The Biggest Chicken (Inflation, Hen TF)

I absolutely hate small towns, I just can't stand them. This is mainly due to the fact that I grew up in one, an absolutely miniscule town. The whole place is dusty, and a fair amount of buildings are derelict. The world part of all was the town's tourist trap, the world's largest balloon. It's a gigantic inflatable chicken, towering high above most other balloons. This thing was enormous, and it was surprising that a town this poor could have something this big. A lot of people just assumed the town was funnelling money in order to keep this big thing inflated, which was probably true. As popular at the balloon is, people strongly believe it to be cursed. Whenever the balloon is deflated, and subsequently reflated, someone disappears without a trace. Only the shreds of their clothing have ever been found, tossed in the gutter on the outskirts of town. It was pretty obvious there was some sort of murderer, someone working the balloon was probably a stone-cold killer. At least, that's what everyone thought.

In fact, it was what I thought too. I'm a professional supernatural investigator, something that gets me a lot of eye rolls from crowds. Everyone always looked at me like I was insane, something that never made any sense to me. Believing in ghosts and monsters is insane, but enjoying Justin Bieber is perfectly normal? I guess there are just different levels of sanity, though I've personally never viewed myself as a madman. I just like to travel to different places to investigate secret and mysteries, how is that weird? Everyone has a hobby, mine just involves sussing out the secrets of mother-earth. However, I soon learned that some secrets need to be kept hidden away for all eternity. You see, one dark and shadow night, I decided to search for the truth of the quickly inflating balloon. Did some kind of strange force murder a person, and then fill the balloon up using a supernatural power? Is this some kind of conspiracy hidden from the townsfolk?

Well, I went there with a film crew to find. You see, I had a supernatural show on basic cable television, it's actually a fairly obscure show. In the 90s, if your show isn't a cartoon or some show involving pop music, then it's considered worthless. Getting ratings in this time is hard enough, but getting people to pay attention is even harder. The 90s is definitely a desperate time for new shows to get on the air, and this seemed like my chance to shine. I had my entire crew set up around the recently deflated chicken, hoping to capture footage of the inflation and maybe glance the murderer. "I'm afraid!" Exclaimed Samuel, my cameraman, "John, I don't want to get killed just for ratings! I know your desperate to get this show off the ground, but I just don't think it's worth it." I smiled at Samuel's statement, "Don't worry, Sam! We have an entire film crew here, he wouldn't attempt to murder anyone with so many witnesses around! Besides, I called the local deputy, and he said he'd be keeping an eye-out for the murderer!"

Samuel took a deep breath and exhaled, "Alright, sorry. It's just a little frightening to be out here, especially when there's a supposed murderer around town!" I put my hand on Samuel's shoulder to reassure him, "Don't worry about it, you guys will be safe, I promise!" Samuel smiled along with me, trying his best to push away his unbridled fear. The camera crew and I waited for a few hours, not seeing anything for the longest time. Nothing happened, and after a while we just gave up. "Sorry,, guys! I'd thought we'd see something tonight!" The group let out a collected sigh. "It's alright, John!" Shouted Sam, "We'll just film a couple more scenes, and edit in some effects. Our idiot audience will just eat it up!" I nodded in agreement, "In the meantime, let's all head back to the hotel. We can get the rest of the shots tomorrow before we leave, for now let's take a break." The group began to disperse, picking up their lighting equipment and cameras as they took their leave.

I lagged behind, wanted to make sure no one dropped any valuable equipment. It was when I was alone, that I heard a strange hissing sound. "Uh... Hello?" It was probably just a snake, and their were no poisonous snakes near this desert town. So naturally, I assumed I was in the clear. Then, I heard the snake hissing even louder, causing me to turn on my flashlight. I turned on my flashlight, to see a strange and impossible sight. It was an air hose, used for filling up the balloon. Strangely enough, this hose was moving on it's own! It started moving much like a snake, dancing around in a strange manner. I stood entranced by the sight, not knowing what to think of the snake-like hose. Before I had any chance to react, the hose flew towards me, and jammed itself in my mouth. The hose began filling my body with air, and strangely began relaxing me. As the air touched my insides, I could feel my organs begin to fade away. I was becoming hollow, yet at the same time filling up with air.

After the air had filtered my organs out, the hose began pumping a massive amount of air into me. My body began expanding, as my gut began to stretch out. My clothes burst off me, as my increasing weight tore them to shreds. My body was becoming rotund, as it became fatter and rounder with each burst of air. My body was inanimate, yet I was very much alive. I watched in horror, as my body continued to swell with air and expand. My massive fingers began to merge together, becoming wing-like in form. I was beginning to understand something, the people of this town weren't being murdered at all! They were being turned into the next chicken balloon, in order to take the place of the last one that was deflated! And now, I was about to share that very same fate. After my hands became wings, they moved uncontrollably to my side. They attached themselves to my torso, and were stuck on the sides of my body. I continued to inflate, as my skin began to turn into soft material. I now had the hard skin of a giant balloon, but the transformation wasn't anywhere near done!

My skin became white as snow, resembling the white feathers of a common farm chicken. The white coloring spread all over my the material that now composed my skin, turning me whiter then a ghost. My body continued to fatten up and grow large, as my massive inanimate body caressed the desert ground. Growing fatter and fatter, my ever enlarging feet stood somewhat firmly on the dirt. They began to change into big inflated versions of a common chicken's talon-like feet. They thinned out, and turned a bright yellow color. As I continued to inflate, I felt my butt begin to alter as well. My butt grew fatter, and grew a feathery inflated tail. I was looking much more like a chicken, which reminded me of an extremely terrible fact. The inflatable I was becoming was Ms. Henley, an old mascot for a fried-chicken restaurant. I had not only become a chicken, but a female one!

Considering I was an inanimate object, I guess my gender really didn't matter at this point. The only thing that mattered was trying to find a way back to normal, but due to my simplified form that was going to be difficult. Just as I thought the transformation was over, my face began to tingle and change as well. My lips began to inflate, and merge together. They began to push out, until they fused to form a beak. The beak was yellow in color, much like my feet. A goofy smile formed across the beak, forced onto my face by the transformation. My eyes grew larger, and took on a rather cartoony look. I could still see out of them, yet I couldn't move them at all. Panic drew, as I found that my sight was now forced into staring at one direction permanently. The panic began to set in Finally my hair began to bunch up at the top of my head, forming the comb of a common farm hen. After my physical transformation had finished, I felt the hose begin to pump even more air into me. I began to balloon up to an insane degree, fearing greatly that I was going to pop. The sensation of the air passing through my body made me slightly giddy, like a cold wind that just blew past me.

Air continued to pump into my being, as I found myself towering high above the desert floor. I was in complete fear of what was going to happen next, much like the rest of this horrible transformation, I was sure I was going to hate it! Once I reached a sizeable shape, the hose retracted and fell down to the ground. My massive body began to wobble, and I had a feeling of what was about to happen. I was about to fall to the ground, and most likely pop away into nothingness. Suddenly, long cables flew out of nowhere, and tied themselves to my massive body. The cords fastened themselves around my chunky inanimate form, and held me tightly in place. I couldn't see who was using the hose, or the people that caused this, yet I knew that they were somewhere near me. I could strangely sense them, as if being an object filled with mystical air has given me a strange connection to the world around me. I tried to scream for help, but that only caused the wind inside me to swirl around uselessly. I struggled and struggled, trying in vain to move. My fat inflated chicken body wouldn't respond at all to anything I tried, I was trapped like this!

Hours passed, as I stood motionless, unable to scream and unable to call for help. To the untrained eye, it seemed like a rather goofy curse. To me, this was unceasing agony, and I couldn't stand much more of it. I continued to struggle, the air inside me swirling wildly, as I continued my attempt to try to move. I didn't want to give up hope, my crew was looking for me after all! Surely, one member of my crew was looking for me. I waited as the rolling desert sand beat against my inflated body, I tried my best not to give up hope. Suddenly, I heard Samuel's voice openly sobbing. "We only took our eyes off him for a second, and he gets killed because of it?! We can't stay here another night!" Exclaimed Samuel, in an angered and yet sad-sounding voice.

Was he talking about me? Yes, as it turns out I was the newest victim, I was the one who had disappeared without a trace. Not only was the mystery unsolved, I was the ultimate victim! "What do we do now? What do we tell his parents?" Asked a woman, who belonged to me crew. "Guys! I'm in here!" I attempted to say, which only resulted in the helium inside my swirling even more. "Guys, please! You have to hear me, you have to help me!" I was hoping at least one of my crew members would've seen my startling transformation, yet nobody in my crew was even aware of it. Either that, or they had sworn to secrecy. They could've been the ones behind this startling transformation, or it could've been the townsfolk.

It could've been the sheriff who promised he'd watch out for us, almost everyone was a suspect. The saddest fact of the matter was, I'd never found out. Even though I was now a part of an unceasing secret, I knew very little about what had transpired. The hose that pumped me full of air had left without a trace, leaving me stuck like this for eternity. In the morning, my crew unknowingly left me to my new fate. They packed up their van, and simply left the town and me behind. Since then, I did the only thing in life I could do: Nothing. I was an inanimate object with a soul, living yet un-alive. Two years had passed since then, the windy desert sand whipping my inflated body with each passing day. It was only a matter of time until I was deflated, and then my existence would be snuffed out.

I never learned anything about who did this to me, and I doubt I ever will. Whoever did this to me might've had an agenda, or was probably some psycho who just didn't like the way I operated. Whatever the case may be, a couple of things are blaringly obvious to me now. One, being a supernatural investigator was a horrendous waste of my life. Searching for fictional horrors, only led to me becoming a giant eyesore. Two, searching for the truth is probably the worst thing I had ever done. I probably should've looked up some other creepy fictional rumor. However, this one a rumor I couldn't have run away from, even if I tried. Why, you ask? Because, I heard it from a friend of a friend of mine.