"That smells revolting!"
Colton was staring down at his plate of food in disgust. He hated pasta, at least the smell of it anyway.
"Come on, Colton," his mother pleaded. "It tastes amazing! You'll enjoy it a lot!"
Colton snorted. He began picking at his food.
"Eat, Colton," his dad said.
After 20 minutes of picking, nibbling, and gagging, Colton asked to be excused.
"Fine," Colton's mom said. Colton bounded up the stairs to his room, shut the door, and locked it.
He was met with a surprise. A small letter on his bed. Colton picked up the letter and opened it, reading the contents.
Dear Colton,
Meet me in the forest at midnight on the 23rd.
Sincerely,
-Your true love
"What?" Colton said. "My true love..."
Colton didn't think he had a "true love". But it sounded interesting, so he checked his calendar. It was the 20th today. He'd have to wait a while.
Thoughts of his midnight journey to the forest in three days, Colton flung himself into his bed. He fell asleep pretty quickly.
The next two days passed slowly for Colton. All of his classes at school were boring, especially Math.
After the end of the second day, Colton was excited. "One more school day, then I can go to the forest!"
He got onto the computer and distracted himself with video games. He played late into the night, until his mom showed up and told him to go to bed, which he did.
The next morning Colton woke feeling nervous. He had a feeling today was going to be a long day.
He walked downstairs, grabbed his toast, and waited outside for the bus to take him to school. When it showed up, Colton stepped into it.
<Gonna be a long day,> Colton thought.
He sat down in his regular seat, pulled his DS out of his backpack, and began playing. After the 20 minute drive to school, Colton got off the bus, dreading Math.
The lunch bell rang. Colton was right; it had been an extremely long day and he didn't think it would get faster after lunch.
He grabbed his slice of pizza. Then he sat down at his table with his only friend, Xavier.
"Hey man," Colton said as he sat down. "Another boring day, huh?"
"Yeah," Xavier replied.
They ate in silence for the rest of lunch. When the bell rang, Colton hurried to his next class, eager to get the day over with fast.
Fifth period passed slowly. Sixth was even slower. Seventh was a killer. Finally, the ending bell rang. Colton bolted out of the school, running toward the bus.
After he got home, Colton threw his bag on his bed and did he regular after school routine - check email, read book, play games. He did this until 5:00 P.M. 7 hours till midnight.
He read his book (Divergent) for another hour. 6 more hours.
Colton sat at his computer and had a furious argument with an online person he didn't know for half an hour, then played some scary games.
"Colton!"
"Yeah mom?" Colton responded over the sound of Slender's static.
"Dinner in an hour, okay?"
"Kay!" responded Colton, then he turned back to his game.
5 hours left.
At dinner, Colton again found that the food smelled horrible. This time, he absolutely refused to eat anything.
"Suit yourself," said Colton's dad, heartily eating his Chicken Alfredo.
4 hours.
8 o' clock.
Nearly time.
Colton guessed that it would take about 15 minutes to walk to the forest from his house. He spent a while packing things he would need: trail mix, flashlight, pocket knife.
Colton didn't realize that time had passed extremely fast while he was packing. Soon it was 10:00.
"Woah," Colton said. "Time's going faster now. Wonder why?"
But Colton wasn't complaining. He watched a movie on his computer, and then it was time.
11:45.
Colton opened his window and squeezed outside. He flipped on his flashlight. He began to walk down the dark street.
He was starting to wish he hadn't played Slender a few hours before his midnight wandering through town.
In 10 minutes he reached the edge of the forest. Now he was REALLY wishing he hadn't played Slender. He gathered his courage and stepped in.
It was extremely dark. Even with his flashlight, he could hardly see 15 feet in front of him. He walked down the path, trying only to look straight in front of him.
Eventually he came to a fork in the path. He took the right, hoping beyond hope he didn't spot some kind of page on a tree of something.
After two minutes, Colton began smelling something.
"Ew," he said aloud. "That wreaks!"
He looked down the path and jumped. Then he realized all he had seen was a skunk.
"Ugh!" He said. "Go away, stinky animal! Shoo!"
Without warning, the skunk walked toward him. "No! Stop!" Colton said. When the skunk was only a few feet away from him, it turned and sprayed.
"AAGH!" Colton cried, shielding his eyes. "What the heck?!?"
The skunk bounded off into the bushes. Colton opened his eyes, his nose stinging with the smell.
He noticed that the flashlight was beginning to get harder to hold. "What?" Colton said, he looked down and what he saw made him drop the flashlight.
His fingers were shortening, growing shiny black fur and claws. The fur started growing up his arm as well.
"No, no no!" Colton said as the same happened on his other hand. Colton quickly tore his clothes off with his new claws and watched as his body shrunk to one foot tall.
Colton shrieked in pain as his heels snapped and popped, and he fell onto all fours. His feet twisted and contorted into paws, black fur covering them as well.
The fur started growing out of his chest. He was beginning to get stuffy with all the fur on him.
Colton felt his spine extend, and he looked to find a tail making its way out of his rear. He felt something growing inside of him, a mechanism for spraying.
"I'm... Turning into a skunk-" Colton was cut off by fur sprouting out of his back and face. His spine snapped so it would be easier to walk on all fours. His face was covered in fur, and a white stripe of fur grew out of Colton's back and spread down to the top of his tail.
Colton groaned as his face stretched, his nose blackening, into a muzzle of a skunk. The irises and whites of his eyes turned black.
Although the physical part of the transformation was complete, Colten felt something else inside his brain.
<Welcome to the new you, darling,> it said. <You will make a good husband.>
The skunk that sprayed Colton walked out of the bushes. Colton began to feel his mental capacity diminishing. "No..." he muttered, before his mind was taken over.
<Good husband,> the voice said. Colton squeaked. He walked toward the skunk and followed her into the night, leaving his flashlight on and his trail mix littering the forest floor.
*END*
