Fish Transformation Concept

A short story by Fern

VeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEOOOWWwwwww...~! An airplane screeches overhead as it passes by the scenic wilderness below its massive, pearl-white hull. It would be no surprise if that plane was planning to land in the state, and some of the passagers are planning to explore that very forest below. A stray canine child takes a peak out of the window in boredom, his chin propped up on his hand that is propped up on an elbow. His green eyes lazily gaze upon the distant mountain range. Their ancient, rockbound bodies stand proud forevermore with their white caps of powdery snow that is as white as the plane. It too gives a gaze; a gaze over its land of vast forests of various tress mostly consisting of pines. The child only gives a lackluster sigh in respond to the majestic sight of the outdoors, his eyes fixed in their lack of interest. If he is spoiled by more explosive sights, he will probably have the same feelings and the same disinterested face when waiting inattentively at a campsite while his parents babble with other campers.

VeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEOOOWWwwwww...~! The plane screeches again over a wilderness campground. A feline park ranger grumbles at the deafening shriek about he wishes the planes can just fly a little higher off the ground. His pointed ears can pick up too much of the outcry, so it gives him terrible headaches sometimes. He continues to complain under his breath as he tends back to his duties, checking all campsites to see if they had broken any of the site's rules just as he had been for the past twenty years on duty.

The campground is a very small site. It only consists of two roads that are close to each other, both which obvious show their wear and tear from loosened gravel, skid marks, and faded yellow paint. One road leads to the parking lot. It's pretty cramped and very simplistic in terms of keeping it in order. There is a small wooden stake with a rusty metal box attached to it. There's empty envolopes in a pouch on the box where the vistors insert their fee, write down their car information, and insert the envolope in the slot on top of the box. A bulletion board is perched up at one side of the parking lot as well. However, it is apparent that not only people don't bother to read it, the staff doesn't bother to update it. There are news posts up there that are almost seven years old. Its "newest" announcement is a two year old advertisement on a hotline to report discrimation that was caused by the park staff. Finally, there rests one of the places for two conjointed outhouses. Inside is a decomposing toliet where the "finished business" of the users slowly compile into a big, "healthy" pile of manure to keep the trees in shape. It's also the ideal place for flies as there's always at least two or three buzzing around in there, probably tring to find the source of that rancid smell. Most of the time the smell lingers. Nevertheless, it intensifies in putridness at certain times, so it catches most of the amateur campers off-guard.

The other road leads up to the campsite. It's a very crowded campsite as it is designed for the campers to be next to each other like neighbors. At the moment there are a variety of RVs and tents crammed side-to-side as the vistors do either their daily chores or just lay around doing nothing. Many of them are starting up their grills as they get out a variety of raw and juicy meat by-products straight from the packaging. Fresh charcol starts to burn and fill the air as a small simmering blur can be seen above the stove.

At the campsite there's a billboard that displays a hiking trail that the campers can try to get a bit of excerize. The route is great for beginners and it gives wonderful sights of the river, especially from the cliffsides. On this trail, there are two brown rabbits who are wonderful siblings to each other. The taller and older rabbit seems to be quite fit as if he does walking excerizes quite often. He was forced to go on this little trail with his brother, so his parents can finally "relax" together in the RV. He has a sturdy, lean build with a pair of tan cargo shorts, a simple brown belt, a red t-shirt, and a red baseball cap. Overall, his attire is quite plain. The younger of the two is an eager preteen who idolizes his older brother. Compared to the rest of his friends, he's quite thin as he doesn't show that protuding pot belly that's a sign of a lack of excerize. He also has on a pair of cargo shorts and a blue tee that has a picture of a snowboarding white rabbit on it. The rabbit in the logo is halfway done of finishing a frontside barrel roll, giving a piece sign at the viewer as he stares in excitement with an open smile. Both brothers just finished the three-quarters point on the trail when they decided to take a rest to have a drink of "fresh" bottled water before continuing.

"Pfffft," the older one spat out. The mineral, filtered water got lukewarm.

"Yeech," the younger one reacted to the taste, but he swallows the water anyway.

The more shapely one stands up and starts to get near the cliff edge, attempting to climb down the cliff to get some fresh water from the river.

"What are you doing, big brother," the little one asks. "Didn't mom say to stay on the trail?"

"I've been hiking much longer than you, Donald. I've even climbed walls before. I think I know what I am doing. I'm just going to refill my bottle with some real spring water and then climb back up."

The older one carefully places his foot on a strudy piece of rock as he slowly slides his other foot to another stable piece of rock that's lower than the first. So far, he seems careful enough as he crawls down the cliff. His little brother watches from above worried about his safety, but also dazzled by how much of a better climber he is than him.

However, the assument on his face fades when he sees his older sibling start to slip off...

"Brother," he cries out as he watches his brother splash into the deep river! Disregarding bring anything but the backpack on his back, he sprints down the dirt road. He remembs there's a part in the hike that's low and close to the river that's somewhat shallow. Sliding down a slope, he lands next to the flat shore as he carefully walks in the shallow part of the water. He looks far down the stream to catch something splashing in the water. In horror, he realizes the splashes are less frequent as the spot suddenly becomes silent. His brother cannot swim. He would have been able to handle a more calm body of water due to him being in better-than-average shape, but most of the river's currents are intense. He felt drained in no more than a couple of minutes as he goes under. He loses his sense of direction in sheer panic as he flails about in the water. His lungs already feel as if they're burning as he forgot to take a full breath of air before being pulled in the depths.

His brother keeps trying to spot his brother as he pulls a piece of strudy, wool rope out of his backpack. However, even though the brother's struggles do ripple the surface of the water, it is just too gentle to be noticed from the natural, tiny waves created by the current.

The young rabbit starts to shiver and weep. He cannot find him. What if he already went past him? He starts to get on his knees and pray. "Please... don't let my brother die over a stupid mistake," he began. "I want him to have a good life before he has to go. Please don't let him drown!"

No one is sure what happened that day. Maybe a deity answered the boy's plea or maybe something in the space-time continuum went wonky. In any case, his wish would soon be fulfilled, but not in the way he was expecting.

The poor sibling was already seeming to fade, befere he felt a "breath." However, he didn't move a single muscle in his mouth, yet he feels his thoat pulsate with life, barely hanging on. He occasionally blinks his eyes open, barely trying to register what kind of a position he is in. He feels his shorts float away. "That's odd," he thoughtfully noticed. "I was sure I tightened it with a belt."

The bubble that seem to come out of his mouth seem to slow into a hyponotic pace. Each one slowly rising and occasional popping. The water feels more natural to his legs. It almost feels like he shaved, yet he doesn't feel that shivering feeling when cold water touches the sensitive skin underneath his fur. In fact, the tempature of the water feels almost quite right for him.

Suddenly he feels a strong yank and his gills start to burn fron the fresh air above the water! He squirms around in his shirt as one of his eyes catches a disorted image of his younger brother who's actually looking down at him! He gasps at his brother in pure confusion as he flaps his... tail? A tail! His legs are gone! They seemed to have melded with his tail and now that is his only lower limb!

His brother stared baffled. He saw something slightly wiggling in the shirt that was passing, so he snatched it. It looks like it is just a fish, but he never saw his brother lose his clothe before going under. What reason would there be to take off his shirt before drowning? How can there just be a single fish here all alone without other fish swimming along? It makes no sense unless his brother... is the fish? Although not exactly as he wanted, was his wish granted?

A tubby father begins to soak the coal in kerosine as he sees his younger son return home from the trail. He dons a "classic" white apron with the words "KISS THE COOK" printed on the front.

The young rabbit seems to be timid about something as he gulps. As he sees the stove start to burn up in a fresh flame. He starts to shake a bit as if he's worried about something being served on the grill...

His dad seems to be only paying attention to the grill at the moment. The young one takes his time to take out a fish that's currently in a small bag. He just got him from the river nearby the start of the hike, so he wouldn't be too deprived of oxygen.

"Dad," he started to say. "You know how I always wanted a pet...?"

2009 © Fern (Pen name.)