Transformation

I had never been afraid of flies before in my life, not before the latest dream I had had about them. Flies flying all around me, larger than my head, buzzing loudly in my ears. Their flapping wings hummed as they passed by me, and I could feel the fuzziness of their bodies brush up against my body. One fly attempted to enter my ear, pushing its way into my ear canal with such tremendous force I thought my head would explode. All the while the buzzing grew louder, hurting my eardrums.

And then I screamed. That sure woke me up, and I’m sure half the neighborhood as well. As I got up out of bed and dragged myself into the bathroom to freshen up, I promised myself I would never spend any more long nights reading Kafka while high on lack of sleep. I laughed to myself. How funny it was to think that reading a book could instigate such a nightmare as the one I had that night. Shrugging, I looked in the mirror, and for a moment I could have sworn I saw multiple reflections of myself in the mirror.

This couldn’t be happening, I thought. I closed my eyes and counted backwards from twenty, and then looked at my reflection again. There was only one. I laughed again and continued my morning routine: shaving, shower, and breakfast.

That morning I didn’t feel as hungry as I usually did in the morning. At least, I wasn’t in the mood for any conventional breakfast. Instead I found a head of lettuce in the back of the refrigerator that I used for Tuesday’s salad for lunch, and nibbled on a few leaves of that. As I walked into the living room, I passed by the desk where my latest reading project lay. I only glanced at the cover, the large letters spelling the words “The Metamorphosis” standing out like a light in a patch of darkness, and I shivered. Enough of that, I thought as I shook myself free from my dream state. It was time for work.

My workplace was situated not too far from my apartment, so each day I would walk instead of commuting. My mother got me started on the habit, because she was an environmental freak, but the more I did it, the more I enjoyed not having to deal with traffic. While there were some busy streets I had to cross on my way there, typically I never had to wait long for the pedestrian signal.

Unfortunately, on this morning, there was an accident at the intersection between 8th Avenue and Metro Boulevard. Police cars and ambulances filled the intersection and the crossing streets. I stood at the corner, wishing that I could jump or hover over the traffic and continue on my way. Suddenly at that moment, I felt myself a little lighter than usual, and as I looked down I noticed that I was actually levitating off the ground. By my own will, I managed to drift over the fire engines and land safely on the other corner. I took a moment to confirm that no one had been watching me, and continued on my way.

Once I arrived at work, my day couldn’t have gotten any worse. People were looking at me with silly grins on their faces, and I overheard someone from the mailroom whisper to his colleague. “Look at his hair. It almost looks like he has antennas.”

Antennas? I dashed into my office and locked the door, and looked at my reflection in one of the awards on my desk, which had the details of the award silk-screened onto a mirror. Two locks of my hair, just above my ears, had curled upward in a strange fashion. I knew I hadn’t combed it like that, and there was no breeze to mess up my hair. Even if there was, no breeze could shape the hair like mine was.

I finally straightened my hair and went about my work as usual. However, I couldn’t seem to concentrate. The multiple images like I had seen in the mirror earlier in the morning were coming back. I’d look at my computer and see a dozen or more screens at once. Passing by my coworkers it appeared as though they would be twins, or even triplets, when I knew that wasn’t the case. Every hour my mind dwelled on the fly dream and my levitation over the fire trucks. What had happened to me? My common sense ruled out the thoughts my imagination was telling me, that I was becoming a fly. That only could happen in a science fiction movie, and this was reality.

I made it through the rest of the afternoon as best as I could manage, keeping my dilemma as private as I could. I decided to fly home instead of walking, so I could test my ability again. The trip home was much shorter than the usual twenty minute walk it usually took me, and it might have taken even shorter if I had taken more shortcuts and not stopped to make myself look inconspicuous.

The moment I walked in the door, I searched desperately for the book that had started this whole ordeal, but it was missing. I had sworn I left it on the desk in the living room, the last place I remembered seeing it. Instead there was my copy of the Spider Man #1 comic book, which I was looking for only a few months before. After an hour of looking I gave up my search and decided to take a nap. Maybe I would wake up and find out I had been dreaming the whole thing.

But no, instead I dreamt. In my dream I was running from a giant swatter and trying to use my new abilities to avoid it. It worked for the most part, until I slammed into a thick, sticky wall. Damn! I had run smack into a spider web, and was now a prey to a different predator. The spider was huge, with gleaming teeth and dripping with blood. I struggled to pull free from the web, but it seemed the more I tried to break free, the more stuck I became. I awoke in an awkward position with my sheets tangled all around me.

It was time to battle the inner demon inside of me, whatever it was. I lay down again and allowed myself to drift off to sleep again, fearing my next dream. Fortunately my sleep went undisturbed and I woke the next morning quite refreshed. However I couldn’t explain the change I noticed on my desk: the comic book was gone, and its place was a copy of “Lord of the Flies.” Either somebody was playing a nasty trick on me, or something supernatural was happening.

I was rather reluctant to leave for work, for I didn’t know what would lie before me. Looking in my dresser to find my work clothes, I noticed that I no longer owned the usual mode of clothing. There were no shirts, pants or even underwear. There was, however, a thick cape, made of a sheen material, like silk or satin. I put it on overtop my t-shirt and jeans, and a strange feeling suddenly came over me, like I had control over the world.

With this new confidence at heart, I decided to face the day at work, and with a grin I floated down the stairs to the front door. I opened the door, entering the world outside, startled to say the least. There were no people around like there were usually, doing their daily activities. Instead, dozens of giant flies were flying about, like in my dream. However, they weren’t flying at me; they would just buzz at me, which I strangely was able to understand as a greeting.

I flew toward a group of them that were hovering around at the corner, but they all zipped away before I could reach them. Suddenly, I sensed something. I don’t know how I knew, but I could tell there was something behind me. I took off and flew away, catching the sight of a giant swatter slap the ground where I was. Breathing heavily, I kept flying as fast as I could to avoid being swatted.

I was too proud of my ability to dodge the sweeps of the swatter as it passed above and below me, just barely missing me. I didn’t notice the piece of flypaper that I landed on. The sticky piece of paper bound me, and I couldn’t break free. I knew I was a goner; I thrashed around, buzzing to the other flies. None of them paid any heed to my pleas for help.

Letting out a scream, I woke in my bed again with a tickle in my ear. I shook my head, and a dead fly fell down my shoulder onto my bed. I think I had enough Kafka from that point on.