Darkness

A short story told from the perspective of a certain animal

Peter knew it was time for him to start hunting when the human turned off its artificial light. He was so frustrated that he was willing to bet a whole loaf of bread that the stupid human didn't even realize how confusing its fake light was to him. Putting aside that fact of life, he crept out of his hiding place and headed toward wherever the scent of food was leading him. 

After reaching his destination and picking up the stray piece of fried egg white, he thought, This one's probably something the human dropped when it was 'preparing' its meal. Humans are so gross. Why ruin a perfectly good meal by heating it? Whatever. I'm not picky. 

On his way home, he was startled by how suddenly light covered his surroundings. But moreover, he was terrified by the sound the human made when it walked. Realizing the human was on its way to where he was, he dropped his meal and darted to the closest shade he could find, which turned out to be under a piece of white cloth.

He wasn't fast enough, however, as the human caught a glimpse of his plump buttocks. He lay as still as he possibly could, but his whiskers wouldn't stop shaking. A few seconds later, right about when he thought he was safe, his temporary shelter was removed, fast as birds mate. 

He panicked. How did the human know where I am?

Not willing to waste time on answering such an unimportant question, he zigzagged toward the next closest shade, dodging the mysterious bubbly substance the human was trying to spray at him. Half-way to the shade under the human's rubber gloves, the human successfully covered Peter with the soapy substance.

I can't die here. My family needs me! Peter motivated himself.

His newfound motivation pushed him outside of the evil substance's grip, and he took the opportunity to crawl away, albeit without a real destination. The human made a deafening sharp sound with its tongue and sprayed at Peter again. This time it was too much for him. He felt himself slowly drifting to unconsciousness as the human scooped him as well as the mysterious substance with something thin and wobbly.

He felt the wind hitting his face as the human lifted him up and brought him to a small enclosed space, lit with a differently colored artificial light. After a few seconds, his body was completely gripped by the power of gravity, before splashing into a strangely shaped bowl of water along with the bubbly substance. Everything then turned into darkness again. 

Peter didn't even get the chance to feel himself sink because of the suspiciously blue water that rushed out of nowhere and formed a gigantic whirlpool, flushing him further into the oddly shaped pool. Peter was flowed and thrown around inside the twisted metal pipes, but he felt no pain. 

All he felt was the comfort that the darkness gave him in his last moments.

Author's Note

This one's a random short story I thought of when I was getting rid of a cockroach a few months ago. It's quite rare for me to write short stories, but I'd like to share it with you. Let me know if you liked it.

Easter egg: for some reason, people in Thailand call cockroaches "Peter" (or at least that's how it was the last time I checked), and that's why I named the protagonist so.

Feel free to point out any weird thing you notice. It's my first time writing from a non-human perspective.

Reviews

[Samuel Dickens]

There's a bit more ambiguity than I prefer, but I still enjoyed it. Especially, I had trouble in the first paragraph with "it's light", not knowing for sure if it was Peter's light or the human's. That's interesting that Thailanders call roaches "Peter". Having once lived in a roach-infested shack (when I was a kid) I really detest the things. Oh, but they have their place in nature, I suppose. It's good to see a short story from you and encourage you to write more of them.

[Wathanya.5KY3]

Thank you for your review. The first part is intentionally ambiguous, but now that I reread it, maybe it was a little too ambiguous?

If we didn’t need roach feces to sustain the ecosystem, I’d hunt down a genie lamp and wish all roaches go away.

Thank you for the encouragement. If I write more short stories I’ll post them here. :D