Chapter Text
Metamorphosis, by Kafka, had to be the most stupid book to ever exist, in the mind of fifteen year old Delighla Lundburg. With an already burning hatred of fantasy, the idea of someone turning into a bug was quite uninteresting. It was impossible, as fantasy tended to be (which is part of the reason Delighla disliked it so much), but it was quite frankly boring to her.
Now, had you asked her what part of it was boring, she would not be able to tell you, because she had never taken the time to read such nonsense. But her hatred for things she never gave a chance to was quite apparent throughout every aspect of her life.
Today, the stupid and boring novel by Kafka was not Delighla’s biggest worry, instead it was seventeen year old Astrid Lundburg. Delighla’s older not quite sister. Astrid was tall, and frail looking. She had red hair that reached her chest, and a face reminiscent of a rat. Delighla’s not quite sister looked nothing like Delighla, because she was, well, not quite her sister.
When Delighla was three years old, her mother was tragically killed in a car accident. It took four months for her father to marry another woman, Tanya, who was the mother of Astrid. Tanya was not a mother to Delighla in the same way Astrid was not a sister to her. But now, the not quite sister was standing in front of Delighla, glaring at her, while the not quite mom sat in the car behind them.
“Let’s go,” Astrid sneered at Delighla, before turning around and marching herself to the car.
Astrid had to check Delighla out of the hospital, because an immediate family member had to exit the building with you, but after walking through the doors Delighla decided she didn't care to walk much further. Despite Astrid’s demand of her to walk to the car, Delighla declined. She stood directly in front of the hospital door, the bar to open it digging into her back.
Astrid got in the car, and Delighla assumed an argument broke out between them, because even at the distance Delighla was standing from the drop off area of the parking lot and the doors, she could vaguely hear the noise of their voices. Perhaps like in the book Metamorphosis, Delighla could also turn into a bug, and leave the annoying reality that eventually she would have to get in the car as well. Eventually, but not so soon.
Delighla twiddled with her hospital bracelet, moving it back and forth with the index finger and thumb of her other hand. She would cut it off when she got home. She hoped her pocket knife was still hidden under her pillow. Last time she was sent to the hospital, it was demanded that she would not be allowed to access sharp objects for six months after being released. That rule had not been enforced last time, so she decided it must not have been enforced this time, and therefore her pocket knife would be under her pillow.
The movement of the bracelet irritated the skin underneath it, but she continued the movements anyway. It took three minutes for Astrid to emerge from the car again, and approach Delighla. She stood further away than she had the last time.
“Can we not play this stupid game? Just get in the car so we can go home.” Astrid’s voice was high pitched and annoying, so Delighla decided she was annoyed, and if she was annoyed at the situation, why should she engage in it?
She chose to neither respond nor move. Once Astrid realized the conclusion Delighla came to, she groaned loudly. She stomped back to the car, opened the driver's door, and said something to Tanya.
Tanya and Astrid both approached Delighla this time. Tanya looked like an overweight and old version of Astrid. Tanya used to be pretty, objectively, which is why Delighla assumed her father married her. Or perhaps he had wanted for Delighla to grow up with a mother and a sister, a girl around her own age. But the second option would imply Delighla’s father was thinking of her, which was an unfortunate subject seeing as he rarely ever did. Which is why Tanya and Astrid are standing in front of her, and not him.
Tanya’s arms were crossed, and she was looking at Delighla with a face of hatred. Her long rat-like nose was scrunched, and her thin rat-like lips that were smeared in an ugly shade of red lipstick were stretched in a scowl across her face. The only part of Tanya that wasn’t fat was her starved looking face. Astrid shared the same hollow and almost dead looking facial features, but she was so incredibly thin Delighla liked to imagine her being picked up by a light breeze and blown away.
How big was the bug in Metamorphosis? Perhaps Astrid could turn into the bug and fly away, as stupid bugs were prone to do. Or be stomped on and killed. That sounded like a much more appealing idea to Delighla. Delighla thought very often of Astrid dying. Or Tanya. Or both at the same time. Some days Delighla would kill them, some days a natural disaster would come in and wipe out everyone in her family besides her (Delighla didn’t mind the idea of also being killed in this scenario), or maybe another person would kill them. Maybe right now, like in the movie Mean Girls, a bus would come and hit Astrid and Tanya at the same time, killing them both.
Delighla hated fantasy novels because people were killed in stupid, unrealistic ways. And there were stupid, unrealistic romances. Even at fifteen, Delighla knew quite well that she would never find herself in a romantic relationship with someone. Just as she knew she would never find herself watching Astrid getting eaten by a dragon.
Astrid and Tanya had been talking at Delighla. When she decided to pay attention, it was not out of choice, but because Tanya’s grubby fingers had latched onto her forearm and started pulling her towards the car. Delighla did not actively resist, instead just transforming herself into a dead weight that Tanya had to effortfully drag. She said something in a tone that Delighla thought of as “scathing” but the actual words did not register in her brain.
Eventually, to the dismay of Delighla and the joy of Astrid and Tanya, they made it to the car. It was a small car, with only one row in the backseat, and Delighla got it all to herself. She was carelessly thrown in, and chose not to move from the position in which she landed. This position happened to be face first, half her body falling off the seats, and her legs still outside the car. Tanya reached in and slapped the back of her head, which was enough of a motivation to maneuver herself fully into the car and onto the seat, however.
It was faux leather, and the sweat that had accumulated on Delighla from standing outside in the July heat caused her to stick to the seat uncomfortably. Her right arm burned when she peeled it away, but she elected to ignore it completely. She positioned herself to be laying down on her back across all three seats. Her shoulder length blonde hair was spilling over the seat, and she entertained herself by flicking it and watching it move. She paid the same amount of attention to Astrid and Tanya in the front two seats as she did to wearing a seat belt, that is to say none at all.
It was a one and a half hour car drive from the hospital to their house.
To call it a home would be to ignore all of the troubles that Delighla found herself facing inside of it, just as it would be ignoring the issues of her family should she call Tanya and Astrid part of hers. Regardless, playing with your hair can only last so long, and Delighla found herself bored. She found herself bored most of the time.
School was never interesting. The only class she enjoyed was science. Because science was real and accurate. Every other subject had their fantasy. Math had imaginary numbers, history could never be relied upon, and English was of course the focal point of the fantasy genre. Science was the only subject that was entirely real. It was also the only subject she ever got above a C in.
“Is there anything to do?” Astrid asked. This piqued Delighla’s interest. She was also looking for something to do.
“Yes, look in my bag there. No, my other bag, to the right. Yes, perfect. Okay, now there should be a sketchbook and pencils and a book in there,” Tanya said. Astrid loved to draw, so hopefully the book would be passed back to her. She heard more rummaging before Astrid finally exclaimed, “Aha! There's the pencil.” So she would be drawing, just as Delighla had hoped.
Astrid turned in her seat to look back at Delighla. Her face was less mean now. She didn’t scowl or sneer when she asked, “Do you want the book?” Instead it was almost friendly in a way. Maybe Astrid was tolerable sometimes. Astrid took a minute to draw something before turning to give up the book, which was annoying to some degree. Delighla didn’t say anything, just held out her hand. Astrid carefully placed the book in her hands, and she dropped her arm with the weight of it. Astrid turned back around.
The thing that Astrid had been drawing had actually been a note, covering the cover. Delighla held the book in front of her, keeping the note over the cover, and read it carefully.
“Hey! You should come to my room once we get home so we can talk.
:).”
What a strange message, Delighla thought. But she also internally agreed that she would go to Astrid’s room when they got to the house. Maybe not immediately, but at some point. After mulling over that, Delighla finally decided to check out the book.
Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka.
Delighla threw the book on the floor of the car, and rolled over so she was facing the back of the seat. She could just sleep until she got to the house.