The Stallion Roomate
A short story I wrote back in 2009 and its about a friend finding a secret about his roomate.
At first I could not see a problem with the man who had come to rent a spare room at my house in the country. He was tall, athletically built, had brown hair, and a kind face. He introduced himself as Mitch. We had agreed to a price of one hundred dollars a month plus utilities. He was a nice person; we would tell each other stories and have some of our meals together, and as time went by we became good friends.
The only thing is that on some days he would vanish with out a trace, and would be gone for three days in a row. When he returned he looked pale and be sick in the stomach. No matter how hard I tried to ask him and help him, he would not answer.
One afternoon Mitch came to lunch and I had to ask, "I hate to ask, but where do you go for those three days?"
"Oh don't worry about it Ben," said Mitch waving his hand dismissively.
After word I promised myself, to find out his secret. As the day went by I figured out that on every other Thursday he would vanish, and today was Thursday. As the day went by I followed Mitch around everywhere. When night came upon the place like a blanket, I went to his room and hid in the closet; he entered and didn't close the door.
A few minutes elapsed then it came. Suddenly his face lengthened in to a snout, his eyes reformed, his neck lengthened and thickened and became covered in brown fur plus a mane, with a white streak that went down his face. His arms and legs grew longer, and his feet and hands changed into hooves; a tail shot out, and the rest of his body changed into the shape of a horse. The horse looked around, neighed, and sniffed the air, my heart pounded, and I knew he could smell me.
"Come out, Ben, I know you are in here," said the horse.
I had no intention of moving, I figured after a few minutes he would just ignore me, leave, and I could move out later. "Come out, my friend, I won't bite," urged Mitch again.
I slowly opened the door, and stood there, keeping my composure. "Come on, you can touch me," he said.
I walked closer and put my hand on his neck and stroked his fur, I finally asked, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I figured you would think of me as a freak," responded Mitch.
"Oh, come on, we're friends for crying out loud; I would have understood," I said, trying to sound sympathetic.
I went to bed after a while, with the thought that my roommate and friend was a stallion. This danced in my head for a while till I went to sleep. The next morning when I got up, I had forgotten about it until I heard hooves coming my way. Then the brown horse walked up to the table. My eyes widened, and it all came back to me. "Good morning, Ben," said Mitch.
"Morning," I replied.
Several minutes passed, and I was dead silent. "What's wrong," asked Mitch.
"I'm still trying to get a grip with the fact that you're a horse," I said truthfully.
The horse dropped his head, and said quietly, "Do I make you feel uncomfortable and wish me to leave," he asked.
"No, no, it is just a little odd, though I have to say, it is unique," I rubbed his nose for a couple of seconds.
"Hey, come out here," he said pointing his head to the door.
"Where," I asked?
"Just come on," he neighed.
I stood up and opened the door for him. He bolted out, and I followed him. We went out to the front yard and Mitch stopped and lowered himself down on his two front legs. I got the gist and I climbed on his back. He rose up, turned his head to me and asked, "Ready?"
"Yes," and with that he shot forward, and I desperately held his mane.
After a few minutes of pure fear I start enjoying the sensation and the freedom of this ride. Finally he started to slow down and stopped, I caught my breath and after he lowered himself down, I climbed back down. Then I looked at him. He seems to be smiling. "So how was that?" he asked.
"That was terrific; we'll have to do that more often," I replied.
He let out a laughing neigh, and said, "True. Now how about some oats."
After that we rode together for the next two days, then he turned back to a human, and I have to admit it was odd at first but he was the same soul regardless of whether he was a human or horse, he was my good friend.