Wednesday Briefs - Trouble Comes in Threes #5.3

Welcome to the Wednesday Briefs flash group (click to go to the site). The short stories have a maximum of a 1000 word count plus links at the bottom to the other flashers. If interested in joining us, drop me a line and I'll tell you how. :)

Prompts this week are:

"Where's a fireman when you need one?"
or "Show me a signal, I'll throw you a line"
or "But he told me he loved me"
or "She was bred in old Kentucky, but she's just a crumb down here..."
or use a tattoo in some way
or use: pelican, harp, chimney
or "Did you really just say that?"
or "Sometimes I feel like I'm trapped in time..."
or use a dessert in some sort of sex play
or use a really cute infant
or "Hashtag been there and done that, and now I'm outta here!"
or use melted cheese
or use a museum
or "Yeah, I said it, and now I have to live with it."



Chapter Five
Forget the rabbit hole. Welcome to the Twilight Zone. “You’re the cats I’ve been taking care of?”

“Yes.”Ooookay. They were the cats, he said. Right. Oh my God, here I was, trapped in this room with a couple of madmen—sexy madmen, but madmen. While I was naked. With a head wound. And shit… naked. Fuck.“Right. Well, thanks for getting me indoors. I do appreciate that. Um, I’d walk you out, but…” I gestured at the sheet covering the very naked me. I sincerely hoped they’d nod their heads and walk out the door because yeah, I had no way to defend myself. “Would you mind locking up after you leave?”Dolf raised one of those black eyebrows. “You really don’t think it’s going to be that simple, do you? That we’re just going to leave after finally finding you. Especially when you’re hurt. No Kirk, I don’t believe so. We aren’t going anywhere.”I clutched the sheet, hands sweaty, my eyes darting around the room. What could I use as a weapon? I didn’t see a thing! I eyed him. I was an inch taller and probably had a good twenty pounds on the dark-haired one. Could I take him? Problem was, I wasn’t sure even if I made it to my feet… that I’d stay on my feet. Every instinct I had screamed he was the threat. Not the other one. Those same instincts also screamed making a run for it was the better idea—that I did not want to fight this guy, head wound aside. Actually… what I wanted was me on my hands and knees with the two of them… yeah, just straight up crazy. “Look, man, just go, okay? My wallet is in the master bath, sitting on the counter. Can’t miss it. There isn’t much, but please, just take it and go. I won’t say a word to anyone. I promise. I just don’t want any trouble.”Tal spluttered. “You think—” “Of course he does, and in this day and age it’s a logical conclusion, even if it’s wrong.” Dolf turned to Kirk. “There’s no reason to be afraid of us, Kirk. Neither one of us would ever hurt you. We can’t.” Dolf turned to Tal. “Show him.”Tal bit his lip. “It’s going to upset him.”“I know, but I don’t see an easier way. Upset is better than thinking we plan to rob him… or hurt him. Show him.”Tal stood and started stripping. “Kirk? Please don’t be afraid, okay? Remember, we won’t hurt you.”I gulped. Why was dude stripping? The view was damn nice but… “Ah, look, you don’t have to… Wait a minute. Are those my clothes? Those are my clothes you’re wearing, aren’t they? What the fuck?” And why was I even remotely worried about him wearing my clothes? Just how hard had I rattled my brain? I wish he’d put them back on at this point. It would make me feel a lot better.Tal cocked his head. “They are your clothes, yes. We came here as cats, remember? So we had no way to bring our clothes with us. Clothes don’t just magically appear when we shift. We had to borrow yours, of course.”“Of course.” Like I should know that. “Wait, did you just say they don’t magically… That you… Ah, dude, why are you kneeling on the floor?” We just went from the Twilight Zone to Kink City.Tal grinned at Kirk. “I like being close to the ground when I shift. It’s easier.”“Right. Close to the... Did you really just say that?” My mouth dropped open as the cute blond-haired guy groaned loudly. Sounds filled the room. Oh God, my stomach cramped, and I was pretty sure I was going to be sick. That… that sound. Jesus. I’d heard something similar when I broke my arm as a kid. This sounded amazingly like that. Truly cringe-worthy. My shoulders hunched, and my toes curled. That sound was worse than nails down a chalkboard, but that was nothing compared to what I was seeing in front of me.  “Oh. My. Fucking. God.”The guy’s body twisted in ways that weren’t… appropriate. That word screeched in my mind. None of this was fucking appropriate. My stomach rolled at a particularly sickening crunch. Ugh. One of my eyes lids twitched. Limbs didn’t do that, unless there was massive trauma involved, and I really didn’t want to see massive trauma. Speaking of trauma, the way my heart was pounding, I might be well on my way to having a heart attack. Limbs didn’t shrink and reform into something else, either. I swallowed, my head swimming as bones continued to break and tendons tore. Oh shit, what was happening here? The guy was… changing. Shrinking. I couldn’t get enough air, and my vision was doing that funny tunnel thing, but damned if I could look away. “It’s not as painful as it looks.”For me or for him? Tal’s—that was his name, right?—body shortened, legs changed, a tail—fuck me, a tail—grew out from behind him. “Kirk, I need you to stay calm. Just breathe.”That was at the top of the list. I flinched when the other guy—the one not going through hell on the floor—touched my shoulder. Dolf, his name was Dolf. What kind of name was that? I watched as Tal’s hands and feet changed into paws. Why was I worried about names when there were paws right there in front of me? Ears sprouted on top of his head, his face pushed out to a muzzle, complete with whiskers, and hair sprouted over his body. White hair. No, not hair. That was… fur.A white cat sat on the floor.“Fuck me,” I whispered. There was a cat on the floor, exactly where the man just stood. A cat. The only thing they had in common were those damn odd blue eyes. He—it?—jumped on the bed and sat down at the end, wrapping his tail around his feet… ah, paws.
“Meow.”
TBCJon KeysGrace Duncan  Chris T. KatSarah HayesRob ColtonTC CollinsLarry BenjaminJim DunawayNephylimCia NordwellElyzabeth VaLey Tali SpencerAndrew Q. GordonJulie Lynn Hayes