Several hours later Hunter rolled out of bed in his dorm room. In truth, it wasn't so much a 'room' as it was a repurposed closet. There was enough space for a desk and a twin-sized bed, and a small rug, and a wardrobe. To make it homier, he had put up blackout curtains and changed the light bulbs to keep things not-so-bright. His strategy worked all too well, as he dozed off and overslept.

His first class took place that night--in ten minutes. He moved as fast as he could, aware that his destination, the Rosewood building, was at least a twenty-minute hobble. He slipped the strap of his messenger bag over his shoulder, hooked his sunglasses into his hat and grabbed his crutches. The odds weren't great, but at least he could try.

He arrived twenty minutes late.

He opened the door and it groaned. The door was located at the front of the room, and several pairs of eyes went from the professor to Hunter's face. Not many had signed up, something he expected from a night class. He pushed his shades down for a moment to squint at his new teacher; a tall individual with a paper white complexion. The tips of his eyes and nose were red as if he had just been pinched. His dark brown hair was slicked back in place. His attire, a three-piece suit, reminded Hunter of the teachers he had seen in old movies.

"Is this English 1245?" Hunter asked.

Rather than answer the question, the man stated the obvious. "You're late."

Hunter bore his fangs then. His wolf side didn't like the man's tone. He covered his mouth with his hand in an effort to suppress it. "Sorry, it took me a while to get h--"

He was cut off. "Take a syllabus and have a seat."

Hunter snatched a paper from the stack, causing several to fall off the professor's desk and onto the floor. The man sighed in irritation as Hunter braced one arm against the desk and tried to bend to pick the handouts up. His knees buckled, his left leg throbbed, and his shades fell off his face.

His professor did not move.

Two students rose from their desks to help retrieve the fallen papers and sunglasses, putting a quick end to what could have been a ten-minute struggle. He thanked them and took a vacant seat in the front row by the wall. He put his shades on and read the board; Professor Lugosi English 1245-2110A.

"Now." Lugosi turned to the second page of the handout. "Before we were interrupted, where was I..."

Hunter snapped a pencil in half.

Lugosi looked away from his syllabus. "Is there a problem Mister...?"

"Reeds. And no." He sucked in his breath before muttering. "Nothing I can fix anyway..."

He spent the next twenty minutes glaring at Lugosi, who closed the class with a lecture on the importance of time management, at which point Hunter growled audibly. When the class ended Hunter shuffled out quickly, assured by a few whispers that he would be known as the 'crazy handicapped guy'.

That night he had a dinner of beef jerky and potato chips before breaking down and taking an antidepressant. This wasn't how he expected his first day of college to go. Things will get better, he told himself as he wrapped himself in several blankets. There was no way tomorrow could be any worse.