A Scarred Past.

11 years ago. Middle school.

A young Ryker walked into the 7th grade computer classroom, wondering to himself how badly he will get ridiculed this time. He was always made fun of by his classmates, and never understood the hate he always got. Was he really that weak and vulnerable? It was a question he fought himself with everyday. Ryker was in a state of constant depression, and everyone was against him, even his parents. It was all his fault.

He sat down at this desk, and looked to his right; his eyes filled with dread and his ears went flat. Sitting right next to him was Austin, a grey wolf twice his size and strength. Nothing good could come of this, as Austin was one of the biggest bullies in his class, along with his "pack" that loved to tease and torment the much smaller and leaner arctic fox.

Austin was worse than normal today for some reason, his normal spew of insults more vulgar than usual. Ryker got more and more upset as time when on, before he got so sick and tired of the everything, the severe hate, the depression, the loneliness, it was just too much for him to take, and he snapped. Ryker lashed out when the teacher wasn't in the classroom. He yelled at Austin and pushed him as hard as he could, which didn't do much but make the grey wolf very angry and shove the small fox into a computer breaking the keyboard. It hurt, but he got up and just stared at wolf, growling and baring his teeth. The classroom went silent. Before another move was made though, the teacher walked back in and both the fox and wolf sat back down like nothing happened, neither wanting to get in trouble. Ryker spent the rest of the class trying to focus on his school work.

Finally, the bell rang. Class was over, and no one wanted to get out faster than Ryker. He swiftly grabs his books and walked out of the room and down the hall, opening the door to go outside, as the technology classes were in an annex building separate from the main school, with a short walk in-between. About half-way across the tarmac, a strong paw grabs his left shoulder and brutally swings him around to face a large dark looming figure, which he quickly realizes is none other than, Austin. Ryker had no time to react, and didn't even understand what Austin said in that moment as he was still in shock, before he saw a flash of grey fur in front of him.

In an instant, a searing pain explodes on the left side of his muzzle as a large claw digs into his flesh and tears a long deep gouge from over his eyebrow to down the side of his snout, his glasses thrown from his face and fall on the ground, cracking the lens, his books and paper scatter over the pavement. Ryker screams and falls to the ground flat on his stomach hard. His muzzle hits the ground with a crack, and he just lays there, crying and whimpering as blood drips down his muzzle. His vision turns red, a now dark figure looms overhead, he vaguely hears the words "Useless" and "Waste of space" being using in an otherwise garbled sentence, before the ground started spinning and the blackness consumed him...

Epilogue-
Ryker recovered and eventually graduated with honors, and the scar healed over time. But some things can't be healed, even under his smiling face.

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This is how Ryker got his scar.

Minus the actual scar and a few minor details, this is not fiction.

Written by  mattwa Art by  darkfawks