If you just saw him walking down the street, you’d
think that Dan was just another normal 15-year-old
guy. But there was something different about him.
You see, Dan had a certain fetish. He loved creatures
of mythology. He loved centaurs, satyrs (which were of
particular interest to him); heck, he was even into
mermen. But he didn’t dare say anything about his
fantasies to anyone. Who would actually be able to
understand his fetish? Probably no one, and this left
him a little disheartened.
Dan’s best friend’s name was Ian. They were actually
kind of opposites. Ian was more of a jock, very
popular, and seemed to always be with one girlfriend
or another. Dan was more of a quiet person, and sports
weren’t his thing, though he wasn’t really picked on
(well, not much) at school. It’s just that no one
really saw anything special about him. By this time,
most of the “nerds, wannabes, and populars” at school
had been classified, but Dan hadn’t really been
classified as anything yet. It made him feel kind of
empty. Sometimes he’d rather be the school nerd. At
least that way people would recognize him.
If Dan and Ian had met in high school, they probably
wouldn’t have had any kind of relationship at all, but
they’d known each other since they were in diapers,
and had always been there for each other since.
Sometimes Dan would visualize Ian in his dreams as a
strong centaur, or a curious, fun satyr. Ian was
handsome already, but in Dan’s dreams he looked even
better. He loved having those dreams. Dan had actually
had developed a crush on his friend, But Ian was
totally oblivious to all of this. He never suspected
anything, and Dan was afraid that Ian would never be
able to understand how he felt.
Dan wished that Ian could be a mythological man in
real life, but he knew that dream would probably never
come true. He’d always have the ability to dream
though.
One day, when Dan was feeling particularly bored, he
decided to surf the net and search for info about
mythological creatures. There was one site that he
especially liked. It had everything you could imagine
concerning creatures of mythology.
“Maybe there’s a spell here to transform highschoolers
into centaurs or satyrs or something,” Dan laughed at
his own remark. He then noticed the search section of
the site. He decided to type in the word “spell,” just
for the hell of it, and checked to see if anything
would pop up. He was immediately brought to another
web page. It read:
Have you ever thought of transforming yourself or
others into a mythological or fantasy creature? Just
approach the person(s) you’d like to transform and
read the spell written below.
Dan scrolled down the page and started to read the
spell. It was kind of complicated to read, and used a
lot of big words that Dan didn’t understand.
“This is probably a bunch of crap…. Ah, what the
hell?” Dan turned on his printer and printed out the
page. He smiled, thinking of how stupid he was acting,
but didn’t throw the paper away. He decided to fold it
up and put it in his pocket instead, just in case he
ever felt like giving the “spell” a shot.
He was just about to do some more surfing when the
doorbell rang. He turned off his computer monitor, and
ran downstairs. Ian was at the door.
“Hey man, what’s up?” asked Ian.
“Uhh, not much,” Dan replied.
“Cool, not much here either.”
“Um, come in, make yourself at home.”
“Dude,” said Ian, “you don’t have to be so polite,
it’s just me.” Dan smiled.
“You mind if I check my e-mail?” asked Ian.
“No problem.”
Ian ran upstairs into Dan’s room, and turned on the
monitor. A web page appeared on the screen that read
“Satyrs ‘R’ Us.” Ian looked confused. Dan walked in
the room, and noticed the site. Shit, he thought, I
forgot to close it. He had to think fast.
“Uh… that’s just one of those stupid pop-ups again.”
What a lame excuse, he thought to himself. But Ian
bought it. Dan sat down on his bed, and watched Ian
quietly. He was starting to think of that spell again.
What if it wasn’t a joke? Sure it probably was, but
still… what if?
Dan reached into his pocket and unfolded the paper. He
read the incantation slowly under his breath. He
finished. Nothing happened. He frowned a little.
“Oh well,” he said out loud.
Ian turned his head away from the screen, and looked
at Dan. “Well what?”
“Oh – nothing.” Ian was starting to wonder what was up
with Dan, but then went back to his e-mail.
A few minutes past, and neither of the guys said
anything, until Ian spoke up.
“Damn. I’m startin’ to feel a little funny.”...