Dan's POV:

I remember wanting to be normal.

As a kid, I never understood why we had to hide away - my parents and me, that is.
I would spend my time reading books and everything seemed to lead back to the same thing. That one word: friends. I never understood what one was. I never had the chance to. I just had my parents and they reassured me they were my friends but as I grew up I was hoping for more. I craved to have normality just for a day, just to talk to a person would be enough. I never told my parents that, of course, but I always thought it. It was always hanging in the back of my mind. I guess I let my thoughts get ahead of me.  

By age ten I thought I had everything figured out but I really had no idea. I had planned my outing since I was eight but waited until I was in double figures to actually go ahead with it - maybe then I'd be big enough to do it, that was my idiotic reasoning behind it. My tenth birthday came and I snuck out when my parents weren't looking. They would never let me go out that far so I ran. I didn't know what direction but when I hit the road I knew I was going the right way because I'd never seen one before then.
A car rushed past me. This fast moving metal machine I'd only ever read about made a sense of thrill pass through my blood stream. My tail stood on end, my ears perked at the noise. I ran after it before I could think about what I was doing. Every muscle in my body pushed me forwards for miles as I followed the car, covered by the shadows of the trees until the trees thinned out and the car was lost in a sea of more cars. I wasn't sure where to look. I looked at every car that passed me with the same look of excitement as I had done when I saw the first one. Except I was also overwhelmed. The noise was too much for my sensitive ears and I was suddenly aware of how bright it was away from the trees. I looked through pained eyes and strained to hear the sounds of birds but all there was around me was car horns beeping and engines roaring. It was then I realised that I was unbelievably lost in a world I didn't know.

Above the mechanical noises all around, I heard voices and followed them. I felt suddenly comforted when I noticed they led to an area surrounded by grass and shrubs. I hid behind a tree as I looked out at the source of the noise. Kids. About the same age I was. Actual kids. I remember thinking I could finally have friends. At the time, I couldn't remember the name of the place I had found but I knew it had swings and a slide, like the ones I had at home but bigger and surrounded by a colourful gate. Freshly cut grass was all around.

Whilst I was trying to work up the courage to walk out from my hiding spot, a boy ran through the trees after a ball. The ball landed by my feet but he didn't seem to care about it anymore; he was looking right at me. I looked back at him - his head was shaved, his face round, skin dark.
"I like your ears," he said with a grin.
I didn't say anything but instead touched my ears and stared at the boy. It was the first time I'd ever seen a boy. First time I'd ever seen normal human ears, too. They looked small on him. I wanted to touch them but I didn't want to scare him away.
"Wanna be friends?" The boy asked as he finally picked the ball up.
"Okay," I said cautiously.
I'd wanted a friend but I didn't know how to be one back. The boy smiled before he ran back to where he had come from. He looked back when he noticed I was still stood in the same spot. He cocked his head to one side and motioned for me to follow.

"PJ!" The boy ran across the grass to another boy, this one had really curly hair. I wanted to touch that, too, but I kept my hands straight down by my sides. "We have a new friend to play footie with!"
"Are you wearing a costume?" PJ asked me, not to be rude but in genuine interest.
"Um-"
"-He's not much of a talker," the first boy told him and thankfully PJ didn't push the question any further.
He grabbed the ball and started kicking it between the three of us. I don't remember much - I remember them laughing, they were laughing a lot, and the first boy fell over when he tried to do a run up to kick the ball. I wished I remember these moments more, I wished I'd known how we went from awkwardly chatting by the trees to kicking a ball around like we had been friends since school - also something I'd only read about in books.
If only I could remember the nice parts so I could replay them over and over in my head... rather than what was actually at the front of my mind.

"Oh, my!" A women's voice, high and shrill. My ears flung back at the impact of the noise and I let out a whimper. I tripped over the ball that Cal, the first boy, had kicked to me.
"You okay, mate?" PJ asked and pulled me up.
The women came over to me and looked down at me, confused and concerned at the same time. She took in my appearance and tutted.
"Where is your mother?" She questioned me.
"I-I," I started to back away when another woman joined us, followed by a man.
More people joined. They started asking if everything was okay, asking my name, asking if I was lost or if I'd run away. One man said he was going to ring the police and got his phone out. My panic rose, I could feel it closing my throat and scratching my lungs until I couldn't breathe.
I backed up more but didn't get far as a group of kids who had been playing together had joined the group of interrogating adults. I felt someone yank my tail and I fell down again, gravel dug into my skin. Another pulled at my ears, trying to pry them from my head. I howled in pain, the loudest howl I had ever heard come from my own lips. I cried out, howling more and more until the adults backed away. A small kid tried to run past me but ended up treading on my tail. I turned at him and growled, making his mum scoop him up in his arms and cradle him away from me - me, the 'freak'. That's what they whispered. 
"What's wrong with him, mummy?" Someone asked in the crowd.
I looked back at the kid who was crying into his mum and my mind spun as I realised what I had done. I was a monster, I really was. I didn't belong. I looked at PJ and Cal, the ball was still on the floor where we had left it. They didn't look like they wanted to be my friend anymore.

I stood up, I was going to say something to them but the crowd backed away from me. A kid toddled towards me but the mum pulled at their hand and warned them that I might 'hurt them'.
"He's just a little kid," a man argued. "He's not much harm."
"Well, something isn't right with him," a woman snapped back.
Their voices were all too much, I put my hands over my ears and squeezed my eyes shut but I couldn't block them out. I looked up when I heard footsteps coming closer. The man who stuck up for me was looking at me with soft eyes but they didn't make me feel any better.
"Don't worry. We'll help you find your mum, okay?"
I shook my head and before he could grab me and without thinking, I ran. I ran right back through the trees, across the busy road, and into the woods I knew so well. I panted when I finally reached the safe, cosy place I called my home. My lungs burned. My head whirled as I let the events wash over me. My legs buckled under me and I collapsed to the ground - that's where my mum found me, covered in dirt that was wet with tears. 

As I thought about this past that didn't quite feel like mine, I found myself in the garden. The breeze softly hit me, sweeping up crisp leaves and making them dance around my feet. I sat on my old swingset and swung slowly, feet dangling close to the ground. Next to me was the slide I used to play on a lot - it was now old and unused. Weeds had wrapped themselves around the base, pinning the legs to the floor. That's how I felt here, too; pinned down. Placed in the world and not having a use. You'd think I'd hate people after everything that happened but, if anything, it made me want to experience the world like a human should. Like PJ and Cal were doing before I ruined it.

AN: Today was my last full day of college and my soc teacher brought us brownies and smarties + my psych teacher gave us ice cream!^-^
Also if you're in Manchester or know someone who is I hope you're all doing well and you're okay 💕 
- Rach x