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As Alex stuffed his clothing into a backpack, which the Brownings had given him, he began to reflect on his choices. What had caused him to run into that forest? How could he just forget about the only people that had been kind to him and simply run off? And what was he anyways? Half-human half-fox? What kind of abomination was he?

His thoughts were interrupted when his hand grabbed something that was soaked through and freezing cold. He looked down to see his jacket, the one that had fallen off of the rock while he was in the forest. 'It must have landed in the river', Alex thought to himself. He picked it up, brought it over to his open window, held it outside, and began to ring it out. He watched bemusedly as little water droplets started to form on the cloth and then proceeded to fall off, to the ground.

When most of the water had been pushed out from the jacket, Alex brought it back to his backpack. By no means was it dry, but it was no longer quite as damp as it was before and it wasn't as cold either.

After the rest of his belongings were shoved in the backpack, Alex spent several minutes shuffling and reshuffling its contents so that the zipper would be able to close. He went to bed, that night, with thoughts of what his future would be like, thoughts of how idiotic he had been, that for the first time in his life, he had had some sense of normality and he had just thrown it all away.

The next morning, Alex woke up very early. Judging by the tilt of the sun, he guessed that it was around 3:30 AM. He grabbed his backpack and went downstairs. He was already dressed, as he had slept in his clothes. He quickly grabbed a small bowl of Frosted Flakes and began to eat. Although he wasn't very hungry, Alex knew that once he left, meals would be scarce. After he finished, he rinsed out the bowl and left it to dry. He then turned to leave. A twinge of sadness struck him as he walked through the hallway for the last time. He was going to miss the house, he was going to miss the Brownings, hell, he was going to miss the entire town.

He opened the door and a soft, cool mountain breeze washed over him. He stepped outside and began to walk across the garden. Then he turned around to get one final look at the house. He had lived the better part of his rememberalble life there. It was the closest thing to a home that he had; and now, he had been expelled from it.

Sighing, Alex turned around and began to walk. His head was bent down in grief and a few tears welled up in his eyes. Despite his sullen attitude, the sun still shone brightly and continued to rise into the clear blue sky.

As the day went on, the temperature quickly rose and it became very humid. The air, trapped by the mountains, and with nowhere to go, remained dormant while the heat built up underneath.

It had only been a half hour since Alex had left the Browning's house, but he was already beginning to feel the effects of the heat. His brow was beaded with sweat and the only thing that even remotely cooled him down was a soft breeze. He had foolishly chosen to wear a black shirt and grey sweat pants, and now, he was feeling the consequences.

Alex crossed the street and began to walk on the side path of the freeway. Over the next fifteen minutes, as Alex walked on, a few cars flew by, creating a brief rush of cool air that temporarily cooled him down. Despite this, Alex was still unbearably hot and his throat was beginning to hurt, a result of him not having anything to drink in the heat of the day.

As time went on, Alex began to feel worse and worse. His backpack was weighing him down, he didn't have any food or water, and he had only walked around four miles. He was still close enough to the town to be able to walk back and get something to eat or drink, but he still didn't have any money and going back somehow seemed like he was admitting defeat. So Alex walked on.

The frequency of passing cars decreased from the sparce single car every five or so minutes to the road being almost always empty. At this point, Alex started using the international sign for "hitch-hiker" by sticking out his hand in a "thumbs up" position. The first few cars took no notice of Alex, either pretending to not see him or just not caring enough to give him a lift. However, almost twenty minutes later, a red Toyota Camry began to slow down and pull over to the side of the road. Alex, overjoyed that he wouldn't be forced to walk anymore, gladly went around the back of the car. Just as he began to turn around the corner, the engine suddenly revved, the wheels spun and dirt was flung into Alex's face. In shock, he jumped away from the car as it went flying into the distance. He could make out two sillouettes through the back window of the car. They seemed to be laughing and patting each other on the back.

Alex's blood boiled, anger welled up inside of him. How could they do that? How could they get his hopes up and then just trash them? Alex forgot about the heat, the weight of his backpack, his thirst. All of that just seemed to fade away in his anger. And how could they laugh at him? Like he was nothing! His fist clenched involuntarily and a spike of pain shot from his hands. This stirred Alex from his rage and he looked down to his hands. Except, they weren't his hands. Rough black ovals had formed in his palms and his nails had started to turn from a clear color to a dark black. His eyes widened as he watched black fur begin to sprout from his hands. It started at the tips of his fingers and spread downward at a steady pace. Alex felt every strand of fur pierce through his skin. He didn't feel numb like before, but it didn't hurt either.

Then he realized that he was transforming in the middle in the middle of a road; and even if it was very desolate, he didn't want to run the risk of anyone seeing him. Alex then threw his backpack to the ground and rummaged through it until he pulled out his jacket. Quickly, he put it on and stuck his hands, which were rapidly sprouting fur, into his pockets. On top of the weather and his bad choice of clothing, the jacket made the heat almost unbearable. However, it was also still partially damp from the river and that helped Alex cool off.

Apart from this, Alex could begin to feel the fur crawl up his lower arms and exceed his elbows. He knew that the fur would continue to spread and that if he shifted completely, he would have to hide until he reverted back to being human, as he wouldn't be able to hide his face from public view. This caused Alex to panic. If someone saw him, anything could happen. He could be taken into captivity. He could be experimented on. He could be killed.

As his imagination brought up more and more terrible scenarios, he began to worry. How could he control this? What if he shifted in the middle of a city? Would there be any way to stop it? Would he hurt someone? With these thoughts coming to mind, Alex's heart started to pound, he began to hyperventilate, and fear gripped his body. The fur started to spread faster and was soon up passed his shoulder, changing from black to a light orange shade, and spreading onto his chest.

The more that the fur spread, the more Alex panicked. After thirty seconds, Alex could see that there was no way that he was going to be able to stop his changing body. To avoid being seen from anyone else, he ran off of the road and into the surrounding pines. About twenty yards in, he found a clearing where he sat down and took off his jacket and t-shirt.

He could see the fur working its way across his body. However, it traveled at a slow pace and Alex had time to calm himself. He planned to stay in his clearing and wait until he was human again. Then, he would put away his things and leave. He began to breath deeply, allowing his heart to slow down and waiting for the change to finish. Alex lay down and closed his, now golden-tinted, eyes and let his mind wander. He remembered the face of the nurse that he first met when he woke up. He remember the small boy that died in the room adjacent from his. He remembered his escape from the burning building. He remembered the long walk from the building. He remembered waking up in the Browning's bedroom for the first time. He remembered his life in the Browning's house. He remembered fretting over the problem of his education. He remembered his night in the forest, the peace he had experienced there, and he remembered the devastation of the Brownings kicking him out of their house.

With that, Alex sighed, took a deep breath and opened his eyes. He was looking up into the sky that had few clouds and was bordered by a circle of pines. By that time, his heart rate had returned to normal and Alex was no longer afraid. He had found peace again, for the second time. He loved being in nature, it was always calming to him, and it always seemed right.

Alex got up when he felt a different sensation in his side. It wasn't the numb feeling, or the prickling one, but it felt as if a small, painless needle was entering his body. He looked down at his body and was surprised to see his fur dissolving into his body. He was confused at first, thinking that he was either dreaming or having some odd kind of illusion; but a quick reality check easily disproved those two options. The new feeling tickled Alex and, despite trying to act seriously, he began to laugh. He was going to stay human! He wasn't going to have to wait any longer to keep walking! Alex stood up and within a minute, all of his fur had completely disappeared. Laughing, Alex donned his t-shirt and jacket and began to walk back towards the road.