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Description
“Drake huh? Sounds like trouble in my opinion. Who is this guy exactly?” Marcus was sitting across from Arashi at their favorite Tai restaurant.

“A high school friend, one of my best friends actually.” The rhino shook his head as he took another forkful of spicy noodles.

“Well…what happened? And why does he hate you so much anyway?” Arashi sighed as he picked at the plate of food in front of him.

“Drakes parents were murdered when he was very young. I think when he was around 8. We met during our first year of high school. We ate lunch together one time and we were instantly inseparable. He helped me feel normal, and made sure the bullies left us alone.”

“Sounds like a sweet deal. What happened?”

“He was living with his grandparents while we were friends. They had decided to tell them who killed his parents. Turned out to be some kind of super hybrid like me who just decided he wanted to have some ‘fun.’ Drake never showed up to school for the next two weeks. No one new where he went or why. It was like he disappeared off the face of the planet.” The rhino was on the edge of his seat by now, listening intently to Arashi.

“One day he shows up during football practice, screaming and yelling at the top of his lungs how ‘my kind killed his parents.’ I tried to reason with him, telling him I had no idea what he was talking about. Then out of no where he pulled out a knife and jumped on me, stabbing me a few times. I don’t know if it was the fear of dying or the feeling of being betrayed by my best friend but I snapped. I roared, shoved my claws on either side of his head and raked them across his face.”

“Damn. W-what happened afterwards?” The chimera chuckled to himself as he shook his head. He’s only told two other people about this story, but Marcus was someone he knew he could trust and wouldn’t judge him on the past.

“Oh it got better after that. The police showed up, took us to the hospital then took us to jail. A few days later we were at court. The judge decided that we were too young to get any kind of ‘hard time.’ So she instead proposed an alternative. In exchange for us not having to do any kind of hard time, she thought it best we each see a psychiatrist for the remainder of high school. As long as we were seeing someone, we wouldn’t have to do jail and we would only have to report to an officer every week to make sure we weren’t doing anything stupid.” The rhino had already downed at least three cups of water, listening to this story. The waitress was so fed up with constantly coming back she just left the pitcher with him.

“Did it work? Arashi sighed heavily as he shook his head, staring at the cold food in front of him.

“In all honesty…I think it made things worse. When it started it seemed to be going ok. Drake and I at least said hi to each other now and again and had some small talk. But half way through…it’s like we both saw it as a joke. Drake started to hate me more and I withdrew from the world more, getting shyer and shyer about who and what I was. We kept going to the psychiatrist though; neither of us wanted jail time or a worse record. And now…here we are.” The rhino took another swig from the pitcher before sitting back, taking it all in.

“Cheer up Arashi. You never know. I mean he could have forgotten about the whole thing. Put it behind him and decided to live a new life.” Arashi chuckled quietly as he took a sip of his soft drink.

“I doubt it.”

“What makes you say that?”

“When Drake walked past me he whispered that he was going to kill me.”

Description
“Drake huh? Sounds like trouble in my opinion. Who is this guy exactly?” Marcus was sitting across from Arashi at their favorite Tai restaurant.

“A high school friend, one of my best friends actually.” The rhino shook his head as he took another forkful of spicy noodles.

“Well…what happened? And why does he hate you so much anyway?” Arashi sighed as he picked at the plate of food in front of him.

“Drakes parents were murdered when he was very young. I think when he was around 8. We met during our first year of high school. We ate lunch together one time and we were instantly inseparable. He helped me feel normal, and made sure the bullies left us alone.”

“Sounds like a sweet deal. What happened?”

“He was living with his grandparents while we were friends. They had decided to tell them who killed his parents. Turned out to be some kind of super hybrid like me who just decided he wanted to have some ‘fun.’ Drake never showed up to school for the next two weeks. No one new where he went or why. It was like he disappeared off the face of the planet.” The rhino was on the edge of his seat by now, listening intently to Arashi.

“One day he shows up during football practice, screaming and yelling at the top of his lungs how ‘my kind killed his parents.’ I tried to reason with him, telling him I had no idea what he was talking about. Then out of no where he pulled out a knife and jumped on me, stabbing me a few times. I don’t know if it was the fear of dying or the feeling of being betrayed by my best friend but I snapped. I roared, shoved my claws on either side of his head and raked them across his face.”

“Damn. W-what happened afterwards?” The chimera chuckled to himself as he shook his head. He’s only told two other people about this story, but Marcus was someone he knew he could trust and wouldn’t judge him on the past.

“Oh it got better after that. The police showed up, took us to the hospital then took us to jail. A few days later we were at court. The judge decided that we were too young to get any kind of ‘hard time.’ So she instead proposed an alternative. In exchange for us not having to do any kind of hard time, she thought it best we each see a psychiatrist for the remainder of high school. As long as we were seeing someone, we wouldn’t have to do jail and we would only have to report to an officer every week to make sure we weren’t doing anything stupid.” The rhino had already downed at least three cups of water, listening to this story. The waitress was so fed up with constantly coming back she just left the pitcher with him.

“Did it work? Arashi sighed heavily as he shook his head, staring at the cold food in front of him.

“In all honesty…I think it made things worse. When it started it seemed to be going ok. Drake and I at least said hi to each other now and again and had some small talk. But half way through…it’s like we both saw it as a joke. Drake started to hate me more and I withdrew from the world more, getting shyer and shyer about who and what I was. We kept going to the psychiatrist though; neither of us wanted jail time or a worse record. And now…here we are.” The rhino took another swig from the pitcher before sitting back, taking it all in.

“Cheer up Arashi. You never know. I mean he could have forgotten about the whole thing. Put it behind him and decided to live a new life.” Arashi chuckled quietly as he took a sip of his soft drink.

“I doubt it.”

“What makes you say that?”

“When Drake walked past me he whispered that he was going to kill me.”