2016 – Day 15

Start writing a story that...

Step 1: begins with this sentence: When he woke up...

-----

When he woke up one morning from uneasy dreams, Rogreg found himself transformed into a Gigantic One. The extreme brightness of the room caused by light flooding in from four windows, which now appeared much smaller than Rogreg remembered them, filled him with anxiety and he wished to flee toward darker, hidden spaces. As he tried to scuttle away from the soft platform on which he lay, he realized that his six strong legs had been replace by four uneven ones, two large stompers and two weaker, floating ones. He reached out toward the floor and fell into the open space. Landing on the floor stomper appendages made him wobbly, and then having the rest of his weight land on the floating legs sent sharp pains to his insides. This caused his legs to give way and Rogreg collapsed on the floor in a loud thud. As he lay there, legs sprawled in all directions, he noticed a space beneath the soft platform and squirmed into the quiet, darkness.

No longer feeling exposed, Rogreg took stock of himself in the dark hideaway. His head was now heavy and round, and he could no longer see in all directions unless he turned his head to a great degree, something he was not used to doing. Atop his head, his antennae were gone and in their place grew a big swath of long hairs that obscured his vision when he looked down at the floor. His middle seemed a soft mass with no outer protection, and everything about his body felt heavier and harder to move. The Gigantic Ones had appeared to be so swift and powerful when they discovered Rogreg among their foods and chased him off. Now he did not feel swift nor powerful.

Rogreg lay beneath the soft platform and thought about what his family would do without him. He was their main provider, taking on much of the risk by venturing into open spaces and grabbing crumbs. He had come near death multiple times. The Gigantic Ones had no regard for the lives of his kind, and they seemed to always appear unexpectedly, first blinding him with lights, then attacking him with their large stomper appendages. He looked again at his large stompers and saw that they were soft and fleshy, lacking the outer coverings he was used to seeing come toward him. Perhaps he was injured.

He then heard a scuttling noise and turned his large head toward the sound. Across the room stood his sister, her antennae scanning the space around her. Rogreg was sure she was looking for him.

"I'm here!" he shouted, unprepared for the thunderous noise that escaped his body and filled the entire room. He could see his sister freeze where she stood, her antennae twitching nervously about her head. In an instant she was gone.