​​​​In The Mind Of Thomas​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

   This is a hard story to start.  It came about from a simple question.  It started when my little girl asked me one question I hoped would never come up.  "Dad what’s that on your shoulder, and why don’t I have one?" she questioned.  That brings me to the rest of my story. It began twelve years ago, I’m twenty three, and so that would have made me eleven years old.  I was never your average kid, I was just a little different from the other kids and I was about to find out why.  I had a good friend, his name was Almenis, he and I did everything together.  We were two of a kind.  Where there was one there was the other, but one thing was going to change.
          It was Monday time for school and there we were two of a kind.
    "Hey Almenis, did you do your homework?" I asked.
    "I did some of it.  Did you do yours?" he quickly asked.
    "Well I did some of it too. Oh well, I’ll do the rest of it in class." I shrugged.
    "I think I’ll do the same thing." said Almenis.
That was school as it was, we just did what we did and we were good at it.  We were good at making the best of what we had, and what we had right now was class and we were late for it.                                                                                        
    "Come on let's go, we're going to be late."  Just as Almenis said that the bell rang. "Oh well, it sounds like we’re late."
    "So Almenis, Monty, it's nice of you two to join us in class.  You would think you guys did not know when class started," their teacher sarcastically replied. 
    "Sorry teach" said Monty, "it will not happen again."
    "You said that the last time." he said with a smirk.
    "Yes, I know but I mean it this time." Almenis smiled.
    "Now that you boys are here, we can get started?" he stated coldly.  “The topic for today is a lunar eclipse.  This is something that happens every so often.  It is when the moon is covered fully by another planet.  This is something you can’t look at with the naked eye.”
    "I heard that was a solar eclipse." Monty yelled out.
    "Monty do you what to teach the class?" he asked.
    "No teach you are doing a fine job." Monty said.
  He then went on.  He told us how strange things are sometimes blamed on a lunar eclipse. Now that I think back at it that is the part of class I should have listened to.
    "What’s wrong with you Monty, are you okay?" Almenis asked very concerned.
    "Yes I’m fine.  I just don’t know why my shoulder is itching me.  That’s strange this has never happened before." Monty said.
    "What’s never happened before?" his friend asked very worried now.
    "My shoulder, it’s never done this before.  It has never itched before, and I don’t know what’s going on." Monty told his best friend very confused at this point.
           Later that day the best thing happened.  School was out and it was time to go home and without notice, just as it came, the itching was gone.  Forgotten, we paid it no mind and went on with the day.  We said our goodbyes to our friends and made our rounds to the girls.  You know we did what we did and we were good at it.
It came to the part of the day when Almenis and I went our different ways.  He went to football practice and I went to my Yadoshe where I learned Kimpo.  It was a normal practice for one thing, but I had been going all day and I felt fully rested.  That was not something new, but it was more today then before.  It was like I rested all day and just got up in time for practice.  It was like my body was making changes.  But what kind of change was it making?  
           "So Liyshy, are you ready to start your lesson?" my instructor asked.
    "Yes Yadoshe, I am ready." I replied.
    "So let us begin." he said.
We began with a warm-up that would bring to an end a normal work out.  I ran, did sit ups, pull ups, push ups, and I stretched parts of me I did not know I could stretch.  That part alone took up at least an hour.  We then started the lesson.
    "Liyshy, what must you be if you do not wish to be hit?"
    "I must be better than my enemy." I quickly answered.
    "That is somewhat true, but you must be faster than your enemy as well. Prepare yourself!" shouted my Yadoshe.
Then that began the lesson. Kicks were thrown and so were punches. Some were even landed.  Too bad I was not landing any of them.  I guess that is what a lesson is all about.  He then said to me something I never understood.  He told me that my style of fighting looked familiar but he could not place it.  It looks like an old form of Kimpo, but that form has not been taught in hundreds of years.
    "Well Liyshy, this brings us to the end of your lesson.  So Liyshy, what have you learned from this lesson?" he asked.
    "I’ve learned that not to be hit, you must be faster than every punch and see every kick coming. Then, and only then, will you be better than your opponent." I firmly stated.
    "Very good Liyshy, do you have anything to ask?”
    "This lesson I am going to ask something I’ve been wanting to know for a long time. Yadoshe, I just wanted to know what does ‘Liyshy’ mean?" I said, waiting anxiously for his reply.
He stepped back and looked at me.
    "It means, 'one who moves like cat'." he said with a subtle calm in his voice.
Then he turned and walked away.
    "You may go now." he said, and that was the end of my lesson.
           It was time for me to meet up with the other side of the penny.  Almenis and I got done around the same time.  We went home, got cleaned up, and either I went to his house or he came to mine. Today I was going to his house.
    "Hey Almenis, how was football practice?" I asked him, like I asked him every day.
    "Monty I’m sore all over and I don’t want to move." he painfully replied.
    "Ha, ha, that’s what you get for playing that dumb ass game." I said through my laughter.
    "Shut up Monty and tell me how your lesson went today." Almenis said.
    "Man, my Yadoshe kicked my ass up and down the place." I told him, remembering the pain.
    "You got your ass kicked and you’re laughing at me. You may want to look at this again." Almenis said to me.
    "Shut up." I said as I laughed.
    "Ha, ha, you got your ass kicked." Almenis kept reminding me.
    "Shut up and turn on the TV." I said quickly just wanting to rest.
           In less then five minutes we were both asleep. And that’s when it got strange. It was not like a dream, but more like a vision. There I was, in a dark cave with cats all around me.  It was so dark in there the only way I could tell that there were cats in the cave was by the sound they made.  Then the room began to get brighter.  It was like my eyes were adjusting to the darkness in the cave.  It was like I was one of them.  Suddenly, I was on the outside looking in. What I saw was enough to bring me out of whatever state of sleep I was in.  What I saw was me, Monty, in the form of a cat. Not just any cat, I was the biggest cat in the cave.  Then it was like the other cats were bowing down to me.  It was like I was there king or something.  I jumped up as if the chair I was sitting in was on fire.
    "Monty are you okay?" asked Almenis.
    "Yes I’m fine. It just felt like there was a bug on my arm. That’s why I jumped, to get it off."        
    "Okay, I just wanted to make sure there was nothing wrong." Almenis said.
You’re probably thinking why did I not tell him what I saw. Come on; now think about it, I just saw myself as a very big cat. Would you have told him?
           "Monty don’t you have to go meet Shallena?" Almenis asked.
    "Yes, your right. Let me call her and make sure that we are still on for tonight." I said.
Just to let you know, Shallena was the girl I was dating at the time. 
    "Almenis, it’s on and I’m gone.  I will see you later." I told him and I was off.
What we did was not a big thing.  I would go to her house to pick her up and we would just walk around, but tonight was not going to be a normal night.  I made my way to Shallena’s house to pick her up.
    "Hi Shallena, how you doing?" I asked her.
    "I’m fine. How are you doing Monty?" she softly replied.
    I replied quickly, "I’m fine. How was school?"
    “It was fine Monty. How was school for you today?”
    "It was okay, you know, say mo say mo."
There she was, Shallena. She was 5’9” and all woman. She had legs that went all the way to the top floor. She stood there in a skirt that made it clear that her legs were top of the line. It was a shade of red that showed off the light brown of her skin. And the shirt she had on made it clear to me that she was a woman. And her lips, her lips were beautiful. They were the kind of lips you could get lost in, and I know I have been lost many times.  Her eyes were like no other, she had something about them. They were indescribable.
    "Oh Monty, did you know there is going to be a lunar eclipse tonight?" she said.
    "Yes I know. We talked about it in class. Let me guess, you want to see it when it happens?" I asked her already knowing the answer.
    "Well do you have anything better to do?" she snapped.
    "No, I guess not." I smartly replied.
Hey, maybe something magical will happen, and boy did it. If I knew what was going to happen next, I would have had nothing to do with it.
           We went to the best spot to see the eclipse.
    "Are you okay Monty?" Shellena asked worried.
    "Yes why do you ask?" Monty confused about her question.
    "Because you keep scratching your left shoulder." she replied.
I did not notice I was doing that, I thought to myself.
    "No, I’m fine, it's just my shirt, it has been doing that all day long." I told her wondering myself what really was actually going on.
    "Okay." said Shallena and she continued to look out for the eclipse.
What’s happening to me I thought to myself.  This has never happened before.  Just then I had a sharp pain in my chest and I grabbed my chest.
    "Are you okay?" asked Shallena.
    "Yes, I’m fine, but I think we need to go." I said quickly.
    "Why do you want to go?" Shallena asked.
I responded anxiously, "I’m not feeling too good."
    "Okay, let's go. Monty do you want me to walk you home?" she asked very concerned.
    "No it's okay, I’ll be fine." I tried to convince her.
That’s what I thought and hoped.  After I got done taking Shallena home, boy I was off.   I made my way to my house, but I never made it home that night. The pain got more intense.  It felt like I could feel my hair growing.  I began to see green and night became day.  My hands felt like the skin was peeling off.  I did not know what was happening to me.  It was like something was trying to come out of me.  I found somewhere to hide where no one could see me, and then it happened.  I looked at my hands; the hairs on my arms were growing.  I could feel them growing.  And my face felt like my teeth were being ripped out of my gums.  Hair also began growing from my face.  It was becoming unbearable.  I wanted to scream out but I was afraid someone might hear me, or worst of all see me.  The pain increased and became so bad that I could not stand it.  I passed out and that ended the pain. Or did it?
           Where am I, I thought to myself.  I looked around to see if I knew where I was.  I was in a graveyard five miles from my house.  What am I doing here, what’s going on I thought?  I was five miles from my house and I did not know how I got there.  I was on foot, so how did I get this far?  When I caught myself, I managed to pull myself to my feet.  I then took a look at myself.  My clothes were ripped, but not just ripped, they were shredded.  I wiped my face and tried to catch my breath.  There was blood on my hands.  None of the blood was from my hands because my hands were uncut.  It was from my face, I had blood on my face.  I looked for cuts and traces of blood.  There was none, the blood on my face was someone else’s.  What’s going on I thought to myself, whose blood is this and what is it doing on me?  Now I was also unsure as to where I was, and how I got here. The sun was coming up and I still had the blood on my face.  I still had to walk home somehow without being seen. That then brought me to my next question. Not where was I, but what was I? 
       
    I gathered myself and regained my strength.
"What time was it?" I asked myself.
My watch was no longer on my hand and I don’t know what happened to it.  It must have been early because the sun was coming up and I had to get home before I was seen.  I was in no shape to be seen by anyone.  The question now was how am I going to get into the house without being seen. I know someone has to be up and they probably know I’m not in my bed. This whole time I’m walking home, I have no idea what I’m going to do. I know what I’ll do, I’ll go to Almenis's house, and I can just tell my mom that I spent the night at his place.
  "But now, what do I tell him?" I wondered all the way there.
     "Almenis, Almenis, open the window let me in." I whispered hoping he could hear me.
"Who is it?" Almenis asked groggily.
  "Almenis, it's me Monty. Let me in!" I said.
  "Okay, come to the front door and I’ll let you in." Almenis said.
  "What happened to you Monty?   Did you get into a fight?" he asked very worriedly.
  "I wish I did, then maybe I would of won, but this was something completely different.  Almenis this is going to sort of sound a little off to you but you are my best friend and I would not lie to you. Almenis, I don’t know how it happened but I think I became something last night that was not human."
Almenis paused for a minute.
  "Oh, I know you got some and you tore it up you animal. Didn't she call your name?" Almenis asked impatiently.
  "No!" I said.
  "Okay, did she call my name?" he said jokingly.
  "No!" I remarked.
  "Hey, why would she call your name?" I quickly asked.
  "Why Almena’s is a good name." he said very offended.
  "Yes, but why would Shallena be calling your name?" I asked very annoyed at this point.
  "No reason, it would just be nice."
  "Almenis!"
  "Yes, Monty."
  "Shut up!" I yelled.
  "Okay, you don’t have to yell Monty." starting to know the seriousness of the conversation.                                                                 
"Almenis I did not get any, so she didn’t call my name. Almenis! I know, I know shut up. What happen to me last night was caused, I think, by the lunar eclipse," I told him.
"Monty, how is that possible? A thing like that just doesn't happen." Almenis said. 
  "Don’t you think I know that?  The thing now is how and why did this happen to me and can I make it stop?" Monty asked Almenis very worriedly.
      "Monty, what are you going to do?" Almenis asked after a long pause.
   "Almenis, I have no idea what I’m going to do. This is not something that happens to me often. Things like this should not happen to normal people." Monty tried to rationalize the whole thing.
   "Monty, you answered your own question, think about it, you are not normal."
   "That thing on your arm where did that come from?  You, yourself, don’t know where it came from. Some of your own people do not even remember it.  If you look at it you will see what I’m taking about. That hair on your arm is not human hair, it’s animal hair." Almenis told him.
   "And you know this because you are some kind of doctor." Monty smartly replied.
   "No, I’m not a doctor but I have eyes and I can see." Almenis snapped back.
   "Almenis, who is to say it's animal hair, it's just different from the rest of my hair on my body, and that does not make it animal hair.  You are just fishing for an answer." Monty said with slight anger.
    "I am just trying to help you out, besides I am not buying this for one minute.  Monty, come on now, would you buy it if you were me. Come on, you have to admit it is a little hard to believe. I’m not saying that it did not happen but is a pretty far fetched story. I know you are not lying to me but it is kind of hard to take it all in."
   "Almenis, I know it's hard to believe, I myself am finding it hard to buy too." I said with a sigh.
By then it was time for the both of us to get ready for school. We did not what to be late and I still had to get my books from my house. 
    "Howard, can I borrow some of your cloths for school?" I asked him.  "I forgot mine at my house and we both know that Almenis's clothes are too small for me."
     "Hey, you guys can shut that mess up I’m plenty big enough," Almenis shouted.
We got dressed and made our way to my house to get my books.
     "Do you see what’s going on here Monty?" Almenis asked out of nowhere. 
     "No Almenis, I do not see what is going on here, will you please tell me!" Monty said sarcastically.
     "You have a sleep-walking problem and that is what happened to you." Almenis said trying to be convincing.
     "So explain the blood on my face and where it came from." said Monty.
     "Hmm, that is a tough one, I'll get back to you on that one." Almenis said before laughing.                                        
     "You know what I think Al?"
     "What do you think?" he asked Monty.
     "I think you have a walking problem, you walk like your sleeping so come on. You’re going to make us late for class again." I gladly reminded him.
We then ran the rest of the way to my house and got my books.  On the way to school I wanted to stop by the place I hid last night before I changed.  I wanted to see if there was something there to tell me what happened, or if it happened.  As we got closer I was not sure if I wanted to know the truth. However, that fear did not keep me from going closer. We came to the spot and we came across proof.  There was my watch with the band broken as if something ripped it off my arm.
     “Monty is that yours?" Almenis questioned.
     "Almenis, that’s my watch and it’s destroyed."
     "Monty, did you do that to your watch when you changed?"
     "Oh now you believe me, just a minute ago I was losing my mind, and now I’m changing into things and breaking watches." Monty angrily replied.
      "I didn't think that you were crazy, just a little off.  Come on now, you know everyone at school thinks you’re a little off too." Almenis tried to save himself.
     "So now you see what I was saying was true...what do you mean people at school think I’m a little off?" Monty asked confused.
     "Oh what, you didn't know that?" Almenis asked not convinced.
     "No I didn't know that, was I supposed to?"
     "You know what Monty, what do I really know, let’s just go to school." Almenis quickly said.
As they walked away, Almenis whispered, "School is missing their freak."  
      "What the hell did you just say?" Monty snapped.
      "Nothing Monty, you are just a little tense today, you should relax." Almenis laughed.
School for them was not too far, so they did not have to far to walk.  If they hurried they could maybe make it to school on time for once.
        "Was that the bell Monty?" Almenis asked panicked.
      "Yes, and if we don’t hurry we’ll be late again. See you in second period Almenis.  Don’t be late."
      "Hey Monty, don’t change into anything before second period!" he shouted.
      Monty turned around, "Almenis, how about a foot in your ass before class?"
      "Monty, there is no need for that, you can go to class now." he assured him.
      Monty yelled, "See you later Almenis, and try not to get into trouble before second period." They both made their way to class, trying to make it on time but chances of that were slim.
"Yes, yes I know, 'Monty it’s nice of you to show up to class'.  I’m here now so you can start the class with no more interruptions at least not from me." he told the teacher.
      "Yes, it is nice to have you here with us, you almost missed what I was just about to tell the other students." she informed Monty.
       "And what would that be?" Monty trying to sound interested.
       "Well, I’m sure you all know the P.E teacher, Mr. Henry."
       "Yes, we all know Mr. Henry, why, what’s up with him?" Monty asked quickly.
       "Well Monty, Mr. Henry is dead.  It happened last night." the teacher told the class.
       "How did it happen, how did he die?" Monty asked very anxiously.
       "Well, they are not to sure yet, they said it looks like a wild animal attacked him. They said he was clawed to death and his throat was missing from his neck." she said disgustedly.
       Monty beginning to worry, "Teach, where was he found?"
       The teacher hesitantly stated, "If I remember, it was not to far from here.  In fact, I don’t think it was to far from where you live Monty."
After class Almenis came running. 
        "Monty, Monty, did you hear what happened to Henry?"
        "Yes Almenis, my teach told the class."
        "Monty tell me you didn’t do that, tell me you didn’t kill Mr. Henry." Almenis pleaded with his best friend.
         Monty, his face grief stricken, "Almenis, I can’t tell you that because I don’t know."

BY
Franklyn Thomas J.R