You and Steve run as fast as you can. Maybe if you leave the carnival, the spell will be broken.
It's getting more difficult to run. Your feet are hard and swollen. You're changing at an agonizingly slow rate. You feel your ears begin to itch. They're growing, you know it. You don't have time to check, you have to get out of there. Steve is babbling, he is losing control.
"Hee haw, heeeauh, heeeeehaaawww..."
Idon'twanttobeadonkey.Idon'twanttobeananimal.Idon'twanttobeadonkey.
You feel the same way. Finally you reach the exit. Once you pass it though, the change still persists. Something is moving through your pants. A TAIL! You have a tail.
I'madonkey.I'mafuckingdonkey.I'mastupidmangydonkey.
Steve's babbling is almost incoherent.
"HEEAAW!" you scream. Though you were trying to say 'shut up.'
You burn all over. Your clothes are too tight. Tear them off before it's too late! In seconds you both are running naked down the lonely forest road. You look at Steve. His body is growing hair all over. He is stooping over. Oh no! He is running on all fours! You have to stay upright, no matter what. Steve looks at you pitifully. His face is almost done changing. The face of your best friend becomes the face of a common animal. Almost unnoticed, a car full of college students passes you. It honks and its occupents lean out the window to greet you.
"Shake it baby!" a girl screams.
"You rule man!" a guy screams.
What did that mean? Can't they see that you are in pain? Run. That is the only thought in your head. The change is almost complete. Your stomach is covered in brown hair. Your hands are hooves. You can't go on to all fours. You can't. But you do. It is impossible to resist. You look at what used to be Steve. The donkey brays sorrowfully.
What are we gonna do man? What the fuck are we gonna do?
There is nothing you can do. Steve is the best friend you ever had. No look at him. Look at you. You are both animals.
I think there is a wheat field over this hill. We have to eat.
I guess.
The two donkeys trudged up the hill to eat their first of many meals of hey and oats.
***
Two naked college students were found eating oats in a farmer's field at 3:12am on April 3 2002. They were taken into the holding tank until someone came to make bail. All they did was bray. This was not the first report. There had been several sightings of young men running naked from the Pleasure Island carnival. Each time, they brayed like donkeys. The police psychologist worked for at least two hours before the guys would snap out of it. Each time, they would claim that El Magnifico had turned them into donkeys. Detectives Morris and Raab were sent to investigate but never returned. The carnival left town the next day as though it had never existed. At about the same time, it reappeared in Hackensack, New Jersey exactly as it had been before. Well, almost exactly. In the petting zoo, were two brand new donkeys still covered with the remnants of navy blue cloth.