Love a Human

I sat on a small stone by the bush side peeking at humans as they made their way to and fro the tiny road path. I wanted to experience what it would fell like to become a human, even if it were for a day.

Stories were always told in our clan about the frog that was able to achieve the feat of turning into a human. He even married a princess. It wasn't certain how he had achieved it, all there was were speculations. But one thing was sure, a frog can turn to a human.

As I sat there lazily watching humans of different sizes going about their day, some in pairs, I felt a nudge on my back. I turned to see father's best buddy sitting behind me. His next words shattered me.

"Your father is about to croak and he needs you by his death bed before it is too late".

Father was the pack leader and had been sick for a while now. He got injured when he was trying to protect a froglet from being eaten by a big snake. He wasn't lucky enough to have escape unscathed. The snake had bitten him and though the froglet was saved, father had been infected by the snake bite. All efforts to get the toxic poison out of him had proved abortive.

He wasn't just my father bit also a best friend, so when I heard he was about to croak, I couldn't help but feel devastated. I hopped home to him under the root of an old tree where we had found shelter and protection for his recovery. His green slimy back had lost it's color and he lay limply on a leaf. He mustered up a smile when he saw me and my heart broke. He was a shadow of his old frog self.

"Father, you can't croak, at least not yet. I am too young to take up to responsibility of a pack leader. Besides all I have ever had to think about was what being a human would feel like", was what I could muster to say to him.

His voice was hoarse when he replied, "well son, I haven't called you to talk about how you will lead the pack. It comes naturally. I only wanted to tell you a secret that you deserve to know about the males in our family"

It was then that he dropped the news of why I thought to be a rumour.

"All the males in our family can turn to humans but..."

So the story of the frog that was said to have turned into a princess and married a human princess was not an unfounded rumour after all. My dreams of experiencing life as a human was not going to be a puff in the air. His next words shattered my hope.

"...but only if they can convince a human to fall in love with them".

Was he kidding me? That was so absurd. It was no news that we had been preys to humans for a very long time now. They would capture and torture us with sharp objects, extracting all the fluids on our backs and eyes. Only a few has survived this torturous acts, they are now the incapacitated members of our clan. So looking for a human to convince to fall in love with me would be asking for death. It was simply impossible.

Maybe it was time to drop the idea of being a human, but what can I do when my heart keeps convincing me that I can do it. Besides if another frog can, then I too can.

This is a prompt gotten from www.servicescape.com a prompt generator.

This is my first time writing from an animal's perspective. I just couldn't avoid the prompt. I do hope I tried. Tell me in the comments section what you think

Thanks for reading.