Sunday, August 24, 2014

I'm living with cockroaches.

I thought that moving into the city and up to the 21st floor of a building would get me away from the bugs. I was wrong.


It was the end of July when I saw the first one. I was getting ready to leave for work, making breakfast in my kitchen when I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye. I look over and see this HUGE thing twitching on my floor. It took about .5 seconds to register it was a cockroach. The most important thing in this situation was to remain calm. I needed to get out the door as to not be late, the cockroach could not be left alive, and there was no one else around to save me.

Lucky for me, the cockroach was upside down so it couldn't run away. I grabbed my can of Raid (for spiders and scorpions, but it worked just fine) and sprayed it. It twitched and tried to run away, but since it was upside down, it just ended up sliding around the floor. I captured it under a bowl and left.


I told the desk attendant at my complex that there was a cockroach in my apartment, and asked if they could get rid of it. I think he felt really bad for me, and asked some guy who looked like a custodian if he could take care of it. He said yes, and later that day when I got home from work there was no cockroach and my bowl was back on my counter.

Five days later, I almost got into my bathtub with another one. A not-so-gentle reminder to always, always, always check the tub for monsters before stepping in. This one wasn't quite as big as the first one, but still pretty big and disgusting. I washed it down the drain.

I googled it later, which was a huge mistake, because I ran into a bunch of pest control websites that said if you see one cockroach in your home there's probably a million more living in your walls and that one just got pushed out because there were too many. Cue the panic. I also found out that cockroaches have trouble balancing on slick surfaces, like kitchen tile, and can flip over easily on them. I'm assuming that was how the first one ended up on its back.

Then I did what any person living in fear would do. I armed myself with a dangerous weapon.


I also told my apartment complex and they called the bug people to come spray. The bug people came just a few days later and I went for about two weeks without seeing another one.

Then, just as I thought I was safe, they struck again. I was scanning the shower for monsters before stepping in one morning when I noticed a tiny little black thing. Upon closer inspection, I saw it had little legs and giant antennas. It was a little baby cockroach.

That means there was a cockroach nest somewhere in my walls.

They were having babies.

They are creating an army.

The cockroaches are after me.

I quickly washed it down the drain, but when I came home from work that afternoon there were MORE and one of them was in my LOOFA. A cockroach! In my loofa! So I drenched my shower in Raid and now I throughly spray my entire apartment every morning. I also replaced my loofa.

It's currently been about a week and a half since the last cockroach sighting. But they are probably hiding out in my walls, just waiting for me to let my guard down before attacking. If I mysteriously go missing one day, it was probably the roaches.

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