'

<<< Previous Chapter | First Chapter | Next Chapter >>>

Chapter 5

It had taken a great deal of willpower for Charlie to start moving forward, but somehow, they had coaxed him into walking again.

He had a tail. He had a tail. He had a tail.

The thought repeatedly bellowed in his mind, like dozens of car horns in rush hour traffic.

"We can't just do nothing!" Daisy shouted quietly at Cooper. "What are his parents going to think if he walks through the front door and they see that their son has a tail?"

"Uh... hey our son has a tail?"

Daisy elbowed him. "This is no time for jokes Cooper! This is serious."

"I... I'm sorry," he said. "I'm just... in shock."

The thing was curled between Charlie's legs, annoyingly pushing down his pants as he struggled to hold them up. It somehow made the tail hurt. He didn't want to be pushing up his pants against it. He wanted it to be free. He wanted to wag it, he wanted to -

He was getting distracted. Had to do something... anything...

"The doghouse."

They turned to him.

"It caused this... maybe I can use it to stop it somehow?"

They again exchanged looks. They all knew it. It was the only real option.

So they hurried down the sidewalk, Charlie's tail literally tucked between his legs, while his friends did their best to hide it. All that cheerful confidence he'd felt before had evaporated. He had let his emotions run wild again, and this time it was much, much worse than any embarrassing moment in elementary school. He cringed imagining if this supernatural mutation had happened when they were still in the computer lab.

He'd been so focused on the tail, that when the itchiness came again, he halted in his tracks.

"Agh!"

"What?" they both said.

Charlie simply displayed his arms. The black hair was growing thicker. Only now was he seeing that some of it was also white. It was not simple hair he was feeling. It was fur.

"Oh gosh," Daisy said. "And... it's on your face too..."

Charlie reached up, and felt prickles against his fingers. He'd never been able to grow much more than peach fuzz, so this especially felt shocking.

"We need to seriously get moving," Cooper grabbed his arm and pulled him forward again. They began to walk faster, almost at a jog now, as fast as Charlie could manage without letting his pants fall down.

Eventually they reached the corner with the old abandoned house. Charlie nearly dashed across the street, tail showing and all, before a large van labeled "animal control" turned the corner just in front of him. Daisy and Cooper crowded close to make sure to hide him, and after the van had passed, they continued across, and into the yard.

That was when a sheepdog pounced into their view. It growled, snarling as it stalked towards them.

"Umm... Charlie?" Daisy said.

They tried to flank it, but the dog began to bark loudly. Charlie clapped his hands against his ears, and then had to quickly reach down to catch his pants from falling. They continued to try and round the dog house, and the sheepdog seemed to get even more aggressive.

"Hey!"

They shot their gaze to a man in a uniform, holding some kind of long tool.

The sheepdog suddenly bolted, and the dog catcher ran through the yard after it. He had a grin on his face, as though he were excited for this.

"Stay safe kids," he said in passing to them. Charlie turned carefully away from the man. "You never know what kinds of dangerous strays might be about."

They nodded and mumbled, and then he ran down the street after his target. Charlie glanced back to his friends, and he didn't realize for a moment that his heart was beating so fast from so much stuff happening at once. They walked back up to the front of the dog house.

"What do we do now?" Cooper asked them.

Charlie swallowed as he stared down the strange, innocuous little structure.

"Only one thing to do."

"Charlie," Daisy grabbed his arm, briefly stunned at the amount of hair on it now. "Are you sure about this?"

Charlie trembled. "No. But... but I don't know what else to do."

He took a deep breath, got down on his hands and knees, and crawled inside.

The vertigo hit immediately. The world felt like it was tilting upside-down.

And he changed. He felt hair growing everywhere. The fur grew in thicker and thicker all over him. He tried to get out, to at least scream, but it was no use. He felt stuck in place, as if he became more magnetically fixed to the inside of the dog house the more he changed.

There was a tugging sensation on his ears, as though they were made of taffy, being stretched into a bigger and floppier shape. His nose moistened and darkened. His already heightened sense of smell became even more acute.

Then he felt pressure on his bones. He'd already been down on hands and knees, but his back cracked, and the position felt more locked in. His knees pulled off the ground, until his legs were bent, but in a tip toe position. His thighs and calves shortened, and he realized that he had just developed hind legs.

No. There was no way that staying in here was going to do any good. He was not going to let himself turn into a dog!

Charlie felt the unseen magical hold begin to slip on him, and tried his best to maneuver around in the dog house and get out. However, he only succeeded in twisting himself back towards the entrance and flopping on the ground.

"Daisy! Cooper!" he said in a strained voice, "heeuughh mee..."

They grabbed his arms and pulled him out, right as he watched his thumbs disappear, and his hands reform into paws. Despite escaping the dog house, the changes continued uninhibited. His arms cracked, and then reformed into forelegs. They were now completely covered in black and white fur.

"Nooo!" Charlie wailed. "Nwoooo...!"

Charlie felt a tugging on his vocal chords, and panicked.

"Nwoo! I'm noo ar - ar - arf doaugh! Arf arf arf!"

He had lost the ability to speak. Everything else was advancing more rapidly now. He was now entirely covered in fur. He felt his teeth sharpen, and he shut his eyes tightly as he sensed what was coming next. His face pushed outward into a canine muzzle, and his tongue being stretched with it. He felt a prickling on his head, and his hair changed to feel more like fur.

And then his clothes disappeared. He had no idea how, but they vanished. To end it all, he felt his body contract like an accordion. He got smaller. His stomach pulled inward as his insides gurgled. He peeked slightly through his eyelids, where Daisy and Cooper now towered over him. He shut his eyes tighter.

No. This couldn't be real. It was a terrible dream!

But he could feel it. The wafting scents entering his nose. His ears flopped down on the sides of his head. His tail.

There was one final change. He felt something wrap around his neck. Finally, the creaking and shifting in his body ended. Once again, there was stillness—just the sound of birds chirping and cars driving in the distance.

"Ch-Charlie?"

He looked up, and cracked open his eyes. Daisy stared down at him with disbelief.

"Wh-what do we do?" Cooper said.

"I don't... I don't know," Daisy answered.

Charlie stood up and sauntered around in place, as though he were drunk. Even though he could sense the world around him, everything felt like it was a dream, like it wasn't actually real. It was as if someone had pressed a pause button on the whole universe.

He kept his gaze fixed on the ground, and while he teetered about, he found himself leaning over a reflection. The dog bowl, filled with water... there was a face in it.

A border collie looked back at Charlie. He blinked. It blinked. He leaned in closer. The dog's face moved closer to him.

H-he... he was a dog. He was a border collie. He was that face staring back at him!

An uncontrollable howl burst from his body. It fractured into a halting wail, like a canine sob. He had become an animal. He couldn't talk, he couldn't stand on two legs, and even his vision was washed out, lacking some colors.

"Charlie, Charlie," Daisy said, kneeling down and hugging his neck. "Just... just calm down."

"Yeah," Cooper shuffled nervously, "we don't want to attract attention."

Daisy shot him a harsh glare. "And of course, our friend just turned into a literal dog."

Cooper sat down on the ground, and stared Charlie in the eyes. "Sorry," he said.

Charlie still whimpered.

"Charlie," Daisy said, "can you understand me?"

Charlie nodded vigorously. That seemed to reassure her a bit.

"Do you... do you feel like you can think normally? Your mind's not... dulled in any way?"

Charlie clenched his teeth - a weird sensation with how much his jaw had changed. If anything he felt like his mind was going way faster than usual, with so much sensory overload. He nodded.

"Then... are you in any pain?"

Charlie assessed the feeling in his body—his very weird, very different body. He was wracked with discomfort, and heavy embarrassment... especially since he was functionally naked in front of his friends - but no, he didn't feel physical pain. He shook his head.

"Did... did the transformation hurt?" Daisy asked.

Again, he shook his head. Something jingled from his neck. Daisy reached forward, and held something. Charlie couldn't see it with the big muzzle in the way.

"He... has a dog collar... and it has his name on it..."

"Dang...," Cooper said, "so like... this is real magic then?"

"I... I'm not sure," Daisy said.

"Like it's gotta be. I've never heard of anything in science that could cause this."

"But if... magic," Daisy said the world with hesitance, "is real, don't you think that someone would've found out by now? Shown proof all around the world?"

"I don't see why I would," Cooper said. "Who would believe you? Plus, it's an interesting secret - that you can shapeshift and stuff."

"Cooper," Daisy narrowed her eyes, "I think that you're taking this way too lightly. Look in front of you, our friend just turned into a dog! Aren't you the least bit shaken by that?"

Cooper met his eyes again. "Yes. I am absolutely freaked out and trying everything I can to not run for the hills convinced I'm hallucinating."

"Okay," Daisy said, glancing around the neighborhood. "Okay. It's going to be fine. You can still think normally -"

Charlie nodded.

"And... well nothing more is happening. This is bad, but it's not getting any worse. Let's just... take a moment to think."

She sat down on the ground. Charlie stepped up to her, whimpering. Her eyes bulged slightly and she leaned away.

"Sorry, sorry. I'm just... not used to a dog having such... human looking eyes."

Charlie frowned - or at least the best frown he could do, and looked over to Cooper. He was walking around the dog house, inspecting it. Charlie walked back over, and sniffed at the wall. He was surprised to have a sensation hit him of a number of dogs having been near here. Had... had other people somehow wandered into the dog house like him? Was he only the newest in a long line of kids turned dogs?

"I just can't see anything weird about it," Cooper said, tapping the roof with his finger, "on the outside, it's just a normal dog house. Should I try to carefully look inside?"

"That sounds like a fantastic plan," Daisy said.

"I thought so too," Cooper smirked, "let's try it."

Charlie awkwardly jumped in front of Cooper as he stepped towards the entrance of the dog house, and barked several times.

"Okay jeez," he said, "I was joking. I'm just trying desperately not to thinking about the fact that my friend is a dog, and magic is real, and...." He let out a gritted exhale while running his fingers through his hair. Cooper sat down, and Daisy did likewise, massaging her temples. Charlie whimpered quietly.

"Are you... in pain?" Cooper asked, making eye contact.

Charlie felt out through his body with his mind. As much as he hated it, he shook his head.

"I still just... can't believe it," Cooper said. "You're literally a dog. I'm trying to wrap my head around what that would even feel like, to have four legs and stuff."

Charlie looked down at what were now his paws, lifting them up and down, feeling out the range of motion on his new legs. It felt super unfamiliar - but somehow even though he remembered what it felt like to have normal human arms and legs, that memory seemed distant compared to the present reality.

He looked back in the water dish, at that border collie - at himself.

I'm actually a dog. I have a wet dog snout. I have floppy ears. I have... I have...

It twitched slightly merely at the thought of it.

"What does it feel like...," Cooper asked, "to wag your tail? Like, you actually seemed to be enjoying it."

Charlie cringed, feeling the tail involuntarily tuck between his legs. He couldn't believe that he had acted that way earlier. His friends had seen him wag a tail. His body had been molded into a smelly, gross dog, and for a moment he had actually enjoyed it.

"No answer?" Cooper said. "You feel embarrassed that you maybe liked being an annoying little dog?"

"How is he supposed to answer Cooper?" Daisy pointed out. "And seriously? Making fun of him at a time like this?"

"I'm... I'm just trying to lighten the mood."

She rolled her eyes and stood back up. "We need answers. I'm going to go knock on the door of the house, and if no one answers... I... I'm going to sneak in, and see if there's anything."

"Alright," Cooper said. "I'll keep Charlie company."

"I... fine." She turned around and started toward the side of the yard and the front of the house.

Cooper leaned back, and spotted something. He grabbed an old, gross tennis ball from the other side of he dog house.

"I don't suppose you're up for a game of fetch?"

Charlie gave him an annoyed look. Cooper rubbed the ball off on the grass, and then on his shirt - gross - and then began tossing it between his hands.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm being a jerk."

Charlie sighed, and let out a groan. Cooper gave him a brief hug around his neck.

"We'll figure this out Charlie, I know it. I'm going to stick by your side until we solve this."

Charlie gave a weak smile. Cooper began tossing the ball up in the air, and catching it on the way down.

"If I was a dog, I feel like I'd be really good at going for crazy high jump catches. Then of course I'd get overconfident, jump too far, miss it, and then skid into the dirt."

Charlie let out some quiet barks in his best approximation of a chuckle.

"I just... hate to see you like this Charlie. Dealing with this all alone. I try to be there for you when you need help, and...

Charlie's ears snapped up. He didn't like where this was going...

"I... is it weird if I want to try it?"

Charlie barked.

"I... I think I could handle it. And... and I'm just kind of curious, ya know?"

Curious? This was stupid. Charlie barked some more.

"Okay," Cooper raised his hands defensively. "I get it. Dumb idea."

He looked down at the tennis ball, passing it between his hands. He tossed it behind Charlie, and hit something. Charlie turned around and saw just as it bounced off the exact top of one of the old fence posts. Good shot. He turned back around -

Cooper was crawling into the dog house.

Charlie made rapid fire loud barks, then tried to bite onto Cooper's shoe - then immediately let go because it tasted disgusting.

Cooper slipped inside just as Daisy came yelling from behind. It was too late.

<<< Previous Chapter | First Chapter | Next Chapter >>>