Metamorphosis

He wakes up to the familiar grainy ceiling, dust on the edges. It's late and he knows it, but his body feels so heavy that he has difficulty sitting up on bed. Rubbing his eyes, he gets out of bed and walks towards the door to the living room.

His housemate, Carl, is sipping his coffee and reading the daily, his back turned towards him. He makes his way to the restroom, washes his face, takes a leak. He wets his hands and runs it on his hair, slicking it back. Carl has not moved an inch.

"What's for breakfast?" he asks aloud. Carl jumps, startled, and looks at him.

"Oh, you're awake," Carl says, seeming a bit disappointed.

"Why, you thought I'd never wake up?" he jokes.

"Kinda."

"What?"

"It's a joke." Carl breaks into a crooked smile and walks to the refrigerator. He returns with a plate of leftover pizza and slides it across the table. "Help yourself."

He takes a slice and devours half of it. "Stale," he says and drops the rest of the slice on the plate. "Did you eat this thing?"

"I heat it first," Carl replies, going back to his newspaper.

He looks at the microwave, then back to the pizza. He takes another bite and keeps silent. After a while, he asks, "What planet are you from?"

Carl looks up at him and raises both his eyebrows. "What?"

"What planet are you from?" he repeats.

"What the--"

"Come on. Who are you and what planet are you from?" he insists.

Carl narrows his eyes and smiles. "You got me." He stands up, transforms into a winged black creature with glowing green eyes. As the wings close in on him, he thinks about how the real Carl loves his cold pizza.