Clucked! - 4 (Patreon)

Soft murmuring woke me up. Felicia was standing by my bed with Alton. They spoke in low tones.

I tried to say: “Hey guys.” But all that came out was a “b’awk b’awk.”

Felicia looked into my eyes. “Hey baby.” She said softly.

Something was up with my eyes. I blinked, but there was two of her. I had to turn my head so she was just in my left eye.

She stroked my hair softly, then her eyes widened a bit. She opened her hand and my hair tumbled down onto my feathered breast.

“Ah, shit.” She said. “I’m sorry. Looks like things’ re rearranging up there.”

I nodded, and lowered my head under her hand so she could stroke it. I saw more hair fall, but something itched, and I pressed my head into her hand.

“It must itch, huh?” She said scratching. “I can see it coming out, some kinda...well, your comb I guess.”

She kept scratching it, and I turned under her gentle fingers, hair tumbling out.

“There, that’s better isn’t it, baby?”

I nodded, clucking softly.

“Man, they gotta find a way to undo this shit.” Alton said. “It just ain’t right.”

I nodded, and felt something in my lips. The nurse had come in at some point and extracted the rest of my teeth, but I caught my lips between my gums.  They felt weird somehow.

“Oh, baby.” Felicia said, cradling my head between her two hands. “Kiss me.”

She leaned forward and I met her lips with mine, my tongue darting in to dance with hers.

As we kissed, I could feel my lips hardening, poking out slightly, and she drew back.

“I wanted to kiss you one last time before you couldn’t kiss no more.” She said softly, running her fingers over the hardness that had replaced my lips. At first I could feel her fingers, but then I couldn’t.

“There they go...” Alton said.

“I know.” Felicia said.

I opened and closed my mouth, unable to feel my lips any longer. My tongue felt strange too, the tip narrowing, fitting into the space left by my front jaw, pushing forward.  I could feel my whole head pushing forward then and I screeched as I felt the pain of my skull narrowing, like my brain was being squeezed from all sides, the world’s worst ice cream headache.

I screeched some more, my wings fluttering, trying to do anything to make the pain stop.

The doctor came in at that point, turning on the light and I screeched again as the pain of the light hit my eyes. Everything sounded so loud, and the PAIN corruscaded through my head.

“Nurse, bring me that O2 tank.”

The nurse wheeled an oxygen tank and the doctor did something to the fitting and stuck it in my nose...which was also losing any sensation.

“What’s happening to him?” Alston said.

“His cranium is shifting,” the Doctor said. “We need to keep oxygen pumping into his shifting nasal cavity as it shifts from soft to hard.”

I screeched again as the sound intensified, doubling tripling. I kept blinking my eyes, but then my eyelids wouldn’t let me blink and a squawked again and felt something shift, sliding over my eyes and I realized I could see almost all the way around me and the colors! So rich and vibrant. If I turned my head I could see everything in the room with my left eye, and if I looked at something close to me, like the doctors clipboard, I could see everything he was writing and the exact point where the tip of his pen met the paper. I had to keep turning my head to get the full view but it was quite amazing.

Sound took on a different quality too as I felt the prickling sensation all over my head. 

I could hear them talking, but the words took on a different quality. All of it hurt my head, the sound, the light, the feeling of my head being squeezed. It all cascaded around me and I couldn’t close my eyes anymore, just that weird blink. I screeched and squawked, trying to get away from the pain, the noise, the light, all of it.

“Nurse!” The doctor said. “Sedative!”

The nurse handed something to the doctor and in a few moments I was falling into a deep dreamless sleep.

***

When I awoke, it was dark. I mean really dark.

I squawked, frightened, and someone clicked on a light.

Smells this time, cascaded through me. I could smell everything about the people in the room, pungent and strong. Would this body never cease bombarding me with sensation?

One person stepped forward and ran a hand over my head. They said something softly, but the words jumbled up in my brain.

I tried to make out the words, tried to associate the people with memories but my brain just wouldn’t make the connections anymore

I could smell them though and one smelled light, flowery, while another smelled pungent and harsh. I realized this probably meant the difference between a male and female now.

Someone made a thrashing sound and I almost lost my mind as light flooded in from outdoors. That sound scared me so bad and I flapped my wings, wanting to get away but I was tied down.

Again those soft vocal sounds, some higher in pitch some lower but without any semblance of who was making them or what they meant. I stared at them all in confusion, my left eye able to focus on each being in the room.

Two had darker skin, and two had lighter. One had black…hair that bloomed out from the head and the other darker skinned one had almost no hair at all.

That meant…Felicia was the one with the longer hair. Wow, that was Felicia?

I stared into her eyes but didn’t recognize her face, or body. Didn’t even recognize her as female except she had a hhigher-pitchedvoice and had the flowery smell.

Which meant the other one was Alton, and there were two more. One with a higher pitched voice which must have been my mother, or a nurse, and one with a lower pitched voice with hair that clasped his head tightly. The doctor.

Why couldn’t I understand anyone? Why didn’t I recognize their faces?

They brought something in, and stood it in front of me.

I saw a female hen sitting across from me. She had white plumage with red combs and wattles around her face and eyes.

I tried to move closer to her, and she apparently had the same idea, her beak coming directly toward mine until we almost pecked each other, backing off at exactly the same time.

It took me a few more moments to process I was looking into a mirror. That female hen, was me. Someone untied my bindings and I flapped out of the nest to stand in front of the mirror.

The person with the long black hair stood behind me. I barely stood as high as her waist. The hen in the mirror appeared complete now, with feathers covering her entire body except for the top of her comb and around her eyes. She had a narrow beak, which opened each time she squawked or clucked.

I walked back and forth, my head bobbing in time with the hen in the mirror, and watched as the hen walked at the same time, her eye turned toward me.

She walked on chicken feet, her long toes trying to find purchase on the cold floor. I could feel the floor beneath me as I walked back and forth.

I opened my wings and she did the same. No hands, no fingers. No lips, no chin. They had all been erased into the chicken I’d become.

I turned around and could see my tail feathers. My head could pivot on that long neck and see completely behind me. I raised my ass, and she raised hers in return, the feathers outlining a cloaca.

The person behind me, Felicia, ran her fingers over my back, smoothing my feathers. I could hardly feel her touch, just a bit of pressure.

The other person patted the nest. The woman leaned down, picking me up easily, and setting me back into it. They murmured some more, and the male left.

Another female came up to me, and I recognized her scent: Mom. She leaned over me, trying to hug me, and I snaked my head up, high close to her neck as she held my wings folded over my back.

Something glimmered around her neck and I pecked at it, wondering if it was food. She screeched, and pulled back from me, her sounds growing louder, but I still couldn’t understand anything they were saying.

Someone brought a box of something in and I smelled food. The box was placed near me, and I used my beak to snatch the wriggling things, and swallowed them, raising my head up so they would slip down my throat. Then another box was placed in front of me and I pecked at it, getting seed and a lot of sand-like smooth pebbles that I also swallowed.

The day passed like that, with the people walking around, sometimes standing, sometimes sitting. I could recognize them barely as male and female, but even that was a puzzle sometimes as they didn’t have a smell, or didn’t speak, just performed their duty and left.

After the sun went down, the female with the long hair returned, as did the doctor. I was again lifted out of my nest and set on the ground. I looked into the mirror.

Now I barely came up to the woman’s knees. She leaned over, stroking my head, making soft pleasant noises that soothed me. I watched the chicken in the mirror being petted and knew it was me.

I was placed back in my nest and the female touched her lips to the top of my head. Then she left and I was alone. At some point the lights were turned off, and I was left in darkness.

Sleep overcame me.

***

Hunger made me awaken and I clucked loudly, I felt a strange swelling somewhere in my abdomen, and the pressure gradually increased until with a squawk, something came out of me.

I’d laid my first egg. Standing in the nest, I was able to bend my head down underneath and see it. I settled down on it, clucking softly.

The two people came back, darker-skinned and then the person whose smell I recognized as mother came in and hugged me again. She wasn’t wearing a necklace this time so I allowed her to hug me as I snaked my head between her jaw and shoulder.

She seemed so much bigger today and I was again lifted out of my nest and onto the floor.

They squealed as they discovered my egg, but I could only stare at the hen in the mirror. This time, I barely came up to shin height on the female. My transformation was complete.

The box of feed was again brought in and I pecked, allowing the seeds to slide down my throat and into my gullet. The female stroked the back of my neck as I pecked at the seeds and other bits of feed inside the low box. After eating, I was again lifted back up into the nest that seemed so much higher than it had the days before.

They made sounds again, and I peered at each of them in turn finally deciding on who was Felicia, Mother, Alton, and the doctor again. Mother spoke loudly, and the doctor responded softly, then everyone gave something of a gasp, and looked at me.

I gawked back at each in return, my head bobbing from person to person, clucking softly.

A box was brought in, and I was tucked into the box. Someone lifted me up, and I tried not to squawk in fear as someone carried me out of the hospital and into a vehicle.

We drove for a long time. I pecked at the sides of the box, sometimes tearing long strips that I placed down underneath me for some reason.

When we stopped, I could hear other chickens in the distance and it excited me. Someone picked up the box again, and I could smell distant flowers, a body of water, trees, and other animals.

The sounds of the other chickens grew louder, then very loud until my box was set down, and the flaps above me opened.

Someone lifted me out of the box and set me on the ground.

Finally, I was able to get a grip on the earth, my claws digging in slightly. Other chickens rotated around me, walking and clucking, and I moved in among them.

A large rooster noticed me and I saw it flap over to me, and I found myself unable to take my eyes off of him. I followed his every movement as he followed mine, but someone picked him up and took him away.

I was taken into a coop and set onto a nest. The person stroked my head for awhile, then walked away and I could hear them sniffing.

The other hens came around me, and I allowed them to sniff me, as I sniffed them, getting up and out of my nest to follow them into the yard.

Later that evening, someone came out and food rain down which I tried to peck very fast so I could get the most.

In moments, though, it was gone and we were left milling about the yard. I wondered where the rooster had gone.