User:Kenani/The Girl of His Dreams

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The Girl of His Dreams

Author: Kenani
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Spells R Us story universe
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Works by Kenani on Shifti

Alan let out an exhausted sigh as he sat down on the shiny metal mall bench. He'd spent the entire day looking for something, anything that would impress Tabitha, the girl of his dreams. But he found nothing that could possibly bridge the gap between the pretty, popular girl and the cliqueless loser that he was. She would probably go out with one of those musclebound jocks that already had facial hair, and he didn't even want to think about who he would get stuck with. And yet, he needed her. Her golden blond hair, the harp-like tinkle in her voice, and the glimmer in her emerald-green eyes, that were recently in constant tears from the "death of a loved one," all called out to him in a way he couldn't describe with any simile. Even when he immersed himself in the books or video-games that provided a brief respite from his pathetic life of drudgery, he found his thoughts switching back to Tabitha.

But even after he tried his scouring, he didn't even know what kind of thing he should get. Hell, the only thing he was sure of about her personality (even though he had heard gossip that she was just as nice as anyone and that her popularity had never gone to her head) was that she liked dogs! He was just ready to pack up and go when he saw a store that had never been there before, a very curious curio shop called Spells R Us that couldn't possibly be new, but had never been there before. Against his better judgment, he decided to give it a try.

The moment Alan stepped inside, he furrowed his brow at the smell. In was decidedly old and musty, like an old library of parchment. He glanced to his left, and discovered that that's exactly what the smell was: a collection of old, yet well-polished, leather-bound parchment... spell books? This is probably a store for kitschy illusionists, Alan realized in dismay. Still, it's worth a try. In another corner of the store, there were dozens of incredibly realistic costumes, mainly of animals and mythical creatures, with possibly hundreds more masks (all just as frighteningly realistic). There was also a good section devoted to all manner of talismans, amulets, gems, jewels, necklaces, bracelets, rings, brooches, charms, trinkets, and other curios. They glinted in the light of the fluorescent bulb. Well, at least that's not trying to be magic, thought Alan to himself, grinning at the anachronism in spite of himself. He even saw an area with cages inhabited by owls, frogs, and maybe even a cat or two. They looked like they had been taken care of remarkably well, with glossy coats and feathers. Maybe they have a dog! At this thought, Alan rushed over to the desk, brushed over an emerald eye-shaped talisman he swore was blinking, and rang the bell. Like magic, a gnarled old man with white hair and an oddly ordinary suit instantly appeared in front of him.

"Hello, Alan! Welcome to my store!" he exclaimed in a singsong voice.

"Uh... how, uh, did you-" Alan stammered before being interrupted.

"I know your name because I'm a wizard."

"Whoah. Uh, did you, um, read my mind to know, er, what I was saying?"

The so-called wizard sighed. "Nope. Just used to people saying that. Now let's see. You want Tabitha to love you, but you think that could never possibly be."

"I'm not even going to ask. Yes, you're right."

"And the only thing you know about her is that..."

"She loves dogs. Adores them."

"Very well, I think I have something for you, young man. At midnight tonight, go to Tabitha's house and chant your name three times and her name three times, with this amulet in the hand you write with. After that, I'll give you your money back if she doesn't love you, and you her."

Alan had been scurrying to write down all of these directions, so he was rather dismayed when the shopkeeper plopped down the amulet on his piece of paper. It wasn't gold, but looked awfully like it. Bronze, maybe, or pyrite. There were lots of swirling and curving patterns, and he thought he just might be able to make out the shape of a dog.

"Thanks a lot, sir," Alan said. "How much?"

"Oh, I couldn't possibly charge true love."

"Didn't you say I'd get my money back if-"

"Forget that. I'll give you a gift certificate."

"Fine, bye," Alan said as he trotted out the door. When he looked back, the storefront was empty. Odd.

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Getting to Tabitha's house was easy enough, because it was only a couple of blocks away from his. It was also easy to sneak out, because his parents went to sleep early. That just left the ritual. He approached the house, which was bigger and in better condition than his. Probably because it belonged to a richer family. As he got closer, he heard sobbing from an upstairs window and with a a gasp remembered that Tabitha's own dog had died recently. That just means she'll need someone else to love, thought Alan optimistically.

His watch beeped out midnight. Alan took a deep breath, grabbed the amulet from his pocket, and chanted out, "Alan, Alan, Alan, Tabitha, Tabitha, Tabitha." The changes began almost immediately.

He began to feel itchy all over, and when he tried to scratch his arms moved in odd ways. Frustrated, he looked at an itchy spot on his arm and let out a frighteningly canine yelp. His own hair was lengthening into yellow fur, and his... paws? His fingers grew shorter and his thumbs longer as his nails grew into brown claws. He could no longer hold the amulet, and it dropped to the flor. The arm itself began to rearrange itself; it grew longer as its joints switched their positions. A similar change happened in his legs, although they grew shorter. Alan grew even more frightened as his chest compressed and a tail grew from the base of his spine, a very odd feeling. He let out another yelp. As soon as he did, his face pushed out into a muzzle. His teeth sharpened, his nose grew wet, and his ears moved up and grew longer. All the while, the itchiness of his fur grew while his clothes felt strangely loose. He looked up to the house and was startled to find that it was much larger than before.

Alan suddenly flopped down to all fours, in this case meaning his four new legs, as the house grew even taller and his clothes looser. He decided that, having fur, he no longer needed them, and he squirmed out of the shirt that now hung around him like a circus tent. His eyes changed color, and so did the world. But his great hearing incredible new sense of smell more than made up for it. Not only could he smell everything imaginable, he also somehow knew in the back of his mind what those smells meant. For example, he could now smell the warm scent that screamed out "Female human," mixed with the wet, salty tang of tears. Tabitha! He couldn't help but let out a yip, and realized that he was a puppy. His long ears heard the sound of clumsy human feet running down the stairs, and he knew she heard him. He yipped again, the sound coming naturally, and she rushed outside. Her eyes lit up the moment she saw the new puppy.

"Oh my gawd! Do you want to be my new puppy, boy?" Alan did his best to nod his head.

"That's so adorable! It's like you think you're a person!" She picked him up in her gigantic hands and Alan tried to say, "I am a real person, I'm Alan from school!" However, his throat could not form the words and, by the end of the sentence, neither could his brain. He just simply forgot what they meant. Alan? Just human noises. Alan's own memories began to slip out of his head and were instantly replaced by a recollection of the warm, sweet milk of his mother's teats, with his siblings squirming around him. Instincts took over human knowledge. A cloudiness spread through Alan's mind, and soon Alan would be gone, replaced with the puppy.

"You're a smart puppy, aren't you? Trying to talk. Come on, you'll sleep with me tonight. I'll show you to my parents tomorrow." Pa-rents? To-mor-row? The noises meant nothing to the puppy, but the voice had care and tenderness in it. The human's smell brought the puppy comfort. This human was his master. He wanted to be with her. He instinctively loved her, and knew that she loved him back. A final human thought broke out of the cloudiness before fading away. I guess that amulet worked. Tabitha finally loves me... were his final musings before all knowledge of past humanity vanished and left behind a confused and sleepy puppy.

Alan's clothes faded away, and the amulet shimmered and reappeared in the store. The old man smiled and knew that the job had been done, and watched as the dog motif shifted itself into what looked like a dolphin for his next customer.

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The moment Tabitha stepped into school the next Monday, everyone noticed how different she looked from the sullen, moping girl she had been on Friday. She was cheerful and smiling, even though her designer clothes had yellow fur in them. Soon (she was a maestro of gossip), all of her friends knew that she'd had the unbelievably good luck of finding an adorable new puppy right in front of her house to replace the dog that had died last week. She was so devoted to her new pet that her chattering about how wonderful it was eclipsed gossip about the hot quarterback or the new dolphin at the zoo until fourth period.

Meanwhile, the puppy that was now named Lucky (though he didn't know it) energetically anticipated his Master's return from the Place-Beyond-Senses. He occupied himself with wrestling the pillow, eager to be with the human that even in his canine mind was the girl of his dreams.