Thirteen year old Josh Yarrow finally reached his school. Fortunately and unfortunately he was able to arrive before the bell rang. The fortunate part was the teachers wouldn't phone home to his vile, abusive stepfather, but unfortunate because he was surrounded by students—each and every one hated him.

" Hey, it's that freak, Yarrow," One of the students snidely remarked.

" What a loser."

" Weirdo."

" Freak."

" I hear he has lunch under the bleachers. Is he some kind of mole man or something?"

" I hear he likes to go too alleyways after school to talk to feed stray animals. Doesn't he know stray animals would be better off dead?"

" I hear he visits the cemetery almost every day before school. He's always saying ' mommy, mommy, mommy I love you; please come back home to me'. Ha. It's no wonder his mother died in a car crash. She probably tried committing suicide because she couldn't stand being near a freak like him—"

" Just stop it! STOP!" Josh's heart was weighed heavily by his anger. However, because Josh never wanted to resort to violence, he just ran away from the kids heckling him. " What makes me so different from them? All because I do different things from them that classifies me as a 'freak'. But no matter where I go, I can hear them taunting in my head."

" Josh is a loooooser. Josh is a looooooser. Josh is a looooooser."

The bell then rang and everyone forgot about Josh and walked inside. Josh however couldn't feel his legs move; they were too him a wiggly bowl of jelly.

" There goes the bell. Until I moved here, I never knew what it meant to be Saved by The Bell. They sure don't. They don't even have any concern about how they hurt me. That motto's the only thing that stuck by me day after day. If only I had one friend, I wouldn't feel so lonely."

Josh kept the egg he found in the cemetery inside his knapsack. Josh unzipped his knapsack, reached his hands in and pulled out the giant egg with the black shell. Josh touched the side of his egg and felt a small heartbeat beating inside of it. From all his forlorn suffering, the egg his only glimpse of hope, Josh started crying from his eyes.

" You'll be my friend, won't you?"

YYY

School was finally over. After taking a stop to the alleyways, feeding stray animals and purchasing a carton of milk, Josh finally reached his rundown, quaint little home. The temperature in the thermostat seemed colder too him than usual—like he was walking through a dark, foggy cemetery.

"I'm home. I got you a carton of mil—"

" It's about time you got your lazy ass back here, punk."

The blood in Josh's veins turned cold at the sound of Mitchell's raunchy, alcohol filled breath. Josh turned his head left and saw his stepfather Mitchell sitting on a leather sofa. He had a lit cigar in his left hand, a 40 oz bottle of liquor in his left, and a grim look on his face. His eyes were glaring into Josh's.

" Mitchell? W-why are you—"

" Sit down, punk."

" Sit down? B-but we only have one chair—"

" I said Sit Down!"

Josh sat his down and crossed his legs as if on impulse. Josh felt a tingle in his blood as Mitchell's eyes continued to glare down on him. Mitchell finally got off the couch and stood over Josh. But while he was walking around Josh, he still held his liquor and lit cigar.

" W-where is Patricia?"

" The wife isn't here."

" Huh? Then where is she?"

" How should I know? We got into a fight after you left and went to school, and she left me. I haven't seen her in six hours."

" Six hours? W-why didn't you call the school and tell me you didn't know where mom is?"

" Don't call her that! She is not your mother! I am not your father! I'd never pass my genes onto a pathetic, useless thing like you. But you don't have to worry about my wife. You're going to have a new lady friend in your life."

" W-what? What new lady friend?"

" You might already know her. She's my wife's sister April."

" H-her sister? Why aren't you looking for your wife? You should be outside searching for her; not trying to replace her. What kind of husband are you?"

" Hey! HEY! Don't you try to tell me what to do, you little s***! You're not married! You wouldn't know anything about living with one!"

" Maybe so. But if I did have a wife, I wouldn't just try to replace her if something bad happened to her and I didn't know where she was. I'd be out looking for her. It's one act of chivalry me and your wife both have."

" Chivalry? Do you really think there's chivalry with that wench of a wife? She left you. And let me tell you why."

-Six Hours ago—

" I'm tired of this, Mitchell. I'm tired of the way you treat me. I try to get close to you, but you always just push me away."

" Well excuse me for being a good husband! Who's the one that let you adopt that brainless kid because you were sterile? Who works 12 hours each day to bring food on this table? It certainly isn't you. You're a lazy wife who can't do anything right. You're living with a husband who—"

" A husband who what? An egotistic husband who beats me? A husband who sleeps around with other women every time he makes a spar buck? A husband who drinks and smokes? And for the record, I wanted a son because I thought he'd help you grow up. But I guess I was wrong. I'm going."

" Hey, where do you think you're going?"

" Where do you think? Away from you."

" Hey, get back here! I have a solution for all our problems."

Patricia stopped moving. " Okay." Patricia walked over to Mitchell. " What is your solution?"

Mitchell clamped his hands on Patricia's left hand and started to squeeze her. " That you be a good wife and behave!

" Get off me! Get your filthy hands off me!" Patricia pulled her hands away from Mitchell's grasp and slapped him. After she slapped him, Patricia rushed out of the door, yelling, " I'm done! I'm done massaging your ego. I'm done letting you beat me. And it makes me sick spending a single second with you. I'm leaving. Tell Josh...I'm sorry."

-Present-

" And that's all she wrote, you little s***. She's not coming back and you're stuck with me."

" No! Noooooooo."

A small hole was ripped drilled through in Josh's heart. Crying, dripping tears on the dirty ground, Josh walked and nearly ran trying to get away from the vile, angry eyes of Mitchell.

" Hey, don't you walk away from me!"

Mitchell lost control and whacked his beer bottle behind Josh. The bottle hurt, it pushed Josh down, and then he felt Mitchell's heavy feet pressing against his back.

"" Ahhhhh!" Josh cried quietly from his pain.

" You know, when I was your age, my father used to beat me. He told me I'd be just like him. And whenever I talked back to him, he'd punch me. Like this!"

Mitchell pulled his right hand back and punched Josh. Josh could feel pain lingering up inside of his lungs from Mitchell's strong, brawny hands hitting his back. Josh wanted to fight back, he wanted to get Mitchell off him, but he didn't have the strength.

" Owwwwwwwww."

" And he didn't just punch me once; no. As soon as he punched me once—" Mitchell punched Josh in his back again. " He'd punch me again! And do you know what it taught me? It taught me to become a man. My wife's not here to save you now, chicken-s***. It's just you and me. Now why don't you be a good boy and behave like she should've. You and me are going to be together for a long-long time."

YYY

Hours passed, and Mitchell just let his injured, crying step son on the cold, dirty ground. Mitchell was in the same house as Josh for the first few hours, but left to go to a nightclub without any care of Josh's well-being. After lying on the ground for four whole hours—doing nothing but cry from his sorrow—Josh finally found the strength to stand up.

" Why does everyone hate me?" Josh thought. His pain was immense but thinking about his prolong suffering made him fidget even more. " All I ever wanted was to see a world without violence. A world where everyone can be happy. Why is it I'm the only one who doesn't belong in that world?"

Josh moved limply too Mitchell's Man Cave. It was the only room Mitchell went to seek solitude from the pain in the family—most of which were caused by him. The room was filled with everything a man could ask for—a computer, Playboy magazines, beer, a stash of 6-pack cigars—but what was most alluring too Josh was Mitchell's gun collection.

" This is not a world for someone like me." The case protecting the guns were made of glass. Josh, who was seeking the only conviction that would help Patricia and make Mitchell suffer, smashed his elbow into the glass. The glass shattered on impact. " Made not this world but some other world will take me for what I am." With the glass shattered, Mitchell took out a shotgun from Mitchell's collection, opened his mouth, and placed the shotgun in his mouth. " I'm a plague."

Josh could feel his mind going blank. His hand was numb on the trigger, the gun was in his mouth, and all his suffering, abuse would end with one touch. But the very same idea would also end all his other emotions: happiness, joy, love, dreams…

" Dad, Mom, Carter, I'm sorry—"

Josh heard a buzzing sound in his ears. Thinking it was the police, Josh took Mitchell's shotgun out of his mouth and dropped it on the ground. Josh then realized the noise wasn't the sound of sirens but was coming from his backpack instead.

" W-what?"

Josh rushed over to his backpack and unzipped the zipper. Inside Josh saw the egg he found at the cemetery, but he found it too be glowing a white, radiant color. As the egg started too glow, Josh could feel a crack.

" W-what's going on?"

The light finally cleared and a furry creature appeared. The creature almost looked like a pig, short, four-legged, and pointy eared. However, it had a small spiky tail protruding out its back, small yellow eyes, a curvy mouth and white fur on its mouth. The creature stared into Josh's eyes and started too blink.

" W-what are you?"

Josh couldn't believe his eyes. One moment he was trying to end his life by committing suicide, but now he was embraced with a small, furry creature that appeared out of the egg. The strange purple furred creature felt light in his hands. As he was holding the strange creature, it blinked staring into Josh's eyes.

" This thing looks like a dog," Josh thought holding the strange yet seemingly harmless creature in his hands. " But it came out of an egg. What type of dog comes out of an egg?"

" Dodo," the strange creature mumbled blinking its eyes at Josh.

Josh could almost say the thing looked cute in his hands. Holding it made him almost feel like he was a mother holding a baby. Its purple fur brushed against Josh's fingers. He thoroughly rubbed its underbelly. Josh could almost hear the newly born creature purr.

" It's kind of cute. I wonder if I was ever this cute. Doubtful. Mom use to say I looked like the alien from that movie Aliens." Josh chuckled as he reminisced about his mother. " Ooh, she had a strange sense of humor. But that's what I loved about her."

" Dodo."

The creature finally stopped letting itself be pampered by Josh's warm hands and jumped off. The creature scampered away from Josh and ran to the door leading outside. Even though it didn't have any fingernails, the creature clawed at the door as if it was trying to get outside.

" Oh, you want to go out, eh?"

Josh knew that the door was locked, but he knew where Mitchell kept the key. After going through the ashes of Mitchell's mothers cremated vase, finding the bronze skeleton key, Josh walked to the door, opened the door by twisting the key through the doors keyway, the door opened. Josh pushed on the door and it slide open.

" There. One of us has to be free. It's not me; it has to be you." The small pig-like creature slowly stepped over to the door Josh opened. The creature peeked its head through the door, then slowly walked outside. " Good-bye, little fello—"

" Dodo!"

The small pig-like creature jumped up and bite its teeth on Josh's collar. The creature was stronger than he looked, he pulled Josh down and bragged him through the door. Josh could only scream as he was being dragged away.

" Ahhhhhhhh! Stop! Let me go!"

The small yet strong creature didn't listen too Josh. It dragged him through the door, outside, and into the darkness.

YYY

Josh was still being pulled by the small creature. Josh no longer felt the need to yell anymore. Under the night, his body became numb as he was no longer felt the pain of being dragged by the newly hatched being. His ears however weren't as numb as his skin as he could hear the shrieking sound of the being in his ears.

" He sure is strong for a little guy. What type of creature is he that can run so fast and pull so strong? Not even a baby lion could be this strong and fast at the same time."

The creature finally stopped running and dropped Josh on the cold, wet floor. As Josh stood up, he saw how he and the creature were near a river. The water streaming down the riverbank looked clean and moved at a mellow speed. The creature, who was flipping in circles as it moved, jumped in the riverbank, then it turned to Josh and barked joyously.

" Dodo! Dodo! Dodo!"

" I guess you're pretty cute," Josh though out loud looking at the small, round creature bark and splash around in the water. "But you're scarier than you're cute."

The creature dunked its head in the water and swallowed a gallon of water in its mouth. Slurping the water around, swishing the water in its mouth, it then spat water in Josh's face.

" Eww!" Josh rubbed his soaked face with his hands and scraped the water off. "That's disgusting! There was drool in that water too!"

" Dodo! Dodo! Dodo!" The small pig faced creature laughed and wagged its tail at Josh's torture.

Josh gave in to the creature's laughing, smirked, then got up and ran towards the riverbank. " Oh, you're so dead."

Josh ran into the river and splashed the creature with the water. The creature however countered Josh's splashing by dunking its head underwater and spraying water at Josh. Josh and the creature both laughed together splashing each other with water. Josh in particular was happy; his laugh was merry and his face was priceless.

" I can't remember the last time I had fun like this," Josh thought as he splashed the purple furred creature, then he was sprayed in his face with water, but continued to laugh. " This is amazing. A minute ago I just wanted to die, but now I'm feeling the hilarity of life. It's like I'm touching a star with my own hands."

Even though Josh was having lots of fun splashing the creature, he finally lost control of his legs and fell on the ground. On the ground, Josh was laughing at the top of his lungs. The creature, who was also tired from playing around, jumped on Josh's chest whereas he purred like a kitten on him.

" I don't know what I was thinking. I was just being stupid for thinking there was nothing for me. I haven't even begun my life and I was thinking of quitting?" Josh sighed and gently rubbed the top of the creatures head. " I think I want to take care of you, whatever you are. I think you and I are getting along."

YYY

" Boy!" Mitchell shouted entering his house with his breath reeking of booze. " Boy, where are you?"

Mitchell stormed through the halls of his house looking for Josh. But when he couldn't find Josh anywhere, he threw his bottle of booze at the wall and it shattered on contact. The first thing Mitchell noticed after throwing his bear bottle was the smashed case where he kept his guns.

" What did you do now, you little punk?" Mitchell stormed through the halls and barged into Josh's room. On his bed, Mitchell saw a letter lying on Josh's pillow. " What's this?"

Mitchell swiped the letter off the pillow and unfolded it. Mitchell's eyes felt drowsy as he was still intoxicated with alcohol, had too tilt the letter left, and held the letter under the headlight.

" What? This is a letter from my wife? Why would she be writing him a letter?" Mitchell held his hand over the top of the letter and continued to read from it. " Dear Josh. By the time you read this, I'll already be gone. I'm sorry for all the trouble I've put you through. I'm sorry me and Mitchell couldn't be the family you've always wanted. But there is a way for you and I too make a fresh start. I'm taking a train to get out of town, somewhere in Station 09; the same subway you and I use to take to buy groceries together. I'll be waiting on the subway terminal from 3-12 P.M. All the best of love, Patricia."

Mitchell's anger was at its peak. His head felt like it was boiling under hot water. Mitchell crumbled the letter in his hand, ripped it in pieces, and threw the pieces on the ground.

" What? WHAT? She was going to leave me and run off with that KID? I'll kill her! I'll kill both of THEM!"

Mitchell stormed too his Man Cave. Angry, intoxicated from his alcohol, Mitchell picked up his shotgun and stormed out of his Man Cave with it. As Mitchell was storming through the house, he heard a creaking noise from his door.

" What?" Mitchell had a sudden idea. Mitchell stormed through his open door. As he was outside, Mitchell saw footsteps on the ground. They weren't Josh's, but Mitchell in his delusional mind couldn't tell the difference. " I got you now, chicken-s***. I'm going to find you. I'm going to find you and I'm going to kill you."