Chinchilla

Louis Everton was a chinchilla, born on Friday, the thirteenth of June 2015, in the bustling city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, at 11:57 AM. His mother and father had both been human, and upon his birth, they had fainted! The doctors and the nurses were utterly flabbergasted and had no clear explanation for this irrational occurrence. This was completely unprecedented in the history of the world.

Despite his parents' best efforts, growing up had been difficult for Louis. For starters, when he was freshly born, he was about the size of a large acorn and was often misplaced. Once, he had even been mistaken for a ping pong ball and was only discovered after the third round when he landed in one of the players' mouths and panicked. That day, his father had told him that he was lucky he hadn't been digested.

Finding clothes was always a hassle, too, because nothing would ever fit him. His mom would often trudge into thrift stores with him and his brother Robert, go up to the workers, hold Louis up, and say, "Do you have anything in er–his size?" The workers would typically overlook Louis and assume his mom was talking about Robert and nod profusely. "Why yes, of course we do!" they would say, gesturing to Robert. But his mother would shake her head, hold up Louis even higher, point at him, and sternly say, "I mean for him." The workers usually would stand there as if waiting for the punchline of a joke or a prank, but upon realizing Mrs. Everton was indeed not joking, they would lead them to the winter section with all of the mittens and gloves. "This is all we have, ma'am," they’d say and then quickly speed away to gossip and giggle. All of Louis's clothes were either mittens, socks, or gloves with small holes cut into them for his tiny arms and legs.

Middle school was probably the worst part of Louis's life. There, all of the kids would make fun of him for not being able to speak properly. Well, he was a chinchilla after all, what was he supposed to do about that? All he could do was squeak. And so he would often get into fights with the other children and send them to the hospital. One particular kid by the name of Jornathan Binklehighmer sent Louis flying across the playground after having lost them the spelling bee against their ultimate rival, Totally Better High. Louis had frozen at the microphone after having been told by the judges to spell the word "I" and accidentally squeaked, losing them the match. Now Jornathan was looking for a little payback, and so he blasted Louis to Timbuktu. Louis had had enough, and anger consumed him. He unleashed his seven-whisker death round-house kick upon poor Jornathan and sent him to the ER. This move had been so deadly that it ended up being banned all across the school district. Of course, Louis was severely reprimanded by both the principal and his parents. He was even forced to vow never to do such heinous acts ever again, as well as to sign a restraining order issued by Mr. and Mrs.Binklehighmer. After that, Louis never saw Jornathan again.

At the beginning of his high school years, Louis attempted to make amends with all of his peers, but he could never escape his criminal title: The Chopping Chinchilla. A name that had been bestowed upon him by that accursed Jornathan. Louis was and always would be a villain in his peers' eyes. There was nothing he could do. He felt all alone.

One day, while sitting in the quad all by himself, the basketball coach came up to him and gave him a chance on the team. At first, Louis was horrible. He couldn't dribble or shoot. He was trash. The coach, however, saw his potential. For countless hours, Louis and his coach would train relentlessly. Every day at 3 AM, Louis and his coach would wake up and run 25 miles. At 6 AM, Louis punched oak trees until they fell. It was rumored that he even cut down a whole forest with just his fists alone. The rest of the day, Louis would play against his coach in one-versus-one games to better his ball handling.

By the age of 17, Louis had become a top prospect. People all around the country would come to see him play ball. He was swift, agile, and strong. No one could get past him or guard him. He was dunking from half-court and shooting full-court three-pointers. Louis was unstoppable. People were calling him the next Michael Jordan. Things were looking up for Louis.

Finally came the time for the championship game. Louis and his school were going up against their long-time rivals: Totally Better High. This was the peak of his life. Nothing would ever get better than this. Since this was a championship, the school had hired announcers for the game. They announced his school's starting line-up and were about halfway through Better High's line-up when he heard it. "Give it up for number seventy-three! Jornathan Binklehighmer!" Louis looked up in shock to see the boy he had sent to the hospital. His scars were fully healed but still clearly visible. He could feel anger building up in his chest. The score still wasn't settled. He might have lost the spelling bee, but he wasn't going to lose this!

The game was neck and neck for all four quarters. Jornathan and Louis were playing like elite all-stars. The game was intense!

It was the last 10 seconds of the game, and both teams were tied. Louis had the ball and was driving into the paint, trying to make a layup. The person guarding him was none other than Jornathan. As Louis dribbled up to the net, time seemed to slow down. He turned his head to face Binklehighmer and saw him grinning wildly. "You think you can escape what you are? You're nothing but a villain. You'll never be anything more than the Chopping Chinchilla!" hissed Jornathan. Rage boiled inside of Louis. He HATED Jornathan. For a second, he let go of the ball and was ready to unleash his infamous seven-whisker death round-house kick, when he heard the voice of his mother call to him from the stands. "We love you, Louis! You can do this! You're better than this!" she yelled. In that moment, Louis knew who he was. He was no villain. He WAS better than this! And so he regained his composure, grabbed the ball, and scored! The crowd went wild! Louis had overcome his evil nature and emerged victorious!