Oh To Be A Frog - A Halloween Short

"Jack would you please shut up?"

Two boys sat in a room, their backs against a well and their legs stretched out in front of them. Their knees touched.

Today was a special day, well, for one of the boys at least. Today was the day of the Ritual, and one of them had been claimed as a Wizard.

The two boys were in Jack's bedroom, decompressing from the event and staying far away from any of the celebrations.

"Look, I'm just saying, you know? What did you expect?" Jack pressed, gaining a sigh from the other boy. "Your dad's a Wizard. Plus, your name is literally Samandriel, that is such a Wizard's name."

Jack, who was seventeen last week, knew that he wasn't going to claimed at the Ritual. For a start you had to be eighteen and Jack had one, long year ahead of him before then. And second, his father was a blacksmith and his mother had been a teacher. There were no special powers lingering in his veins, so he was going to pester his friend about his special powers instead.

"I wish I'd never told you my full name." Sam interjected, staring at the younger boy with fake hatred.

Jack, who was always over-confident and unbelievably witty, grinned back. "Best friend privileges I'm afraid." He winked and Sam rolled his eyes.

The older boy his his head against the wall once and sighed again. It seemed to Jack like he spent a lot of time sighing these days. "What am I supposed to do now?" Sam asked.

Jack contemplated, chewing the inside of his cheek for an added affect. He thought of giving a serious answer, something that might calm Sam's nerves, but he opted against it. Jokes were always the way forward. "I dunno, magic some stuff?"

Sam hit his shoulder into the other boy's with light force. "Jack, I'm not a magician, you know that right?"

The younger boy brought his knees up to his chest and began to fiddle with the fabric that had started to fray at the ends of his trousers, "What's the difference?"

Sam shot him a look that told Jack he should know better than to ask that, but the older boy humoured him anyway. "Magician's pull rabbits out of hats. Wizards, people like me I guess, could turn a hat into a rabbit if they wanted to."

Jack made a sound of interest. His hand slowly came up to his chin, and Sam could tell her was about to say something completely and utterly stupid.

"Could you turn me into a frog? I've always liked frogs."

Sam burst out laughing. For the first time that day he finally didn't feel so tense. He no longer felt the weight of the world upon his shoulders. No more pressures from his father. No anxieties about his potential future, or failure. Just Jack and his stupid jokes.

At hearing Sam's laugh - his real, full laugh - the tops of Jack's cheeks exploded into a glorious rosiness. Sam, being Sam, failed to notice. Jokes are the way to go, Jack thought again.

"Yeah, let me think," Sam was still beaming, wiggling his fingers now, all mischievous. Jack's goofy behaviour was rubbing off on him now. "I'll say something like 'Turn this boy into a frog, just behold Jack is gone'."

Sam was laughing at his own joke so much he didn't notice the feeling that passed through him. Or the way his fingers seemed to buzz with electricity for only a second.

Then, Jack spoke.

No. Not quite.

He croaked.

Sam's head turned faster than his body had expected. A muscle twinged.

On the floor beside him sat a small, green frog. It barely moved, aside from the steady rhythm of its breath. Then, it leapt forward, hopping onto Sam's leg. The older boy did his best not to react or wobble too much.

The frog looked at him, it's black eyes unreadable. It was only when the frog opened it's mouth that Sam knew this frog was his friend. Sam heard Jack speak, as clear as day, "Well, this is fucked."

-

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