Out Of Body

Matt awoke to a throbbing head, dry mouth and aches all over his body. He struggled to remember the night before, and couldn't seem to focus enough to remember. Hell, he thought, _I'm lucky to be able to remember my own name. _He stretched his arms over his head, his knuckles brushing against the wall above his headboard, trying not to feel the aches as his back popped in three places. Well, that's a bit better, but not much.

He reached toward his bedside table, not really noticing the way his hand trembled as it moved, but instead of the water glass he expected, his hand knocked against a large glass bottle, almost toppling it to the floor. "What the hell?" he asked, his finger wrapping around the neck of the bottle and looking at the label. "Holy shit, I drank last night and just left this where anyone could find it?" he moaned, his eyes tracing over the strange letters on the bottle. "What the fuck does Mentem Suscitas mean?"

Then the steady pain in his head gave a sharp throb, and the bottle dropped from his hand and hit the bed. Matt didn't register the fact the few drops of liquid left inside, bright green in color, didn't slosh but oozed inside the bottle. He grabbed his head with both hands, the pain inside his skull worse than the body wide pain the rapid movement caused. For a moment, he truly wished he could die.

Finally the pain subsided to a dull ache, the tension in his arms relaxed, and they dropped to his covers, panting. How could he be in such pain and not even remember taking a drink? His hands went from the sides of his head to rub his eyes, listening to the every day noises that meant his family was up and about, getting their days started. With a groan, Matt sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. For a moment, he thought he was going to puke between his feet, but his stomach settled as he leaned over, his elbows on his knees, hands cupping his head.

"Time to get started, lazy bones," he heard from the other side of his closed door, easily recognizing the voice of his twin sister Lily. "Mom said she'll drive us to school so you have an extra thirty minutes."

Matt didn't know what was worse - being a senior in high school who still had to ride the bus, or being dropped off by his mother. He covered his eyes with his hands, replying, "Ok, I'll be down in a bit," through grated teeth. Lily giggled, and he could hear her running back down the stairs. He sat there, hearing the sounds of his father shaving, the noise of his mother making breakfast, the noise of a fly buzzing around his room. Lucky fly, he thought, sometimes I wish I could have the life of a fly.

A wave of dizziness washed over him, and he realized he could no longer block the light from entering his eyes. He bumped into the wall, spinning around and flew across the room to bump into the closed window. Wait a minute - flew?

He spun around again, and realized he could see himself still sitting on the bed, his hands still covering his eyes. Matt turned toward his dresser, moving closer to the mirror on top, and could just stare. Instead of his own image looking back at him, he saw the body of the fly he had heard buzzing around. With a sense of amusement, the thought of a fly looking at itself in the mirror flashed across his mind, his laughter somehow translating into an intricate pattern of buzzing. Then he realized his body was laughing as well, the sounds muffled by the hands still over his face.

Matt concentrated on his body again, and suddenly was where he had been, hands completely covering his eyes, once again hearing the drone of the fly as it searched for a way out of his room. Trippy, he thought, raising his head, his eyes searching for the fly. Did that actually happen?

He shook his head. No, that wasn't the important question. After all, it could have been an hallucination caused by whatever he had drunk the night before. The important question was could that actually happen again?

Matt closed his eyes again, focusing on the fly, and suddenly he was flying around the room again, in the random pattern-less flight most insects seemed to use. It had happened, after all. He supposed just the proof it happened was really good enough, but he also realized he need more information on it, so for the next few minutes he experimented, switching back and forth from his body. He took control of the fly, making it fly where he wanted it to, left imprints inside the fly's mind (what little mind the fly actually had, at least), making it walk on his palm in a tight figure eight once his consciousness had returned to his body. The dizzy effects of his switching seemed to lessen the more practice he got, until he could do so with no feelings of nausea at all.

Then he heard a commotion outside, and he flew his fly body toward the window, looking outside at the next door neighbor's house. Apparently there was something happening, judging from the curtains billowing outside a broken window. _Oh, to be a fly on the wall, _he thought, then laughed, realizing he could literally be a fly on the wall.

He flew toward the doorway, landing in front of it to walk under the door and into the house at large. He thought of flying toward the open window in the bathroom, but turned around and flew down the stairwell, heading toward the voices in the kitchen. Matt landed on the doorjamb between the living room and kitchen, watching and listening as his mom and older sister Becky talked about their upcoming day.

"I don't know why you like that boy," his mom said to Becky. "You've been dating him since you were eighteen, and I've never seen why!"

"Oh, mom, just because you don't like him doesn't mean he's a bad guy," his sister replied back. The two never talked about the boyfriend when others were around, so this was more information Matt had heard before. One of his fly legs twitched forward, as if to step forward, then SNAP!

Suddenly Matt was back in his own body, but not where it had been before. Instead he was standing in front of the toilet, lid up and urine flowing into the bowl. He paused briefly, realizing he had full memory of hearing his dad leave the bathroom and his own walking from his room and going into the bathroom, as well as the memory of being a fly and listening to the beginning of the conversation between his mom and older sister. Bemused, he finished up, washing his hands and leaving the bathroom, but not before pausing to look at his reflection showing him completely dressed. Apparently going to the bathroom hadn't been the only thing his body had done while he had been out.

He walked down the stairs, hearing three feminine voices laughing, and walked into the kitchen. "What's so funny?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing," his mom giggled. "Lily just startled us, that's all."

"All I did was swat a fly," Lily protested, a tear of laughter oozing from her eye. "I didn't realize you two were having such a _deep _conversation!"

All three of them burst out laughing again. "I don't think Jason is all that deep," their mom replied, drawing a laughing protest from Becky.

So, his adventure had been real after all - he couldn't have know what their conversation had been about without actually being there. He glanced at his sisters, his mind racing. The sudden return to his body had been explained - the of the fly. He started to wonder if he could only take over small things, like insects, or if the power would work on something - larger.

"Okay, enough play. It's time to get you two off to school," his mom said, wiping her own tears of laughter off her face.

"Mom, I..."