Winds11
The Winds of Change
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- Your Nightmares...
- Seen Jul 25, 2016
The Shannon Chronicles (Rated T-R)
This is my own story, I wrote it with characters heavily based on my friends.
This is Rated T-R, mainly because I wasn't sure WHAT to make it. One of the Characters is nude, and will remain so, for the entire story. The problem is, he isn't exactly human, and no description is made of his "private parts", aside from a very few minor references, and even then nothing is "described". So, if you've got a better rating, let me know.
This is only the first chapter in Chronicles, so expect more to come! Most of the chapters will be pretty long. :P
Chapter 1: His Broken, Shattered Body...
As I heard the splash and felt the pool water lap on my shoulder, I turned around to face the person who had caused it. Standing there, trying his best to act innocent, with water falling in drips from his short hair, was my best friend, Shannon Potter.
"You realize we're the only two people here, correct?" I asked him. "That means it had to have been you." He just smirked at me.
"You're such a killjoy!" He retorted. "Why don't you like fun?" It was the snappy sense of humor that made me love him in the first place. That is, as a friend.
"I am not!" I protested. "I just don't want water in my eyes!" We were swimming in his pool. Me in my simple blue bathing suit, him in an orange-and-white hibiscus print one. We both had our shirts and shoes off. I splashed water at him. "You should know better than that, your the one who wants to be an athlete!"
He dived under the water and swam at me. Before I could react, he was behind me with his arms around my waist, pressing me tightly, and his head barely reaching my shoulders. I wrestled my way out of his grip and tried to grab him, but he slipped away. I leapt after him, catching his leg in my hand. I pulled him back and wrapped him in my arms. He fought me for a few seconds, then went limp.
"You done?" I asked.
"Yeah." He sighed. We were close. He was the person I had been closest to for all my life. He was kind, funny, cute, everything. Sure, he was an ******* sometimes, but he was a good kid. He always wanted to be in the spotlight, to be the center of attention. He was like that.
I looked him is beautiful grey eyes, and wondering why I felt so natural, so open around him. It was easy to get close to him. I ran my hand through his soft, wet hair. I couldn't deny it. He was cute.
He always had high aspirations. His love of publicity had made him excel in almost everything he did. Everything except his grades. He was an idiot. No denying that fact, either. He could barely maintain a B in all his classes.
But in sports? That was a different story. He loved baseball, basketball, running... everything. He always said his dream was either be an Olympic athlete, or practice sports medicine. Anything that made him well known.
"Good. Now let me ask you this. Why are you so dang slippery? Your skin is so smooth and soft. It reminds me of a dolphin."
"I'm not sure. Maybe it's in the water?"
"No, or else I would be slippery to, but I'm not."
It was then I saw that strange patch. I asked him to let me see his leg, and he obliged. There, on his smooth thigh, was a grey spot. It was irregular, not quite a circle. The worst part was, it looked like it was spreading. It was slowly but surely inching out from the center, up and down his sculpted legs.
"Dude, just what the heck is this?" I asked him.
"Where?" He asked in return.
"Right here!" I pointed at his thigh. The fast spreading spot was already a full inch larger in circumference than it had been when I first spotted it.
"I don't know, but it looks like it's spreading really fast. We should call my mom."
"But first of all, both our phones are dead and we're home alone. What on Earth could she do?" By this time, the dot had grown to encompass most of his right leg. We hadn't been paying attention to it, closely. We both freaked. I pushed him up towards the ladder, hoping to get him out of the pool. He was screaming, but strangely, no one else heard. By the time we finally managed to climb out on the deck, his entire right leg and most of the top half of his left leg was too. Whatever it was, it was moving even faster than before. We both watched in shock, unable to do anything. Miraculously, the grey whatever, as it was most certainly not a dot anymore, stopped at his waist. Just above his crotch, the edges peeking out of his bathing suit. By now, both of his legs were covered entirely. I thought it was done, until I saw his abs contract, like he was in pain. His legs snapped together. I wasn't entirely sure what I was watching, but it looked like skin was growing over his legs, binding them together.
"HELP ME!" Shannon mouthed, unable to speak. As a result of the transformation or pain, I wasn't sure. I watched the gaps between his legs bind together, replaced with a perfectly smooth sheet of skin. Not knowing what I could do, I lifted his head and lain it in my lap. I took his hand in mine and gently squeezed it, offering what little comfort I could. A few tears fell down his cheek. Shannon was hardly resting peacefully. The pain of whatever was going on was sending spasms of muscle contractions through his already battered little body. I forced myself to take my eyes of his own soft grey/blue to check how he was doing. I let my eyes drift down his body, watching his muscles become suddenly visible, sharply outlined against his skin. His abs contracted, and for a second or two I could count six individual muscles. Then everything would relax. Then the spasms would start again. I checked his feet. They were bent oddly, straight out to the sides. They seemed to melt, and then reform into what looked like a dolphin's flukes. After a few seconds, everything stopped moving. Quickly, every single muscle in his body contracted in pain. I looked at Shannon's face, and he had his eyes screwed shut, straining to not scream. Even if his mind was clouded with pain, or if my fears were correct, disappearing, he had enough sense to realize if anyone caught us now they would ship him away. I heard snapping, and based on how tight he was squeezing my hand, I was positive it was my bones breaking. I was wrong.
It was his. Every bone below Shannon's waist was snapping and cracking and breaking. No wonder he was in such pain! After the snapping stopped, he breathed a huge, deep breath. Faintly, I heard a soft crackling. Nothing compared to the horrible snapping of before, but painful to hear all the same. Beneath his skin, I could see time little points. I knew what they were: his broken, shattered bones rearranging themselves. I counted the seconds that went by. Despite my best attempts, I lost count. Finally the crackling stopped and he went completely limp. His eyes were closed, but he was still breathing. I watched what had been once his legs, now a tail, wondering what else was in store for him. I was sure his small, battered body couldn't take much more of this. He had passed out, and was, for the moment, beyond pain. If he had sustained any internal injuries AT ALL, he would almost surely die. I watched his muscles, barely retaining the shape they were in, supporting a nice body on strong, defined legs, snake their way around inside of him. They found the places they wanted, and anchored themselves there. By now, all resemblance to his sculpted legs was gone. By the time all was said and done, he was still passed out, albeit with a perfect dolphin's tail blending into his waist. It was hard to tell where dolphin ended and boy began, but whatever cruel gods had felt the need to ruin my best friend's life had the benevolence to leave most of his upper body intact. The dolphin part had consumed all of his legs, and ripped his bathing suit almost cleanly in two. His former private parts were still covered, but I doubted he needed it now. In fact, the dolphin ended just above his former groin, conserving his abdominals, with just an extremely conservative covering of fat on them. Everything else was perfectly normal, from his arms to Pecs, completely fat free and lying flush against his rib cage. Curious, but doubting any trouble on my part, I reached out and removed the tattered remains of his swimming shorts. Sure enough, they were not needed. Just smooth, dolphin skin remained there. His new tail was only a few inches longer than his old legs. Funny, how he went from having little hair there to none at all. I tried to wake him up.
"Shannon. Shannon. SHANNON!" I whispered as loud as I dared. We were still pretty exposed out on the deck of the pool. My horribly analytic mind was running on full power now, and I listed my priorities.
1) Wake Shannon up.
2) Deal with his reaction. Calm him down. Treat his injuries.
3) Hide him.
When he would not wake up to my prodding, I grabbed the socks out his shoes. I gave them a quick sniff and almost fainted myself. They certainly strong enough to serve as smelling salts. I waved one under his nose, and watched it twitch. Slowly, his eyes fluttered open.
"What… What happened?" He asked.
"How much do you remember?" I asked him back.
"Not much. I had my arms around your waist, then you freaked out, then just pain." This was not going to be easy.
"Shannon, something bad has happened." Clearly he still didn't realize he was now part dolphin. "Slowly lean upwards. Look at your feet. Don't worry. If you faint, I'll catch you. On the count of three. One… Two… Three." He leaned up, took one look at his new tail, and fell back into my arms, nearly fainting. He looked up at me, tears falling freely from his eyes. He had seen his tail, and he felt it. All his dreams, aspirations, in one minute, had been crushed.
"What... Wha... What..." He stammered, still in shock. After several seconds of attempting to say what he trying to, punctuated with tears and gasps, he finally stopped trying to talk.
"What Happened?" I asked for him. He nodded vigorously, sending water flying from his hair and teas flying from his eyes. "I'm not sure. I noticed a little grey dot on your leg, and it spread. There was skin growing around your legs, then your feet melted... and..." I was trying my hardest to not burst into tears myself. I was shaking from fear, looking down at how pathetic he looked. It was sad, seeing him so pathetic.
"Are you in any pain at all? Any, you need to tell me."
"No. I'm just so... I mean... this tail... is it really me?"
I looked down at him, and placed my hand on it. "Do you feel that?"
With a new wave of tears, he nodded. I reached over and hugged him, tightly. I felt his tears urnning down my shoulder, and made no effort to brush them away. Finally, I looked at him closely. I stared into his eyes. I was still shaking, but was trying my best to stop. I gently brushed the tears from his eyes.
"Thank you... For everything. For not running, no matter how terrified you were. Thank you for staying with me..." He said, his voice weak, wavering. I just smiled at him, weakly. I hugged him again
"I need to go do something, really quickly."
"Please don't leave me..."
"I'll be right back. I promise. I'm not gonna leave. I'm just going inside the house."
"Well... okay..."
"Good. You need to try using your tail. Try lifitng it and hitting the deck, while I go make a call, ok?"
He nodded at me. As much I hated to leave him alone like this, I had something I had to do. I told him to try moving so I could see.
He concentrated for a split second. Slowly, deliberately, his tail began to rise. He thumped it on the deck, once, twice, three times.As he did so, I watched the muscles in his tail moving. It was odd. I had never thought this before, but it almost made him more attractive. He looked at me, proud of himself, but still sad. I wasn't sure what to do. Should I praise him? Tell him he's doing a good job? Tell him to keep going, or just kill him right then and there. Save him the torture of his life to come? Was he even still human? So many questions buzzed and clouded my mind I had to sit back for a second. Finally, I looked down at him and said, my voice quavering " Good job... Keep trying... Let me try something." I reached down and ran my hand along his new appendage, starting a bit above the point where the two converged, and went down. Sliding my hand along, searching for defects. How I would have identified them, I didn't know, but I did. I felt the smooth transition between human and dolphin skin. I traced lightly along his sides, and he shuddered. I ran down my hand down his new spine. My hand pulled back a little when it crossed where his groin once was. Not wanting to offend him, I ignored it and pressed onward. I moved down to his flukes, and tried bending them. He just watched with a mild curiosity, mostly sadness. Reflective sadness. I tried bending his flukes, and found them slightly springy. I bent them as far as I could, before he said it hurt. Finally, satisfied with my examination, I stood up.
"As far as I can tell, you have a perfectly functioning dolphin's tail. Nothing appears wrong. For what little comfort it offers, you appear perfectly healthy. Now, I really need to go make a call, so keep practicing moving, and I'll be back in five minutes, tops. OK?"
"Ok..." He sighed, reluctant to let me go.
"Hello?" She inquired.
Hey Mom, it's me. Listen. Shannon REALLY wants me to spend the night tonight, and possibly again tomorrow. Is that okay?" I asked her.
"But aren't the rest of the Potters out of town for the week?" CRAP! I had forgotten that! I knew I had to convince her now. I just couldn't leave dolphin-Shannon alone in the condition he was in. In the back of my mind, the thought of what Mrs. Potter would say when she found out what had happened to her son, and if she would blame me, flashed.
"Yes Mom, but it's really important. We already called Mr. and Mrs. Potter, they said it's fine. PLEAASSSEEE!"
"Well… Okay. I guess its fine, for tonight and tomorrow. Come get your stuff."
Yes Mom. I gotta go now."
"Sweetie?"
"Yes, Mom?"
"I love you."
"I love you too, mom. Goodbye."
"Goodbye."
I hung up. I wondered how Shannon was doing. I wondered if he would be okay while I went to get my stuff. I wondered if the Potters would be mad at me for what had happened. For the first time since this whole ordeal began, I was thinking about Shannon's future, beyond the next five minutes. I wondered, would he would have to remain in hiding, forever? And also, what horrendous, sadistic gods would want to inflict such a horrible torture on such an innocent, gentle, fragile boy.
I walked back out onto the porch, and hear the door slam behind me. I heard thumping, much more regular now, like a steady heartbeat. I walked up the steps to find him there, still lying in the same position he was in when I left. He seemed much more bored now. Moving his new appendage no longer required the concentration it once did, only a few minutes ago. I was still standing on the bottom step, and he hadn't seen me yet. I stood silently, watching him raise up his new tail and slap the deck with it, only to repeat. I watched the sun glint off its (his?) flesh, like it was still wet. I watched the way it blended into his body, the way the muscles moved. For a brief moment, I was jealous. He was already cute and attractive, and now he got a dolphin tail, too!? Then I thought about his future of hiding and never meeting anyone new, of being trapped in the water, unable to walk, and my desire to be like him was overshadowed by pity and remorse. And anger, for being so selfish and not thinking of how he must be feeling, only what I wanted.
I stood there for a few minutes, watching the sun glint off his new flesh, his hands tucked behind his head, his stomach lying flat. He was a small, thin boy. That's why I was so worried about the transformation hurting him so badly. It was easy to picture his little body breaking under the stress. My feeling of anger and jealousy were overshadowed themselves with admiration for how he was handling it. He had been through something no one could ever relate to. The only one of his kind. Half-boy Half dolphin. I honestly wasn't sure if I could even consider him human anymore. I wondered if he realized how easy it would have been for the stress of the change to have killed him. My mind flashed back to seeing his face, his eyes screwed shut in pain. How he was deliberately trying to not scream, not show weakness in front of me despite what he was feeling. He was a strong little boy; fragile, but strong.
"How's it going?" I called out to him as I stepped up onto the pool deck.
"I think I'm getting pretty good at this!" He exclaimed, mocking excitement. His time left alone had apparently led to him resolving to put on a cheery face.
"How about flipping over and trying to do the same thing the other way?"
"Sure." He did so.
We didn't talk for a long while, both of us stewing in our own thoughts. Me, trying to reconcile my desire to become like him, to be him, with my admiration of how well he was handling things, and my anger at myself for feeling that way. He was probably trying to NOT think about his future. He was, apparently, failing. He thumped his grey flukes on the deck one last time, and looked at me. I looked at him, and for the millionth time that horrible day, our eyes locked. Something else happened, then. Something that, even while he was in the throws of pain of transformation, had not occurred. He looked at me, and started to cry. Not in pain, but in sadness. I took one look at his crying form, completely naked, yet feeling no shame at that because he had nothing to show, only a dolphin's tail. I walked over, picked him with a little difficulty, and went back to the chair. I sat down with his sobbing form still in my arms, and helped him position himself so we were both comfortable. He buried his face in my armpit, his tail still sticking out, lying on my lap. I squeezed him tight. We sat that like for about half an hour. He cried, I comforted. I also realized something else. Expanding upon the subconscious message sent between us that last time our eyes locked. Grey-blue to brown. I couldn't leave him. He needed my help, he needed me to be there for him, no matter what. Then and there I decided I was going to stay with him for as long we both lived. He needed me.
After a half an hour to forty five minutes, his sobbing reduced to a gentle stream of tears. I held his head in my hands and smiled at him.
"You think you're ready to try to get in the water?" I asked him.
He smiled back at me, sheepishly, through the tears. "I don't know. But I'll try."
I smiled back at him, slightly wider than before. "I'm really proud of you, you know that?"
"Yeah." He said. We hugged one last time, and then I carried him over to the pool. Gently, I set him down on the edge, his tail and flukes hanging in the water. I climbed down the ladder and helped him in. I held him afloat for a few seconds, to let him get used to the water.
The water was cold, and I could only imagine what it felt like to his dolphin flesh.
"I'm going to walk you around. Try moving your tail while we move, ok?" He nodded. I started walking, carrying him next to me. I could feel his tail moving. I stopped.
"Now I'm going to let you go. Try swimming on your own. I'll be right here if you need me."
"I'm ready." He said. I gave him a little push, and let my hands drop. I saw him begin moving, slowly. I watched his tail come up, and down. Surprisingly, he breached. Coming up to the surface, breathing, and going back under. As he went back down, he slapped the water with his flukes, just like a real dolphin. He was clumsy, to be sure, but he was still swimming. Shannon was swimming, just like a dolphin, all by himself. My heart swelled with pride, and remorse. I watched him play, slowly gaining speed, for a while. At the same time, I had the high of pride, and the bitter anchor of remorse pulling me down. I watched him playing, and he swam up next to me, popped his head up, grabbed my hand, and pulled me into the water.
This is my own story, I wrote it with characters heavily based on my friends.
This is Rated T-R, mainly because I wasn't sure WHAT to make it. One of the Characters is nude, and will remain so, for the entire story. The problem is, he isn't exactly human, and no description is made of his "private parts", aside from a very few minor references, and even then nothing is "described". So, if you've got a better rating, let me know.
This is only the first chapter in Chronicles, so expect more to come! Most of the chapters will be pretty long. :P
Chapter 1: His Broken, Shattered Body...
As I heard the splash and felt the pool water lap on my shoulder, I turned around to face the person who had caused it. Standing there, trying his best to act innocent, with water falling in drips from his short hair, was my best friend, Shannon Potter.
"You realize we're the only two people here, correct?" I asked him. "That means it had to have been you." He just smirked at me.
"You're such a killjoy!" He retorted. "Why don't you like fun?" It was the snappy sense of humor that made me love him in the first place. That is, as a friend.
"I am not!" I protested. "I just don't want water in my eyes!" We were swimming in his pool. Me in my simple blue bathing suit, him in an orange-and-white hibiscus print one. We both had our shirts and shoes off. I splashed water at him. "You should know better than that, your the one who wants to be an athlete!"
He dived under the water and swam at me. Before I could react, he was behind me with his arms around my waist, pressing me tightly, and his head barely reaching my shoulders. I wrestled my way out of his grip and tried to grab him, but he slipped away. I leapt after him, catching his leg in my hand. I pulled him back and wrapped him in my arms. He fought me for a few seconds, then went limp.
"You done?" I asked.
"Yeah." He sighed. We were close. He was the person I had been closest to for all my life. He was kind, funny, cute, everything. Sure, he was an ******* sometimes, but he was a good kid. He always wanted to be in the spotlight, to be the center of attention. He was like that.
I looked him is beautiful grey eyes, and wondering why I felt so natural, so open around him. It was easy to get close to him. I ran my hand through his soft, wet hair. I couldn't deny it. He was cute.
He always had high aspirations. His love of publicity had made him excel in almost everything he did. Everything except his grades. He was an idiot. No denying that fact, either. He could barely maintain a B in all his classes.
But in sports? That was a different story. He loved baseball, basketball, running... everything. He always said his dream was either be an Olympic athlete, or practice sports medicine. Anything that made him well known.
"Good. Now let me ask you this. Why are you so dang slippery? Your skin is so smooth and soft. It reminds me of a dolphin."
"I'm not sure. Maybe it's in the water?"
"No, or else I would be slippery to, but I'm not."
It was then I saw that strange patch. I asked him to let me see his leg, and he obliged. There, on his smooth thigh, was a grey spot. It was irregular, not quite a circle. The worst part was, it looked like it was spreading. It was slowly but surely inching out from the center, up and down his sculpted legs.
"Dude, just what the heck is this?" I asked him.
"Where?" He asked in return.
"Right here!" I pointed at his thigh. The fast spreading spot was already a full inch larger in circumference than it had been when I first spotted it.
"I don't know, but it looks like it's spreading really fast. We should call my mom."
"But first of all, both our phones are dead and we're home alone. What on Earth could she do?" By this time, the dot had grown to encompass most of his right leg. We hadn't been paying attention to it, closely. We both freaked. I pushed him up towards the ladder, hoping to get him out of the pool. He was screaming, but strangely, no one else heard. By the time we finally managed to climb out on the deck, his entire right leg and most of the top half of his left leg was too. Whatever it was, it was moving even faster than before. We both watched in shock, unable to do anything. Miraculously, the grey whatever, as it was most certainly not a dot anymore, stopped at his waist. Just above his crotch, the edges peeking out of his bathing suit. By now, both of his legs were covered entirely. I thought it was done, until I saw his abs contract, like he was in pain. His legs snapped together. I wasn't entirely sure what I was watching, but it looked like skin was growing over his legs, binding them together.
"HELP ME!" Shannon mouthed, unable to speak. As a result of the transformation or pain, I wasn't sure. I watched the gaps between his legs bind together, replaced with a perfectly smooth sheet of skin. Not knowing what I could do, I lifted his head and lain it in my lap. I took his hand in mine and gently squeezed it, offering what little comfort I could. A few tears fell down his cheek. Shannon was hardly resting peacefully. The pain of whatever was going on was sending spasms of muscle contractions through his already battered little body. I forced myself to take my eyes of his own soft grey/blue to check how he was doing. I let my eyes drift down his body, watching his muscles become suddenly visible, sharply outlined against his skin. His abs contracted, and for a second or two I could count six individual muscles. Then everything would relax. Then the spasms would start again. I checked his feet. They were bent oddly, straight out to the sides. They seemed to melt, and then reform into what looked like a dolphin's flukes. After a few seconds, everything stopped moving. Quickly, every single muscle in his body contracted in pain. I looked at Shannon's face, and he had his eyes screwed shut, straining to not scream. Even if his mind was clouded with pain, or if my fears were correct, disappearing, he had enough sense to realize if anyone caught us now they would ship him away. I heard snapping, and based on how tight he was squeezing my hand, I was positive it was my bones breaking. I was wrong.
It was his. Every bone below Shannon's waist was snapping and cracking and breaking. No wonder he was in such pain! After the snapping stopped, he breathed a huge, deep breath. Faintly, I heard a soft crackling. Nothing compared to the horrible snapping of before, but painful to hear all the same. Beneath his skin, I could see time little points. I knew what they were: his broken, shattered bones rearranging themselves. I counted the seconds that went by. Despite my best attempts, I lost count. Finally the crackling stopped and he went completely limp. His eyes were closed, but he was still breathing. I watched what had been once his legs, now a tail, wondering what else was in store for him. I was sure his small, battered body couldn't take much more of this. He had passed out, and was, for the moment, beyond pain. If he had sustained any internal injuries AT ALL, he would almost surely die. I watched his muscles, barely retaining the shape they were in, supporting a nice body on strong, defined legs, snake their way around inside of him. They found the places they wanted, and anchored themselves there. By now, all resemblance to his sculpted legs was gone. By the time all was said and done, he was still passed out, albeit with a perfect dolphin's tail blending into his waist. It was hard to tell where dolphin ended and boy began, but whatever cruel gods had felt the need to ruin my best friend's life had the benevolence to leave most of his upper body intact. The dolphin part had consumed all of his legs, and ripped his bathing suit almost cleanly in two. His former private parts were still covered, but I doubted he needed it now. In fact, the dolphin ended just above his former groin, conserving his abdominals, with just an extremely conservative covering of fat on them. Everything else was perfectly normal, from his arms to Pecs, completely fat free and lying flush against his rib cage. Curious, but doubting any trouble on my part, I reached out and removed the tattered remains of his swimming shorts. Sure enough, they were not needed. Just smooth, dolphin skin remained there. His new tail was only a few inches longer than his old legs. Funny, how he went from having little hair there to none at all. I tried to wake him up.
"Shannon. Shannon. SHANNON!" I whispered as loud as I dared. We were still pretty exposed out on the deck of the pool. My horribly analytic mind was running on full power now, and I listed my priorities.
1) Wake Shannon up.
2) Deal with his reaction. Calm him down. Treat his injuries.
3) Hide him.
When he would not wake up to my prodding, I grabbed the socks out his shoes. I gave them a quick sniff and almost fainted myself. They certainly strong enough to serve as smelling salts. I waved one under his nose, and watched it twitch. Slowly, his eyes fluttered open.
"What… What happened?" He asked.
"How much do you remember?" I asked him back.
"Not much. I had my arms around your waist, then you freaked out, then just pain." This was not going to be easy.
"Shannon, something bad has happened." Clearly he still didn't realize he was now part dolphin. "Slowly lean upwards. Look at your feet. Don't worry. If you faint, I'll catch you. On the count of three. One… Two… Three." He leaned up, took one look at his new tail, and fell back into my arms, nearly fainting. He looked up at me, tears falling freely from his eyes. He had seen his tail, and he felt it. All his dreams, aspirations, in one minute, had been crushed.
"What... Wha... What..." He stammered, still in shock. After several seconds of attempting to say what he trying to, punctuated with tears and gasps, he finally stopped trying to talk.
"What Happened?" I asked for him. He nodded vigorously, sending water flying from his hair and teas flying from his eyes. "I'm not sure. I noticed a little grey dot on your leg, and it spread. There was skin growing around your legs, then your feet melted... and..." I was trying my hardest to not burst into tears myself. I was shaking from fear, looking down at how pathetic he looked. It was sad, seeing him so pathetic.
"Are you in any pain at all? Any, you need to tell me."
"No. I'm just so... I mean... this tail... is it really me?"
I looked down at him, and placed my hand on it. "Do you feel that?"
With a new wave of tears, he nodded. I reached over and hugged him, tightly. I felt his tears urnning down my shoulder, and made no effort to brush them away. Finally, I looked at him closely. I stared into his eyes. I was still shaking, but was trying my best to stop. I gently brushed the tears from his eyes.
"Thank you... For everything. For not running, no matter how terrified you were. Thank you for staying with me..." He said, his voice weak, wavering. I just smiled at him, weakly. I hugged him again
"I need to go do something, really quickly."
"Please don't leave me..."
"I'll be right back. I promise. I'm not gonna leave. I'm just going inside the house."
"Well... okay..."
"Good. You need to try using your tail. Try lifitng it and hitting the deck, while I go make a call, ok?"
He nodded at me. As much I hated to leave him alone like this, I had something I had to do. I told him to try moving so I could see.
He concentrated for a split second. Slowly, deliberately, his tail began to rise. He thumped it on the deck, once, twice, three times.As he did so, I watched the muscles in his tail moving. It was odd. I had never thought this before, but it almost made him more attractive. He looked at me, proud of himself, but still sad. I wasn't sure what to do. Should I praise him? Tell him he's doing a good job? Tell him to keep going, or just kill him right then and there. Save him the torture of his life to come? Was he even still human? So many questions buzzed and clouded my mind I had to sit back for a second. Finally, I looked down at him and said, my voice quavering " Good job... Keep trying... Let me try something." I reached down and ran my hand along his new appendage, starting a bit above the point where the two converged, and went down. Sliding my hand along, searching for defects. How I would have identified them, I didn't know, but I did. I felt the smooth transition between human and dolphin skin. I traced lightly along his sides, and he shuddered. I ran down my hand down his new spine. My hand pulled back a little when it crossed where his groin once was. Not wanting to offend him, I ignored it and pressed onward. I moved down to his flukes, and tried bending them. He just watched with a mild curiosity, mostly sadness. Reflective sadness. I tried bending his flukes, and found them slightly springy. I bent them as far as I could, before he said it hurt. Finally, satisfied with my examination, I stood up.
"As far as I can tell, you have a perfectly functioning dolphin's tail. Nothing appears wrong. For what little comfort it offers, you appear perfectly healthy. Now, I really need to go make a call, so keep practicing moving, and I'll be back in five minutes, tops. OK?"
"Ok..." He sighed, reluctant to let me go.
"Hello?" She inquired.
Hey Mom, it's me. Listen. Shannon REALLY wants me to spend the night tonight, and possibly again tomorrow. Is that okay?" I asked her.
"But aren't the rest of the Potters out of town for the week?" CRAP! I had forgotten that! I knew I had to convince her now. I just couldn't leave dolphin-Shannon alone in the condition he was in. In the back of my mind, the thought of what Mrs. Potter would say when she found out what had happened to her son, and if she would blame me, flashed.
"Yes Mom, but it's really important. We already called Mr. and Mrs. Potter, they said it's fine. PLEAASSSEEE!"
"Well… Okay. I guess its fine, for tonight and tomorrow. Come get your stuff."
Yes Mom. I gotta go now."
"Sweetie?"
"Yes, Mom?"
"I love you."
"I love you too, mom. Goodbye."
"Goodbye."
I hung up. I wondered how Shannon was doing. I wondered if he would be okay while I went to get my stuff. I wondered if the Potters would be mad at me for what had happened. For the first time since this whole ordeal began, I was thinking about Shannon's future, beyond the next five minutes. I wondered, would he would have to remain in hiding, forever? And also, what horrendous, sadistic gods would want to inflict such a horrible torture on such an innocent, gentle, fragile boy.
I walked back out onto the porch, and hear the door slam behind me. I heard thumping, much more regular now, like a steady heartbeat. I walked up the steps to find him there, still lying in the same position he was in when I left. He seemed much more bored now. Moving his new appendage no longer required the concentration it once did, only a few minutes ago. I was still standing on the bottom step, and he hadn't seen me yet. I stood silently, watching him raise up his new tail and slap the deck with it, only to repeat. I watched the sun glint off its (his?) flesh, like it was still wet. I watched the way it blended into his body, the way the muscles moved. For a brief moment, I was jealous. He was already cute and attractive, and now he got a dolphin tail, too!? Then I thought about his future of hiding and never meeting anyone new, of being trapped in the water, unable to walk, and my desire to be like him was overshadowed by pity and remorse. And anger, for being so selfish and not thinking of how he must be feeling, only what I wanted.
I stood there for a few minutes, watching the sun glint off his new flesh, his hands tucked behind his head, his stomach lying flat. He was a small, thin boy. That's why I was so worried about the transformation hurting him so badly. It was easy to picture his little body breaking under the stress. My feeling of anger and jealousy were overshadowed themselves with admiration for how he was handling it. He had been through something no one could ever relate to. The only one of his kind. Half-boy Half dolphin. I honestly wasn't sure if I could even consider him human anymore. I wondered if he realized how easy it would have been for the stress of the change to have killed him. My mind flashed back to seeing his face, his eyes screwed shut in pain. How he was deliberately trying to not scream, not show weakness in front of me despite what he was feeling. He was a strong little boy; fragile, but strong.
"How's it going?" I called out to him as I stepped up onto the pool deck.
"I think I'm getting pretty good at this!" He exclaimed, mocking excitement. His time left alone had apparently led to him resolving to put on a cheery face.
"How about flipping over and trying to do the same thing the other way?"
"Sure." He did so.
We didn't talk for a long while, both of us stewing in our own thoughts. Me, trying to reconcile my desire to become like him, to be him, with my admiration of how well he was handling things, and my anger at myself for feeling that way. He was probably trying to NOT think about his future. He was, apparently, failing. He thumped his grey flukes on the deck one last time, and looked at me. I looked at him, and for the millionth time that horrible day, our eyes locked. Something else happened, then. Something that, even while he was in the throws of pain of transformation, had not occurred. He looked at me, and started to cry. Not in pain, but in sadness. I took one look at his crying form, completely naked, yet feeling no shame at that because he had nothing to show, only a dolphin's tail. I walked over, picked him with a little difficulty, and went back to the chair. I sat down with his sobbing form still in my arms, and helped him position himself so we were both comfortable. He buried his face in my armpit, his tail still sticking out, lying on my lap. I squeezed him tight. We sat that like for about half an hour. He cried, I comforted. I also realized something else. Expanding upon the subconscious message sent between us that last time our eyes locked. Grey-blue to brown. I couldn't leave him. He needed my help, he needed me to be there for him, no matter what. Then and there I decided I was going to stay with him for as long we both lived. He needed me.
After a half an hour to forty five minutes, his sobbing reduced to a gentle stream of tears. I held his head in my hands and smiled at him.
"You think you're ready to try to get in the water?" I asked him.
He smiled back at me, sheepishly, through the tears. "I don't know. But I'll try."
I smiled back at him, slightly wider than before. "I'm really proud of you, you know that?"
"Yeah." He said. We hugged one last time, and then I carried him over to the pool. Gently, I set him down on the edge, his tail and flukes hanging in the water. I climbed down the ladder and helped him in. I held him afloat for a few seconds, to let him get used to the water.
The water was cold, and I could only imagine what it felt like to his dolphin flesh.
"I'm going to walk you around. Try moving your tail while we move, ok?" He nodded. I started walking, carrying him next to me. I could feel his tail moving. I stopped.
"Now I'm going to let you go. Try swimming on your own. I'll be right here if you need me."
"I'm ready." He said. I gave him a little push, and let my hands drop. I saw him begin moving, slowly. I watched his tail come up, and down. Surprisingly, he breached. Coming up to the surface, breathing, and going back under. As he went back down, he slapped the water with his flukes, just like a real dolphin. He was clumsy, to be sure, but he was still swimming. Shannon was swimming, just like a dolphin, all by himself. My heart swelled with pride, and remorse. I watched him play, slowly gaining speed, for a while. At the same time, I had the high of pride, and the bitter anchor of remorse pulling me down. I watched him playing, and he swam up next to me, popped his head up, grabbed my hand, and pulled me into the water.
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