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Leaning against the sofa cushions, Caleb guzzled some of his soda after he ripped open the bag of chips.
Setting the soda can aside, Caleb stretched out a hand that looked positively massive to his tiny, trapped brother and removed a sizable chip from the bag.
Unnoticed by his huge little brother, the transformed teenager struggled in the bowl of dip. The gloppy dip held the tiny fly's body like a cement sludge that caused him to sink deeper the more he struggled in vain to escape.
Craig watched with alarm as the hand and chip hovered over the lake of dip.
"Caleb, it's me!" Craig tried to shout for attention. "In the dip! Please! See me!"
Caleb pushed the broad chip through the dip, collecting a load of dip for transport to his waiting mouth. Craig wailed at the unfairness when the very first plunge of the dip into the bowl scooped him up with a generous amount of the strongly onion-scented dip.
"Oh my god! No!" Craig buzzed his wings and tried to pull himself free of the dollop of dip. "Don't eat me!"
Craig didn't want this to happen. He wanted to escape this nightmare and get back his normal life as a sixteen year old kid. He didn't want the humiliating demise of being eaten by his "little" brother.
The chip now hovered only inches from Caleb's mouth. Craig watched his brother through his faceted insect eyes, watching the nightmare unfold in multiple images. Cables of saliva dripped from the roof of the enormous mouth. He saw a waiting tongue on the floor of the massive cavern and rows of teeth capable of pulverizing him with a single chomp.
Just as the end looked near, the doorbell rang. "He got here fast," Caleb muttered and rested the uneaten chip back into the lake of onion dip before he crossed the room to the front door.
A jubilant Craig celebrated his unexpected reprieve, but found himself still stuck fast in the glutinous dip. At best, he could expect only a temporary pause before Caleb returned to his snack with a vengeance.
Caleb welcomed his friend, Todd, a red-headed boy just a bit on the chubby side as he transitioned into puberty from a pudgy grade-schooler to a tween slightly on the hefty side in comparison to Caleb, who was seeing his body grow taller and leaner with recent growth spurts. Regardless, both boys enjoyed the ravenous appetites almost universal to most boys their age.
"Thought we could play this new level," Caleb said. "I brought some chips and dip from the kitchen. Go grab yourself something to drink."
Todd glanced toward the bowl and the bag of chips, failing to notice as a bedraggled fly slowly crawled higher on the slanted potato chip, pulling itself gradually from the sticky dip.
"Thanks," Todd said and headed to the kitchen. Impatient to try some of the dip and get started on the game, he returned with lightning speed.
He pulled his own chip from the bag, but waited when Caleb got ahead of him as he reached from his already loaded chip.
Craig, who had almost managed to get free, screamed at the ultimate unfairness. "No! Wait!" Craig cried. "Caleb! Please!"
Todd just happened to look at the right instant to see something dark squirming in the white dip scooped onto his friend's chip. "Don't look now, but I think there's a fly on your chip."
Caleb jerked the chip away from his open mouth and stared in disgust. "Oh, that's just frickin' gross!"
Both boys laughed heartily, but then Todd's dark eyes gleamed as he came up with one of his trademark dares.
"I'll pay you five bucks if you eat it," he said, watching the weakened insect slump at the edge of the dip collected onto the wide chip.
"You eat it!" Caleb retorted. "I'm not eating a gross bug!"
"Give me ten bucks and I will!"
Craig heard the discussion that was so casually deciding his fate. "No! Caleb! It's me!"
"I'm not paying you to eat a bug," Caleb said.
"Why not?"
Caleb's expression twisted into a look of pure disgust. "Flies are filthy, man."
Todd pulled a ten dollar bill from his wallet. "All right," he said. "Ten bucks if you eat it."
Caleb's expression changed from disgust to one of barely disguised greed. Ten bucks was more serious money.
"No! Caleb! You can't!"
"All right," Caleb said, although his face scrunched into a sickened look as he contemplated the soggy fly stranded on the chip. "I'll do it."
Craig wailed, unable to plead with words for his life.
Just as Caleb passed the chip into his open mouth, Todd grabbed his arm. "Wait! If I am paying you to do this, I want to get a photo."
Caleb sighed with impatience as he watched Todd bring out his phone and activate the camera.
Todd zoomed the focus onto the tiny insect mired in a thin layer of dip on the surface of the chip as Caleb purposefully let the chip hover just in front of his open mouth. The chubby teenager burst into laugher. "Eew, it looks so gross."
"Take the damn picture!" Caleb began to have his own second thoughts about eating the disgusting bug and wanted to get it over with.
"Caleb, I'm your brother. You can't eat—"
Todd snapped his picture and groaned at the gross-out potential represented in full-color photographic detail.
Caleb closed his mouth around the chip, but he couldn't bear to chew the disgusting insect. He slurped the dip and fly off the chip, pushing them to the back of his throat. He imagined he felt the insect's tiny legs trying to grasp for holds on his tongue.
Craig was a nightmarish version of hell in the dark, smelly, dank cavern of his brother's mouth. His brother's tongue lifted him and the dip, squashing them against the roof of his mouth before working them toward his throat.
He was no longer accepting the reality of his situation, trying to make believe he was having a bad dream.
"Wake up! Wake up!" Craig cried. "Please, let me wake up!"
Caleb produced a gulping noise as he sent the still squirming bug down his throat and toward his waiting stomach. He opened his now empty mouth and Todd snapped another photo to complete the "before and after" set.
Caleb felt nauseated. "It was still alive. Fuck, I felt it squirming the whole way down!"
"Relax. It won't last long," Todd said and scooped out a helping of dip on a chip of his own. His appetite seemed completely unaffected. He munched happily on repeated helpings of the chips with the savory onion dip as Caleb looked sicker and sicker.
"If you're that sick, go to the bathroom and puke," Todd said, opening his mouth and grossing out Caleb with a look at pulverized chips all over his tongue.
Caleb shrugged. "I can handle it," he said, reaching for his can of soda. He took a large swig of soda, which seemed to erase the bug's foul taste from his mouth. "Where's my fucking money?"
Todd laughed. "Deal's a deal," he said and handed Caleb a crisp ten dollar bill.
Caleb pocketed the cash.
"Where's your brother?" Todd asked.
The question forced Caleb to think back to Craig's earlier disappearance.
"I think he's trying to prank me," Caleb answered. "He's around here somewhere."
At that moment, his stomach gurgled loudly. "I'm sure he'll turn up."
Todd thought about asking for details, but instead he laughed at the noises emanating from his friend's stomach. "Maybe you shouldn't eat strange bugs."
Caleb reached over and smacked the back of his friend's head. "Shut up and let's play."
Setting the soda can aside, Caleb stretched out a hand that looked positively massive to his tiny, trapped brother and removed a sizable chip from the bag.
Unnoticed by his huge little brother, the transformed teenager struggled in the bowl of dip. The gloppy dip held the tiny fly's body like a cement sludge that caused him to sink deeper the more he struggled in vain to escape.
Craig watched with alarm as the hand and chip hovered over the lake of dip.
"Caleb, it's me!" Craig tried to shout for attention. "In the dip! Please! See me!"
Caleb pushed the broad chip through the dip, collecting a load of dip for transport to his waiting mouth. Craig wailed at the unfairness when the very first plunge of the dip into the bowl scooped him up with a generous amount of the strongly onion-scented dip.
"Oh my god! No!" Craig buzzed his wings and tried to pull himself free of the dollop of dip. "Don't eat me!"
Craig didn't want this to happen. He wanted to escape this nightmare and get back his normal life as a sixteen year old kid. He didn't want the humiliating demise of being eaten by his "little" brother.
The chip now hovered only inches from Caleb's mouth. Craig watched his brother through his faceted insect eyes, watching the nightmare unfold in multiple images. Cables of saliva dripped from the roof of the enormous mouth. He saw a waiting tongue on the floor of the massive cavern and rows of teeth capable of pulverizing him with a single chomp.
Just as the end looked near, the doorbell rang. "He got here fast," Caleb muttered and rested the uneaten chip back into the lake of onion dip before he crossed the room to the front door.
A jubilant Craig celebrated his unexpected reprieve, but found himself still stuck fast in the glutinous dip. At best, he could expect only a temporary pause before Caleb returned to his snack with a vengeance.
Caleb welcomed his friend, Todd, a red-headed boy just a bit on the chubby side as he transitioned into puberty from a pudgy grade-schooler to a tween slightly on the hefty side in comparison to Caleb, who was seeing his body grow taller and leaner with recent growth spurts. Regardless, both boys enjoyed the ravenous appetites almost universal to most boys their age.
"Thought we could play this new level," Caleb said. "I brought some chips and dip from the kitchen. Go grab yourself something to drink."
Todd glanced toward the bowl and the bag of chips, failing to notice as a bedraggled fly slowly crawled higher on the slanted potato chip, pulling itself gradually from the sticky dip.
"Thanks," Todd said and headed to the kitchen. Impatient to try some of the dip and get started on the game, he returned with lightning speed.
He pulled his own chip from the bag, but waited when Caleb got ahead of him as he reached from his already loaded chip.
Craig, who had almost managed to get free, screamed at the ultimate unfairness. "No! Wait!" Craig cried. "Caleb! Please!"
Todd just happened to look at the right instant to see something dark squirming in the white dip scooped onto his friend's chip. "Don't look now, but I think there's a fly on your chip."
Caleb jerked the chip away from his open mouth and stared in disgust. "Oh, that's just frickin' gross!"
Both boys laughed heartily, but then Todd's dark eyes gleamed as he came up with one of his trademark dares.
"I'll pay you five bucks if you eat it," he said, watching the weakened insect slump at the edge of the dip collected onto the wide chip.
"You eat it!" Caleb retorted. "I'm not eating a gross bug!"
"Give me ten bucks and I will!"
Craig heard the discussion that was so casually deciding his fate. "No! Caleb! It's me!"
"I'm not paying you to eat a bug," Caleb said.
"Why not?"
Caleb's expression twisted into a look of pure disgust. "Flies are filthy, man."
Todd pulled a ten dollar bill from his wallet. "All right," he said. "Ten bucks if you eat it."
Caleb's expression changed from disgust to one of barely disguised greed. Ten bucks was more serious money.
"No! Caleb! You can't!"
"All right," Caleb said, although his face scrunched into a sickened look as he contemplated the soggy fly stranded on the chip. "I'll do it."
Craig wailed, unable to plead with words for his life.
Just as Caleb passed the chip into his open mouth, Todd grabbed his arm. "Wait! If I am paying you to do this, I want to get a photo."
Caleb sighed with impatience as he watched Todd bring out his phone and activate the camera.
Todd zoomed the focus onto the tiny insect mired in a thin layer of dip on the surface of the chip as Caleb purposefully let the chip hover just in front of his open mouth. The chubby teenager burst into laugher. "Eew, it looks so gross."
"Take the damn picture!" Caleb began to have his own second thoughts about eating the disgusting bug and wanted to get it over with.
"Caleb, I'm your brother. You can't eat—"
Todd snapped his picture and groaned at the gross-out potential represented in full-color photographic detail.
Caleb closed his mouth around the chip, but he couldn't bear to chew the disgusting insect. He slurped the dip and fly off the chip, pushing them to the back of his throat. He imagined he felt the insect's tiny legs trying to grasp for holds on his tongue.
Craig was a nightmarish version of hell in the dark, smelly, dank cavern of his brother's mouth. His brother's tongue lifted him and the dip, squashing them against the roof of his mouth before working them toward his throat.
He was no longer accepting the reality of his situation, trying to make believe he was having a bad dream.
"Wake up! Wake up!" Craig cried. "Please, let me wake up!"
Caleb produced a gulping noise as he sent the still squirming bug down his throat and toward his waiting stomach. He opened his now empty mouth and Todd snapped another photo to complete the "before and after" set.
Caleb felt nauseated. "It was still alive. Fuck, I felt it squirming the whole way down!"
"Relax. It won't last long," Todd said and scooped out a helping of dip on a chip of his own. His appetite seemed completely unaffected. He munched happily on repeated helpings of the chips with the savory onion dip as Caleb looked sicker and sicker.
"If you're that sick, go to the bathroom and puke," Todd said, opening his mouth and grossing out Caleb with a look at pulverized chips all over his tongue.
Caleb shrugged. "I can handle it," he said, reaching for his can of soda. He took a large swig of soda, which seemed to erase the bug's foul taste from his mouth. "Where's my fucking money?"
Todd laughed. "Deal's a deal," he said and handed Caleb a crisp ten dollar bill.
Caleb pocketed the cash.
"Where's your brother?" Todd asked.
The question forced Caleb to think back to Craig's earlier disappearance.
"I think he's trying to prank me," Caleb answered. "He's around here somewhere."
At that moment, his stomach gurgled loudly. "I'm sure he'll turn up."
Todd thought about asking for details, but instead he laughed at the noises emanating from his friend's stomach. "Maybe you shouldn't eat strange bugs."
Caleb reached over and smacked the back of his friend's head. "Shut up and let's play."
