The Bitten.

Amber Eyes.

Several days had passed since I had made it home. I returned to work, to face my boss who had no shortage of taunts, and endless questions about how I could be so stupid as to find myself facing down a 'bear'. I gave up explaining myself, and just pretended not to hear him over the buffer as I waxed the floors. I was slower than I wanted to be, but he never pointed this part out to me. I was grateful he seemed to let it go. I was doing my best, even though I still felt horrible and feverish. The left breast area, downtown's myrib still pained when I would try to speed up. I had gotten accustomed to it at this point.

In the back of my mind though, I couldn't stop thinking about that 'wolf'. It crossed my mind hundreds of times each day. I found myself looking for it everywhere, and I'd scold myself. It's a wolf. A wild animal. Its not going to pop out from behind bookshelves at work and get me. Yet it felt like at a moment it would be back for me. I was told I'd need therapy after this, and I regretted not taking the warning seriously now. I could've had all that already set up and maybe been on my way to feeling normal again.

I had convinced myself now that the voice, the convulsing, everything that I had thought I seen were hallucinations now. If it had turned almost man, officers would've found larger human prints than mine. The 'what have you done' could've been my own guilty conscience screwing with me. After all, I had never hurt an animal and there I was actively trying to unalienable it with a tire iron to save my skin. I hit it with the tire iron several times in its head. Of course it was going to writhe and jerk.

As for my home life, it had been less lonely after my first day home. My parents had surprised me at home almost every evening since the first one. I was taken aback by this because they had only come to the hospital once to see me and bring me a pair of shoes that I had left in my old room at home. They didn't have time then to use my key and bring me my own clothes from my apartment. Not that I was complaining about their new found time though. It was great not to bevalone the entire evening after work.

We'd eat at my makeshift dining set. We'd laugh and talk about our lives and my older brother. We talked about our jobs, and vented about rude bosses. When the topic of college had come up, I had deflected it like a pro. This visibly upset my mother, but I just wasn't quite college ready yet. I was overwhelmed by the financial aid processes, and had no Earthly clue what on Earth I should major in.What should I aim to be? What would be my dream job?

To be completely honest, my dream job would be not needing one at all. I was well rounded in everything but math, my people skills were lacking, and I was often the person to flip dead out during high stress situations. I often misheard people, and large important bits of information given too quickly bounced off my ears. I'd just blink and try to piece it together for thirty minutes after I had been told. So, what career field that actually paid livable here would suit somebody like me? My head still hurts thinking about it.

I like art, cleaning, crafting, reading, animals and cooking. I can't cook if people watch me though, I burn everything. So there's the elimination of that. The previous things have little to no job opportunities here. As for animals, nature might've been completely ruined for me at this point. So veterinarian and any animal associated jobs just seemed out of question now.

Today was like the ones before it. My parents came by with dinner. We enjoyed eachothers' company and made small talk around the table. Dad tightened the screws in my chairs, and double checked all my windows and doors. He wasn't a man of affectionate words, so that was his love language. I hugged him anyways and thanked them for their company and dinner. It was nice to have food I didn't have to come home to cook, and to not be so alone.

I wanted to chase their car as I watched them leave from the sidewalk, but I refrained from showing my cowardice and went back into the complex and back up the staircase to my apartment. It was getting darker out, and I despised myself that I hadn't begged dad to take my garbage out for me.