#108: You Won't Like Him When He's...: [s1e8] Issue

Leo felt a surge of heat behind his eyes. His heart rate spiked. One, two, three, breathe, he told himself. But the internal rhythm was being drowned out by a low, vibrating hum in his bones.

The local news on the TV above the bar was muted, but the headline was loud enough: [S1E8] Issue #108: You Won't Like Him When He's...

"I told you," the entity said, its voice a chorus of shearing metal. "You won't like me when I’m like this." Leo felt a surge of heat behind his eyes

He picked up a stray jacket from a nearby stool, pulled the hood over his head, and stepped out into the rain. The issue wasn't that he was a monster; the issue was that the monster was the only thing keeping him alive in a world that wanted him in a cage. But the internal rhythm was being drowned out

"You don't want to do this," Leo said, his voice dropping an octave.

"I’m just leaving," Leo whispered. His voice sounded like grinding stones.

The neon sign above the "Lucky Clover" dive bar flickered with a rhythmic, dying buzz that matched the pounding in Leo’s head. Inside, the air was a thick soup of stale beer and cheap tobacco. Leo sat in the corner booth, his knuckles white as he gripped a glass of water. He wasn’t here to drink; he was here to hide.