Chapter 1

I rolled out of bed that morning thinking it was going to be a great day. I had a date with my girlfriend Sandra that evening and while it was a school day, it was Friday so it was almost the weekend.

I got up and got dressed. I took a look in the mirror at the short slightly overweight blond haired boy staring back at me and tried to get my unruly hair in some sort of order. After a series of relatively unsuccessful attempts at taming it I gave up, it was good enough for school. I ran down to breakfast feeling uncharacteristically alert and perky. I grabbed some cereal and sat down at the table. My older sister Hannah was already there munching away.

"Morning Eric," she said having a little difficulty speaking due to her tendency to stuff all her food in her cheek pouches.

"Morning Sis," I replied.

Hannah had been mad about hamsters, as a young girl she had one as a pet and had taken it with her everywhere. It was a somewhat cruel twist of fate that when she got MORFS she gained a lot of hamster features. She now had short orange and white fur all over her body but kept her shock of red hair, a small pink stub of a tail, little round pink ears on top of her head, whiskers, continually growing teeth she had to grind down, and the pouches which could be used to store stuff. Her eyes were also the same black spheres a hamster had, which unnerved some people. She had been bullied relentlessly. She was also a little chubby when she was younger and that had given the bullies yet more ammunition, remarking that she was just a fat little hamster. She had come home many times bawling her eyes out. Eventually she decided to do something about it, she joined the school multi gym and took up martial arts. Pretty soon she had lost the extra weight, put on a bit of muscle, and the bullies were getting wary of her after she started to fight back. As she got older she became quite an attractive girl, her physical conditioning giving her an athletic body and nature supplied her with some impressive curves. Many of the people who had laughed at her were now after her for dates. She never forgot their cruelty though and spurned the advances of anyone who had been mean to her. Her experiences had toughened her and left her very independent and strong.

We were typical brother and sister and would fight tooth and nail sometimes but we loved each other deeply. It made me very angry what people had done to her just because she was a little different. I had been the little brother though and in no position to help her then, and now she didn't need my help. She was taller and stronger than me by quite a way. It had made me sure never to judge people that way just because they looked different since they were just like me inside.

We sat and ate our breakfast preparing ourselves for the day ahead.

"So big date this evening," teased Hannah.

"I guess," I squirmed.

"Aww, my little bro, is growing up," she said tousling my hair.

"Leave your brother alone, Hanna you know it's my job to embarrass him" said Mum walking in to the kitchen. She had a lot of features in common with my sister being the same red hair and similar figure. She lacked the conditioning Hannah had but still was quite an attractive woman. She had the same eyes as me, a sort of dark blue. Hannah used to more take after Dad with much lighter blue eyes.

"Sorry Mum," said Hanna grinning.

"So Eric when will we get to meet this wonderful girl you're crazy about?" Mum asked.

"I don't know, I've asked her a couple of times but she is always busy," I said. It was strange when ever I asked Sandra if she would like to come over she would suddenly remember something she had to do. I had wondered if she was avoiding coming to visit my family, but she seemed quite happy to go out with me so I couldn't imagine why.

"I won't accept that excuse much longer young man, you ask her for real," Mum said was convinced I was the one not wanting to subject Sandra to my family, "Anyway, you kids better get moving, I can't give you a lift as I have things to do today."

Hannah and me groaned in unison at having to walk, then laughed together at our mothers eye rolling reaction. We packed up our things and headed off. We walked together up to school. Hannah was a sixth former, she would be off to university next year and I, all going well, would be starting in the sixth form at the same time.

My sister set a grueling pace and my somewhat less physically fit body began a bit. School was at the top of a hill from our house and I began puffing as my sister powered her way up the hill.

"Come on keep up," she said.

"What's ... ah ... your ... hu ... hurry sis," I panted feeling like I was going to pass out from lack of oxygen.

She shook her head at me and said, "Bah, come on, it's not that tough a hill. I could run up it and not be out of breath."

"You could," I said, "That would kill me. It's making me feel ill as it is." I was feeling a little unwell.

"Oh stop being so melodramatic," she rolled her eyes but slowed a bit.

The slightly slower pace was enough for me so I could keep up and more or less catch my breath, "You need to get more exercise Bro, else that girlfriend of yours will dump you for a fitter boyfriend. Girls like a guy with stamina," Hannah giggled.

I would have said something but I was still out of breath, so I just glared at her for a bit which just caused her to chortle more.

We reached the brow of the hill and the pavement finally leveled off, much to my relief. It also marked the branching point of our two paths, the sixth form having its own site a bit down the road.

"Well, catch you later slow coach," my sister said with a wave and took of at a pace that might as well have been a run.

I took a moment to rest the sick feeling leaving me as I recovered, then I headed in through the gates.

"Morning Eric," called a soft musical voice. I turned to see Sandra smiling at me as she sat on one of the walls near the gate. She was a pretty blonde with long flowing hair and sparkling blue eyes. She was slim and delicate, her movements always graceful, a side effect of many years ballet training she had when she was younger.

I walked over to her and she hoped down to take my hand. Many of the people I knew that had been going out like us would meet at the gate and kiss, but Sandra didn't like kissing in public. In fact holding my hand in public was something she had only recently decided to do. She was very concerned with appearances and being proper, something most of my friends found weird about her. I found it interesting in that anything we did do felt more special because of it. We walked to our classroom together. When we got to the door she smiled at me, let go of my hand, then went in and sat down with her friends. This was another aspect of her rules; she wouldn't sit near me in lessons or in registration. She would hardly ever speak to me in front of her friends, who were a strange lot ... very aloof and distant regarding everyone down the end of their noses.

It was all part and parcel of dating her. The strangeness and the rules were worth the good times.

I greeted my friends and sat down to wait for school to start in earnest.

School kicked off and lessons were as boring as usual. I did my best to pay attention, but I had a tendency to day dream that teachers hate. When I could focus I did OK but my rep as a time waster meant a lot of the teachers didn't like me and were extra hard on me.

By the time morning break arrived I was beginning to feel ill again. This was just what I didn't need with my date with Sandra tonight. I tried to fight it down and keep going, hoping it was nothing and headed off to my lesson after break, but in the middle of Maths I had to run out of the room to throw up in the toilets.

I was taken to the nurse's office for a check. I was soon shivering and shaking as well as feeling rotten. They sent me home so Mum came to get me. I sent a text to Sandra cancelling our date since I knew Mum would never let me go out after being sent home from school ill. I promised to call her later. Later I got a reply saying "get well soon".

I gradually got worse. The sickness made it hard to keep anything down; I was running a temperature and in a fair amount of muscle pain, so Mum called the Doctor. Some time later he turned up and examined me, he said he was fairly sure what it was wrong and pulled out a blood test. I knew straight away what that meant, he thought I was starting MORFS. I had recognised the symptoms but was hoping I was wrong. When the Doc thought the same thing I knew I was probably right. So when the blood test came back positive I wasn't overly surprised.

The Doc went over the usual rigmarole of what to expect and what to watch for, both with me and Mum. I had a few friends that had been through it and I remembered Hannah's week of hell, so I was fairly up on what was going to happen. The Doc wished me well and gave my Mum a prescription for some MORFS home transition packs. She tucked me up in bed and headed out to get me the drugs. I dozed a bit, my body still feeling rotten, but tired from all the throwing up.

I woke up with someone stroking my hair I looked up to see Hannah looking down at me.

"Hey sis," I said weakly.

"How you doing little bro," she said with a somewhat forced smile. I could see she was worried.

"OK I guess apart from I feel rotten."

"Yeah I remember what it's like. Soon as you get your drugs you'll be out of it though."

"Hannah ... I'm scared.".

"I know," she said smiling at me, "No matter what, I'll be there for you." she kissed me on the head.

I smiled at her, I never had any doubt that she would be there for me, but it was nice to hear her say it. Hannah kept me company till mum returned with my meds which didn't take long. I had to force down a horrible tasting energy bar and take a pill then I was off to sleep.

I awoke some time later, my body aching and my skin all grimy. I staggered out of bed to take a look.

I seemed to have lost some weight and I noticed my body hair was coming out. Not a good sign. I hit the shower and tottered back to find Mum changing my sheets.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Still lousy," I replied.

"Well come on back to bed, the sooner it's over with, the better you'll feel."