I come home from a business trip. My wife and son should be home, but no one responds when I come in and call out ‘I’m Home’.
I head downstairs and start packing away the groceries I picked up on my way home. I hear something behind me, I turn and see my wife and son standing at the counter. It’s strange but I don’t notice because I am filled with joy when I see them. My wife makes a strange noise. I take a step closer and see that their faces are sagging strangely and their eyes are empty.
Their faces are ripped away and rabbit sized rats jump out or their heads. I jump out of the way and leap over the counter, over the empty sacks of my wife and son that now lie on the floor like deflated balloons.
One of the rats bites into my hand before I can get to the stairs.
The other one I kick against the wall. It lies there unmoving. The one on my hand looks evil and stinks like death. I slip my free hand around its head and squeeze down on its mouth so that it’s teeth sink further into my flesh.
I can feel the venom making my thumb numb but I squeeze harder. If I manage to squeeze real hard I can suffocate it. If I manage to kill the rat that bit me then the venom dies too, meaning I wont die.
The rat starts to struggle, trying to free it’s mouth so it can breath. I hold on tight. It’s little claws scratch at my arm, its fat tail wrapping around my elbow. It stares straight at me, I cannot tell what it is thinking or what it’s feeling as it dies. I only feel the sweet revenge in me. I want to say something cool like in the movies ‘die you motherfucker’ or ‘that was for my wife, and THAT was for my son’.
But the house stays silent as I peel the rat off my arm. It’s quite heavy.
I hear my parents and brothers coming home, I’ve transformed back into my female younger self. I quickly grab the other rat and run outside. The sun is out and the white pavement blinds me for a second. I squint and head over to the trashcans. I toss the rats in and wonder what I will tell my parents about the dead remains of my male older self’s family.