behind me, I ran.
-----They could never catch me. They could never find out. Couldn’t find out what a monster I was. They’d been talking about me again . . . chatting with the neighbors in the backyard. Innocent enough, right? Wrong. It’s never innocent to gossip about what a failure your daughter is. Just hearing the words . . . everything began to go fuzzy, like I’d had too much to drink, and that’s how I knew what was coming. So I ran. I couldn’t hurt anybody.
-----I reached the trees before I totally lost it. The fuzziness started manifesting itself as a tingling all along my spine, and it slowly spread throughout the rest of my limbs. Then it became stronger, enough to set my whole body shaking. It wasn’t long until the paralysis followed. Gasping for air, I collapsed onto the ground, unable to keep running. This was it. It would only be a few seconds before-
-----“Auuuugh!” I cried, clenching my eyelids and teeth together as pain swept throughout me. Everything went hot, an intense fever that would only ever affect me, and in a split second it all changed. As the pain faded, I opened my eyes, and a world of faded colors greeted me like a long lost friend.
-----“Welcome back,” I sarcastically whispered, the words slurred and barely distinguishable through the growl that had replaced my voice. Sounds volleyed into my ears, much clearer than they should’ve been. A squirrel dug through soft dirt, searching for its buried food, some twenty yards away. Bird wings beat the air above my head. Breezes sniffed their way through the leaves, and a low whimper escaped my throat. My nose picked up the most faded of scents nearby; day-old rabbit, damp earth from a recent rain, and most of all . . . me. The familiar smell of a wolf, barely tinted with my old human body.
-----After taking a moment to find my paws, I stood and raced further into the trees. Now that it was all over, I knew there was nothing else to worry about until the moment I managed to change back. Once you’d done this a few billion times, the order of events got to be rather predictable - unfortunately, though, I had never been able to control it. Growling, I shook my head. The urge to shapeshift would pop into me at the most random moments throughout the day.
-----The shadows of the trees did well to match my mood. Sighing I stared morosely at the ground as it flew past me. Why couldn’t anyone just accept me? Sure, I didn’t get such great grades. But that wasn’t my fault, was it? If this crappy power would just allow me to sit all the way through school for once, maybe I could manage, but no.
-----Sure, I was kinda nasty around people. Sure nobody could really talk to me, sure I didn’t have very many friends, and sure I was a social outcast. But maybe it’s just supposed to be that way . . . I don’t blame the others. Truth be told, inside my shell of a body, there’s nothing. Nothing but pain and a lost soul. I didn’t even feel real anymore; it was like my body had been taken over by somebody trying to be strong, to escape the hurt feelings, when all anybody had to say to me were insults about my grades or looks. But whatever I was on the outside . . . it wasn’t me. None of it was at all. And I’m not even sure the stuff on the inside is, either.
-----They do have reason to hate my clothes, though. I just wore cargo pants and t-shirts most of the time. No makeup, either, and I never did anything with my hair. When I was human, it would never be found anywhere except drifting about my neck, barely reaching my shoulders. There was one thing, though, that stood out, though I’m sure it wasn’t in a good way to anyone but me - the blue streak. Blue to match my eyes, help light them up, and hopefully keep them from looking so dead. Plus, it made turning into a wolf quite the interesting experience. Maybe golden wasn’t such an unnatural color, but I seriously doubted many animals - much less wolves - ever had a single blue foreleg.
-----Eventually, my pawsteps faded; I was getting further and further into the forest, and didn’t want to get any deeper. It wouldn’t be hard to find my way back; I just didn’t want the nuisance of having to walk for hours once I was myself again. Shaking my head, I sat down beside a tree’s faded brown trunk, and stared at my blue leg.
-----Why was it such a pain to be different, to have normal flaws? All that mattered in life was excelling. Having good grades, being the prettiest, scoring all the guys . . . my state certainly wasn’t even close. Nobody had ever called me pretty, I’d never had a boyfriend, and the highest grade I ever got these days was a C. So I was labeled unpopular, and despised by all, when they didn’t know anything about the real me.
-----But they would never understand. Not a single one of them.

I

-----I shrugged my backpack onto my shoulders, then silently headed out the door and into the garage to drive to school. My feet were quiet enough, but the door slammed shut with a loud clap. It was six-thirty, a few hours before either of my parents would leave for work, but an hour after they got up. In fact, I’d passed them on my way out the door; they were drinking coffee in the kitchen and cooking breakfast for themselves . . . and not a single voice called out to say goodbye, or even just to wish me luck at school.
-----Rolling my eyes, I let out a snort. That was so typical . . . they never paid me any attention. Mom and Dad could definitely care less. My fingers, stiff with annoyance, shoved the key into the ignition and wrenched it around to start the car. The moment the engine started, growling at first but soon settling down into a subdued humming, I shook my head and backed out onto the street.
-----I bet my parents wouldn’t even care if I got into an accident. Of course I would never do either intentionally . . . this car was the only vehicle available for me, and I didn’t feel like riding the bus to school with all the freshies and sophs. Even juniors had to have a little dignity, and that included me . . . it was bad enough that the sophs were badmouthing me, like those in my grade and up. Didn’t need the freshies to start talking too.
-----As I pulled into the school parkinglot, my car was still intact. Yippee for me. I pulled into the first spare parking spot I found, hurrying to get there before anyone else; it was in the front row, and these places never lasted long. I was surprised that it was even still available; usually I was stuck in the third row. The leaves scattered as I whooshed into the spot, and I grinned triumphantly as I turned off the engine. This was a first.
-----My hand gripped the strap of my backpack in the passenger seat, yanking it after me as I slammed the car door shut and trudged towards the huge school building. I took it in with indifference; I’d been going here for years now, and it was about as intimidating as a squirrel, though the freshies probably thought differently. School had only been in session for about a month so far.
-----I found my way into the crowd of students heading towards the doors. Keeping my head low, I followed them, letting the flow pull me with it. This was easier than trying to get ahead of everyone like some of the jocks did. The students’ raucous noise beat against my ears with feeling; everyone was chattering away with somebody . . . they all had plenty of friends. Unlike me. I bit my lip, trying to fight against the twisting of my heart.
-----Distracted, I didn’t notice when a senior guy stepped in front of me. I jolted right into him; a startled gasp escaped my mouth as I backed away. “Sorry!”
-----The burly teenager turned around, a triumphant sneer on his face. Oh, great, I knew who he was. I couldn’t remember his name - I never bothered with names - but I did know that he was one of the football player types. Always fooling around with girls and being obnoxious.
-----“Watch it, [werewolf],” he snapped, laughing as he shoved his hands out at me. Suddenly without balance, I was unable to keep myself from falling backwards and taking someone with me to crash against the hard ground. Whoever it was yelped, quickly getting back to their feet and backing away. But I didn’t rise from the ground - I only stared at my challenger, an aggressive glare making its way onto my face. I could feel the rage lighting up inside of me, and pulled my lips taught against my teeth.
-----The jock laughed at me, but I could see the slight confusion in his eyes. Now that he was actually interacting with me, he could probably tell that I was a lot more psychotic than he’d originally thought.
-----I realized that I was being too heedless. So I fought against the growl building in my throat, and submissively returned my eyes to the ground as I settled myself back on my legs. “Sorry,” I mumbled, stepping around the jock as I continued on towards the door. But it wasn’t over yet - just when I was past, I turned around and said in a slightly louder voice, [vista].”
-----He was still facing me, so I had the satisfaction of seeing the enraged expression explode onto his face. The jock lunged towards me, probably intending to commit some act of violence, so I turned and hurried inside just before he could get to me. Maybe I was reckless, okay, but just because I was failing school didn’t make me an idiot. The last thing I needed was to literally fight one of the alphas here. There was no way I could stand up to that, at least because I was a girl, my lowly social position aside.
-----This time I wove my way through the other students, preferring the challenge to letting the jock catch up with me. I didn’t even know if he was still after me, but my bones were still whole once I reached my locker. That was a good sign. Pressing my lips together, I glanced around once ore just to check before focusing myself on the world that was my locker’s interior.
-----Opening the metal blocking me from the inside, I smiled as I heard the whimper of the rusted hinge. The sweet air, enhanced with a vanilla air freshener, whooshed into my nose. It made me smile . . . vanilla was sweetness, wrapping you a hug and giving you such warmth. If there was anything in this world that cared at all about me, it was vanilla.
-----I let my hands take their time getting my books out. Anything to stay longer in my little space. Pictures of forest animals - bears, elk, rabbits, and so on - coated the walls, and right in front of all the books was a little inspirational calendar. One of the ones where you tore the pages off every day.
-----Why the calendar was in here, I’d never know. It seemed incapable of doing anything for me that I couldn’t do myself . . . the advice was cheesy, and half the quotes were ones I’d heard before. I tore the next page off anyway, though . . . maybe today would be different.
-----‘Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. But today is a gift. That’s why they call it the present.’
-----I crumpled up yesterday’s piece of paper and let it fall into my pocket. Of all people, I should’ve known that things just didn’t change like that. Figuring I was done here, I slammed the locker shut and carried my books towards first period - science. Goody, my worst subject.
-----My eyes were so focused on the ground that I didn’t notice somebody’s foot in my path until it was too late. I stumbled over it with a small yelp; while I managed to catch myself on the nearest locker, the process involved letting my books scatter across the floor a few feet away from me. Glancing up, my eyes narrowed slightly to catch the face of the jock that was harassing me earlier, now with a few friends of his; all three snickered and turned away from me, continuing on their way.
-----My wrists angrily shoved me away from the locker, and as I growled a curse out under my breath, I looked towards where the books had fallen. But my eyes widened when, instead of me finding the books on the floor, I found them in somebody’s outstretched hands.
-----Kindness?
-----Slowly, my eyes made their way from the tanned hands holding the books to the arms, and then along them as well, all the way until I found myself looking into the sympathetic eyes of one of the school’s athletes. Not a jock, according to typical stereotype . . . I knew who he was - the leader of the swim team, and one of the boys I could honestly say weren’t too bad. For while we’d never really interacted before, at least he wasn’t one of the brutes who always did their best to provoke me.
-----“Thank you,” I mumbled, quickly taking my eyes away from his face and accepting the books into my arms. It was definitely a good idea for me not to look anyone in the eyes too long . . . I had a bad habit of staring like that, and it tended to make other people think I was feeling something for them that I wasn’t. A crush wasn’t really something I had the capacity for; staring, in my head, was something natural. Something friendly or angry, depending on my mood, but still normal. I’d learned all too well that not all the students here shared my thoughts on it . . . so I had to be overly cautious about eye contact.
-----I hoped that he would know how truly grateful I was, even for this small act of kindness. It was such a nice feeling, to know that maybe I wasn’t so hated as I thought . . . even a little hard to comprehend.
-----He certainly could comprehend it well enough, though. Not one bit flustered, he smiled, as I saw when I slowly looked back up at him. “No prob . . . ah, it’s . . . dang it.” His eyes squinted shut, emphasizing his cheerful look, and then they snapped open. “Lyssa! Lyssa Myrick, right?”
-----A little startled, I nodded. “Yeah . . . that’s my name.” It was just surprising that he wouldn’t know my name right off the bat . . . and I was rather glad of it. The only reason I was so famous to everyone else was because I was a popular object of their ridicule. If he had to think about it before getting my name right, well then, he obviously couldn’t have been using it very much. While being thought of as something so little by my parents was one thing, having the feelings coming from somebody at school was entirely another. It was definitely a good thing.
-----“I knew it!” he exclaimed happily. “I’m David.” His dark brown eyes lit up with a strange level of joy that was totally unfamiliar to me, even at such a simple, friendly level as this, and he held out a hand. The gesture baffled me; it was a second before I finally shifted my books into my left arm to shake hands with him. “I guess I should probably get to class now . . . but, I’ll see you around school.” He grinned at me. “Nice meeting you.”
-----“You too,” I said. I could only imagine what my expression must have looked like right then . . . more than a little bewildered, yet so much more alive than it’d been for months. As David and I parted, I was very glad to have had this encounter with him . . . this was the best I’d felt about myself for a long time.

II

-----I knew there was something wrong with Lyssa. It had me wondering long after we parted headed separate ways. The look in her eyes . . . frowning, I considered it. Did she have abusive parents? A dead sibling? Was she a rape victim? What was it . . . ? Something had to have put that dead look into her eyes. As happy as she may have acted when she talked with me, she couldn’t hide it . . . it was there.
-----“David! Hey, wait up!” called a loud voice, breaking into my thoughts like the blaring of an airhorn. Smiling, I obligingly waited until my friend caught up to me.
-----“Hi, Bryce,” I said as we continued walking. He was in no mood for small talk, though.
-----“Dude, what’s up?!” he cried, loud as ever, but surprise mingled itself into his voice. “You talking to freak Lyssa?!”
-----Freak? . . . Hurt, yes, but not a freak. Nobody was truly a freak. “Don’t call people names,” I simply answered, keeping the smile on my face for the sake of a light mood. Bryce wouldn’t listen, of course, but I really couldn’t help myself sometimes. It just made me sick when people treated each other like this . . .
-----Bryce immediately cracked up, his round face going squinty-eyed. “Oooh! When did you turn into my mom?!”
-----I forced myself to laugh, too. Maybe I really was just overreacting.

* * *

-----Nothing, and I mean nothing, could compare at school to the torture that is lunchtime. A hundred bodies shoving and pushing, fighting to dominate the line . . . and on top of that, everyone’s crabby with hunger and more than eager to show off to their friends by screwing with the school’s loser.
-----Yeah, that’s me. No duh. Welcome to [heck]. Dodging extended ankles while trying to find somewhere to sit just isn’t that much fun, even if it is an exaggeration.
-----When I finally found a place to sit, back in the most secluded part of the cafeteria, I figured I was safe enough to pay attention to my food. Pizza . . . heh. This was the only food that I ever bothered to buy in the cafeteria. I guess I was lucky enough to go to a school that could afford to buy Domino’s every now and then . . . it almost made it worth living through my personal torture.
-----As I chewed, I allowed my ears to zone in on the remainder of the cafeteria. I certainly didn’t have superhuman hearing, but that iddn’t mean I could at least hear well. . . .
-----It also didn’t mean I really should have been eavesdropping.
-----Really, I just couldn’t learn. The ability to listen was unable to bear; I figured that, as long as I could, I might as well use it to my advantage. The thing was, though, it never was to my advantage. Nothing anybody ever had to say about me was good - ever, and just in case that isn’t clear, ever. Thankfully, not everyone talked about me in the first place - only most of them, and even they were frequently able to find some better use for the words . . . but on any given day, it was pretty much guaranteed that somebody would have something to say about me.
-----“Oh my gosh. Doesn’t Chase look cute today?” Chase Redd, the general object of shallow girls’ affections. He was mentioned often enough for me to actually remember his name.
-----“And so I, like, totally told her to back off, I saw it first . . .” Snotty popular girls usually didn’t have anything interesting to talk about.
-----“Hey, look, Lyssa’s sitting by herself again! No surprise, huh?” Ah, yes, it was about time. My eyes zeroed in on the group of teens, a few tables away, just as a subtle snickering made its way around the table. As much as I was used to it, I couldn’t keep the constricting feeling away from my chest. When a few of them noticed I was watching, and pointed while laughing harder, that just made the sensation hurt even more. Trying to keep the hurt from displaying itself on my face, I quickly ducked my head - but not in time to recognize one of the people at the table.
-----David . . . well, so much for him.
-----I let out a sigh and started picking at my food. “Stop doing this to yourself,” I whispered, as if I were actually going to listen. “You know things won’t change, so just . . . stop.”

* * *

-----“David, my man! You coming over to my place after school or what?” Bryce crowed, coming up behind me and socking me in the arm.
-----“No, no, I gotta study,” I quickly objected, chuckling apologetically and giving him a grin. “Another time.”
-----“What?!” he very nearly screamed, spreading his arms out in indignation. “Since when?! You’re a genius, man! Why would you need to study?!”
-----“Hey, sorry, Bryce,” I laughed, shrugging. Of course he was nowhere near the truth - I’d never got an F, sure, but my grades were more in the B range. There was nothing genius about that.
-----“Well fine, man, but you gotta come next time!” He glanced around, then said under his breath, “I found a couple six-packs in the garage.”
-----My face turned serious in an instant. Six-packs . . . ? I guess I should’ve known Bryce wouldn’t mind a drink every now and then. I didn’t feel like causing a disturbance that would unbalance the hallway, though, so I just forced out a chuckle. “All right, we’ll see. Catch ya later.”

* * *

----- The day really didn’t get any better for me, so by the time I trudged out to the car after school was over, I was feeling a familiar ache in my chest. The jock hadn’t left me alone all day, and I just couldn’t make myself stop thinking about David, somehow. He’d seemed so nice, but then . . . with the table at lunch . . . of course, I really should’ve known that nobody gave a crap about me, but still. I’d thought he was the one person at this school that would maybe stop putting me through [heck].
----- I let my gaze drop to the ground as I neared the final few feet to the parking lot. A loud chortle came from somewhere off to the side, but I ignored it this time. I didn’t feel like eavesdropping any more today. When I reached the car, I looked up, then found myself recoiling.
----- What the [heck]?!
----- The car had never been too nice-looking to begin with, but now the poor vehicle . . . it looked like it belonged in a dump. Literally. The hood was covered in dents, most of the windows were smashed in, and it was resting at an odd angle . . . a quick check immediately told me that it was because the two left tires had both been popped. Finally, to top it all off, somebody had keyed the word [werewolf] into the side of the car.
----- Who . . . ?
----- More laughter sounded, even more helpless than the last time. With narrowing eyes, I slowly turned towards the noise. Just a few yards away, the jock and his buddies were doubled over, shaking with laughter and utterly unable to control themselves.
----- Those [vista]s . . . I forced myself to suck in a breath and turn away, doing my best to ignore them and think clearly. So, okay, the car was beat up. But maybe I could still drive it? And get home and . . . hide it . . . and slowly pay to fix it . . . not like I even could, though. I’d never had a job, and with the reputation my parents were giving me, there was no way I’d be able to babysit.
----- A ragged breath staggered its way out my throat as the car suddenly blurred before me. And then my heart pumped adrenaline into my system. No, no, not here! Not now! Forcing myself to forget about the car and everyone here, I dropped my stuff on the pavement and bolted away. The laughter became louder than ever before, and whispers started as I weaved through the cars everywhere, but all it did was turn into an irritating ringing within my skull. I clenched my teeth, willing myself not to shapeshift here. If I could just get away, make it away . . . but there was nowhere to hide. Nowhere to hiide.
----- I stumbled, but forced myself not to fall over. This was impossible. I’d never get away from everyone else; I just couldn’t run fast enough. My legs ached, my throat burned as I tried to suck in enough air, but no matter what I couldn’t slow down. I wouldn’t let everyone else see me as a wolf. Because . . . I couldn’t let them see . . . that they were right. I was a weirdo, a freak. Everything they’d ever called me.
----- I found myself behind the school, in silence and shade. Nobody was here, save a few unneeded schoolbusses. Glancing around, I made sure that I was as alone as I seemed, then headed at a slower pace towards the busses. Gasps for air worked their way through me. I was almost done running. I’d be safe, soon. Just as I’d made my way into the space between two busses, the tingling started, and I curled myself on the ground, ready. I just wanted to get this over with.
----- As I waited, I closed my eyes and imagined . . . something better. Being homeschooled, maybe. Or a hobo. Hobos didn’t have parents who hated them, and they certainly had no bullies to deal with. Maybe even a potato. My life would be short, but at least all the other potatos would love me. I hope.
----- A sharp whimper got through my clenched teeth then, and I flinched, as the fever and the hurting came. I focused on keeping my breathing steady, trying not to make any more noise than I needed to. It’d be over soon . . .

Wierd. . .

Thanks.

TWILIGHTY!

Yep! XD Lol, I don't think any of the Twi charries are gonna come in, but I'm pretty sure that Leah was the inspiration.

Put Jasper in and make a character called Amanda come in and date him!

XD Isn't that in your story?

Yeha, but it can be in yours too!

Sounds interesting, Shadow.

Good start, Shadow. Werewolves... now I have to watch the New Moon trailer again.

Lol, I suppose. XD

Thanks Saddle!

XD Thanks Pugs! Lol, wasn't that a nice trailer?

Swelcome!!

BUMPing this and asking you to write more!

Great start!

It amazes me how you could write one sentence better than I could write one paragraph XD

Thanks guys! XD I'm really not sure where I'm going to go with this, so at this point I can't really write more, but I will as soon as I'm inspired.

Lol, I guess it comes with practice, WL! XD I'm sure you're not that bad.

I added more up front.

I love it Shadz!

It sounds interesting! I can't wait to read more!

Thanks! xD

You're welcome!

I really like it, Shadow! I loved how you really made the wolf she turned into match her hair colour.

Thanks Mo! =3

x3 As soon as I write more, I will.

That's awesome. More?

iGrievous wrote:Wierd. . .

Weird. Not wierd.

But other then that, this is a cool story! Blue foreleg? xD