I could not remember how I existed, or when I was born into this world. All I can remember is floating with the wind as it brings me wherever it goes. And after a while, I begin to fidget with boredom.

Smack! There was a rush of wind and sudden darkness – I find myself smacked to a wall, a gooey surface. Stuck and unable to move, I could no longer feel the wind. I lay there and observe the surrounding. Finally, I am able to see things properly instead of whizzing through them in high speed.

The wall behind me starts to jerk suddenly. I feel myself hanging loose as I look below. A dark pit. Deep. And before I know it, I fall right into the darkness below. Ahhh!

One hour passes by. Then another. The fall seems forever.

“Hey there!”

I turn towards the voice. There is a yellowish ball at the end of the tunnel. It is almost transparent.

“Can you tell me where I am?” I shouted as it disappears at the bend. After a while, it appears again.

“You’re in the…” the voice fades as it disappears again at another bend. There is a sudden rush force and I feel myself moving faster and faster. I look ahead and see a flapping door. Unable to withhold, I flow right through it. Then there is another, and another, and another.

I begin to feel dizzy as I feel myself bouncing from left to right against the sides of the tunnel. Suddenly, everything slows down to normal again. Slowly I stop gasping for air and start to breathe normally.

“Excuse me,” a red bubble says, “Move aside please.”

“Buzz off, kid,” another pushes me and I knock the wall. I look around and there are red ball-like bubbles everywhere, all moving in one direction. Each ball has a pouch that bulge on its back.

“Hey, so sorry to cut off like that,” says the yellow ball. I turn around and look right through it. “My name is Plasma. And you just went through the Heart.”

“The Heart?”

“Yes, we are now heading to other parts of the body,” Plasma explains. I look at it with a confused look. “Come on, let me show you around,” it adds.

Plasma flows next to me as the force brings us through the tunnel. Sometimes, there are flapping doors and they slap right on me when we go through them.

“What are those red bubbles?” I dare myself to ask.

“They are Red Cells. Their job is to make sure the body has enough oxygen to survive. So they carry oxygen molecules in the pouch on their backs,” explains Plasma as we approach a station. A sling connects the platform and the tunnel, where the red balls are stopped from moving with the current. Their pouches are emptied before they join the current again.

We seem to float slower as time goes by. Plasma says hi to everyone it knows and I just smile. As we approach a junction, Plasma signals me to take the right path. I follow suit.

“Where are we?” I ask as the surrounding begins to change from dark red sides to a bright light yellow tunnel. I turn to look at Plasma but its colour gel so nicely to the background, I thought it disappeared into thin air.

“We are in the Bone Marrow, where I was born. Come, let me show you around.”

I follow Plasma as it dodges yellow liquids that stand in the way. Plasma explains about the world that it lives in. The Body, the Heart, the Stomach, the Brain – the world that it lives in is known as the Human Body.

As Plasma and I are busy chatting, we do not look the way we are going and I bump into a group of white molecules. Before I could apologize, one of them capture me with its spear and I feel an ooze of pain inside.

“Ouch!” I scream. Plasma gets between us and pushes the spear away. I feel the spear grinding out of me as Plasma stands in front of me, protecting me.

“Uncle, why did you do that? This is my new friend,” Plasma explains to the white ball. Ignoring Plasma, the group of white balls surround me and take me away from the place. I scream and kick, but their spears strongly hold me in the middle. I could not move a bit.

I could hear the loud boom voice of anger from Plasma’s uncle scolding it. He is explaining that it is their job as White Cells to kill intruders in the body. At the corner of my eyes, I see Plasma arguing with his uncle. And their voices get louder.

But the voices soon fade away as pain begins to creep in. More spears are poking through my body. I do not understand why they are doing this to me. Am I an intruder?

My screams linger in my throat. I am unable to shout. Slowly, I feel bits and pieces of me being blown away by the current. I see a Red Cell passing by and try my best to reach for help. But there was a grin on its face as it continues its journey.

It happens so fast. Before I know it, my body disappears and I am dead. And the Red Cell is the last sight I’ve seen before I no longer feel myself again.

I am a killer virus.

Originally written by Gina Yap Lai Yoong © 2006

Note: This is an assignment submission to The Writing School for the lecture on Fantasy Writing, marked by international author Michael Pyne.

Remarks from Michael Pyne:
I enjoyed this piece of writing, Gina. You seem to have an understanding of the genre and the way that it should be approached. It has a good plot line as well as good characterisation. There is a strong theme and this is important in fantasy stories. Usually it is the good versus evil theme as there always seems to be a supernatural or spiritual aspect to fantasy writing. Your story has this and you have done it very well. This idea of describing the body’s functions through a living organism is an old one that can be a little trite (I think they made a movie in the 1970s about it), but your one works. It’s educational and quite dramatic. Also, I am usually not a fan of writing narrative in the present tense, but I think your one works here, as well. Well done.

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