Grete Samsa was playing the violin when she heard it. The sound was clearly coming from Gregor's room which deeply disturbed her. Her first thought was that it had clumsily dropped something on the floor, but then she recalled that all the furniture had been removed.
Gregor Samsa lay on the floor of his room, staring upwards, unable to get back up. What prevented this was his heavy outer shell and the excruciating pain on his back. He thought this was unusual since falling had never hurt him like this. After a painful struggle, Gregor managed to propel himself forward and get back on his six legs. When he looked back he saw half of his elytron lying broken on the floor. The feeling of being exposed overcame Gregor and he took a few steps back. He was beginning to feel the cold penetrating his soft body. It felt like icy death.
Gregor franticly circled his room crawling across the walls, and as soon as he reached the window he felt a strong desire to jump out into the fresh air. In the midst of all this chaos Grete opened the door and walked in.
She ran towards the window ledge and looked down at her brother falling through the night.
He felt a gush of cold night air against his naked body but the pain was all gone by now, replaced by the feeling of euphoria of going down into nothingness. Then Gregor did something he had never done before: he opened his wings and flapped them until he was suspended in the middle of the thick black air.
Stunned, Grete, Mr. and Mrs. Samsa looked at Gregor from the window. He was able to return their gaze. Terrified they all took one step back because for the first...