The Art Of Sneezing

Chapter 3

  Pic of Riley to the top or side!

   It's one a.m. and I'm outside in the rain. I don't know why.

   It's been a week since I arrived in this new town. I've concluded one thing from my recent study:

   Everyone owns a dog.

   Everywhere I go, it's constant sneezing. And I hate it. I believe my ribs are one sneeze away from snapping.

   Maggie's been nice. I eat lunch with her and Chris everyday. We've had interesting conversations, but sometimes I feel out of the loop.

   Like, the other day we were sitting in silence at lunch. I sit beside Maggie and Chris sits across from us. So, we're chewing the horrible school food in silence when all of a sudden Maggie says, "Yes!"

  "I know right!" Chris replies.

   The sudden outbursts make me jump and I stare at them in confusion.  However, they simply nod at each other and continue eating.

   I couldn't sleep earlier and my curiousness brought me outside my window, looking at the full moon. In the rain.

   I'm obviously an idiot.

   I stretch my aching muscles. My shoulder pops once, twice, ouch. Suddenly,  I'm hot in the freezing rain. My head pounds, making me stumble into the mud. More bones pop and tingle, and I begin to worry about my old pjs I'm wearing. I'll have to wash the mud out. Great.

   I glance down to see the damage.

   Something white and muddy meets my gaze. I cock my head and reach our to grab it. Suddenly, it moves. I gasp. This cannot be happening.

    Sneeze.

   I'm a dog!

   A freaking white dog!

   I spin in circles, looking at the white fur. The front white paw has a black sock as well as a swirling pattern up to the shoulder. My panicked cry comes out as a doggy whine and sneeze. What is going -

    A rustle makes me jump. I try to calm myself by saying it's a rabbit. Rabbits are scared of dogs, right? I puff out my furry chest and try to snarl menacingly. It works. I feel proud until the rustling stops and whatever had caused it lets out a long howl.

   Oh, shit.

   A brown wolf steps into the moonlight. When did it stop raining? The wolf's paws squish in the mud as it advances on me. A whimper escapes my . . . mouth? The brown wolf cocks its head, regarding me quizzically. It ducks its head down and growls, causing me to stumble back and tumble into a puddle. I yelp as I try to get my new, unsteady feet steady.

   The whole time, I can feel the wolf's gaze on me and I almost blush. Wait, do dogs blush? Achoo.

   He steps forward, almost cooing at me softly. He seems pretty nice. My now completely mud-covered body steps forward also and I sniff at him.

   And then suddenly I have no oxygen. I whimper and wheeze as a weight crushes me into the mud.

   Damn mud.

   Achoo.

   Damn fur.

   The brown wolf lets out a bark or two as two wolves move to either side of him. A growl comes from the weight above me, making me whimper again. My brown wolf and the grey one pinning me down growl and bark for a few moments before the grey one roars out and jumps off of me.