The Roach

I saw a cockroach today, just one, as I finished eating my early dinner. It wasn't even dark yet! So that's a kind of premiere... The fucking bastards are getting cocky!

I usually see them by pairs these days. Always when I come home late, when everyone is already asleep. I turn on the lights in the kitchen, and there they are, black as shit, frozen on the floor.
Lately, I've also been seeing them on the landing of the flat door. I can just barely make out the little shadows as I heave my bike up the stairs... My bike weighs 40 kilos, I must remind you. So when I'm wearing open-toe sandals and midway up the flight of stairs, with the bike balancing precariously between two steps, seeing a little shadow scurry along past my feet is, if not horrifying, a pain in the ass. Imagine trying to haul the bike up the last couple of steps, with as much caution and silence as possible, so as not to let the poor bastard freak out and walk all over my toes, and up my leg... Quite a delicate situation, especially that the light on the landing is always turned off and I have to squint to track the movements of the little fuck.
And then, SCRUNCH! Did you know that cockroach guts are white, with some slather of light grey?

I must have squished 20 in the past three months... I cannot imagine what lingers on the sole of my beloved sandals.
And the most irritating fact in this gory story is that, although I live with two other girls, it always seems to be me to have to encounter the bastards. One of my flatmates has not seen a cockroach for months! The other has tried to exterminate just one by spraying some mosquito poison. Sometimes I wonder if this infestation is not simply a mere figment of my imagination. Or maybe it's a conspiracy. They seek me out at night...
And these days, i'm even seeing double.

And so begins the saga of the cockroaches...