Naomi's Story (Just-for-fun version)

Written by RoarytheFygar

Her bedside clock read 10:30 AM as the alarm went off. She groaned as she rolled over to shut off said alarm. After lying there for another minute she sleepily sat up and opened her eyes as she climbed out of bed and went into the bathroom.

Her name is Naomi. She is a dog. She’s about 6 feet in height and very slim, has dark brown shoulder-length hair and deep green eyes. While in the bathroom she slipped out of her pink striped pajamas leaving her in her black underwear, and she brushed her hair and teeth, then dressed herself in a white tank top and gray hoodie with red stripes down the sleeves with matching sweatpants, and left the bathroom and headed downstairs for breakfast. While making her way through the living room she took a look outside and saw that the weather was nice and sunny, so she decided she’d go jogging today. After her breakfast of Raisin Bran she grabbed a granola bar out of the pantry and stuffed it into her jacket pocket, slipped on her shoes and stepped out into the front yard. She took a deep breath of fresh air and smiled as a cool morning breeze blew through her hair, and she began jogging towards town.

It was a beautiful Autumn day. Many people were out and about in the cool morning air. Naomi waved to a group of small children playing with chalk in their driveway as she made her way through the neighborhood. She waved to many other people as well, but not many of them waved back. But she didn’t mind. At about noon she came to a park and decided to take a detour through it. The park always looks very beautiful in October. It was a very big park too. It took her an hour to get through it. When she came out the other end she had made it to town, and after about 10 more minutes she came to a busy street that consisted mostly of shops and restaurants. She decided to rest at a nearby coffee house with outside tables and have her granola bar. Once finished she decided to order a drink; the jog made her thirsty. Suddenly her cell phone started to ring. She pulled out a Samsung flip-phone from her pocket and answered it.

“Hello?” she said.

“Naomi!” a British male voice answered.

“Mr. Smitt?” Naomi stammered in happy surprise, “How’ve you been?”

“I’ve been fine,” Mr. Smitt answered, “But listen. I need your help with something.”

Naomi paused, “Sure, what is it?”

“I need your help down at an old place that’s special to me. It’s under renovation but I need your help.”

“Sure thing!” Naomi happily replied.

“Good. Here’s the address: 9556 Travis Lane. Be here by 2:00.”

“What?!” Naomi’s smile quickly vanished, “That’s all the way across town! How am I supposed to get there in 45 minutes?!”

“Figure something out,” Mr. Smitt said flatly, “Just remember: 9556 Travis Lane.” then he hung up.

Naomi sighed frustratedly and stood up and began thinking: How was she going to get all the way across town in 45 minutes? The bus doesn’t go out that far, and even if it did it’d take way longer than 45 minutes. She was considering calling Mr. Smitt back and telling him she can’t make it, when she heard a loud honk. She looked up and saw her answer… “Hey Naomi!” a voice called from a tan 1984 Toyota Camry driving by. “Patrick!” Naomi cried happily as she ran over to his car as he braked.

Patrick is a fox. He’s slightly shorter than Naomi with scraggly chestnut hair and round glasses over his light blue eyes. As of now he was heading back home from his weekly grocery store run.

“What brings you out here?” he asked happily.

“Oh, you know,” Naomi stammered, “jogging and stuff… But seriously,” her tone turned serious, “I need you to do me a huge favor.”

Patrick shrugged, “Sure, anything.”

“I need to get across town by 2:00. 9556 Travis Lane. D’you think you can give me a ride up there?”

Patrick thought for a moment. He was really ready to go home and relax on the couch, but Naomi looked like she really needed to be where she’s trying to get. Finally he shrugged and said, “Sure, get in.” and opened the passenger side door. Naomi climbed in and they drove off.

They followed the road they were currently on through the downtown area (Fortunately there was no traffic.) until they came upon a larger road and turned onto that one and followed it for a long time. After about 15 minutes the buildings became smaller and more spread out, the trees became more shaggy, and the grass taller and more beige.

“You sure this is the right way?” Patrick asked after a while.

“Yup, there’s the turn!” Naomi replied pointing at an intersection labeled ‘Travis Lane’. Patrick swerved to the right at the last moment. Soon after that the buildings disappeared altogether, the grass turned brown and grew taller than the speed limit sign, the trees all barren, their branches worn. Naomi was looking out the window looking for the address. Patrick looked uneasy.
“Are you sure this is the right way?” he asked Naomi again.
“It couldn’t be any other way,” she replied, still looking out the window, “the road doesn’t go in any other direction.

Soon the land on either side of the road sloped into a ditch. Dark clouds rolled in making it seem a lot later than it was. Finally patrick sighed, “Look, it’s getting late, I have cold stuff in the back,” he gestured to the pile of grocery bags cluttering the back seats, “Maybe you should just call your friend and tell him you can’t make it.”
Naomi was silent. She kept watching the road trying to find any sign of a building anywhere, but it did seem pretty hopeless.
“Okay.” she sighed as she pulled out her cell phone to call Mr. Smitt. Suddenly the car jerked to the left; it seemed like something had pushed it. Patrick screamed as he tried to regain control of the car, but too late: the car swerved off the road, through the ditch, right into a small dead tree, uprooting it, and clean into a small boulder. Patrick and Naomi were thrust into the air bags, groceries flying through the air spattering all over the place, then everything was still. Naomi and Patrick sat petrified in their seats, breathing heavily.

After they calmed down enough to move, they unbuckled and climbed out of the car. They looked at the damage done: Both headlights were shattered, the front bumper was bent down the middle and on the verge of falling off, the hood bent and crumpled like an old piece of paper, and about 2 feet away from the wreckage, the little Toyota logo sat in the bent grass, slightly bent across the first ‘O’. Patrick fell to his knees in horror. He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came. Naomi looked at her friend. She wanted to say something comforting, but she was afraid he might be mad at her, so she decided to just keep her distance. She looked at her cell phone and saw it had been broken in the crash so she let it fall from her hand. Finally Patrick stood up, looked over to Naomi and said, “Well…. now what?”

Naomi shrugged, feeling really bad about what had happened. She turned around without looking at Patrick to look around again when she saw a light coming from the tall grass. Faint and blue, like that of a dying LED lightbulb. She wondered what could be making that light way out here. She slowly walked into the grass towards it, and Patrick, noticing she was walking away, thought she was angry with him and he sighed and sat back down again. He saw the Toyota logo in the grass and picked it up and stuck it in his pocket. This was not how he wanted to spend his Sunday.
“Patrick!” he heard Naomi call his name, so he looked over in his direction, “This is it!”
She sounded happy. Patrick stood up and walked over to her and saw what she was so happy about: A little electronic sign that resembled a giant digital clock, was sitting in the ground, reading the numbers ‘9556’. The sign was flickering slightly, hinting that it had been there for some time. Naomi pressed aside more grass and found an overgrown walkway leading up to a huge white building that looked like it was abandoned many years ago: The paint was peeling, there were vines growing up the exterior wall, and just about every single window was broken, and those that weren’t were too cracked to see through.

“Come on!” Naomi said excitedly as she walked towards the old building, beckoning Patrick to follow her. Patrick stood frozen for a minute staring at the building, then looking back at his car, then at Naomi approaching the front doors. He stammered for a minute, “Wait for me!” he finally called and ran after her just as she had reached the doors. She grabbed the handles and after some effort, pushed them open with deafening creak, and inside was pitch black. Naomi stepped inside, slowly followed by Patrick, who didn’t have any intention on going any further.
Once inside, Naomi called out, “MR. SMITT?” but no answer came, save her echo. Suddenly dim blue overhanging lights flickered on and illuminated the building, allowing them to see it clearly: It looked like an old shopping mall.
“Wow…” Naomi whispered in awe as she started walking out into the open hallway. Patrick stayed by the door.

“I don’t think we’re supposed to be here.” he said timidly.

“Oh relax,” Naomi replied assuredly, “This is the place Mr. Smitt told me to be. It’s got the address. Now come on!” and she started further down the hall.

Patrick didn’t want to be left alone in this creepy mall, so he ran to catch up with her, feeling very nervous about the whole thing.
Naomi on the other hand was very enthusiastic about the building. She kept turning her head to see everything from different angles, not wanting to miss anything. They passed by many old mall kiosks, their faded logo graphics suggesting they were from the 1980s. Patrick was feeling was feeling very uneasy and didn’t think this was a good idea or that Mr. Smitt was even here. Who even is this guy? He quickened his walking pace so he walked beside Naomi.
“I don’t think you ever told me,” he said, “Who is this Mr. Smitt?”
“Oh, well, he’s an old friend,” she told him, “We met about two years ago when I first moved here. He was the first person I met after you. He came up to me at the park one day and started talking to me. He told me he was looking for a little helper to help him out with yard work and stuff. I was completely broke, so I accepted, and we became friends after that.”

“And what exactly did he tell you today?” Patrick asked.

“He asked me to come here and help him clean this place up. He says it’s special to him.

They kept talking as they walked through the dimly lit halls. They passed by several old shops that had no light in them at all. Naomi didn’t bother to check them. The further they walked the more uneasy Patrick became. Finally they came across what was one of those big mall delis and decided to take a break on a nearby bench. They sat silently.
Naomi became very thirsty, and thought back to the drink she ordered that she never stuck around for. She turned to Patrick, “You wouldn’t happen to have any water would you?” she asked hopefully.
“I did,” he replied, “but it spilled when….” he didn’t continue speaking and his face turned grave. Naomi understood why. She though she’d give him a minute. “I’m gonna take a look around.” she sighed and she stood up and began to wander the area.

Naomi looked in all the shops as she passed them, but they were all too dark to see inside. She wondered what was in them, but she didn’t know what could be on the ground in the darkness so she dared not go in. She came to the end of the deli area and found herself looking over a dirty glass railing down to a whole new level; the mall continued underground. She thought maybe Mr. Smitt was down there, so she turned around to head back and tell Patrick what she found. She started walking back to the bench when out of the corner of her eye she saw, in the deep blackness of one of the shops she passed, a faint blue light flickered on. She doubled back to take a better look and saw it was a retro-style mini diner. If it were in better condition she would’ve loved to go inside, but the floor’s black and white checkered tiles were coming up, the walls were cracked and the wallpaper peeling, there were bits of old moldy food lying around, and there were deep blue stains all over the counter, floor, wall, and one of the stools.

“Patrick!” she called, “Come and look at this!” Patrick came walking up. “What did you find?” he asked, then looked inside the diner. The dinginess of the place made him wince.
“Imagine what it’ll be like when me and Mr. Smitt clean it up.” she said excitedly. Then her eyes caught something she didn’t see before: On the counter, just underneath the one remaining light, there was a smoothie cup. Her thirst grew stronger as she stared at it. She started walking towards it.

“Hey, hey, what are you doing?!” Patrick shouted.

“Look at this!” she exclaimed.

“Yeah,” he replied, “it’s an old cup, so what?”

Naomi picked up the cup and felt that it was full. She looked at the faded label. It was a smoothie from Fruitco Smoothies, her favorite brand. She turned the cup so the straw faced her.

“Put that down!” Patrick yelled, “You don’t know how long that’s been there!”

“I know,” Naomi said naively, continuing to scan the cup. Then her eyes found something strange… “But the manufacturing date says this was made…. earlier today.”

“What?” Patrick gasped. He stammered for a minute, “But that’s impossible!”

Naomi kept looking at the drink. It was making her even thirstier. Before she knew what she was doing, she had the cup raised to her mouth and took a big slurp from the straw.

“What are you doing?!” Patrick snapped, “Don’t drink it!” But it didn’t do any good, for Naomi had guzzled down the whole cup.
“That’s so much better,” she sighed. Patrick was disgusted. He couldn’t believe what she just did. He just stood there and stared at her.
Naomi walked out of the diner, “Come on,” she called, “I think I know where Mr. Smitt is!” and she walked off towards a broken escalator that went to the lower level. Patrick wanted to get as far away as possible from that diner, so he ran after her.

“The lower level was even creepier than the upper one: The lighting was worse and there was rubble scattered across the floor. Naomi looked all around for any sign that Mr. Smitt was there, while Patrick looked for a way out. While he was looking, his eyes caught a number on one of the support pillars. It read ‘9558’. This confused him. Then he saw it was on all the other columns as well. Then he thought back to the digital sign, about how it was flickering. Then his stomach dropped: This was indeed the wrong address.
“Naomi?” he said nervously.

“It it getting colder down here?” Naomi said absentmindedly.

Patrick slowed for a second, “What?”

Naomi itched at her nose and turned to face Patrick, and he stopped dead in his tracks. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing: Naomi’s nose had turned dark blue, and little purple-blue lines were slowly swirling down her snout like an elegant smoke.
Naomi saw he was staring, “What?” she asked, sounding slightly annoyed. Patrick unfroze himself and managed to speak, “Y-Your nose is…” he gulped, “Your nose is turning blue!” he blurted.

“What?” Naomi said in disbelief, “That’s impossible.”

“It’s true!” Patrick shouted, “Your whole face is turning blue!”

Naomi started feeling a little uneasy. She crossed her eyes to look at her nose, and sure enough, like Patrick said, her face was indeed turning blue. She jumped at the sight and let out a small scream. “What’s happening to me?!” she cried. Something was inside her, running through her veins, cold and sticky, turning her blue.

“Naomi, this is the wrong address,” he said as calmly as he could, “we need to get out of here now!”

He and Naomi darted back up the escalators heading back for the front doors, Naomi constantly crossing her eyes to see her face. It was completely blue now, and the roots of her hair were beginning to change to a dark blue color as well. She began to feel very panicky. She was tingling all over. Soon they made it back to the main hall and Patrick could see the door at the very end of it.

“Come on Naomi,” he yelled, “We’re almost—“

“PATRICK!!!” he heard Naomi shriek behind him. He instantly turned around and what he saw was terrible. Naomi was standing there, her fur and hair turned two different shades of purple-blue, staring at her hand, watching the last of her golden fur change to that ominous color. She looked him in the eyes, terrified, and Patrick watched her deep green eyes turn bright blue.
She felt a small pain in her stomach, but she ignored it. Patrick on the other hand stood paralyzed with fear, staring at Naomi. Then she felt a new feeling in her legs…. Her pants felt tighter. An ominous burbling noise faded in and started reverberating through the whole building, only adding to the two’s fear. Patrick let out a scream, and Naomi looked down to see what he was screaming at: Her waist was beginning to bulge outwards. Not just that, but her thighs were swelling up as well.

“WHAT’S HAPPENING TO ME?!?!” she squealed as her belly started bulging as well. Her clothes were growing uncomfortably tight, and dark blue liquid started bleeding through them in areas, staining them.

Patrick just kept gaping at her, completely petrified. Naomi stepped closer to him and grabbed his shoulders, leaving blue handprints on his dark green jacket. “HELP ME!!!” she screamed. Patrick stammered for a minute before the ability to speak left him completely.

Her groin bounced forwards as it started to consume her legs, her waist still growing wider as her midsection kept getting rounder, her belly beginning to poke out from underneath her stressed jacket. Patrick stepped back a bit. He had no idea what to do. Naomi kept staring at her growing stomach as it devoured her legs, too terrified and heavy to move anymore. Her clothes were now completely blue and very sticky. Then she felt a very uncomfortable sensation in her butt as it bloated forward suddenly, throwing her off balance and forcing her legs apart, causing her to jiggle a lot.
Her face turned to an expression of sheer terror and embarrassment as she slowly somehow managed to twist around and look at her enormous, bouncy bottom. She blushed so hard you could see it through the blue tint of her fur.
As she watched it bounce it grew larger still, and the buildup of liquid inside her forced her to turn around again. Her pants were being stretched to their limit as her body just kept getting bigger and rounder. She had almost no legs left and her belly was completely hanging out of her jacket, which can’t stretch as much as her pants can because of the zipper.

“PATRICK PLEASE!!!” she squealed again. Patrick stepped back some more as he watched Naomi’s chest expand like water balloons to a ridiculous size, causing her to blush again. Her shoulders and her arms started to swell as her belly started getting so huge she started getting taller as well. Her legs had completely disappeared, and getting bigger still, her chest sank back in, followed by her arms as her rounded body started swelling up into her jaw, her hands and feet sinking away into little pockets, followed by her head, and soon the burbling stopped and she ceased growing.

All was now quiet. Where once Naomi stood was now a 12 foot, 1 ton, bottom-heavy Blueberry. Patrick regained the ability to move and he stepped a little closer to her. “What happened to you?!” he cried, his voice cracking.

He could her the muffled sound of crying coming from the top of the Blueberry. He leaned against what once was her leg and began to rub it. “It’s gonna be okay.” he choked, beginning to cry himself, “It’s gonna be okay…”

They were alone. All alone in a scary place with no hope. Patrick closed his eyes, wishing this was all a dream, and, crying silently, leaned his head against Naomi’s enormous body, getting juice in his hair. Suddenly a low creaking noise echoed across the building and Naomi began rocking back and forth. Patrick could hear the juice sloshing inside her and the sound made him want to puke. Then Naomi started to roll backwards.
“PATRICK!” she tried to scream, but the pressure in her chest against her jaw had clamped her mouth shut. Patrick fell to the ground as she escaped him and she rolled right into one of the support pillars, destroying it as she bounced off. The building was beginning to fall apart now, bits of ceiling crashing to the floor. Naomi let out a scream as she rolled quickly towards Patrick, who attempted to scramble to his feet, but he slipped on some rubble and the next thing he knew the world was spinning round and round. He had no idea where he was or what was happening. He managed to tilt his head up and he saw Naomi’s tail above him. Then he knew exactly where he was. He blushed.
Naomi rolled right through the front wall as the building collapsed on itself in a tremendous explosion, sending large chunks of concrete and metal flying everywhere. The Patrick heard Naomi scream and there was a flash of light and a wet ripping noise.

Patrick awoke face-down in a blue puddle on the grass. He sat himself up and smeared a mixture of juice and blood off his face. With his blurred vision he could hardly make out anything, so he started fumbling for his glasses in the grass. Once he found them he stood up and put them back on, and through the cracked lenses he could see bits of rubble everywhere, and the ditch had filled up with juice, and formed many puddles all over the place. Then he remembered…

“NAOMI!” he shouted, his voice cracking again. He frantically searched the grass for her, hoping she was alright. He checked by his now purple car and saw that one of the juice streams was flowing. His heart racing, he followed it upwards and saw, on another boulder similar to the one he crashed into forever ago, a blue figure whose swollen belly was gradually growing smaller.

“NO!” he screamed, and he ran over to her and sat by her side. She wasn’t moving and she was barely breathing. Her clothes were insanely stretched and just barely stayed on her, mostly due to the fact that they were so sticky. Patrick started to cry again.
“No, no, don’t do this!” he cried. Almost all the juiced had escaped her now through a nasty gash in her side as well as her nose, mouth and tear ducts. Patrick was distraught. He didn’t have any idea what to do, so he just picked her up and hugged her tight, crying into her shoulder.
Then he heard a small clink and looked up, blue stains all over him. Turns out it was just a piece of rubble hitting his car. His car…. He knew what to do now.
He wiped the tears off his face and carried Naomi towards his car, yanked open the door, tossed aside the spilled groceries  and fastened her into the passenger seat. Taking off his coat he wiped as much juice off the windshield as he could in five seconds and climbed into the car. He flipped the ignition, and as if by some miracle, the car started, and he screeched back onto the road, splashing through the purple ditch and sped off towards town.

“I need to get her to a hospital,” he kept telling himself, “She’ll be fine.” Going double the speed limit he raced through town, somehow dodging every other car he came across, and somehow didn’t get reported. After about five more minutes of driving he made it to the hospital.
He slammed the car to a halt in front of the front entrance and looked over at Naomi. She had mostly turned to a pale purple now. Trying his very hardest not to have a breakdown he hauled her out of the car and into the hospital….



EPILOGUE:
Patrick spent 12 hours in the hospital getting several stitches, and Naomi was there for a week. But they’re both alright now. And since Naomi never showed up, Mr. Smitt assumed she had made other plans and simply began fixing the old building up himself, which was only half a mile further down the road than Patrick had driven.