The warehouse

The old warehouse stood silently on the outskirts of the small town. It had been vacant for years. It was an accolade to simpler times and to a different era. It stood on a vacant lot, surrounded by tree’s. It’s windows long since boarded up. There were rumors about the warehouse. Some people thought it was cursed. A child that had disappeared a year ago was rumored to have been snooping around it, and everyone blamed the curse for her disappearing. His parents were mysteriously silent, and some suspected foul play, but no one could ever prove it. Most people were afraid of going anywhere near the warehouse, so it stood there, untouched.

Ian and Simon were brothers. Summer was coming to and end. This year, Ian would be starting high school. They had always stayed away from the warehouse, as their parents had warned them on multiple occasions that it was cursed. Ian was 14 years old, and Simon was 16. Like many other teenagers their age, they felt that bad things ‘only happened to the other guy’. Today they planed to act on that feeling and were going to explore the hold warehouse, to see the truth about it. They never really believed that it was cursed and wanted to prove it to everyone. The town was not large so it didn’t take them long to walk to the site of the warehouse.

The old parking lot in front of the warehouse was cracked and it’s lines faded. Weeds grew threw most of the cracks. There was creepy silence in the area. Ian turned to Simon.

“This is really creepy. Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked.

“Don’t let all those stories scare you! It’ll be fun” Simon responded. Ian seemed convinced by this, and the two of them walked slowly across the parking lot and towards the building. There didn’t seem to be a definite way into it, so they walked all around it until they came to a loose board that was over a door. The two of them pulled on it as hard as they could until it came off. Simon expected the door to be locked, so was surprised when it opened right away upon turning the handle.

“Cool! It’s unlocked! Common, let go.” he said. They were both a bit nervous, but they wanted to prove to people that this was just a normal abandoned building and that it wasn’t cursed. It was very dark inside, and everything was covered in a thick layer of dust. They walked through the building, looking at everything in it. In some of the old offices they even found old records. If everything hadn’t of been so dark and dirty, it would have been like a museum. Nearly an hour passed without incident, and they had explored most of the warehouse when it began. It started with Simon.

“Simon! Your face!” Ian said, sounding terrified.

“What about my face?” Simon responded. Ian looked at Simon’s face, black fur had grown around his eyes, and brown fur was growing elsewhere. His nose and mouth looked a bit strange, they seemed to be pushing out.

“Ian, you looked shocked? What’s wrong with my face? Is there a spider on it? Did I cut myself?”, as he was asking his face continued to pull out into a muzzle, while his ears starting moving towards the top of his head. The fur on his face continued growing until it was a thick pelt.

“Ian! What wrong? You looked scared to death? I must have hit my head and am bleeding or something aren’t I?”. Terrified, Ian responded

“Not exactly”.

“Then what is it?” Simon asked, as his muzzle finished growing, with whiskers growing out from it, and his nose beginning to twitch. His ears had finished moving to the top of his head and were move a rounded pointed shape and were furry.

“I… think the curse is real” Ian said, as he reached out and touched the fur on Simmons face. Started by the feeling of Ian’s hand touching fur, Simon reached his hands up, and felt his face, feeling his muzzle, and his ears.

“What’s going on? What does my face look like?” he asked, now sounding very scared.

“It looks like a raccoons face!” Ian responded. Again feeling his face, Simon looked at his hands which were starting to feel odd.

“My hands!” he said, was he watched them change shape, the tops of them growing fur, while his fingers tips elongated into claws.

“No!” he said, as he watched his thumb change shape, and his hands change so that instead of 4 fingers and a thumb on each hand, he now he 5 long and nimbler fingers, each with a sharp claw on the tip. As he looked at his hands, which were now much like paws, he saw Ian’s face. Ian was started to feel his face.

“Oh my god! It’s happening to me too isn’t it?” he said. Simon nodded his head in acknowledgement as he watched fur grow on his brothers face, and a muzzle start to push it’s way out while his ears moved to the top of his head. His arm’s starting to itch and feel very uncomfortable, Simon looked down to see that fur was growing on them.

“Oh my god, it’s spreading” he said. Looking at Ian, he saw that Ian’s face, like his was that of a raccoon and not of a human. If it wasn’t for his own discomfort and terror over what was happening to him, he would have comforted his brother. As Simon watched the fur on his arms get thicker and thicker he heard the sounds of his brothers voice, now sounding even more urgent.

“Um Simon? I think your shrinking!”. Ian was right, he was shrinking, and his shirt and pants now seemed at least 2 sizes to big for him. Before he had been slightly taller then Ian, but now the top of his head barley met Ian’s shoulders. The fur on his arms completed its growth and it started spreading towards his chest. Looking at Ian, he could see that Ian’s hands were now paws, just like his and that he was showing signs of fur growth on his arms. His chest started to itch like mad as the fur growth spread across it.

“Looks like the curse is real” Ian said, as he watched Simon scratching his chest. Simon tried to respond, but was shocked when he tried to speak and could only make animal sounds. The itching on his chest seemed to dissipate, and he was starting to feel very warm. Feeling his legs start to itch, he felt a tingling and pulling at the base of his spine. He was still shrinking. His shirt was now big enough to cover his entire body and he was now only half Ian’s size. His pants had since fallen down his legs and he was able to feel that he was growing a tail. Trying again to say something to his brother, he could only make raccoon sounds. Ian was not far behind him, he too had started to shrink, and his fur growth had since spread to his chest and was progressing quickly. Simon had finally shrunk so much that he ‘fell into’ his clothes. This made it impossible to see what was happening to Ian. His own changes had spread all the way down to his feet, the fur on his legs quickly growing and his feet starting to change. His feet grew light fur on top and a claw grew from each nail. He could hear his bones starting to change shape, hearing several snaps he was worried that his entire bone structure was falling apart. Hearing the sounds of a raccoons distress call, he realized that the same thing was likley happened to Ian. Simon’s bones continued to shift and his body changed into a four footed position. Feeling very uncomfortable standing on two feet, he adjusted to all fours, something which was now much more comfortable and easy. The snapping sounds stopped and he seemed to have stopped shrinking. Managing to climb out of his clothes, he stood on top of them.

Ian had since shrunk into his clothes, so Simon couldn’t see him changing. Standing on his hind legs. he looked himself over. As best as he could tell, his body had been completely changed. He sniffed the air. He was able to smell smells that he had no idea existed, and could hear sounds loud and clear that before were mere whispers. He was able to hear Ian’s bones changing shape, and he could tell that his changes were nearing completion. Simon became aware of a scent, a strange scent. It didn’t take him long to realize that this was his own scent. It wasn’t offensive or good but more neutral. His new sense of smell was going to take some getting used too. Seeing movement under Ian’s clothes he watched as a raccoon climbed out from under them and stood on top of them. Almost instinctively he sniffed the air to get the raccoons scent, he immediately recognized it as Ian. Warbling, he ran up to him.

“Wait a second! I understood that!” Ian warbled. Simon could understand Ian’s warbling.

“I understand you too!” he warbled. As Simon approached Ian, Ian sniffed him instinctively.

“So what are we supposed to do now?” Ian asked.

“I guess we find our way out of here and go home”. Touching the fur on Simon belly, Ian touched his own belly fur and warbled

“This is going to take some explaining”. The 2 raccoons walked together, managed to find the entrance to the warehouse that they had entered from.

Walking outside, they both were nearly overwhelmed by the smells they were now able to smell for the first time, and by the feel of the warm air on their fur. The stood there for nearly 10 minutes simply experiencing it. Finally snapping out of, Simon tapped Ian and warbled

“common we have to get home before we end up losing ourselves to these bodies”.

“Your right, lets go.” Ian responded.

The trip home took significantly longer as raccoons then it did as humans, but they eventually made it.

“This is it bro, how are we going to do this. They won’t be able to understand us” Simon said.

“I have an idea” Ian said. The 2 raccoons pawed at the screen door of their house, warbling as loud as they could. Their mother came to the door, trying to figure out what the racket was.

“Raccoons? Shoo!”. They persisted, and as their mother was starting to look angry, Ian stood his hind legs. Holding his left paw out, he circled one of the fingers on his right paw, indicating he wanted something to write with. Seeing his brother doing this, Simon did the same thing.

“You want a pad and paper?” their mother asked. The two coons nodded their heads.

“That’s a new one on me!” their mother said. She walked to the kitchen and grabbed a pen and a small pad. Walking back to the door, she carefully opened it enough to throw out the pad, but not enough for either Ian or Simon to get in.

“So what are you trying to tell me?” she asked them. She wasn’t expecting a response. She was amazed when she saw one of the raccoons pick up the pad and put it on the ground, then as best as he could write something on the paper. He finished what he was writing and ripped the note from the pad and handed it to her when she opened the door enough to retrieve it. It was hard to make out, but she was able to read it as

“Mom, it’s us, Ian and Simon. We went to the warehouse, and it did this to us. Help us!”. Looking at the 2 raccoons, she said

“Ian? Simon?” They each nodded as she said their names. Standing on their hind legs, they reached their paws out. Finally she opened the door and walked out. Kneeling down she let each raccoon stick it’s paws on one of her hands, Simon on her right hand and Ian on her left.

“What did I tell you two about going to there? I told you about that 8 year old that vanished a couple of years ago there. I guess you know what happened to her now.” Standing up, she opened the door and let the 2 raccoons in the house.

“I’m going to call the kids parents, as they can explain to you as they know the whole story. I’d better also call your father to let him know we know have 2 pet raccoons”.

20 minutes later, a man and woman came to the door. The woman was holding a raccoon, that was slightly smaller then Simon or Ian were. When they got in, she put the raccoon on the floor and it immediately ran to Ian and Simon. It started to warble

“Hi, I’m Tammy! I hear you guys went to the warehouse just like I did. Don’t worry you’ll be happy like this, I have been, and guess what? We still get to live as long as we would have as humans.”. Tammy’s parents, who had been talking to Simon and Ian’s parents (his dad having had come home once he heard the news) heard all the warbling and saw that Tammy was explaining the situation to Simon and Ian.

“Looks like she’s telling them what they need to know”, Tammy's dad said. Tammy continued to speak to Ian and Simon.

“Don’t worry, you’ll still remember everything and you won’t lose any intelligence. So wana play?”. Ian and Simon had found that they were starting to feel more playful even since seeing Tammy, perhaps seeing another like that had made them feel more at peace with what had happened to them. The 4 parents, continued to talk as they saw the 3 raccoons happily warble and go running outside”. Getting up everyone watched them playing in the backyard, having a great time. Seeing their two now raccoon sons playing calmed Simon and Ian’s parents down a bit. Turning to their mother, their dad said

“Well think of it this way, at least we won’t have to worry about how were going to put them though college anymore”. The 4 all laughed, as they watched the 3 raccoons play.