The Life of a Fly

The water was calm and tranquil, largely undisturbed except for a stray breeze that rippled the surface.

A few clouds drifted lazily across the surface, and sunshine glinted off the warm water. Somewhere, a frog croaked. Somewhere, a bird chirped.

The eggs on the water's surface struggled, shook, and broke open. Larvae bobbed on the surface, struggling, drowning, floating.

BRIGHT. Warm. Wet? Cold. Hungry.

Hungry. Hungry.

A chunky mayfly flew up, and skimmed the water's surface.

A chunk of honey dropped onto the water's surface, floating near the larvae. The honey quickly dissolved amongst the larvae, of which five or six had survived gestation.

Sticky. Gooey? Sweet. Sweet.

More honey dropped on the surface, and the larvae swarmed the floating piles. The larvae grew quickly, exponentially with each suckered drop. Another chunky mayfly dropped more honey on the surface, and one unlucky larva drowned in it, unable to swallow fast enough to save himself. The honey - and the body - was quickly consumed by the rest.

I felt fat, and the sunlight was warm on my wings. The air itself tasted sweet, and I found myself floating lazily up and up, caught on a drift, my wings flapping to life.

My siblings surrounded me, a group of us honey-happy and floating, while a few others skipped over the water's surface, causing ripples with their legs as they dipped in and out.

Soon - all too soon - I found myself craving the sweet once more, and I too rushed to the pond's surface to see if there was any left behind. The water was undisturbed - there was nothing left.

"Come", I heard a soft command. I ignored it, and flew over the water's surface again and again and again, hoping to catch the last vital drop - I could still smell it, and knew that there must be more somewhere, somewere. After all, this is where the sweet always was, it came here, it was always here, why wasn't it here anymore? It wasn't just me - my siblings, greedy, suckling, hungry were all flying with me, all of us fluttering over the surface, all of us looking for the same thing.

"Come", she said, and my siblings joined her. I slowly flew up, as well. If there is nothing here, then so be it.

The wind caught my attention, and I was lost in the sweet, heady scent of roses. I I lagged behind, and struggled to keep up with the group.

A warm pie cooled on the window ledge. Above and to the left, a bug zapper glowed and hummed.

A huge light brown circle, the scent overflowing with sweetness, called to us - to me. The wind guided us to it, to this true source of sweet. This is where the sweet came from. The air was practically thick with it, and I found it almost awkward to fly through it to the brown circle. My mother was the fastest and descended first, almost getting trapped in the sweetness. I could see now - it coated the circle, but the circle was not hard - not soft like water, but different. The rest of my siblings joined soon after. I crashed into my younger sister in an attempt to land gracefully, and immediately sucked in the sweet.

A few more bugs joined us - a wasp trampled my older brother to reach the sweetness; a colony of red ants dragged my brother away, mistaking him for a sweet; my younger sister was eaten by a larger fly, and my other younger sister flew away just in time to avoid being stepped on by a winged beetle.

The circle filled, and yet I stayed. My mother stayed, my remaining siblings stayed, and we ate. Why would we? The sweet was never ending, and despite the circle filling - I could see red ants walk past - the sweet stayed.

Suddenly, the world changed. The world shifted. No, the world moved. The wind picked up, as the circle moved with everything on it. SLAM! The world moved again, much faster this time. I was almost shaken off the circle, and I quickly flew back to it, settling once more into the sweet.

Aaah!! Look at the all the bugs on this! It's practically CRAWLING with insects!! Why on EARTH did you leave a PIE outside on the window ledge! That's disgusting, and such a waste of food! Quick, throw the whole thing out before any of those bugs come into the house!

Again, the world moved up. The wind changed, and I could feel the circle shift underneath me legs. The circle tilted, and a few fell off the edge. I flew away but was hit by a tumbling wasp - the same one that crushed my brother - and managed to right myself without too much damage. A few of my siblings hovered above as well, guided by my mother.

"Come," she said, and we followed. She guided us to the sweet once, and we trusted her to guide us to the sweet again. The air was still warm and thick with it, and we knew that there would be more. There would always be more.

I drooped down, weighted by the sweet settling in my stomach, and felt warm, and content. The setting sun was no longer warm on my wings, but the air was surprisingly still. My siblings flew in a circular haze as well, and I joined them, fluttering, fluttering, always keeping my mother in the centre.

The steady buzz caught my mother's attention and she drifted up towards it. The buzz was haunting - I could hear nothing else. My siblings and I all followed her. She knew where the sweet was, and the buzz called to us. It pulled and changed my view until all I saw was the haunting blue light. The sun was not warm anymore - in fact, I couldn't even see it. The blue was deep and bright at the same time, and the buzz was all I could hear.

It pulled and pulled and pulled and - zap.