Metamorphtok

A 21st century metamorphosisMetamorphtok Metamorphtok

WRITTEN BY JENNAH PENDLETON ILLUSTRATED BY MORIAH ARNOLD DESIGNER KATALENA SANCHEZ

“Oh yes. Oh fuck yes,” Franny said upon waking up.

She had just awoken from a stress dream to find that she had transformed into a strange creature overnight, with dozens of little legs and a smooth, hard back. The bone-deep existential terror she might have felt in response to this physical change was overshadowed by only one thing: her exhilarating relief that she did not have to go to work. “Who can expect anything of you when you don’t even have hands?”

By this time in the morning, Franny would have just picked up her mobile order at Starbucks and boarded the blue line to get to the office by eight. Five days a week, fifty weeks out of the year, Franny spent hours at her desk managing a dozen brands’ social media accounts. Her roommates were aware that she was supposed to be downtown right now, attempting to conceive a way to get a bi-monthly organic dog food sub-

scription box to go viral. Out of genuine concern, but also a lack of boundaries, her roommate Daniela knocked and threw the door open seconds later.

Daniela was now screaming, so Franny felt it necessary to finally attempt to get up and address the situation. There was no way that Daniela wasn’t already halfway down the block in utter shock right now, Franny thought. She took her time rocking herself out of bed, finally landing softly on her pink shag rug. She scurried up to her floor-length mirror to take a look.

“Well, I think I’ve felt worse about myself,” Franny thought.

Though that may have been true, Franny was starting to feel pretty freaked out by her brown, leathery exterior. Trying not to freak out, Franny recalled a quote she recently posted on behalf of a new body-positive swimwear brand: “Your body is not what’s trapping you, it’s mind. Expand your imagination to understand your body as housing what is your true worth.” It kind of made her feel better, but only for a second. She descended into a thought spiral. “What IS my value? Now that I can’t work, who am I? What worth did I offer to the world before I became a big ass cockroach? Was it anything beyond the capital I made for my employers?”

Franny’s impending anxiety attack was interrupted by a screech from behind her.

Franny turned around as quickly as she could (which wasn’t very fast at all, with all her legs and such) expecting to see Daniela wielding a weapon to defend herself with. To Franny’s surprise, Daniela was holding nothing but her phone.

“Is this bitch seriously filming a TikTok right now?” Franny thought.

Daniela filmed with two hands, shaking violently. Franny could almost hear Daniela’s heart pounding from across the room. Daniela was nervous-laughing, but the kind where you could tell by her tone that she was terrified. “Guys, I think my roommate turned into a GIANT BUG? Or it ate her? Holy shit. Holy shit. What the fuck am I supposed to do right now?”

She paused and her face changed. “Okay, um, okay. If you are Franny, then turn around and look in the mirror again.”

Franny followed instructions and turned 180 degrees to face her wretched appearance in the mirror. In the reflection, she saw Daniela drop her phone and speed out of the room. Twenty seconds later, Daniela cracked the door just enough to snatch her phone and slam the door shut again.

The next day, Franny overheard Daniela and their other roommate, Charlotte, talking about the situation.

“Yeah, so that video got 4 million views in less than 24 hours. People are literally begging for an explanation,” said Daniela.

“Shit, dude. I mean like, she’s probably going to need food and water and for her room to be cleaned and all that. Maybe we could turn that into content? Because we need to help her, but also we need to cover her portion of the rent. So we have to figure something out,” said Charlotte. “And she probably wants to hang out with us right?”

So Daniela and Charlotte began to make daily trips into Franny’s room to visit, provide food, and film content. They were both visibly terrified and disgusted to be in the same room as her, but at the same time, Franny could tell that they were trying to engage with her. The TikTok content started with a storytime, though there wasn’t a lot to say. Daily videos addressed different topics, like Franny’s feeding routine, the cleaning routine, and Q&As about Franny’s life.

Franny didn’t mind this, at first. It was fun to be around her friends, even though she felt like more of an observer of their friendship. It was strangely affirming to be the object of interest to thousands of strangers. One day she overheard Charlotte say that #roachtok was trending. Franny thought that was funny.

Eventually though, the visits became less about engaging with Franny and more about engaging with the audience. Charlotte and Daniela no longer knew how to speak with Franny; they had no idea if anything they said mattered to her. And it didn’t, really. Visits became shorter and less frequent. The two girls used to film every day, but after a few months the visits were just to service Franny’s needs.

Charlotte and Daniela didn’t want Franny to think so, but the TikTok account was still alive and well. Franny could hear them in the other room, hanging out with their audience on livestreams and editing their first Youtube video together. Franny was happy that they found success, though she often found herself critiquing the way they branded themselves. “Really? You guys are reminding people to like and subscribe in the video intro? Don’t they know that’s tacky?”