The New Crocodile Inflatable

There was supposed to be something new at the pool, though Ty could not place the sense of unease curling back and forth in the pit of his stomach. There was no reason for that, as he'd only been notified that there was a delivery, something that he, of course, was responsible for taking care of on opening the public pool that morning.

"It's all normal," he told himself out loud as water lapped softly against the side of the indoor pool, light and welcoming after a quiet night. "Nothing is wrong."

Ah, but that was his undoing, not knowing what he was claiming, even then. For his delivery stood near the smaller pool, the little one for children, and he picked up the note atop the large, brown box with a sceptical look. Was it something that he was going to have to lug about? He really wasn't up for physical activity at that hour of the morning.

The note crinkled in his hand, the paper thin and of low-quality. Ty wrinkled his nose, dark hair itching at the back of his neck.

Your new inflatable has arrived.

It had been a mistake to pick up that note: Ty knew that the moment it fluttered from his stiff, rubbery fingertips, growing thicker and thicker by the second. Crying out, he stumbled back to the side of the pool, collapsing to his backside, yet even that action did not come with the same throbbing pain that it should have faced. No, his body was softer, more pliable, squashing in where he landed instead of sending a resounding pulse of pain through him.

His heart pounding, panic swallowing him up like the last gulp of air before drowning. Ty didn't know that that was the last breath that he would ever again need to take, groaning softly, twisting and pulling, though his muscles no longer did what he wanted them to. The hard tiles of the pool-side pushed up against his body as he scrambled onto all fours, though he couldn't stop the floor from rising to meet him...or him slipping down to meet it.

There was nothing to stop it as his chin pressed to the cool of the floor, flattening out. Out and out and out - his face bulged, swelling forth, cheeks puffing out. He tried to scream but there was no way to let the air out from his body as his skin squeaked and tightening, holding something inside him, even if Ty could not have said quite what that was. Everything about him felt lighter than ever and yet clinging to the strain of gravity all the same, his belly slick and flattening, though it slipped down into his hips, the definition of his torso easing away.

Clothes? Oh, they weren't needed anymore, not as his skin turned green and patterned as if with scales, although there was no roughness to them. His skin was perfectly smoothed as the definition teased from his shoulders, flatter and longer, his legs pulling up, hooking out as if to cling onto something. Yet there were not legs that were ever supposed to be moved, stiff and immobile, his toes curling with tiny, fake claws that were soft and pliable, useless for any manner of defence.

Oh, what did he think he was going to need to defend himself from ever again? That was a silly thought, panic clawing and fluttering in his chest, although there didn't seem to be anything in his chest anymore but air, open and empty. In a way, that was calming, just what he needed, trying to whimper and not even finding that he was able to make that sound anymore. But that was okay as nothing was wrong, not really, the pull of his strained and taut skin tugging across his form. He was swollen and yet light, comfortable in his form, his jaw straining out to the sides as it elongated, though the teeth that were painted onto his stretched hide were not of any use or harm to anyone.

Ty groaned, though it was merely a sound that he made mentally, trying to shiver and yet unable to. It would take him a while before he realised that he was not able to do the things that he had as a human, the new pool toy for the leisure centre that he had tended to for a few months. Change was natural but it should not have been natural for him to become nothing more and nothing less than an inflatable crocodile, a tail pulling from his back end to stretch out and out, as flat as the rest of him. He was not shaped, not really, like a real croc, but one that was designed for human beings to sit on and ride on, something that could be used for lightness and summer fun as and when.

An object... His stomach churned, although it came with no sense of fear. Ty shuddered or at least thought he was. His tail was stiff and inflated, unable to twist or move in the slightest, and there was no expression in his fixed muzzle. It was no longer his face and yet it was all as it was meant to be,

Walking in on a pool that was not set up for the day of guests some time later, Ty's supervisor frowned down at the new inflatable that had been left bobbing in the middle of the children's pool. She pushed her hair back behind her ears, cheeks puffed out with air. In her case, however, she could release that air whereas Ty was sealed into the blown-up body of the glaring, green crocodile forevermore.

Yet no one would know.

"I'd thought that wasn't coming until the weekend..." She murmured. "And where is Ty?"

Alas, Ty's disappearance would be talked about in hushed tones for many years, no one any the wiser that the much-loved pool toy that was passed around the pool from person to person was, in fact, the man that they'd lose. All the while, he wore that fixed, crocodilian smile, water spilling down his sides as he bobbed and dipped, floating around for the pleasure of everyone else but himself.

And that was the way it was meant to be.