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Hey again, guys. Here's chapter two. I'll try to get the ball rolling again with my other story in the mean time.

Chapter 2: Raccoon

Waking up early that morning, Sean was waiting inside of his room, his side on his bed, writing about a dream that he had dreamt that featured Tim turning into a cat and following a dog around. Sean tried not to read too deeply into the meaning behind the two characters, or what could happen when the dog noticed the cat, or why the dog had black fur. He was fully dressed and prepared, and had about ten minutes left before he had to begin his walk to school. While making a doodle to accompany the dream description as he often did, Sean noticed a strange presence at the foot of his bed. He quickly turned to see the same creature that had been following him, even over the weekend, at the foot of his bed. Sitting up, Sean decided to ask it a question. For some strange reason, he thought that the animal might understand him.

"All right, what are you and why have you been following me? Why can't anyone else see you?" Sean asked, keeping his voice down so as not to alert anyone else in the house that he was speaking.

"I'm technically a bit of what I like to call magic, along with souls of dead animals, and your brainwaves to give me solidity, and no one else can see me unless I touch them, and seeing as how I am technically a ghost, or two ghosts in one, I can choose whether or not to do that," the creature responded without moving its jaw once. Reeling back in a bit of shock, Sean managed to realize that he wasn't as surprised as he would have liked to be. For some reason, he saw this coming.

"How the hell did my brainwaves give you solidity?" Sean asked urgently in a quiet voice.

"You know, I don't quite know myself. I just know that its something about your mind. Or brain. I forget which. Anyways, you're my new host," the hybridized creature explained, most likely using some outlandish form of telepathy. "If you can bond with me, I won't have to steal your soul. And by the way, you can communicate to me with thought as well, you know. Helps make situations slightly less awkward, it does."

"You make no sense and are really confusing," Sean thought, making the raccoon/rabbit give off a laugh.

"You're wondering what I mean by ‘host' and ‘bond' and ‘steal your soul'. By that I mean that I get to obtain a form without really existing by finding someone and feeding off of their energy. This isn't my true form that you're seeing, per se, but what you perceive me as. It'll also affect our shape when we ‘bond'. You see, once bonded, you end up with a more up-scale version of my form on two legs, with a few more human-like features. Yes, it does hurt quite a bit, but only for an instant. So, it's a type of fusion. However, if you can't bond with me by the end of, oh, say, a month, then I'll have sucked you dry of energy, leaving you to die. When you bond with me, you get back a lot of the energy that I'd been sponging off of you. If you don't bond with me for a prolonged amount of time, then you'll probably die. Need anymore of an explanation?" the creature explained in a completely calm voice inside of Sean's mind.

"Oh, gee, if I can't fuse with a ghost, then I'll die in a month. Joy," Sean thought, going through a palm-to-the-face moment. "And I have school to worry about. Damn, I just love life."

"You seem to be more calm than the last few people I did this with," the animal stated.

"Well, you've been following me for a week, and no one else noticed you, so I kind of assumed that there was something pretty damn special about you," thought Sean as he

glanced over at his clock, seeing that it was an ideal time for him to leave. "So, you'll just follow me, I assume."

"Yes. Yes, I will," the spirit told him.

"So, do you have a name?"

"Gandoff."

"Seriously, what's your name?"

"Nariven."

"Great. Nice to meet you, Nariven. Now, explain to me about this bonding stuff and hope that mom really can't see you on the way out," Sean thought to Nariven as he stepped out of the door to his room, closing it behind him to see if Nariven really could phase through solid objects. To his mock surprise, Nariven came darting through the door itself and onto Sean's shoulder.

"You know, on second thought, I think I'll just sit on your head. That might be more spacious," Nariven suggested as he climbed up the side of Sean's head. Sean proceeded downstairs, past his parents. As Nariven had promised, neither of them noticed the rabbit and raccoon-like creature on top of Sean's head, which made him want to laugh slightly. As they were walking down the sidewalk of Sean's neighborhood, Sean asked Nariven something.

"Hey, Nariven... why are you here? I mean, you seem so... out of place with the setting... Are you, like, the only one of your kind?" Sean asked as he tried to hypothesize as to what in the hell the author was trying to do. "I mean, I thought that this was the story of a high school kid."

"Well, apparently it's not. And no, there are lots of us. I think that you'll notice that some of the kids around your school have counterparts like you," Nariven answered, leaving Sean with another question.

"So how will I know when they have one?" Sean thought out loud for Nariven to hear.

"You'll see it. If someone else has a little parasite like me, then you'll see it," Nariven answered yet again.

"Oh, I get it. And a little lighter on the claws. Those hurt."

"Sorry. While I may not seem like it, I'm one of my kind who actually has respect and manners for my host."

"Good," Sean retorted as he felt claws contract from his scalp. "Now explain this bonding thing to me."

"Well, when your emotions are in synchronization with my own, and our physical beings are touching directly, I can fuse my essence with you, making us one and severely altering your physical structure--which hurts greatly, I might add--into a hybrid of our own. So, you'll have the lower half of a rabbit and the top half of a raccoon. I'll become part of your mind, too. If you can survive the first bonding, then you'll survive the rest. And I would like for you to survive. This is as close as I can get to a full physical form," explained Nariven. He thought that it was fun to be able to mess about physically, even if his abilities were limited.

"Jut don't mess around with me so much at school, please. That might look a bit weird. And what kinds of advantages would I get from a raccoon upper body? I mean, I could see what I could get from rabbit's legs, but raccoon's torso?"

"Oh, masks and claws are very useful," Nariven answered cryptically. "How much further until we get to this school of yours? My last host went to school. It wasn't so bad. Rather boring sometimes, but not too terribly dreadful," Nariven inquired, jumping off of Sean's head momentarily to jump over a low branch of a tree that Sean was bending over to

avoid.

"Not much further. Another block or so. You'll know when we get there. It'll have the words ‘high school' on it," Sean thought for Nariven.

"Ah, the host before last taught me how to read. I've become rather good at it, if I say so myself," Nariven boasted in an almost proud tone. Sean walked for a few more minutes before reaching the front entrance of the schoolyard.

"Welcome, to Strik-ktoon hig huh," Nariven tried to decipher the text on the front of the school in order to prove to Sean that he could read.

"I believe you mean "Welcome, to Strik-tun Hi," Sean drew attention to each syllable in order to show Nariven how he was wrong.

"That's what I meant," Nariven gruffly responded in an annoyed tone. "I was merely testing you to see if you knew what I did."

"Sure, furry dude. Sure," Sean thought as he traversed the entrance of the school, weaving his way through the endless amount of students.

"Do you see any other hosts yet?" Nariven asked through his mind in a suggestive tone.

"Um, no, right now I'm trying to not get swept away by the crowd," Sean responded with his own thoughts.

"What about her?" Nariven suggested to Sean, pointed to a head covered in black hair that had a small pangolin sitting atop it. Sean couldn't tell who it belonged to; there were hundreds of students at the school with black hair.

"It doesn't much matter right now. I have to get to class," Sean replied as he entered the building, hanging a left down the hallway and eventually finding his way to the English classroom. His locker was conveniently located right next to the door, and he opened it, removing his binder from his bag and taking out his textbooks for his first two blocks, which were English 1, algebra1, and biology. Carrying so many textbooks was awkward from time to time, but he managed.

Entering the classroom, Sean sat down in his usual seat in the back, seeing that Nariven's promise about people not being able to see the furry appendage on his head were being held true. Chris greeted him with the usual soft huff of acknowledgement. The spirit isn't on her head, Sean thought to himself. He was rather surprised that he had cared so much to look for the counterpart. Did he really care all that much? Was it really that important? Sean brushed off the thought of it before he could think too heavily about the subject, possibly allowing his furry, parasitic companion hear the thoughts.

"Hey, you have your notes from Friday?" Chris asked, veering towards Sean in her seat. "I couldn't take them because I had to run to the office," she continued in a nonchalant manner that made Sean question whether or not she really needed the notes.

"Yeah, give me a minute," Sean replied, moving his books and opening his binder to the English section, opening the rings that held everything in place and removing a sheet of paper with notes on participial phrases on it.

"Thanks," Chris said as she took the notes in her hand, not doing anything other than look at them for a minute or two.

"Um... are you going to do anything with those?" Sean asked her.

"No. Just need to see them. Here you go. Thanks again," she said, just before the teacher entered the room.

"Good morning, class," she said. "So sorry. I'm late. Traffic on my end was being difficult. Now, on with your quizzes." Quizzes? They were having quizzes? Sean felt that he knew the material well enough, but didn't feel eager to be tested on it. Just as he tried to glance back down at his notes, he remembered Nariven, who toppled off of his head and onto his desk, making him start a bit. This called attention to Sean from the teacher, and she told him to put his notes away. Sean grudgingly obeyed. A minute later everyone received their tests and waited for the signal to begin, which came once the lat student had gotten their test and had a pencil.

"Good luck," Chris smirked in Sean's direction. And then, it hit him--Chris had set him up. But there was no time to fret about it now; Sean had to complete his quiz. As soon as Sean handed in his quiz and the bell rang for second block, a thought occurred to him: How long did he have to live exactly? Sean didn't expect to be on the same emotional wavelength as Nariven anytime soon, and became rather worried, and worried a bit too "loudly".

"About a month. You would have a month and a week, but I didn't confront you until I confirmed that you were my next host. I don't quite know why myself, but each time we go out for our new host, only a certain kind of people qualify, and it's different every time. And once I was fully sure that you were the only one who could see me, I confronted you. So, yes, I just wasted a week of your life, so to speak," Nariven calmly responded through his mind from atop Sean's head. Sean made a mental note to think "quietly" from then on.

"Well, I might as well live out my days without worrying too much," Sean sighed mentally.

"That's the spirit. Much less depressing than the last host. Did I mention that only one person has ever successfully bonded with me? And I've been around for a very long time, Sean," Nariven replied, actually bending forward and putting his nose in front of Sean's as he bent down.

"You're way too honest."

"Honesty is the best policy, as you people say," Nariven said as he retreated back on top of Sean's head, so as not to obscure his vision. Sean continued on to his algebra class. He wondered what it would be like for someone else to know that they only had about thirty days to live. Apparently, he was taking it a bit too well, himself. Algebra class crawled painfully by as the class went over functions, Chris constantly clicking her pen from boredom. At least it was a sign that Sean and Chris had something in common. Sean continued with his notes, half expecting Chris to snatch them away from him right before another test reared its ugly head. Copying the pages meant for the homework assignment, the class slowly began to talk, work, and do other things in order to pass the fifteen minutes of free time that they received. To Sean's surprise, Tim started to speak to him.

"Um, Sean, do you, uh, have any experience with, uh, the, um," he stammered, an increasing blush on his face. "Do you have any experience with.... Girls?" Time finally let out. It was all too good for him that Chris had gone across the room for some reason or another. Sean was baffled by the question, but then quickly remembered Chris. "I mean, you're friends with that Mai girl, and Chris seems to like you just fine..." Tim continued with a blush on his face.

"....no. Not really. Mai and I being friends is completely by chance. It just sort of happened a few years ago," Sean answered.

"Oh. I-I see. Thanks anyway," Tim responded in a disappointed tone, slowly turning his head towards the surface of his desk. Sean turned back to his own business, taking out a new book that he had checked out from the library, called The Wondrous Life of Oscar Williams. He had heard that it was required reading for freshmen of a certain Vine League school. He hadn't started on it yet, and wanted to show off his skills of reading to Nariven, who he already knew had the lexile of a kindergartener. As he began reading the first page, reciting the lines loudly and clearly in his head, so that Nariven would be sure to hear him. The raccoon/rabbit creature huffed indignantly and tuned, lowing his cotton ball-like tail so that it would obscure Sean's vision. Sean giggled slightly triumphantly to himself.

A few minutes later, the bell rang and Sean proceeded out of the room, heading towards his biology class. Diving and weaving through the people, Sean eventually made it there, and sat in his usual seat, the people around him remaining new to him. To Sean, they weren't all together memorable. Mr. Hart stood up from the desk that he sat in, only to zone in on Sean for an instant with a look of shock and disbelief before he recomposed himself. Sean wondered why Mr. Heart would have such an expression on his face, and then quickly thought of it--what if Mr. Hart saw Nariven sitting on top of his head? Was it possible? Did Mr. Hart have a spirit following him, as well? If so, then how long did Mr. Hart have left? Sean wondered all of these things, but decided that it was probably best that he stay out of it unless they were in absolute privacy.

"All right, people. We're going to review for the test tomorrow on cells and the levels of biological organization. I hope that those of you who need this are paying attention, Kenny," Mr. Hart continued, as if he were not phased in the least by the sight of Nariven. Or, if he was, Mr. Hart was certainly doing an excellent job of hiding it.

"Um, Mr. Hart, can we cover the functions of organelles first?" Sean inquired in order to get Mr. Hart's attention focused upon him, or, more specifically, Nariven. Mr. Hart turned his head to Sean before he could catch himself and found himself starting again.

"Oh, of course, Sean," Mr. Hart replied, turning his back to Sean and drawing diagrams of different parts of a cell and explaining what they were for. In the middle of the lecture, Nariven finally said something to Sean.

"I think he sees me," Nariven communicated to Sean. Sean sighed and put his palm to his face. Nariven hadn't been paying attention to anything. "What? Did you just notice?"

"Yes, Nariven. I've been watching Mr. Hart have startled looks and reactions in your general direction for the past few minutes, and it has just occurred to me that he might possibly have the slightest chance of being able to see you," Sean replied, sighing once more.

"Well, maybe you should take a hint, or pay closer attention," Nariven said in a superior, lecturing tone to Sean. Sean groaned silently and closed his eyes for a bit, massaging his temples with his fingers.

"Are you finding his lecture difficult to understand, too?" Nariven said in a prodding tone of voice that could register for a sigh.

"No. Not that," Sean told him.

"Oh. Well, all right then," Nariven said and took no more notice to Sean. Just then, Mr. Hart turned around and managed to cope with his apparent surprise.

"So, Sean, do you understand it more clearly, now that I've explained?" he asked, looking as if nothing were amiss from the usual.

"I get it, now. Thanks, Mr. Hart," Sean answered. As Mr. Hart called on a raised hand and turned back to the board, a wad of paper hit Sean, tumbling onto his desk. He tried to see who threw it, but couldn't locate them. As he opened it, Sean read the contents.

Why is Mr. Hart so startled by the sight of you? --Chris

Sean quickly glanced over to Chris, her face turned back to him, expecting him to reply. As Mr. hart continued to lecture, Sean quickly wrote a reply, lying and saying "I don't know. Is he really?" He threw the replied upon piece of paper back to Chris, just in time for her to catch it with one hand and for Mr. Hart to turn around just after the even occurred. He hadn't noticed a thing. When the next student asked a question and Mr. Hart turned away, Chris threw the paper back to Sean, making it land squarely on his desk. Sean opened it again.

Yes, he apparently was, but he's hiding it, now. He seemed kinda shocked to see you sitting in your seat a few times, in fact.

Damn Chris and her perceptiveness, thought Sean. If she was on to him, then she would find something to be amiss rather quickly, and wouldn't be to subtle about letting him know. "I didn't notice. Why would he be shocked at the sight of me? What do you think?" he wrote on the crumpled piece of paper and threw it back to Chris while Mr. Hart's back was still turned. Chris threw back her reply.

I don't know. And how could you not notice? It's so obvious...

Sean wrote back on the sheet of paper saying that he hadn't been paying attention and threw it back to Chris in its crumpled state, attracting the attention of Mr. Hart, who had just turned around.

"Sean, you can come back here after school," Mr. Hart said in a stern voice.

"Yes, sir," Sean said, burying his head in his arms. He hated being caught. After Mr. Hart received another question, Chris threw a final note to Sean and turned back immediately.

Idiot : p

Sean buried his head in his arms yet again.

"Ha ha, you got caught," Nariven chimed in and tempted Sean to swat him while he was still solid on top of his head. But just then, a though occurred to Sean--could this work to his advantage?

__________________________________________________________________________________

When Sean reached lunch, he ordered Nariven to stay in his locker, or at least outside of the cafeteria in wait. He didn't want anyone else noticing that he was there. Sean sat down at the usual table in the cafeteria and sighed as Chris and Tim sat down next to him.

"Hey, genius. Amazingly discrete," chided Chris. Tim chuckled a little in his seat.

"Gee, thanks for the words of encouragement, Chris. And it's nice to know that you've got my back, Tim," Sean retorted. Tim stopped laughing a bit. But then, something caught Sean's eye--a head of black hair with a pangolin on it. The hair itself was long, the owner obviously female. She got up and walked away, depositing the remains of her lunch into the trash. The rest of the lunch period went by rather silently for Sean.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Sean walked nervously down the hallway, towards Mr. Hart's classroom door, while Nariven simply anticipated what was to come next. Sean stopped just outside of it, breathing a bit heavily before opening it. Once Sean swung open the doorway, he was surprised to see Mr. Hart sitting on his desk, a small puma sitting next to him. Not that he wasn't expecting it by now.