(Fly TF, shoe TF, mouse TF, statue TF)

by grapehyacinth

...Until now.

So Steve, Tom, and I were partaking in some celebratory stolen beers at Tom's house.

“Dude, you going to sleep with her?” asked Tom, guzzling down half a bottle at once.

My virginal body jumped at the mention. “Oh, man, she must be so... Imagine her lying there below me, just–” Oh, God, I wanted that girl so badly.

“Steve, make her squeal! I want you to make her squeak and squeal, and – shit, something just bit me!” Tom rubbed his arm in annoyance.

“I intend to make her dance, my friends,” Steve smiled, a piteous look on his face. Yes, he knew he was the luckiest of the three, and I envied him for it.

“Oh, God,” I murmured. “I wish I could even watch...I would love to be a fly on THAT wall!”

“I have wanted that girl since sixth grade. I've fantasized about all the things I would do to her. I want to be part of her, to just...BE her, to walk a mile in those perfect shoes...”

I wondered if Steve felt love for her, or just pure teenage, hormonal, lust. Whatever. The whole idea of the stuff he could do to her was way too much for me. I was seriously perspiring from it.

“Dude, you should plant a camera in your room and tape it all,” Tom said darkly.

Steve paused, obviously pondering this. “Oh...my...God, yes. Totally. To watch it over and over is almost as good as the real thing. That bitch is MINE!”

Suddenly a low rumble broke out from the corner of the room, and a blinding light exploded into the form of a middle-aged woman who looked strikingly like Rhea.

“That's enough!” she thundered. “Rhea told me about you, and neither of us trusted you. I'm glad I checked in on you. First I was thinking I'd bite you a few times as a horsefly to let out my annoyance, but now that I see what you are and what you're up to, I won't let you near my daughter ever again. Well, at least, as boys.”

I simply stood staring open-mouthed, as did Steve and Tom. This woman was Hestia, Rhea's mother, and she was hot! And she also appeared out of nowhere...

Tom found his voice first. “You can turn into a horsefly?” he stuttered confusedly.

“Where did you come from?” Steve added nearly silently.

“That 'bitch' is not yours, Steve. And she is not a plaything.” Hestia turned to place her disdainful gaze back on Tom, who was actually cowering in fear. “Tom Varnes, isn't it?”

Tom could barely nod.

“You want to make people squeal and shriek, Tom?”

He looked at the floor.

“Well, I think that's a great idea.” She waved her hand towards him. “Become a mouse, Tom.”

“What the hell are you talking about–” he managed to yelp before he rapidly shrank to the floor, his clothes swallowing him up.

“No!! Stop!” I don't know how I yelled anything as I witnessed a small shaking mouse emerge from Tom's shorts.

The animal stared at us in horror. We gazed back in utter shock.

This woman had just taken a teenager and reduced him to a mouse! “Shit,” I breathed, rubbing my eyes. This was real. This was absolutely, totally real. Tom was a mouse, and...oh, God, could he be made into a person again?

“Shoo, Tom. Before I get a trap for you,” the woman chuckled, nudging him away with her shoe. The rodent grabbed onto her laces and held tight, and I knew my friend was still very much aware in that new body of his. This horrified me.

“Oh, my God, lady, I don't know you possibly did that, but please don't leave him that way!” Steve begged.

She shook Tom off of her shoe and he fell to the floor, wincing in pain.

“You should talk, huh? I have great plans for you, Steve. But,” she turned to me, and my stomach felt like it fell to the ground, “let's get your other friend here first.”

I began to shake just like Tom. Like most people, I had often wondered what it would be like to be something else. But now that it was obviously real, I realized I was fine with being human. “Please, no, I don't want...”

She edged closer. “Oh, but you do, Greg. You've often thought about it.”

“But...but I don't really...”

“Come now,” she stretched her arm towards me and I stumbled. “Weren't you the boy who wanted to be a fly on the wall?”

“Noooo!!!” I screamed, falling backwards. But there was no escaping this incredibly powerful woman. Her finger met my shoulder, introducing an odd tingle that quickly spread through my body. My skin was darkening, and I was shrinking.

“Let's do your transformation more slowly. I do enjoy watching a changing boy squirm.”

“No, please! I'm not a bad person!” I cried, my voice growing higher until I couldn't make any sounds. My whole face was rearranging, my eyes seemed to bulge and my vision was blossoming into millions of tiny pixels...

“A bad person? No, you're going to be a fly, Greg.”

My clothes were collapsing over me, leaving me to change in darkness, which made the experience even more awful. I couldn't see anything, but I could feel my limbs thinning and hardening. My abdomen began to throb until two additional limbs emerged from it. Oddly, I could feel them growing to the size of my other altered appendages. I experienced that same discomfort in two spots on my back, and I realized my wings were starting to sprout. I was soon able to move them back and forth as they elongated, which actually made me rise a bit inside my fabric prison.

“Come on out, Greg! You should be a nice housefly by now!”

What was left of my spine gave a wrench, sending me down onto my six legs. I was shaking so hard that I could hardly balance on them, but I managed to push my way through my underwear until I could see the light of the room.

The insect vision was so different with my new compound eyes. It made me nauseous, and I wondered if flies could throw up.

Hestia's voice boomed far above me. “Ah, there you are! I knew you'd never amount to much. Now go be a fly on the wall like you wanted so you can watch what I'm going to do to 'Romeo' here!”

I think I was not quite done changing because my insides felt like they were shifting around. My body had twisted into three segments, a head, thorax, and abdomen, just like I'd learned about in the insect part of science class.

Oh, God. Now I could end up as a science experiment or something. Did they dissect flies in school?

“Yes, stand still a second more, Greg. You're finishing the last bits of your metamorphosis, cementing into your new form...”

One more great shudder wracked through my body, and I knew I was done.

Rhea's now enormous-looking mother bent down to examine me, then she shooed me off. “Work on your flying skills now, dear.”

Even though I was still shivering in fear, I still managed to flap my wings enough to get out of her way. I blindly aimed for the wall, wondering at the last minute how flies stayed attached to vertical surfaces. I simply reached out with all six legs, but on meeting the wall, I collided with it and tumbled to the floor.

For a moment, everything grew dark, and I think I passed out, or whatever it's called when flies lose consciousness. Then I woke up, thinking I was in bed.

But then I opened my eyes, and all those crazy compound eye-images showed that Rhea's mom was reaching towards me with her huge fingers.

She grabbed me by the wings, and it hurt my back like hell. I guess even having an exoskeleton didn't help there.

“Greg, you're pretty stupid, even for a fly. Don't you see you have claws on the ends of your legs? Didn't you learn any biology? You have claws and they have moist suction cup pads on them. You can attach yourself to anything!” She held me back up against the wall, nearly crushing me into it until I grabbed on for dear life.

Okay, it was kind of cool I could do this...

“You like your new little form, kid?”

Please turn me back. Please. I'm scared. I don't know how to be a fly, I pleaded in my mind.

She laughed, somehow hearing my thoughts. “You are a fly. And your instincts will kick in soon. Now, let's get going here.” She turned to Steve, whom she had apparently frozen into stone at some point during my blackout. His face was a mask of horror, and his hands were held up in a useless gesture to protect himself.

“Dear, dear, Steve,” she smiled, beginning to circle her petrified victim. “You do make a lovely statue, and I'd love to decorate my house with you, but alas, I don't think Rhea will want to look at your human face ever again.” She drew her fingers down the stone surface, and it shivered. “A shame. Your face was a handsome one. And your body,” she caressed him below the hips, causing the object to shudder alarmingly, “ah, yes, it feels good, doesn't it? Just a last reminder of your previous shape...”

I don't know where Tom had scurried off to, but I knew I had to help Steve before Hestia did something even more horrible to him. I flew at the lady, buzzing and snapping at her with the crazy straw-like proboscis-thing that served as my mouth.

She swatted at me and laughed. “I'll turn you into a maggot if you don't get back on your wall, Greg,” she warned.

Weakly, I obeyed. I didn't want to be a maggot, and I knew anything I did was useless. I was no match for this powerful woman, and that was that. The best thing was to do what she said in hopes that she would change me back.

I landed in an area which was wet and surprisingly...delicious! Yes, with my feet, I could taste the intoxicating taste of beer that one of us earliler had accidentally splattered against the wall. Testing my new mouth, I attempted to slurp some up.

It filled up my fly stomach with what could only be described as ambrosia, and I kept drinking as I watched my friend's doom unravel. Hey...could flies get drunk?

“Yesss...” Rhea's mother continued to massage the statue, her voice hissing like a snake's. “You wanted to walk a mile in my daughter's shoes? Why don't you be them!”

Two things happened then. First, the surprised statue softened and took on color. The moment Steve could move again, he made a mad dash for the door. As he fought to open the knob, I buzzed over, stupidly thinking I could help. Then he fell to the floor, thrashing as if he were having a seizure.

Rhea's mom merely walked towards him, a smile on her face. “She'd love a pair of patent-leather heels, you know.”

“Oh, please, no...” but Steve's skin was already darkening and growing shiny. A strange mist was forming around him, curling him up into a ball. His head and limbs simply dissolved into the black mass, and it groaned.

“Ah, now's the best part. The separation...”

The ball began to buckle in the middle, kind of like when we learned about cell division in science. With a snap, the two parts separated, and the two smaller balls began to wobble in protest.

“That just beats all, huh, Steve? Being two things? But wait, there's more! Take on your new form...well, forms!”

At the same time, the two balls shifted and melted until they took the shape of two women's shoes. They were quaking.

“Yes, a moment more, Steve. Gotta finish the transformation. Settle into your form and all.”

The shoes grew still, and, as bad as I felt for Steve, I had to admit he had come out pretty awesomely.

“Now let's deliver you to your wearer,” the woman said, fetching Steve up. She looked back at me with something like pity. “I don't know where your stupid friend Tom is. Maybe he's hawk food at this point. But if you want to come and see how nice Steve looks on Rhea, follow us home.”

I did. I had nothing better to do.

But on the way, I had the time to adjust to my new form. I still held out hope that Rhea's mom would change me back, but in the meantime, I had to be a fly.

And flying was cool, but I had to stop here and there because it was tiring. And I was getting really hungry.

As I neared their house, something smelled good on the ground. I flew down to investigate.

It was a piece of a lollipop, and it tasted even better than the beer. I tried to suck it down, but it was solid, and I didn't have teeth.

But my body knew what to do.

My stomach gave a heave, and I found myself vomiting saliva and enzymes onto my treat. What was left of my human brain was disgusted with this, but as I watched the fluids break my meal down into goo, I saw that my fly body was ingenious, and I sucked down the sugary mass hungrily. I guess flies could throw up, and it was awesome.

Super-charged, I made the rest of the way back to Rhea's house.

Rhea's mom was getting out of her car, Steve dangling from her hands. “You here, Greg?”

I buzzed over. I'm here,I answered in my mind. Are you ever going to change me back?

She merely snorted. “Come inside, fly.”

I decided not to bother her more right now because I was still worried that she would turn me into something worse. Instead, I followed her into the house to find a smug Rhea on the couch doing homework.

“Present for you, kid,” her mom tossed Steve to the floor. “Those boys were sickos. You were right.”

“I knew he just wanted me. Thanks, Mom.” she picked up the shoes.

“That's Steve. He wanted to walk in your shoes, so I made him them.”

Rhea picked one up and stroked it. “Oh, Steve. You came out so nice. I'll make you so happy.” She slipped both of the shoes on and began to walk around. “So comfy! Are you happy like this, Steve?”

I guess they were both able to communicate with him, because both Rhea and Hestia laughed.

Poor Steve.

Suddenly, Rhea looked in my direction. “Who else is in here?”

“Oh, the fly. That's Greg. He's taking this so well, honestly. The other boys, as you can tell, are freaked out. I don't even know where that Tom ran off to. He's a mouse now.”

Rhea jumped up, gathering up a fly swatter. “I don't care what Greg feels. Get him out of here! I don't want bugs in the house!”

My little fly heart started thumping alarmingly as I dodged her blows. Until the swatter met its aim.

“Got you, you bastard!”

Rhea had managed to meet with two of my legs. Before I could escape, she had peeled me from the wall and tossed me outside. “Good-bye, Greg,” she murmured, and shut the door behind her.

I lay in the dirt, the sun beating down on my exoskeleton, my injured legs throbbing. Who knew that flies felt pain? I'd killed so many in my life without even thinking of it. I resolved never to do it again.

Except, I realized with a sinking feeling, that I'd probably never have the chance.

I went in and out of consciousness as night came on, and then I felt an odd pull.

It was a nightcrawler, and it was trying to make a meal of me.

The monstrous insect looked huge to me, and I batted my wings desperately, rising into the air. Holy hell, thank God she hadn't turned me into something that was flightless, I thought, flapping into the night. I had escaped that particular peril, but everything ate flies. I would never be safe.

I flew over the neighborhood, both amazed and scared at the same time. Everything was so different like this, and it was cool to be something else. But the fact that I might be this way forever was so awful that I couldn't really enjoy it.

And then dark shapes were lunging for me. From the high-pitched squeaks, I knew I was about to be a bat's dinner in seconds. I dove into our neighbor's barn and hid in the eaves. No bat would find me here. Well, I hoped not.

But the darkness closed in on me, and the one lone horse in the barn shuffled nervously. The horse was spooked for whatever reason, and I was frightened as hell.

My mind was in a whirl, not that I even understood how I still had a mind, being an insect and all...

Was I going to be dodging predators my whole life? Was I going to have to vomit my guts up whenever I wanted to feast on a solid morsel of food?

Look at me, a disgusting, unwanted bug...I'm pitiful, I'm nothing. All because of Rhea...

Oh, God, please help me, I prayed.

The rooster's crow at the crack of dawn awoke me, and yet again I wondered if I'd been dreaming. But my eyes opened on the barn and the slumbering mare, and the night's terrors came back to me.

I'll just stay in here forever, I thought. Then I'll be safe.

But then I'd curl up and die...

The idea of dying like this filled me with fear. No one would know what happened to me, where my body was, and what these women were capable of! They had to be stopped!

The barn door creaked open. For a moment I was seized with the urge to flee, but then it occurred to me that the man who had entered wouldn't care too much about a fly in his barn. I'm sure I wasn't the only one inhabiting the structure.

“How are you feeling?” the man asked the horse, which stirred. I think it was pregnant. It was also weird the way the man was talking to it like it was a person, but I didn't care. Something else was calling me.

It was a smell.

My stomach was growling, begging me to give it sustenance.

My antennae were picking up a wonderful odor outside, and I flew through a window to follow it. I found what I craved several feet away.

...A brand-new, steaming pile of horse manure.

Oh, God. No. I can't go that far, human Greg was screaming at me. But fly Greg needed to land in it and taste it with his feet...

The swarm of other flies sampling the delicacy only encouraged me.

No! It's horse crap! I can't do it!

But as if controlled by a higher power, my fly body circled the pile, dodging the other flies. I needed this so badly...

No!

My feet tapped down into the gooey mess, and that was it. I was in heaven.

And the female fly beside me...The way she smelled, those big, beautiful compound eyes...

To hell with being changed back into a person. I think I was in love.