Collin woke from his chrysalis state, he felt an overwhelming excitement as his formless body bubbled and took its new shape.

Today was the day he would fly.

Collin felt his newly acquired wings form on his body and wiggled them. It was so exciting to be able to make full use of them. He fluttered the wings in a rapid motion but they didn't take him off the ground.

Collin frowned and tried again, but his wings were too small for his bulky frame. After several failed attempts and a few hops, Collin realized that while he was able to move the wings, they would never carry him through the sky like he had hoped.

The Dragonfly’s body was made perfectly to allow for flight, but the way Collin developed after eating so many different things, he had accidentally sabotaged himself.

Collin whimpered. His wish to fly was impeded by not developing properly and now he had nothing to show for it.

If that wasn’t enough bad news for one day, Collin looked around to find himself no longer outside, but contained inside of a netted cage.

The cage floor was covered by a smooth white plastic surface, there was a wooden perimeter about five inches high extending from the floor, connecting off of the wood was a tall squarish net that fully enclosed the wooden perimeter.

This was unacceptable.

Collin climbed onto the wooden frame and snapped at the net, but his mouth wasn’t strong enough to chew through. He was too big to fly and too small to free himself.

This was unacceptable.

Collin saw red as rage bubbled up from inside himself and he let our furious screech. The screech felt powerful, but it did nothing to the net trapping him. Collin shook the net and raged against it until he wore himself out. There was no use fighting something that wasn’t affected in the slightest. Whoever trapped him would pay. He would find a way to destroy his captor if it was the last thing he would do. For now though, he was helpless to change his situation.

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Calming down, Collin observed the room beyond his netted prison. It was a child’s bedroom. The bed touching the far wall had a nightstand with a window above that. He wasn’t sure how he knew what everything was, but he knew it was true. This room felt familiar to him somehow; Not in getting caught and being trapped sort of way, but a happy way.

Loss

Collin whimpered at the painful feeling that assaulted him from within. He drove away the feeling by focusing on a way to escape.

Higher up the net had a small flap that was secured by velcro. He climbed the net until he made it to the flap, but he couldn’t open it at all, no matter how hard he pushed.

He was trapped for now. He was too weak.

Collin recalled being trapped in the fish’s mouth and the glass dome from so many forms ago and decided that there was no greater crime in this world than for someone to trap him.

He looked longingly out the window to the sky and trees outside, then back to the netted cage and the wings that failed him. Collin curled into himself as he felt a deep sadness at not being free.

It wasn’t fair.

He didn’t want to feel sad, so he focused on the pulse that could drive his sadness away.

Hungry

For the first time, Collin focused on the life pulses surrounding him and realized that he wasn’t alone in his cage. There were butterfly chrysalis all over.

Hungry

Collin didn’t think, instead he dove into fully satisfying his hunger. He didn’t stop until every last one of the half-formed butterflies were eaten.

Stuffed to the brim and done with his meal, Collin withdrew into his Chrysalis form. For the first time, Collin found himself more consciously aware while still withdrawn in his chrysalis.

After some time, there were two large life pulses that came back and left. One would enter the room frequently, but the other stayed away. He could hear sounds coming from the life pulse occasionally. Especially when it got close enough to be right against the cage.

He guessed it was likely the little girl who lived in the room beyond the cage. Whether or not he was right about that part, Collin understood that whatever the life pulse really was, it had to be the one who stole his freedom from him.

That meant it needed to die.