David Wyllie

"How about if I sleep a little bit longer and forget all this nonsense"

what a strenuous career it is that I’ve chosen

Was he an animal if music could captivate him so?

Through the crack in the door, Gregor could see that the gas had been lit in the living room

Was he an animal if music could captivate him so?

How about if I sleep a little bit longer and forget all this nonsense

Should he really call for help though, even apart from the fact that all the doors were locked?

And he lay there quietly a while longer, breathing lightly as if he perhaps expected the total stillness to bring things back to their real and natural state.

Gregor pushed himself into the doorway without regard for what might happen. One side of his body lifted itself, he lay at an angle in the doorway, one flank scraped on the white door and was painfully injured, leaving vile brown flecks on it, soon he was stuck fast and would not have been able to move at all by himself, the little legs along one side hung quivering in the air while those on the other side were pressed painfully against the ground. Then his father gave him a hefty shove from behind which released him from where he was held and sent him flying, and heavily bleeding, deep into his room. The door was slammed shut with the stick, then, finally, all was quiet.

The previous morning while the doors were locked everyone had wanted to get in there to him, but now, now that he had opened up one of the doors and the other had clearly been unlocked some time during the day, no–one came, and the keys were in the other sides.