Ugly

I bolted. I barely heard the boys slam their hands up against the windowsill and swear. I ran even harder.

But they caught me.

I didn't even notice the time gap. Though in a split second of my thoughts, I realized they must've just jumped out the window and raced after me. Another split second passed and I realized that one of them just wrenched my arm back and I was jerked off my feet. Then another, and they were spitting in my face shouting words I couldn't comprehend.

My survival instinct kicked in. I screamed and thrashed, cuffing the brown-haired boy in the jaw. The other one, a redhead, hit me in my cheekbone. I felt it for a second, but the pain quickly disappeared as they started to drag me over the ground.

They're going to tie me up-

One boy had my arm, and he tried to get my other one, but I slapped at it. He managed to grab it anyway. I sunk my fingernails into his skin. It didn't stop him.

And they're going to throw me into their car-

I screamed again, but I felt a kick in the side. Exploding pain made me gasp. They were shouting more. My back scraped against the concrete of their porch.

And dump me into a ditch-

Then the boy dropped me.

My head smacked on the porch.

"Oh, God, a rat! Get it off!"

I scrambled to all fours, my vision blurred, and vaguely saw one of the boys shaking his leg violently. I started to crawl away, struggling to stand, but my limbs weren't cooperating. I felt like I was in a dream: a dream where I was running but I couldn't get away.

Then everything became clear to me.

"Niko!" I shrieked his name, the word tearing out of my mouth, and I whipped around. There was a bulge in the brown-haired boy's pant leg. The redhead started to make a move to whack it out. I lunged at the redhead's legs.

He crashed down on me, swearing, and I beat him madly with my fists. He hit me back, a lot harder, but I persisted, and he tore himself away. I flung my leg out and with a stroke of luck, hit him. He howled in pain, curling in on himself and protecting his below-the-belt area.

I rolled away and a flash of a rodent zipped into my sweatshirt. The brown-haired boy caught a fistful of my hair and yanked me up. I made a wild swing at him, but he twisted away, twisting my hair as well. I let out a cry of pain.

"You little skank." He hissed. "I'll get rid of you as I will Niko."

Then I was aware of the weight inside my sweatshirt getting heavier.

"Let-let me go!" I blubbered. I intended that to sound threatening, but it apparently didn't come out that way.

The boy didn't answer. With one hand, he opened the front door, and the redhead, wincing, began to stand up. Niko squealed. He was falling out the bottom of my coat.

"Who are you?" The redhead demanded. His voice then jolted my memory that he was James. For a second, I almost told him my name, just out of hysteria, but I was distracted by Niko's seemingly rapid weight gain.

Then, the rat fell out and plopped onto the porch.

The grip on my hair slackened with shock.

Niko was growing. His fur thinned and became patchy. His spine stretched and his tail shriveled up. His hands thickened and became more human-like. His snout began to recede and the whites of his eyes became distinct.

Niko was changing back.

And that's when I heard sirens coming. But a blow to the head made everything turn silent.

---

I woke up to a light shining in my eye.

"Wha....wha-"

"She's awake. Miss? Are you Sophie?"

"Uh... Uh.... Yeah... Where...um..."

There was a policeman looking down at me. Light was fading, but red and blue lights were flashing. I was wrapped in a blanket, and there was another policewoman talking to a boy a little bit away from here.

"You've gotten quite the bump on your head. I understand you must be a little groggy, but can you tell me what happened?"

I gazed blankly at the policeman. "Niko...? Er, where's Niko?"

"Is that the boy over there?"

I rolled my head over. The boy he indicated had shaggy, dark hair and had blanket around him like mine. He wasn't facing me. The blanket wasn't big enough and his bare legs were shivering in the multicolored light. I didn't think he was wearing pants.

"Um..." My vision went blurry.

"Miss, please stay with me, don't lose consciousness."

"Uh... yeah. Niko is him..." I garbled.

"Can you tell me why he is naked?"

I couldn't help giggling.

"Miss?"

"I don't remember."

"Your friend Niko says that two boys started attacking you. The two boys said that Niko beat you and was going to rape you, so they defended you."

"They're stupid. Niko didn't hurt me."

The policewoman left Niko standing there and went over to the policeman. Niko looked over. Our eyes locked for a second. He had big, deep brown eyes.

"The boy says that the other two took his clothes." The policewoman informed crisply.

"Bring him over." The policeman said.

She did so. Niko looked at me worriedly, his lips tilted slightly in a grimace. I noticed he had a plump lower lip.

"What are your full names?" The policeman asked.

I told him mine, but Niko hesitated, though finally said, "Niko Marcell."

The policeman raised his eyebrows.

"Now this is going to be an interesting case." He said.

---

I was taken to the hospital later. I didn't see Niko again. My mom and brother visited me and interrogated me harder than the police did. Mom was crying. Ethan was crying too. I didn't know what to say.

I had a minor concussion and a few bruises. I would recover from the concussion quickly, but the bruises were big and ugly, including a black eye. I was okay though, and the hospital sent me on my way with a smiley face sticker.

One the way home I found out my camera was confiscated. I was slightly worried about the police looking through my goofy mirror-pics that I took of myself.

But as soon as I got home, I got into bed and fell into a dreamless sleep.

---

The next mornings were bright and sunny, like nothing bad ever happened.

I lied in bed and recalled the story we told the police. I was driving by and I wanted to take a picture of the weird snowman shrub and I stopped by (and I had my camera on me because I was going to the library to take some pictures and check out books). I apparently heard some ruckus coming from the house, was scared, but investigated and heard about Sebastian's and James's scheme. I snapped a pic, ran, they caught me, et cetera.

Niko came into this story as a runaway. He 'disappeared' six months ago because Sebastian and James threatened to kill him. After six months of leaving town and living as a homeless person, he came back, found me getting attacked, tried to save me, but was stripped of his clothes and the two boys then made up the story that he was going to rape me.

The odd thing was, they actually did find Niko's clothes in Sebastian's house. (Apparently, Niko filled me in that he probably was at Sebastian's house when he turned into a rat. Niko suspected that they put the rat-changing potion in his Pepsi, and then took his clothes to hide the evidence that he was there. He realized that this was the most likely thing that had happened, his rat changing and unchanging memories are really faded.)

The police believed this. Sebastian's and James's stories were loosely put together, and on top of that, they had my terrible picture of them pulling out rope against them. I don't know what the police did to them though.

Then I heard home phone rang.

I sluggishly got up, and answered it.

"Sophie?"

I was surprised to alertness. I hadn't heard from him since the day he changed.

"Niko? How did you get my phone number?"

"Phone book." The former rat laughed. "Though I'm grounded from my entire life, so I'm not even supposed to be on the phone, but I decided to sneak in a quick call to tell you what's up."

"Well, what IS up?"

"Well, nothing much."

We both shared a weak laugh.

"Oh yeah, Niko, I had to tell my mom that you escaped out of your cage... Ethan was crushed."

"Oh, poor guy. That really stinks. You should tell him I turned into a prince."

I chuckled. "I think I will, he'd believe that."

Niko laughed too, and we were silent for a moment. I could hear his soft breathing at the other end of the line. It was hard for me to make myself believe that he was now a human.

"Hey Sophie?" Niko asked.

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to be a better person from now on. That's what I guess... I called to tell you."

I grinned faintly. "Well, I thought you were a good person anyway."

"I was a good rat. But now I'm going to be a good person, so it's different."

I snorted out an embarrassing laugh. "That's good to know, Niko."

"I thought it was pretty good. Oh crap-"

"Hm?" I pressed my ear against the phone. I could hear someone walking, probably down some stairs.

"Yeah, hold on." He whispered. "My dad's coming." There was rustling as he moved around.

"Niko?"

"Yeah?" His voice was almost inaudible.

"Do you think I'll see you again?"

There was a pause.

"I hope so, Sophie. I go to S----- High School. Maybe I'll see you there."

I couldn't help but smile. That was the school with the German class I wanted.

"Okay, Sophie, I gotta go. Talk to you later, but no promises, my parents are watching me like hawks."

"Okay. Goodbye Niko."

"Goodbye, Sophie."

Click.

I put the phone down and went back to my room. Pictures hung on the white walls, outfits in the closet, sunlight streaming through the window; it didn't look that much different than my old one. This one felt nice to be in. The mood of this room though was brighter and happier than my old one.

Maybe it was because of the pleasant weather outside.

I decided to call this place home.