The Earwig

 

The Earwig ~ a narrative

It all started on brisk Spring morning in 2016 when I was in fifth grade. The morning
(I’m pretty sure) started like any other day. Sleep in until 7. Eat breakfast. Get
on bus. Go to school. Etc.

 But I guess the universe must have thought it was a little bit too normal, and
it wanted to make the day more interesting. And possibly a tad bit traumatizing.

 When I got to school, a voice came over the loudspeaker telling 5th grade to head
over to the Middle School for a “little introduction to 6th grade”.

 Our class lined up and walked in a “single file line” which as always ended up
more like gigantic mob of kids shouting pushing while running down the stairs.
Once we arrived at the middle school library, everyone sat down in their seats.

 About ten minutes in, I noticed a strange sensation, as if something was tickling by
ankle. I tried to ignore the feeling for several minutes, but I felt it again, this time
near my knee. Both distracted and irritated at this point, I decided to slap my hand
down on my knee to stifle the itchy feeling. But I did not expect to feel a sharp sting
on my hand. I shook my hand out to get rid of the feeling, but noticed that there
was actually a small red dot on my hand, as if I’d been stung by something. Then
out of nowhere, I felt a large series of stings moving down my leg to my ankle area.
I grabbed my pant leg and felt around for anything strange and I located a writhing
lump.

 Now terrified, I grabbed the bump and turned the lower part of by pant leg
inside-out. Caught in between by fingers was one of the freakiest things I’ve ever
seen - the earwig. I attempted to fling it off my leg, but the little creature hung on
for it’s dear life.

 Then out of nowhere, a librarian who I had no idea was watching picked up a
book and whacked the earwig far off in an unknown direction.

For all I know, it may still be in the library…