The Day I Turned Into A Dog

My name is Lucas Syadgod. I am 12 years old. I had blue eyes and crazy blonde hair that was usually hidden under my lucky red hat. Most people say I was short for my age, but it didn't really faze me.

I was on summer vacation which would've normally been great except that I was bored out of my mind! It was really sad. The only two kids my age went away for summer vacation and camp. My block is 90% adults. We do have a lot of stray dogs roaming around, but they are never interested in me. There is one creepy house at the end of the block. The house belongs to Mr. Cigam, he's 74 years old and he lives alone. He is never seen without a wooden staff with weird symbols carved into it. When I was about 6 or 7 years old I was playing on his lawn. I remember he came out of his house with the staff and pointed it at me. He was yelling at me to get off of his property. I've hated him ever since. He almost never leaves his house unless he needs to go grocery shopping which is once every two weeks.  Mr. Cigam is rumored to be a wizard.

But he wasn't the worst part, no the worst part was the only other boy left in my neighborhood was Skid.

My next-door neighbor, John Skidder, is 15 years old and everyone calls him Skid. In the two weeks I've been out of school he's tortured me every single day. Since he's older than me he thinks he can just bully me whenever he wants. He has hit me below the belt with a soccer ball, put mustard in my shoes, and even dug a pitfall trap full of mud and got my lucky hat filthy. I HATED the guy. You see, my mom and his mom have been friends since college, and she expects us to get along.

One day after my mom had left to visit a friend in the hospital and my dad left to go on a buisness trip, I was watching TV in my room when a small stone clonked me on the head.

"Ouch!"

I turn to the window and Skid was outside my window holding a big rock.

"Good, I was going to throw this at your fat head if you didn't turn around."

He smirked and threw the big rock and broke one of my mom's garden gnomes.

"What do you want?" I asked him in an annoyed tone.

"Well," he said, "I've been thinking and I want to give you a chance."

"A chance at what?" I asked curiously. "A chance to prove you're cool Syadgod," was his response.

"I want you to follow me to the old man's house. He's getting ready to leave to go grocery shopping. Meet me in 2 minutes. If you succeed, you'll prove that you're cool and I'll let you hang with me, got it? Okay, get ready now!" he said and left my window. I sighed and looked at the clock. It was 11:58. I really didn't want to get involved in anything that had Skid written all over it, but I agreed I would meet him.

It was 12:00. Mr. Cigam had left to go grocery shopping. I grabbed my lucky cap and went outside to meet Skid for my dare. Skid took me to Mr. Cigam's house.

"Okay, Goddy," instructed Skid, "All you gotta to do is break inside the old man's house and plant this mild explosive in his room."

He held up a firecracker with a timer on it. Before I could say another word, Skid continued.

"If the old man comes back, I'll stall him. If you succeed, you get fifty bucks and you prove once and for all that you're cool enough for quality respect, got it Lucas?"

I nodded. That was the first time he had called me Lucas in ages. I was so happy that I couldn't refuse. Well, I really didn't have a choice, I really wanted him to stop bullying me, and the fifty dollars would help me get an official NFL leather-back, autographed football. I've been saving for one since I was 10 years old.

I climbed through the open window holding the firecracker and took one last look at Skid. He gave me a thumbs-up. I stepped into the living room.

"Weird," I said to myself. "It looks as if no one has lived here for years."

The room was full of cobwebs and covered with a thick blanket of dust. I sneezed and then I proceeded up the staircase to his bedroom.  I carefully opened the door to his bedroom. There was his bed, a bookshelf, a dusty mirror and a desk covered with drawings of weird symbols.

I was feeling guilty. I sat on his bed and mumbled, "Great, here I am breaking into some creepy man's house just to impress the guy I hate."

I thought of all the times he had tortured me and I decided to head back. I threw the firecracker outside. Right now I really didn't care if he bullied me. I jumped to the floor and stepped on a hidden switch. Suddenly, the bookcase slid to the left. I peered inside and saw Mr. Cigam's staff, resting against the wall.  

After I listened to make sure nobody was home, I picked the staff up with one hand. It felt warm and comfortable. My thumb brushed against one of the symbols and it started to glow. Curious, I touched all of the symbols until all of them glowed in different colors. It was magical.

All of the sudden there was a blinding flash of light and the symbols began to glow brighter. I dropped the staff and at once I began to feel weird changes happening to me.

First I felt really hot. I quickly removed my shirt, socks, shorts and shoes without a second thought. I stumbled out of the room and stared at myself in the mirror. Thick golden hair started to sprout from my skin. Within seconds, I was in my underwear with my body covered with gold fur. My hat fell off and I saw that my hair turned into fur as well. Then my body shrunk and I dropped on all fours. I watched in disbelief as my face extended into a muzzle and my nose became short, stubby, wet and black. My teeth became pointier and my tongue grew long and thin. My ears became long and flat too. Then my hands and feet became paws with padding on the bottom. My fingernails and toenails also grew. I then felt something growing out from above my behind. My spine extended and I heard a ripping sound and saw my torn underpants fall to the floor along with my other clothes. I turned my head and gasped at the sight of a big furry tail growing from my rear. I tried to scream but all that came out of my mouth was a howl. I then tried to say, "What happened?" but that only came out as a bark. I started at the golden retriever that was me in the mirror in amazement. I didn't want to believe it, I wanted it to all be a crazy dream, but it happened! That magical staff had turned me into a dog!

It was unlike anything I had experienced before. I still had my human brain, but now I walked on all fours and I couldn't see red or green. I was panting uncontrollably. My smelling was enhanced and I smelt everything from the fabric softener in the bed to the coffee on the desk. My hearing was also enhanced and I heard the mice crawling in the walls and the wind gusting. I was sniffing my clothes when my stomach gurgled violently. Oh No.

How was I supposed to go to the bathroom as a dog? I trotted to the bathroom and stared at the toilet which was bigger than me. I leaped onto the seat and just as I squatted with my hind legs to go, I slipped and fell in.

I climbed out dripping wet, totally grossed out and still needing to go. I shook off the water and then I heard the front door open. It was Mr. Cigam! I forgot I had to bail! I ran back into his room wondering what happened to Skid. Probably bailed on me like jerk! I thought angrily. I desperately tried to find an open window when he walked in. He looked at the pile of clothing and my new dog body and smiled.

"What have you done to me!?" I tried to yell, but all that came out of my mouth was a series of barks. "Nothing," he said as if he could understand me.

"You were the one who interrupted my magic staff's slumber," he proclaimed as calmly as anyone could get. He raised the staff, mumbled a few words and a brilliant flash of light shone. After the light faded, Mr. Cigam smiled and said. "Now you're stuck as a dog for the rest of you're life."

As soon as Mr. Cigam kicked me out of his house, I turned around and mooned him doggy style by shaking my butt and my tail. Then I squatted on his grass and took a massive dump on his precious lawn just to spite him. I found out that that flash of light not only turned me into a dog forever, but it cast a spell on my family so that it was as if I was never born. When looked though my bedroom window, I saw that it had become a guest room. I also saw the family portrait hanging on the wall only showed my mom and my dad. I also found out why there are never any kids on my block. Just like me they too were turned into dogs when they did something that angered Mr. Cigam.

After a while I made friends with a boy named Mike who was turned into German Sheppard when he egged Mr. Cigam's house on Halloween and a girl named Gina who was turned into a Border Collie for accidentally breaking his window with her Frisbee. The three of us became a group and we stuck together.

Three months later we were walking in the park when we saw a Doberman Pinscher alone, crying. I knew the dog was a human because dogs can't cry tears. Unlike most dogs, I tried to keep the butt sniffing to a minimum when I met a new dog. As I walked up to him I noticed something was very familiar about his face.

"Hello," I barked in dog. "What's your name?" He looked at me and murmured, "Skid."

"SKID!?" I jumped back in surprise with Mike and Gina staring at me.

"Skid, it's me, Lucas." I barked.

He stared at me dumbfounded. "Who? I don't know any Lucas."

I remembered Mr. Cigam's spell and realized that Skid can't remember bullying me. I wanted to make him pay but, I felt bad for him.

He continued to cry "It was just a harmless prank. I don't want to be a dog for the rest of my life." he said.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it, want to join our group?" I held out my paw. He looked at me and smiled in a dog way.

It was me, Skid, Mike and Gina who roamed the streets as dogs. I showed Skid how fun it was being a dog (he especially loved pooping on Mr. Cigam's lawn). After a while, he finally accepted his doggy hood. We're happy and you know what they say, today's youth is really going to the dogs!