My Short Stories

Chameleons and Flies

The rainforest was packed full of lush green trees, home to many chameleons who feasted on the swarms of flies throughout.

Ellyno was one such chameleon. Thin, tall spikes lined up his spine, an intimidating trait seen in others few and far between, often creating a terrifying monster out of a docile being. He resided on a branch high off the ground and far from the tree, uninterested in the rest of the trees in the forest. Only this singular branch on which he lived was what he considered home - even the rest of the tree felt too unwelcoming for him. Fortunately or not for him, his home was generally left unbothered.

The rest of the tree was inhabited by several other chameleons, all of whom Ellyno knew but only few of whom knew him. Because of his relaxed, respectful nature, they appreciated him, and wished upon him the same happiness which all but he appeared to be blessed with. Yet there was no blessing excluded from him, it was Ellyno who excluded himself from the rest of the real world.

Unknown to the rest of the chameleons, his desire to explore the trees of the forest rivaled that curiosity of birds. Still, he secluded himself to this one branch, a seclusion out of a delusion surrounding his sense of control. He could only feed off whatever flies happened to stumble near his home, a branch more unwelcoming compared to the other branches with their more lush leaves. His branch was particularly empty - flies might well have seen him through his disguises.

On one particular hungry morning, a fly wandered by his branch. His disguise hadn't yet been activated, and yet she was unbothered, buzzing marvelously around this perceived haven it had stumbled by. Finally she stopped to rest, a perfect chance for Ellyno after having starved for a while now.

However, he started struggling to change his colors, as he was too worried about possibly startling the fly. In a hurry, he opened his mouth, ready to strike her with a tongue, desperate to catch a meal. But before his mouth could even finish opening, the fly had begun to buzz about again, wandering off to a distant and more lush branch, with a chameleon hiding in sight more plainly than Ellyno had even tried.

Again he was left to starve, his second failure in a row. Perhaps it was time to find a new branch, one more populated with flies and welcoming to chameleons. But Ellyno decided to keep his home, waiting to see if she would return. To Ellyno's own surprise, she did, buzzing around even more elegantly than before, in the same empty haven she may have regretted leaving.

He had yet another shot at catching her for himself, he thought, but she would not stop flying. Despite having admired the branch's presence, her fear of being eaten contradicted her attraction to these particularly populated trees. Waiting for her to land, Ellyno caught a glimpse of her tattered wings, wings that would force her to land soon. Her confidence in the branches had fallen faster than her confidence in the chameleons, yet this irony was far too difficult to confront as she panicked around the one welcoming branch on this tree, a branch too plain for any chameleon to ever consider hiding on.

Ellyno could see her wings finally giving up, desperate to land anywhere to relax and heal. His welcoming disguise had not yet been seen through by her, and perhaps this branch was safe to land on. But as she made her descent onto a twig, her wings gave in and she collapsed to the forest floor after her wings had been fully exhausted.

During her descent, she questioned her cautiousness, wondering if she regretted not landing on that unwelcoming haven of a branch. She had yet to discover any chameleon hiding there, yet her fear of them had rationalized her own death. Maybe it was better to die by herself than by the tongue of a chameleon.

Meanwhile, Ellyno questioned his own lifestyle. Perhaps it was finally time to migrate to another branch, one where flies were sure to swarm him, but the tattered wings of this fly rationalized both his perceived misfortune and his unrealized failures. This unrelenting conservatism display by Ellyno had led him to starve to death. He could no longer abandon the branch whose glaring flaws were ignored by one glimmer of hope.