Calvin finds a fang necklace while hiking in the woods, but starts to go through strange changes when he puts it on.
The Fang Necklace
By CalexTheNeko
There was a sudden crunching noise beneath Calvin’s boot when he was walking through one of the forest trails. He froze, unsure of what he had just stepped on, and worried of what he may have broken. He quickly took a step back and began to dig through the grass hoping it hadn’t been a small animal. Thankfully it wasn’t… It was just… A tooth? Calvin gave it a quizzical look and picked it up. It was a fang, one that clearly belonged to some kind of big cat, and it was hanging off a thin silver cord.
“A necklace?” Calvin looked around, there were no obvious tracks of anyone having been on this trail recently. This necklace must have been sitting here for awhile. It looked undamaged from him stepping on it, and it was pretty cool looking. Since there was no way to find its original owner, Calvin decided to keep it. He quickly slipped the cord over his brown hair and around his neck, letting the fang rest against his gray hoodie. And then he continued on his hike.
He hadn’t noticed, but the moment Calvin put the necklace on there had been a very slight change to his body. His canines had grown larger and sharper in his mouth, but he continued on, finishing his hike and heading home oblivious to these changes.
By the time Calvin got home, his brown hair had changed hue slightly, becoming darker, and almost seeming to have a speckled look. Of course he couldn’t see that, but he could feel that his feet were killing him.
“Ugggh must need new boots.” Calvin complained as he pulled his boots off. The socks slipped off his feet with them, with clear tears on the toes of them. Okay, it was time to replace a few things. Some of his attire was getting threadbare. As he sat the boots down and threw the socks in the trash he had yet to notice that his toenails were now solid black colored claws. Nor did he notice there were small gray and black hairs that had started to grow along his feet and ankles. “Time for a snack.”
Calvin continued his routine, unaware of what was going on. After the exercise from his hike he needed something to eat. Looking through his pantry, nothing really seemed appealing… Except, the sliced deli meat in the fridge. For some reason he really wanted meat more than anything else right now. He moved to grab the package and open it, but tore right through it with his claws.
His… Claws?
“What?” Calvin dropped the bag of meat and stared at his hands. His nails were clearly black colored claws now. How was that possible? They looked sharp too! Calvin remembered the condition of his socks and slowly looked down at his feet, noticing the same claws, as well as the gray and black hairs.
Without another word Calvin ran to the bathroom to get a look at himself in the mirror. There were far more changes than he had known. His ears ended in points now! And he could swear they were slowly getting longer as he watched in the mirror. Then there was his stubble… That was normal except… He had whiskers, but not in the normal way. No, they looked more like the whiskers of a cat, just slightly shorter.
Calvin took his hoodie and shirt off, to see if there were any other changes. Just like on his feet, there were patches of hair growing in over his chest and stomach, and again they were grey and black. What was going on!? He felt something starting to budge in the back of his pants. He pulled them down slightly, and noticed a small growth coming from the tip of the spine. Almost like the start of a tail. Calvin stared at his image in the mirror in complete disbelief of what was happening. Then his eyes moved down to fang hung against his bare chest. He was still wearing the necklace. Could it be causing this? What else could? Calvin quickly tore the necklace off and dropped it on the counter. He looked at himself in the mirror, waiting to see if there were anymore changes coming. He didn’t see anything happening. Calvin let out a sigh of relief. They had stopped. Looking down at himself, maybe with a razor and some nail trimmers he could fix the current issues. Right now though, he just felt exhausted, and so he decided to turn in to bed early that night. He traded his jeans out for a pair of pajamas pants and went to sleep.
The next morning, Calvin didn’t want to wake up. He growled as the sun came through his window shining onto his face. His bed was just so comfortable and warm… Except… Some kind of trash under the sheets? Calvin reached under the covers and pulled up a piece of this ‘trash’ only to find it was a piece of his pajama pants. Calvin tossed his blankets off the bed. His pajamas bottoms and underwear had been completely destroyed, and he now had a very long and very fluffy greyish silver tail with black spots. Not only that, but the hairs growing in over his body had gotten thicker. They weren’t hairs anymore, they were clearly patches of fur! Calvin leaped from his bed and ran back to the bathroom to check himself in the mirror. His ears were more pointed than the night before, and seemed to higher up on his head. Then there was his nose… It was black. He was still changing. The silver spotted fur, the claws, the very fluffy tail. It was like he was turning into a snow leopard!
How was he supposed to stop something like this? He ran to his computer, and tried searching for answers. But in an unsurprising result, it turned out Google returned zero results for ‘How do I stop turning into a snow leopard?’ Calvin went back to the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. His ears were starting to get thicker, take on an almost pyramid shape. And now there was fur growing in on his face too! Then the fur on his chest and stomach had spread, leaving more areas with fur than exposed skin. It was even starting to spread downward towards his thighs. Calvin had to get help. But he had no idea who to turn to.
He needed someone else to help him think! He needed a friend right now! Except he couldn’t exactly go out like this… Not looking like this! Unless… Could he disguise himself? Calvin ran to his closet and dug through everything he had, eventually coming across a pair of sweatpants. Not very fashionable, but he was able to put them on and force his tail into the pants. It made it look like he had a rather large butt, but it was better than exposing his tail. His hoodie was enough to cover the fur on his stomach and chest. Then, though it was somewhat painful he forced his clawed feet back into his boots. But…. There were his hands and his face.
Hands were easy. He had some work gloves for when he had to do yardwork. No doubt he’d look weird wearing those in public, but again, given the alternative. He’d just have to be very careful not to rip them with his claws. As for his face… Completely covering it was going to be impossible, but he’d do what he could. He found a baseball cap, and pulled the tip down as far over his face as he could. Then he found the thickest winter scarf as he could wrapping it around his neck and face as much as possible. Like this, his face was barely visible. He was definitely going to turn heads dressed like this, but hopefully no one would realize what was happening.
“Okay…” Calvin took a deep breath to calm himself as he grabbed the fang necklace and stuck it into his pocket. It was time to get going. He tried not to think too hard about what he looked like as he opened his front door and stepped outside. Hopefully when he got to his friend’s place they’d have a better idea of what to do than he did.
To be Continued