Ricky The Rat

Richard had a fear of Rats, ever since he was a little boy, those creepy, furry little monsters always terrified him. Yet, even as an adult, the mere sight of one, still put him on edge. He hated them worse than big, fat, black spiders with long legs that ran faster than the speed of light. Rats were more terrifying than a hungry crow, swooping down to peck out your eyeballs. Not even snakes or centipedes gave Richard the creeps like Rats did. Maybe it was their huge gnawing teeth, or the fact they lived in sewers. He couldn't put his finger on it, but Rats were the absolute worst in his eyes. Perhaps it was their red eyes and wormy tails. He didn't want to know why, only that they were gross and scary little critters full of disease. Any time Richard saw one in the parks or (god forbid!) his own back garden, the young man would hold back a scream, as his heart raced frantically, full of terror! So when Ricky The Rat began to haunt his every waking day, Richard didn't know if his fears were manifesting this horrifying hallucination or if the singing rat was actually real.

Ricky first made his appearance late one night, as Richard stumbled home drunkenly, after a drinking session with the lads. It was down a dark, pee stinking alleyway that he first saw the creepy critter that would haunt him for months. Ricky appeared as any normal rat at first, scattering along the path before Richard's feet. Immediately, Richard sobered up upon seeing his worst fear and jumped in fright. He expected the little devil to squeal and run, but Ricky instead turned and laughed. That's right, the rat laughed! A human voice, deep and loud, erupted from the Rat's mouth.

"What's the matter, Dick?!" The Rat chuckled, nearing Richard step by step. The young man screamed and ran, never looking back. He figured his drink must have been spiked with a hallucinogenic drug of some kind. That was the only explanation that made sense. It turned out; Richard wasn't very drunk at all, because seeing and hearing Ricky The Rat for the first time was so frightening, he never felt more alert in all his life.

That night, Richard could barely sleep. He kept questioning what he saw, that horror couldn't possibly be true, could it? Surely not! No, Rats don't talk, do they? Has anyone ever tried talking to one? Of course not! But other animals can talk. Like parrots and ravens for example, why not Rats? Some animals make sounds that sound like talking, but they're not actually communicating with humans, are they? No animal is that smart. His dreams turned to nightmares, as Richard became a rat within his own mind. He saw what it was like to be a mouse, swimming in the sewers and eating worms and dead birds. It was a sickening nightmare, one he couldn't awake from! He had a friend in this dream, Ricky The Rat, who sang songs to him.

"It's hip to be Rat!" Ricky danced, standing up on two feet, while spinning his tail above his head like helicopter blades, "it's square to be man, but totally rad to be Rat!" Ricky did the twist, shoveling his grotesque rat feet from side to side, then he grabbed his tail from between his legs and started strumming it like an electric guitar!

"It's hip to be Rat!" Richard joined in, crying as he sang along.

"That's it!" Ricky laughed, showing his gnawing, yellow teeth, "sing with me, Dick!"

"It's totally rad to be rat!" Cried Richard.

"There you go!" Ricky tap danced, making jazz hands with his little rat claws, "ain't no life, like a Rat's life! There ain't no life like a Rat's life, no sir! Now, let me tell you boy, let me tell you! There ain't no life like a Rat's life!"

"There ain't no life like a Rat's life!" Richard screamed in horror.

"That's it!" Ricky howled hysterically, "you're just like me, Ricky and Richard, two rats in a pod!"

"No!" Richard screamed himself awake.

He was in bed, drenched in sweat.

"I- it was jus- just a nightmare..." Richard sighed with relief, "I got to quit drinking!" He laughed, before venturing into the bathroom to relieve himself. It was dark, but he knew his vision would hurt if he turned the lights on, so he stood over the toilet bowl and listened to the sounds of water hitting water. Then the usual dripping sound was replaced with a thudding sound, like that of rain hitting a carpet.

"Hey, now that ain't nice!" The voice from his nightmares laughed. Richard gasped, holding back his flood gates and switched on the bathroom light. His eyes stung, as a bright white light assaulted his vision. Then as his eyes focused, be wished he was blind, because in the yellow water of the toilet bowl was Ricky The Rat, licking up Richard's urine.

"Tastes like butter!" Ricky grinned. Richard was speechless.

"What's up, Dicky boy?!" Ricky laughed.

"St- st- stop calling me D- Dick!" Richard stuttered, trembling in fear.

"It's short for Richard!" Ricky rolled his beady, little, red rat eyes and huffed.

"You can't be r- real!" Richard argued.

"Here, I thought we were friends!" Ricky frowned, before jumping out the toilet and onto the sink.

"Uh, no, no!" Richard cried, "we brush our teeth and wash our hands there!"

"You watered me!" Ricky laughed again.

"Jus- jus- jus- just get d- d- down from there!" Richard begged, as his OCD was being threatened.

"Uh, fine!" Ricky leapt down into the floor beside Richard's feet, the wet, toilet watered fur against his toes was horrifying to feel. Richard jumped up and exited the bathroom, while Ricky ran after him, through the whole house, Ricky The Rat chased Richard The Human.

"Oh, this is fun!" Ricky cheered, "I'm the cat, and you're the mouse!"

"Sh- sh- just shut up!" Richard whined, running with his feet kicking up so high, he looked like a cartoon character. Ricky The Rat then made silly sounds with his voice, mimicking that of circus music. Richard imagined himself in a colourful tent full of clowns and laughing children, pointing mockingly, as such a tiny little rat chased him around.

"This is a nightmare!" Richard cried, "I'm going to wake up any second now, and I'll be back in bed!"

"No, no!" Ricky mocked, "I'm not a cat, you're not a rat! You're a great big, fat silly elephant who's afraid of the mouse!"

"Leave me alone!" Richard begged, but Ricky only mocked and bullied him further.

"Scaredy cat, is scared of the Rat! It ain't hip to be man, only hip to be Rat! To be man is square, but to be Rat is totally rad! There ain't no life like a Rat's life, oh boy! Let me tell you, there ain't no life like a Rat's life, is there?!"

"R- r- rats suck!" Richard cried, before slamming his head first into a wall within his house, knocking him out instantly.

"Soon, you'll see, a Rat's life is just for you..." Were the last words Richard's human self would ever hear.

Richard awoke an hour later, but his body felt strange and small. His vision was tinted red and everything seemed so much bigger than ever before. It was like he was a baby again, perhaps even tinier than that.

"Wha- what's going?" He said aloud, only his voice was more squeaky, like that of a small boy's. At first Richard thought he had somehow physically regressed into that of a toddler, as horrifying as that would be to experience, to be a grown man trapped in the body a small child; his fate was somehow far worse and terrifying than even that. It was when he looked down upon his new hands, that he saw they were pink and ended with long sharp nails. They weren't human hands, more like the paws of a puppy. Then he looked at his feet, they were long and pointy, like those of a werewolf. He noticed there was ugly, wet brown fur, covering his whole body. Then his backside felt floaty and thin, as a wire-like appendage now wiggled around behind him. Richard was scared beyond his wildest nightmares, he didn't feel human anymore. Instead he was this tiny, little creature, like that of a mouse, or a rat. He screamed, but it came out as a squeak and then, most disturbing of all, was the sight of Richard's new best friend/worst enemy, Ricky The Rat, walking on all fours towards him now. Just as tall as he was. Ricky looked even more grotesque up close and personal.

"Wha- what's going on?!" Richard squealed like a pig.

"Follow me." Ricky grinned and led Richard to the destination where human Richard had fainted. His male body lay dead upon the floor in front of him. A dead look on his old body's face, that was rolled over onto the side of the hard wood ground. Richard looked up in horror and saw that his old human face had been gnawed into at the forehead, now a massive hollow hole sat within the skull where Richard's brain once belonged.

"I- I don't understand?" Richard asked Ricky, knowing the dark, horrifying truth, but not wanting to believe it.

"You're a Rat now. Just like me." Ricky said and the words were like knives, stabbing into Richard's big floppy ears.

"No!" Richard screamed, jumping around frantically, running in circles and smashing his head against the ground, "wake up, wake up, WAKE UP!" he squealed and squeaked, "this isn't real, it's just a nightmare! A nightmare! I'm not a rat, I can't be!"

"It was hard for me too!" Ricky laughed, scornfully, "but being Rat ain't so bad!" He sang, "there ain't no bills, ain't no work, ain't no need to be rich or suffer being poor!" Ricky danced again, tapping his feet, standing upright, "there ain't no need to socialise or get up bright and early! No, no, to be Rat is totally rad, you'll see! Come on, Dicky, sing with me now!" Ricky reached out and snatched Richard's paw, "there ain't no life like a Rat's life! You'll see, that being Rat, ain't so bad at all!"