{"sf1_id":1501709,"sf2_id":"4nAOR33e","title":"The Leaves of Fall Act 2: Fear the Nobodies (Part 10)","author":"Oliver_Hart","words":3079,"posted_at":"2019-10-18T02:12:02.000Z","tags":["Adventure","Alternate Reality","Anon","Boy","Brother","Bunny","Classroom","Couple","Emo","Fight","Girl","Green text","Greentext","HMOFA","Halloween","Heterosexual","High School","Hmofa/","Human","Kissing","Plot Development","Rabbit","Siblings","Slow burn","Young Romance","anthro/human"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1501709-the-leaves-of-fall-act-2-fear-the-nobodies-part-10","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/4nAOR33e","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/6c/65/6c65511b-cedd-4e3d-b25b-aeecf9a6f1c3","description":"You've never really 'fit in' with the heavily divided Ranchview High School crowd. Jock, Goth, Prep, Cheerleader, Nerd... you were never any of these. But as Halloween approaches, strange things start happening, and a dark ritual begins with the finding of a curious red book. It's a race against time for you and your friends to stop a group of students from ushering in an age of darkness, and to also figure out just what the hell is wrong with that rabbit.  \n~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  \n  \nAbout this version: originally, The Leaves of Fall was split into two pastebins to compensate for the length of the story. Given that pastebin has chosen to censor this story for ambiguous reasons, it will forever be stored here and on AO3. This new version contains spelling, grammar and content fixes. Please understand that the content is all the same as the earlier versions minus some sentences being changed and fixed up. I cannot stress this enough: no new content has been added. It's my hope that this is a cleaner, easier-to-read version of the story.  \n  \nCover: [https://imgur.com/a/vZS4Q](https://imgur.com/a/vZS4Q)  \nSam (drawn by Akella of /hmofa/) [https://imgur.com/a/nk3t1wT](https://imgur.com/a/nk3t1wT)  \nFan art collection: [https://imgur.com/a/SCCSIQv](https://imgur.com/a/SCCSIQv)  \nAccompanying playlist (WIP): [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9aXlzDRA49QKxgYsOV2JuDd410\\_nI-0J](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9aXlzDRA49QKxgYsOV2JuDd410_nI-0J)  \nAlternative link: [https://www.sofurry.com/view/1479078](https://www.sofurry.com/view/1479078)  \nTotal word count: 147,552 words","content":"\\\u003e”A-Anon?”  \n\\\u003eYou roll over in bed  \n\\\u003e”I-I can’t s-sleep.”  \n\\\u003eYou groan, your eyes still glued shut  \n\\\u003eSam is just a dream, you say to yourself.\u0026nbsp; A voice in the dark  \n\\\u003e”I-I-It smells so strong in h-here,” he takes a sharp breath  \n“So what do you want me to do?” You ask  \n\\\u003eA very apt question indeed  \n\\\u003eYour room smells how it smells. Who cares?  \n\\\u003eYou weren’t expecting having any anthros in your home, so you didn’t do any cleaning, or even consider that his nose is insanely sensitive  \n“You can sleep out in the family room on the couch…” you grumble  \n\\\u003e”Eep!” Sam squeaks like you’d just stepped on his tail  \n\\\u003e”B-B-B-But-”  \n\\\u003eHis stuttering reaches a frantic pace, even if it’s beneath a whisper  \n\\\u003eOh Christ you know what he’s trying to do  \n\\\u003eNot tonight lil’ gayboy  \n“You take my bed,” you say crawling from under the sheets in just your shorts — no t-shirt  \n\\\u003eSam shields his eyes  \n\\\u003eRabbits must have great nocturnal vision  \n“I’m going to take your bag. Deal?”  \n\\\u003eYou end up sleeping on the floor next to your bed in Sam’s sleeping bag  \n\\\u003eYou think you hear Sam softly breathing, the gravity of sleeping pressing dreams into his head  \n\\\u003eOr he’s just turning ever so softly, uncomfortable in your flannel sheets with all the fur he’s got  \n\\\u003eSomething is awry  \n\\\u003eWhatever, you don’t care. Sam can deal with it  \n\\\u003eYou can’t do everything for him, now can you?  \n  \n\\\u003eYou are Mike MUTHAFUCKIN’ Sapone  \n\\\u003eAnd there is a faint little voice in your ears right now, though its distance is indeterminate   \n\\\u003eIn fact, it could be miles away  \n\\\u003eOr it could be right up next to you  \n\\\u003eEverything is so dark  \n\\\u003e”Mike?” It says, its voice sinking to a worried octave, still lacking masculine weight  \n\\\u003eYou smile — at least you think you do  \n\\\u003eWhoever this voice belongs to must be pretty  \n\\\u003e”Mike? Can you hear me?”  \n\\\u003eIt sounds louder now  \n\\\u003eVERY close  \n\\\u003eA hand is on your shoulder, shaking you awake  \n\\\u003eWhen your eyes finally do open, you’re staring up at a silhouette cast in the fire of street lamps and the moon’s behemoth size  \n\\\u003eLong, conal nose, ears that rise like sharp angles on the top of the head  \n\\\u003eOrange fur  \n\\\u003eWhite strip that travels under a muzzle and down to the chest  \n\\\u003e”Hey! Do I need to call 911?”  \n\\\u003eYou know that voice  \n\\\u003eIt’s… Oh fuck  \n“Jenna?” You sit up quickly, and the sharpness of the world collapses into black stars that suck at your vision  \n\\\u003eThat was a bad idea  \n\\\u003eBut, maybe out of spite, you remain vertical  \n\\\u003eJenna Orthorn retracts her hand  \n\\\u003e”God Mike, you scared the hell out of me. What are you even doing out here?”  \n“I’m going to kill the vampires,” you mumble and shove your body to your feet  \n\\\u003eYou wobble, unsteady, as if a gust of wind could dislodge your footing and send you crashing against the hood of your car  \n\\\u003eYour body feels as hot as it did before  \n“What are you doing?” You step back, bracing your fists for a fight “Are you one of them?!”  \n\\\u003eYou lean back into the light of a street lamp  \n\\\u003e”One of them? You’re outside my house you weird-“ She stops, her jaw going slack as you stray into the light  \n\\\u003e”Oh my God…” Jenna grabs at your shirt  \n\\\u003eIts largely scrapped in the back, but the front has good bit of dried blood on the front  \n\\\u003eSurprisingly, you don’t fight back  \n\\\u003eYou don’t feel worried about her, and you can’t place why  \n\\\u003e”Mike…” She stares, her brain still processing  \n“Vampires did this,” you breathe, not sure of what you’re saying. The world looks funny, and you feel REALLY warm  \n\\\u003e”Vampires?” Jenna draws her face up, her eyebrows arched and mouth slightly agape  \n\\\u003e”Alright. Vampires. I get it. Stay there. I’m going to call an ambulance. You tell me about the vampires and the werewolves, okay?”   \n\\\u003eShe draws her phone out of her pocket and begins to dial  \n“No,” you say, staggering forward. “No. No werewolves and no vampires.”  \n\\\u003eYou grab the phone out of her hand with surprising ease  \n\\\u003eHer eyes glass over with fear  \n\\\u003eAnd you see fangs, for the first time in the four years you’ve known Jenna  \n\\\u003e”MIKE! Give that back!” She snarls  \n\\\u003eYou don’t fight her when she snatches it from your grasp  \n\\\u003eYou just stare, muttering, brain cranking at warp speed to find out your next move  \n\\\u003eAnd what is your next move?  \n\\\u003eYou need to see someone  \n\\\u003eSomeone you can trust  \n\\\u003eAnd it has to be tonight  \n\\\u003eYou have no idea if you’ve been followed, if you can even trust Jenna, if the feverish feeling is from the scuffle today in the bathroom or not…  \n\\\u003e”Just… Stay where you are. I’ve got first aid training and a basic kit in my house. Please, Mike. Just stay right here, okay? Don’t move.”  \n\\\u003eStay where you are? OUT IN THE OPEN LIKE THIS?!  \n“I can’t!” You cry into the night. “I’m being hunted! What about that don’t you understand Jenna?!” You lurch forward, knocked unsteady by your own cry  \n\\\u003eNow you see  \n\\\u003eShe’s one of them  \n\\\u003eThis evil vixen must be working with Lydia and Vanessa  \n\\\u003eAnd now you’ve got her alone  \n\\\u003eOr vice versa  \n\\\u003eGOD IT’S HOT  \n\\\u003eYou scan her like a hungry wolf, settling on the fuzzy nape of her neck  \n\\\u003eIt looks especially-  \n\\\u003eOh no  \n\\\u003eNO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO  \n\\\u003eShe takes a brave step forward, though her tender, delicious arms are trembling  \n\\\u003eGod fucking- You are not allowed to become a vampire  \n\\\u003eYou clutch at your head as pain shoots through your temples  \n\\\u003eYou look up at the moon and feel a hot flash come over you like a rush of sharp wind  \n\\\u003eThat moon is way too big and way too close. This is not natural  \n\\\u003eNone of this is natural!  \n\\\u003e”Give me your keys, Mike.”   \n\\\u003eShe extends a shaking palm  \n\\\u003eInstinctively, you reach into your pocket  \n“Why? Don’t you trust me? I’m just a little drunk. Nothing you haven’t seen before.”  \n\\\u003e”You’re not drunk,” she says quietly, almost hurt. “I’d be able to smell it on you. There’s something wrong with you.”  \n\\\u003eYou shake your head  \n”Well, alright, you got me. I’m just turning into a vampire is all,” you reply unceremoniously, like it was just another casual fact about being Mike Sapone  \n\\\u003eJenna thinks it’s anything but casual  \n\\\u003e”STOP SAYING THAT! STOP WITH THE VAMPIRE STUFF! YOU’RE SCARING ME!”  \n\\\u003eThe sound of her voice is sharp against your ears  \n\\\u003eWhen did they become so sensitive?  \n\\\u003eYou’re running out of time  \n\\\u003eYou need to get the fuck out of here  \n\\\u003eYou step towards the car  \n\\\u003eShe steps forward  \n\\\u003eYou’re going to go to Anon’s house—  \n\\\u003eYou take another step  \n\\\u003eShe takes another step  \n\\\u003e—Whether or not that faggot wants you there  \n\\\u003eHe’s got to have something that can help you  \n\\\u003eJenna clasps her paws together and mirrors your pace  \n\\\u003eYou eye her claws, though thin and bone-white, you are undeterred. You don’t think Jenna has it in her to claw you  \n\\\u003eYou take another step and put a hand on the car door  \n\\\u003eShe places her hands over yours with a sharp snap of her wrists  \n\\\u003eYour eyes turn downwards, marveling at the way her small, trembling hands rest on your own  \n\\\u003eSuch small hands  \n\\\u003eA snarl crawls out of her chest, and you meet her narrowed gaze  \n\\\u003eHer fangs are like gleaming little daggers, wet and glistening in the light  \n\\\u003eWould she have the guts to maul you over this?  \n\\\u003eMammals like Jenna don’t hurt people  \n\\\u003eYou don’t have time for this  \n\\\u003eYou scowl, grab her wrist and pull — hard  \n\\\u003eHer face twists up in pain as you pry her away  \n\\\u003eThough it hurts your heart, you don’t stop until you’ve pried her off entirely  \n\\\u003eWith a shove, you push her back from you  \n\\\u003eShe stumbles, but does not try to stop you any further  \n\\\u003eJust lets her body hang in the dark, defeated and slack  \n\\\u003e”What’s wrong with you?” She whispers. “Why don’t you accept help?”  \n\\\u003eYou slide into the driver’s seat and start the car, praying that there’s enough gas left to find Anon’s house from here  \n\\\u003eJenna does not look up  \n\\\u003eYou pull up alongside her and open your mouth, but nothing comes out  \n\\\u003eWhat do you say?  \n\\\u003e’Sorry I’m becoming a bloodsucking freak and I need to see my weirdo friend whose weirdo book might be able cure this’?  \n\\\u003eThere’s a stone in your stomach  \n\\\u003eSomething about her defeated look, the way her dress falls off her tired body—  \n\\\u003e—It makes you feel really guilty  \n“Come talk to me at school tomorrow. I promise I’ll tell you more then.”  \n\\\u003eThat seems like enough  \n\\\u003eYou start to push on the accelerator but stop just before you edge out of earshot  \n”And for FUCK SAKE, do NOT talk to any cheerleaders tomorrow. Just… stick to yourself this week at school. Do you understand?”  \n\\\u003eShe raises her head  \n\\\u003eHer green eyes are almost glowing  \n\\\u003e”Promise me you’ll tell me?”  \n\\\u003e…  \n\\\u003e…  \n“Promise.”  \n\\\u003eYour feet find the pedals and you coast off into the night, swallowed quickly by the absence and silence of a suburban photograph  \n\\\u003eYou don’t know how much gas you’ve got left, but that needle has been on ‘E’ for awhile, but there’s no way in hell you’re stopping for gas  \n\\\u003eThe moon feels like it’s watching you  \n\\\u003eAnd with every headlight that cleaves into the leftmost lane, you duck your head behind the wheel a bit  \n\\\u003eA distinct chill sets in your gut, slowly blossoming there and spreading outwards like the tendrils of a some vine  \n\\\u003eYou check the dash clock, having lost your phone on your flight from school  \n\\\u003eIt’s a little after 11:00  \n  \n\\\u003eYou are Anon  \n\\\u003eAnd this is gay  \n\\\u003eThis is so gay  \n\\\u003eHe had to have planned this  \n\\\u003eNot a few minutes after you’d fallen asleep on the floor, Sam had rolled off the bed and basically onto your stomach  \n\\\u003eHis head now rests in the crook of your elbow  \n\\\u003eHis ears draped over your arm  \n\\\u003eAnd the rest of his body splayed out across your chest  \n\\\u003eHe breathes easily and calmly, his eyes shut tight  \n\\\u003eAnd you can’t help but feel how soft he is  \n\\\u003eNot as bony as you’d imagined — and yeah, he’s built like a bird, but there’s something about this that feels okay and natural  \n\\\u003eMaybe it’s the way he smells  \n\\\u003eOr the thinness of his arms and legs, all the weight of him placed in his midsection  \n\\\u003eSomething about this feels right, like you want to protect him from everything bad in the world  \n\\\u003eBut you know it’s so wrong  \n“God fucking damnit…” you hiss, trying hard to wriggle out from underneath him  \n\\\u003eYou try moving his arm, and you treat the whole thing as if he were made of glass  \n\\\u003eIn the moonlight his face tenses up in pain as you touch him  \n\\\u003eMust be a dream, or he’s used to being hurt in his sleep  \n\\\u003eWell, fuck  \n\\\u003eGuess you’re stuck here  \n\\\u003eYou just hope to God Alex doesn’t see this  \n\\\u003eSam’s ears start to jitter and twitch  \n\\\u003eHe sits up with a sudden gasp  \n\\\u003eAnd then looks down  \n\\\u003eHis eyes split wide  \n\\\u003eHis face instantly explodes in a blush  \n\\\u003eYou can feel how hot his breath is on your face  \n\\\u003e”A-A-Anon?” He stammers. “W-W-What are you d-d-doing?”  \n“What are YOU doing?” You almost have to shake your head  \n\\\u003eHow can he be so oblivious to everything?  \n\\\u003eHow can YOU be so attuned to all of this? HMMMM?  \n\\\u003e”I heard a l-l-loud noise and and and a-a-and I w-woke up h-here”  \n“No I meant about you being on top of m- Wait, did you just say you heard a loud noise?”  \n\\\u003eYou jetpack up into a sitting position  \n\\\u003eYour unwanted bedmate slides into your lap  \n\\\u003eOrdinarily, you’d care, but not right now  \n\\\u003eYou glance around the moonlit room, ears suddenly perked  \n\\\u003eA noise?  \n\\\u003eSam scampers to his feet, clutching his own ears out of stress  \n\\\u003eThere’s a loud clatter in the kitchen  \n\\\u003eAlex sits up abruptly and pulls his beanie off of his face  \n\\\u003eThere’s only one thing in your head: Sam’s dad  \n\\\u003eYou don’t know how he found you, but he did  \n\\\u003eOn two shaking feet, you stand up  \n\\\u003eSam’s baseball bat is in the corner of your room  \n\\\u003eYou retrieve it and nudge Alex awake as quietly as you can  \n\\\u003eSam cowers behind you, his ears twitching wildly with each crash and scraping sound   \n\\\u003eChairs moving  \n\\\u003eThings falling over on tables  \n\\\u003eHissed swears  \n\\\u003eHeavy breathing  \n\\\u003eMoving towards the door  \n\\\u003eYou see lights come on, and a voice croons:  \n\\\u003e”Annnnonnnn.”  \n\\\u003eThat scraggled, throaty voice. It has to be him  \n\\\u003eYou twist your fingers around the handle of the bat and stand in front of the door, ready to strike  \n\\\u003eThe nob starts to turn  \n\\\u003eYour heart jumps   \n\\\u003eSam squeaks and hops backwards a bit, putting some distance between you and him  \n\\\u003eAlex is standing off to the side, wielding your alarm clock like a heavy stone  \n\\\u003eThe door creaks open, cool air rushes in  \n\\\u003eYou hold your breath  \n\\\u003eAnd then once you see the outline of someone in the door, you let rip a yell, and jam the bat forward towards what you think is the midsection  \n\\\u003eThere’s the sound of sucking air, and then the metallic \\*piff\\* of fingers on the bat’s broad-size  \n\\\u003eYou push harder but can’t seem to make contact with anything solid!  \n\\\u003e”What the fuck!?” You hear, and finally that voice sounds close enough to be recognizable  \n“Mike?”  \n\\\u003e”Anon? Did you just try and stab me with a baseball bat?”  \n\\\u003eHe wicks the bat from your shocked grip as the lights go on in the room  \n\\\u003eAlex chucks the alarm clock at Mike’s head  \n\\\u003eWhere it bounces off, sending him stumbling  \n\\\u003e”Die you capitalist pig!” He cries  \n\\\u003eYou have to physically restrain Alex from leaping onto Mike and killing him  \n“ALEX! ALEX! Stop! It’s Mike!” You cry  \n\\\u003eAlex’s body goes slack and he looks back at you  \n\\\u003e”I know, but he abandoned us,” he says with some hurt in his voice  \n\\\u003eMike stumbles into the room rubbing a spot on his forehead  \n\\\u003e”I didn’t abandon you retards. I lost my phone and got attacked by vampires.”  \n\\\u003e”A likely story,” Alex replies  \n\\\u003e”It IS! Look at my clothes!”  \n\\\u003eHe turns around and reveals the bloody gashes etched into his skin, and his peeling, gray shirt  \n“Jesus Christ, Mike, what happened?”  \n\\\u003eHe grunts in pain, and you notice his legs are trembling  \n\\\u003e”No time to explain what happened. I need your help.”  \n\\\u003eHis eyes, beginning to glow with an unnatural aura, settle on the red book on the nightstand  \n  \n“I- I don’t know what you want me to do!” You exclaim  \n\\\u003eYou’ve moved the research into the kitchen table, where you assess Mike’s fate under a singular kitchen light  \n\\\u003eThe rest of the house looks impossibly dark  \n\\\u003eYou spin through the red book, looking for something that might be able to help Mike  \n\\\u003eBut you’re hindered by the old, spidery handwriting, its thin pen demanding of a light  \n\\\u003eIt’s interesting, but full of weird, esoteric things that elude you  \n\\\u003eWritings on the nature of hell  \n\\\u003eExplorations in time and space  \n”There are ghosts of other times and world that walk among us. They are as if we are not. And we are as if they are not-“  \n\\\u003eMike paces back and forth in the kitchen  \n\\\u003e”That’s not going to cure this bullshit, Anon. Look for something about vampires.” Mike demands  \n“Hey, I’m going as fast as I can. You need to chill out.”  \n\\\u003e”I CAN’T CHILL OUT!” Mike clutches his head in frustration  \n\\\u003e”I DON’T WANT TO BE A SPARKLING VAMPIRE FAGGOT, I WANT TO BE HUMAN!”  \n\\\u003eSam is useless. During the chaos he simply clutches his ears, trying to turn down the volume  \n\\\u003eAlex is not as useless  \n\\\u003eIn fact, he’s pacing alongside Mike  \n\\\u003eLike a starved tiger in a cage  \n\\\u003e”LISTEN!” He grabs Mike’s shoulders and shakes him a bit. “Quit yer bitching. You are NOT going to be a vampire for the rest of your life. If anything, we can go to a church tomorrow and have a priest lift the curse.”  \n\\\u003eMike shakes his head. “This isn’t a videogame Alex, a priest can’t just cast ‘heal’ on me.”  \n\\\u003eActually  \n\\\u003eYou squint and rattle off a line  \n\\\u003eHe can  \n\\\u003eThat old header you found earlier? “To cleanse body and soul”?  \n\\\u003eYou start to read aloud  \n“Men of cloth are men of the curse, oaths taken in darkness and the shadows of the Earth. One in the same, though they share no name.”  \n\\\u003e”Does that thing only rhyme?” Alex asks  \n“Sometimes.”   \n\\\u003eYou continue reading  \n“Two flowers to be plucked form soil: The devouring plant and the plant of purity. Lay them at a crossroads under pale dawn. Until carriage passes, be not free of other-worldly blight.”  \n\\\u003e”…. What?” Alex and Mike both look at you, as if expecting a translation  \n\\\u003eYou shake your head  \n\\\u003eYou’re not a machine, and you don’t work like that  \n\\\u003eAnd if you were a machine you’d be a shitty one  \n\\\u003e”Very helpful Anon, good find, good find. Now we just need to find this FUCKING DEVOURING PLANT AND THE PLANT OF BEING A PURE FUCKING UNHELPFU-“  \n\\\u003eAlex smacks the kitchen table hard  \n\\\u003eSam squeaks  \n\\\u003e”Shut the fuck up Mike. Just… Shut the fuck up.”  \n\\\u003eMike clenches his fists, stares at Alex, and lets out a slow ball of hot air from his lungs  \n\\\u003eA moment passes, and the wind batters the house from outside  \n\\\u003eIt almost sounds like someone is trying to get in.  \n\\\u003e”I’m sorry. I’m panicked. Anon.” Mike looks at you with a nod. ”Sorry. I’m being a dick. I’ve been a dick about this whole weekend.”  \n“It’s alright,” you say. “I’ve been a useless coward up until now.”  \n\\\u003e”Up until now?” Mike says. “No offense buddy, but you haven’t done anything yet.”  \n\\\u003eYou glance around the kitchen  \n\\\u003eAll eyes fall on you, Mike’s from across the polished wooden table, Alex’s alongside his, and Sam’s just near the tall entryway that leads into the kitchen — the threshold of inclusion  \n\\\u003eEveryone is here, or where they should be  \n\\\u003eYou roll up your sleeves and bare the scar from where Vanessa cut you  \n“I have some things I need to tell you.”","series":{"name":"The Leaves of Fall","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1500658-the-leaves-of-fall-act-2-fear-the-nobodies-part-9.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1503811-the-leaves-of-fall-act-2-fear-the-nobodies-part-11.json"}}