Collin waited inside the chrysalis, plotting angrily. He knew he needed to kill that girl, but he didn’t know how. He was trapped in a cage, but even if he got past that, then their size difference would put him at a major disadvantage. If he had eyes, he would be glaring aggressively at the life pulse from the girl. He could feel happiness directed at himself from the intent in the girl’s life pulse, which only fueled his anger further.

She was twisted to take pleasure in his captivity.

If that wasn’t bad enough, she had taken Collin’s ability to decide what he ate. He was at the mercy of whatever she dropped in the cage since his hunger would take over if he tried to resist for too long.

He was still aware when the hunger took over, but it was like his rationality was pushed into the background of his mind and without a great effort, he was helpless to his own instincts. He’d have to keep an eye on that. Not all of his problems so far could be attributed to his hunger, but a great many of them were.

Collin felt like it had been getting easier to resist his hunger every time he finished absorbing his meals. He was also getting smarter after each emergence from the chrysalis. The two had to be related. There was a portion of life pulse that glowed brighter in every one of his victims so far that he was confident had to do with his increasing intelligence. The girl had a large amount of that extra glowing pulse coming from her head. Colin thought it was her brain, but wasn’t entirely sure what that meant.

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It was frustrating knowing what things were, but not knowing why he was able to identify them. He could tell he was missing a part of himself and only had enough self awareness to understand that he wasn’t complete; Almost as if he were the mirror image of himself and the real him had walked away without taking him along.

The girl was making noises again.

Collin couldn’t make out the words while in his chrysalis; Not that they made any sense even when he could hear them, but it was just another reminder of his incompleteness.

Collin felt stuck. Less so because of his currently dormant state, and more so because he wasn’t smart enough or large enough to fight back and escape.

Both needing to grow larger, smarter, or possibly both, were possible and left Collin with only one path forward: He needed to eat as much as possible.

Collin had an idea. He thought back to that word she kept saying, ‘Down’ That was the key to more food. Every time he had climbed onto the net, she would say ‘Down’ and then feed him if he went to the floor.

That word must mean a promise for food that was somehow activated after he went from the net to the floor. Collin could use that to his advantage. If he kept climbing on the net, that would maximize his chance for ‘Down’ to happen.

It was brilliant.

Collin had three goals in life now: Get enough food to grow, escape, and kill that girl. Now he also had a plan to make that happen.

Collin would have chirped in delight if he could. He glared triumphantly at the girl waiting outside of his cage. He felt like he was taking back the power from her by discovering the meaning of ‘Down’ and using it against her.

It was only a matter of time befre he got his revenge.

This time, Collin was in control, but a new hunger still drove him.