My brush with Death.

It was around 1am just now and I was ready to go to sleep. The lights in the house were turned off and I had finished brushing my teeth. I go to my room, turned off my laptop, and was going to bed. So close. If I had just gone to bed then, I wouldn’t be awake at 3am blogging about this. and that ‘thing’ would still be in my home. And me none the wiser.

Right before I went to bed, I thought I’d go to the kitchen to get a drink. So I went out of my room and turn on the light switch just beside my bedroom door. The lights turned on and immediately, my eyes focused on my black couch. On it, was a cockroach. A black, BIG, cockroach. I was stunned. I walked quietly and got a newspaper and sneaked up on it to get behind it. I stared at the thing for about 3 minutes, mustering up courage to whack it with the newspaper. It’s bigger than my thumb, and its antennae were up and swaying. It was disgusting. 

I finally mustered enough courage to take a swing. But it was elusive, this cockroach. I missed and it ran into the pillows on the couch. I yelled “F*CKK!”. Then in a moment of confusion, I threw my body onto the pillows in hopes of crushing it. I then slowly lifted all the pillows only to find that it was nowhere in sight. Now I’m screwed I thought.

I started to take out the couch’s cushion, one by one. There were 4 of them. But still, the roach was nowhere in sight. Then I slid the couch to check the wall it was against and the floor under it. Still nothing. Now I thought it must be hiding among the curtains my couch was leaning beside. I knew it had to be there, but I was too scared to check. Instead, I checked everywhere else around the house. Eventually, I had nowhere left to check but the curtains.

In the midst of all this, I had called my mom to get advice, and I could hear my dad jokingly saying “if you still can’t find it, just call the cops!”. So after realizing I absolutely couldn’t do this by myself, I decided to follow my dad’s advice. I went down to the security guard’s office and asked him to help. It was embarrassing, but desperate times call for desperate measure. He agreed to come help, and I thought my problems are over now.

We got to my place and I told him I’m sure its behind the curtains. He checked.It wasn’t there. He checked everywhere, even on the balcony. Multiple times. Still nothing. He tried to convince me that it was probably gone, but I knew better.

So the security guard left me the guardhouse’s number and went back down. I was alone again. I was scared, but determined. I turned the house upside down looking for the cockroach. Went back and forth and then some. But still couldn’t find it. It was almost 3am and I was actually convinced it was gone. Still, I set cockroach traps and sprayed the house with insecticide. I went to the toilet to brush my teeth, and when I turned my back, I thought I heard something.

In the toilet, I realized that I had already brushed my teeth before all this and so I was gonna go to bed. For real this time. That’s when I heard it again, it sounded a bit like radio static, but also a bit like rapidly flapping wings.

Then something caught my eye on the ceilings. There it was. The cockroach. The flying cockroach. My worst nightmare. I was scared shitless, but also relieved. It was flying downward, weak from the spray. It landed on the floor and crawled under the piano. Then out from under it, and tried to fly again before landing on the stack of couch cushions I had put there earlier. Eventually landing on the ground next to it. I searched for my phone frantically and called the security guard again. “aaa can you come here? it’s heree!”. And I sprayed at it some more while waiting for the security guard. It laid on its back, flapping its legs helplessly, tirelessly, and somehow terrifyingly. After about 10 minutes, the security guard had come and he disposed of it. I thanked him and told him “see? I told you I wasn’t dreaming.” And he went back to his post.

And here I am. Having fought and survived a battle with my worst fear. I can sleep soundly now. But I can’t help thinking, how the hell did the cockroach get to my 27th floor apartment? And more importantly, will it happen again?