The Scent Of Spring

THE SCENT OF SPRING

By Lazerous Lazuli

Despite the blanket of white left over from the winter months, spring had arrived. Sunny skies warmed the earth, stealing through the snowy branches to encourage the coming spring growth. Flashes of green sprang from between the roots of elderly trees; the old guard watches over its youthful ward.

Yet it wasn’t these pioneers that drew the fair haired boy from his home on the chilly march morning. His prey was heartier, having already braved the elements. Like kin they were drawn together, warriors of early spring. The boy marched through the forest. Ignoring the discreet green shoots in favor of his quarry.

He sniffed the crisp air in hope of catching its scent; finding only the tang of ozone and the promise of thawed leaf litter. Traveling deeper into the frozen wilderness the likeliness of a successful hunt grew bleak. The chill air nipped at his exposed fingertips and brushed across his rosy cheeks. Stolidly he brushed off winter’s rear guard and continued his hunt. Snow crackled beneath his rubber boots as he walked effortlessly forward. The boundless trees reminded him of fairytale forest labyrinths. His eyes darting back and forth from shadow to shadow warily guarding against goblins or trolls the sorts of creatures that inhabit the deep woods.

There it was the rank scent of some fearsome denizen! Turning in place he quickly glanced behind, to ward off any sneak attack, before grabbing for branch and brandishing it towards the odor. Only something of malign intentions could smell as putrid as the stink filling the air of this otherwise serene clearing. A feign slash here and there as he tried to draw the beast out into the open. The ominous change in the snow beneath his boots was lost to the moment.

Slosh-slosh, his boots merely pushed around the slush instead of gripping it. Anxiously trying to look in every direction he didn’t pay attention to the important one. The odor had grown nearly unbearable; the fiend was nearly upon him. Gasping down breaths of foul air to calm his racing heart; one more step and it was all over. His foot broke through the thin icy glaze and down into the deceptively warm puddle beneath.

Murky water flowed right over the top of his boots and soaked into his warm woolen socks. With a yelp he attempted to free his foot from the clutches of the fetid water but the muck in the bottom gripped it tightly. Mustering his strength for one more jerk he successfully freed his foot only to fall backward, arms flailing to end up sitting in the muck filled puddle and inhaling the malodorous scent of his prey.

The skunk cabbage’s molten red and yellow leaves leapt above the pool like tiny flames frozen in place. Annoyance melting off his face as he looked around, six of the audacious plants dotted the puddle. This was far better than he could have ever expected. Finding one or two would have been fantastic but a clump of them was unbelievable. Beyond that, a clump of them large enough to melt the snow into a puddle!

They were beautiful in their own way. Smelling like a mixture of skunk and rotting meat, their beauty did not come without a price to their admirers. This mixed blessing reached even deeper though, people were not likely to grow them in gardens or in shows so finding them was an adventure in itself. His adventure was a rousing success in spite of the water soaking into his clothes and eagerly draining away the trapped heat.

Minutes later he was still staring in veneration at the remarkable plants when the first shiver wracked his body. Not quite ready to leave yet he ignored it; the second shiver was much harder to ignore. Reality once again began to intrude into the whimsical scene and finally he planted his hands onto the puddle floor and hefted himself back to his feet.

Water rained down from his clothes in a subtle mockery of a spring rain shower as he stepped out the puddle. His trail composed of icy half melted boot-prints. It didn’t take more than five minutes of walking before he was panting despite the cold, stopping for a moment to wipe his forehead. A lock of stray hairs wrapped around his fingers and flopped damply between his eyes.

Gasping, he tried to blink it away. It couldn’t be true, because if it was something seriously suspect was going on. Despite his best efforts his once blond hair remained stubbornly raven black. The change was odd certainly but what bugged him more was that overall he found it quite fetching.

Nevertheless his pace increased with the changing of his goals. No longer did he simply wish to get back to the warm cabin now he needed to get there and take a shower. The water was quickly drying into grimy streaks on his arms and hands. Even his fingernails seemed thickly coated as he scratched at the layer. And it felt oh so good the way the claws sliced right through the dried-on filth and right into his skin.

Each heavenly scratch dragged him deeper into the walking trance, the woods shooting by him at a frenetic pace. An hour later after what felt like only minutes he slipped into the cabin’s clearing and stopped cold. His mind snapped to attention and he looked around expecting everything to fade into a mirage, but it didn’t. Things just didn’t seem to want to go along with him today, first his hair and now the cabin! It wasn’t really anything big but he would need to give everything a stern talking to one of these days, he decided while walking up to the cabin and slipping inside.

Sharp claw tips clacked against the switch plate while the lights flickered to life. The sudden bright light brought him back to reality for the moment; with a groan he added his fingernails to the list of things in serious need of cleaning, they looked horrible. Obviously he wasn’t the only thing in a need of cleaning from the looks of the living room.

Pairs of jeans and slacks littered the back of every chair with stiff competition from t-shirts for dominance of the couch. Glancing back and forth he was reminded of the swamp he had just emerged from; a mire of discarded parts of his life rather than rotting vegetation. Wading through it carefully, he made his way to the bathroom.

Jacket, shirt, pants, socks and finally boots lost to the quagmire before he reached his bathroom sanctuary. With a sigh of relief he stretched out numbed toes and marveled once again how he could have gotten so grubby. Whatever it was on his foot was fine that it looked like soft black fur, toe-nails at least as dirty as his fingernails.

The boundary between reality and his musings began to blur as steam eddied out around the shower curtain. The lure of the warm water far stronger than the mounting suspicions that lurked in the shadows of his mind. Slipping through the shower curtain he only vaguely felt the relaxing heat his entire being swallowed in the feeling of water droplets beating on his skin.

With his eyes shut in fear of breaking the moment, he couldn’t quite put his finger on what had had changed. The water flowed in strange new patterns through the fine layer of fur that had sprouted from his skin. Lost in the pleasure he let the odd feelings of changed ears twitching back and forth and the trill of pleasure emanating from his mouth pass without concern. Raising his hands and running them through his hair he imagined the black color melting and swirling down the drain. A smile flitted across his face even as the dirt washed off; his mouth and nose chasing it forward as if unwilling to let it go. Only then did his eyes spring open, staring in bewilderment down his new muzzle.

Stunned, he remained frozen in place looking beyond the muzzle and down to the four-digit paws where his feet used to be. A bestial whimper escaped from within as sharp cracks raced down his spine and out from his tail bone. The more of the muck that washed away the more his body changed.

Trapped, dazed and confused as he was his mind still found a moment to wander, the scent of skunk was growing stronger by the moment. Outside, he hadn’t really noticed it but mixing in the steam water it was nearly overwhelming. His nose twitched another gasped breath drawing in even more and suddenly he was back.

As if in spite of his sudden recollection of his thoughts a new and far more concerning feeling took hold. Something was twitching right above his butt. With a worries gulp he turned his head to look. Far too concerned to realize he had regained the ability to move he took the sight of a large, luxurious, and black with white stripe tail, in stride. The stride flipped him right out of the shower and taking the shower curtain with him.

Flailing about he managed to extricate himself from the slippery shower curtain with a sigh of relief. A momentary respite before his eyes locked onto the mirror and the anthropomorphic skunk staring back at him. At that moment the room was suddenly filled with a mixture of steam and musky oil and the poor creature passed out entirely.