Forced Methamorphosis

The sun shines through the large window in my room as I go through posts on my social media, waiting for my turn to talk in the daily meeting. From time to time I get distracted by the cute stickers of otters doing extreme sports that I pasted on the borders of the screen in my work PC. I like this job enough but meetings are always such a drag. I bet not even my boss is paying attention to all of this, he is far too similar to me. I'm sure of this after pulling so many all-nighters alongside him. He only accepted the higher position for the pay raise, that's the point where we differ. I would never accept a position of leadership, it's far too stressful and boring for me, I’m sure my hair would turn from black to white in a couple of days. I prefer to be in the trenches doing the stuff myself, not partaking in meetings and politicking all day. Then I hear an annoyed and tired male voice saying “Erica, please stop looking at your phone and tell us what you have done”. I look at the camera and talk about my plan for the day.

Good grief it's finally over, now I can actually sit down and work on the 3D models I'm missing. I stretch my back to actually sit on my chair, tie my hair in a short ponytail , close the video conference program and start working while I hear my father watching TV in the living room. I think I can finish a couple of hours early so I should have enough time to play a few matches before meeting with my friends. I really like the new DLC charter, she is a bit too technical but you can do such cool combos with her.

Crap, crap, crap, I got a little too much into the game and left the apartment later than I should have. If mom or dad hear about this they are going to tease me for a week straight. I must arrive on time! I don't want to give them that satisfaction, I told them I will be on time from now onand I plan to keep my word.

Heaving heavily I ring the door at my friend's place, an apartment on the 5th floor of an old building made out of worn-out bricks that, I may add, lacks a freaking elevator. I may be washed in sweat but I did it! I got here on time! I even got a couple of minutes to kill if I wanted to. From behind me I hear the voice of Lilly, a good friend from work, saying to me while chuckling “Erica, you played for longer than you shouldn't have, didn't you?”. I turn, still catching up my breath, look down at the bully of a shortstack that I call my friend and try to reply but no words come out of my mouth, only gasp for air. Good dammit, I really should go out and exercise more. Lilly breaks out laughing, clenching her stomach from laughing so much. I breathe in and out a few more times and tell her “if I …had the energy…I would… kick your ass”. A click sound comes from the door and then it opens, my friend Nico smirking through his bright orange bushy beard.

We spend the evening eating pizza and playing board games in Nico's living room/dining room, which is wide and has a large white table in the center. I’m making sure that Lilly loses at everything which I consider a personal victory, the fact that I also barely won at anything bears no importance. Once the clock hit 11 pm Lilly and I decided to leave towards our respective homes.

As we go out of Nico’s apartment building we see that the streetlights have gone out to which Lilly says “Geez it is dark, what the hell are our taxes being used for if they can’t even fix the public lights”. I look at her and with the mocking tone of revenge I tell her “Don’t worry little goblin princess, I’ll escort you to your castle”. She gives me a death stare for half a second but quickly she exhales in defeat and nods in agreement. Thus we start our way towards Lily's place through the dark and lonely streets.

After 10 or so minutes of walking through the chilli night wind, we arrive at the apartment building complex where she lives. It is huge, composed of 4 buildings with a common area in the middle, an underground parking lot and an entrance up a set of stairs. As we go up towards the entrance of the complex, Lily tells me “I’ll call you a taxi so you don’t have to walk alone at night”. I reply enthusiastically “Thank you! I knew that deep inside you were a lovely person, I didn't even gotta ask you to do it”. She answers by punching me in the liver, sending me to the ground on my knees.

After a few minutes the taxi arrives and I say goodbye to her, then I go down the stairs as Lilly goes in the opposite direction towards her apartment. As I get to the last staircase step I blink and after opening my eyes everything looks dark gray. I can’t feel the wind in my face and the sounds of the city have been exchanged by what seemed to be the muffled singing of birds. I stretch my arms trying to find anything and understand what has happened, when I feel with my palm a dry and weak texture. Then in an instant whatever was surrounding me in the darkness crumbled to dust, the bright light coming from the sky blinding me.

After a few seconds my eyes adjust to the brightness, and before me I see an incomprehensible sight. I am in a forest of mate-black thin trees and white grass, surrounded by dozens of naked human-like beings. They lack genitals of any kind, their chests are completely flat and their heads are small and circular with very delicate details, yet their eyes are a bit too big for an adult. Also, they all have eyes of different vibrant colors, as if jewels had replaced their irises. Their skin is snow white and looks soft as silk, without any blemishes or wrinkles. Their hair flows in the air with elegance, shining a crimson blood hue and going down to the slender knees of most of them. They surround me, not further away than 2 meters.

A few seconds have passed since I appeared in this scene of dreams. I haven’t moved as my mind is still trying to wrap itself around what I’m seeing and interestingly they haven’t moved either. Although worrisomely, the expressions on their faces have changed from worry and curiosity to horror and disgust. Then, I feel a hand grabbing my left shoulder making me jump in fear and turn, when I see a face from one of the ethereal beings no farther away than 10 centimeters from mine. The being looks me dead in the eyes, their pupils twitching erratically while trying to focus on me, and says almost in a whisper “where is our queen?...Your soul looks so much like her, but not quite. What did you do to her?”. Then, the all consuming rage they were restricting so far finally broke free, their face contorted to one of hatred with their brow heavily frowned. They erupted shouting “WHY DO YOU SO UNCANNILY RESEMBLE HER?! ARE YOU ONE OF THE WITCHES? WHY DO YOU SMELL SO HUMAN BUT FEEL SO MUCH LIKE US?!!!”. Petrified in silence I try to back away, walking in reverse as I find it impossible to look away at the frightening sight in front of me.

After a few steps back, my foot stumbles against something on the ground making me fall on my butt.The hit breaks me from the shock, allowing me to look around me and find what tripped me. Feeling like my soul is leaving my body I whimpered “...a d-d-dead person” as I crawled away from the corpse I was stepping on. Seems like the body is that of a very old woman and it is resting on a pool of blood! It isn't long before I collide with another of the beings in my effort from distancing myself from the corpse. I see multiple of them reaching their arms towards me and instinctively scream “STOOOP!! Get away from ME!!!” as I cower in fear on the ground.

A few seconds pass and nothing… nothing has happened, so I lift my head and see them all static like statues, standing a few meters away from me, forming a perfect circle. Their eyes are wide open and their brows show a mixture of disgust and fear. The change of mood allowed me to get my bearings back, letting me stand back up. An army of ethereal, confused beings surrounds me and a dead old woman lies dead in the ground, what shall I do now?