I wasn’t always like this, I used to go to school like a normal person- complaining and crying. Those were the easier times and perhaps, I’ll never understand what happened or what is happening. You know, I really detest all kinds of creepy crawly creatures- bugs, roaches, mosquitoes, lizards and toads, to name a few. I don’t want anything to do with them but I often end up being unlucky and find myself ticking off one of these suckers climbing on my leg or my arm.

On the third of last month or maybe couple of months ago I remember waking up with bright red marks on my arm and my leg, they caused an itch I couldn’t resist scratching and they just turned redder but nothing an antiseptic couldn’t solve and I made sure I kept putting on my ointment. Two days later they had turned light purple and didn’t bother much.

A couple of days after that incident, I was sitting in my room and studying, it was then when I saw a big roach crawl very fast out into the balcony. I was startled and got up to shut that door tightly so it didn’t come back in. I decided to check where it had come from; I needed to know if there were others. I looked under my bed, behind my drawers and even ruffled the curtains, there was nothing. Relieved, I went back to working and when I was done it was very late, the clock read 2 AM. I switched off my laptop and went to bed, I was tired and found myself drifting off.

It must have been just a couple of minutes that I felt something in my hand and suddenly my eyes opened wide and I violently jerked my arm and quickly switched on the lights. A giant cockroach running all over my bed in frenzy. I grabbed my slipper and pushed it off the bed and crushed it, I saw it move again slightly and I heaved another blow, white liquid started oozing out of it and after that it didn’t move. My heart was pounding, I hate insects. I browsed my phone for a while as any sleep I had left was gone but soon after, the adrenaline wore off and I slept.

Something stirred me in my sleep again, something was crawling on me. As soon as the realisation hit me, I was wide awake and wasted no time in switching on the lights. There it was, a cockroach, again. I felt furious and killed it right away. It was 3:28 AM, I had to get up soon and I’d barely gotten any sleep. As I lay there, I felt something creeping on my face, which turned out to be hair and sometimes, something brushing past my legs but there was nothing. I needed to sleep, real bad.

The next I opened my eyes it was time to go to school. I dragged my body out to brush my teeth and take shower. My whole body felt like there was something there on it. The shower did make me feel better and I dressed up and went my way. My brain felt like it was lagging and it took me a while to process what was happening and what my teachers were talking about. There was this fog that just wouldn’t go away.

After school, I grabbed some Ice cream and chips to cheer myself up. When I got home, I sat on the sofa to watch some TV with my mum, there was some typical soap playing and I told her about last night. “That’s weird” she frowned and said “There aren’t any insects in the rest of the house but I’ll ask your dad to spray some insect killer in your bathroom.” “Thanks mum, I’ll go and complete my assignment now.” I gave her a kiss and went to my room. I’d put my ice-cream in a bowl and now it was time to rewatch some old flick and munch on some chips. I browsed and decided to go with The Mummy. It had been a while and it was a classic, I remembered loving watching it as a kid and finding it scary, not so much now. The movie began with a priest, Imhotep, condemned to be buried alive under a heavy curse for betraying and murdering the king. Exciting stuff I thought as I stuffed my face with more chips. His casket was filled flesh eating bugs, ewww; at least those aren’t found here. Thirty minutes in and I was fantasizing what it would be like to live in Egypt, be able to read ancient hierographs and go treasure hunting.

Out of nowhere, a roach climbed up my hand and into the bowl of ice cream I was holding, it was all so sudden that I let out a shriek and the bowl went flying on the floor and shattered into tiny pieces. The roach was swimming in melted ice cream. My bad day turned into an even worse day, I went downstairs and told my parents what had happened, they came up to my room and my mom killed the cockroach still stuck and twitching in the melted ice cream. My ice cream. It was a mess. She helped me clean up and dad sprayed some insect killer in my bathroom. They assured me it would be okay and feeling a little low I went back to my movie. It wasn’t engaging anymore and I was just watching it for the sake of it. That magic and charm had vanished. I watched as the resurrected mummy of Imhotep brought plagues upon mankind and O’Connell, Eve and gang rushed around to save the day. It seemed like I was the one cursed with the plague of roaches. After finishing the movie, I started working on my assignment and from the corner of my eye I felt something move here and there but it was just my imagination. I was feeling a bit jumpy and with good reason too. I carefully checked my room for any hidden roaches and figured I could go to sleep peacefully.

I must have slept for an hour or so and I was awakened by something creeping on my face. I frantically started slapping my face and sure enough, I hit something. Another roach. It dropped on my pillow and I found myself on the verge of tears. I switched on the bathroom lights and in the mirror I could see something sticky left on my face after hitting the roach, its guts. Disgusted, I washed my face as well as I could, removed my pillow cover and sheets, examined the mattress for any hidden roach nest, I couldn’t find anything. I put on fresh sheets and sat there, afraid to go to sleep.

I was still feeling paranoid and decided to call my friend; if I didn’t I’ll probably go and hit my head on the wall or gauge my eyes out. Luckily she picked up and I told her all about the roach incident. She laughed so much and called me the queen of roaches, that they were my subjects were just showing up to serve their queen and that I should give them a chance. I saw the humour in the situation and laughed with her. By the time I was done talking to her I felt much better but I wasn’t happy about what had happened and I’d rather it didn’t happen again, feeling light hearted I went to sleep again.

I was frozen in a dream where bloodsucking insects were stuck on me and I was screaming, unable to escape the nightmare. As the morning came, my mouth felt dry and I was soaked in sweat, I got up to get some water and that’s when I saw it, my arms and legs were covered in red bite marks and the mirror showed me this crimson allergy patch that had developed on my face where I’d hit that roach. I took some ice from the freezer and iced everywhere, I felt a relief but as soon as I stopped the need to scratch everywhere came back.

My parents saw me and told me wear full sleeves before bed as it was the mosquito season. Right mom and dad, maybe I should also take a blanket and suffocate to death in this heat. I didn’t want to come out of the shower as the cold water was soothing but I did eventually and lathered my anti itch lotion and decided to wear a full sleeved shirt to school as I didn’t wanna go in looking like I did, I probably shouldn’t have used a concealer on my face to hide that patch as it could make the allergy worse but what was worse at this point? Feeling like I was made of bricks and itching everywhere I went to school. All my day was spent trying to discreetly scratch that itch, I couldn’t wait to go back home and do something about it and get some decent sleep. Once at home, the only logical conclusion I could reach was that the walls of my room were infested with roaches and insects and they only came out at night when I slept. So I decided to sleep in the other room. I made a nice setup for myself there and was looking forward to a good night’s rest.

In the middle of the night it started again, things were crawling on me, I could feel that everywhere. I broke down and started shouting and crying, I couldn’t take it anymore. My parents rushed in to see what the matter was and I was howling. Nothing could make me stop. They checked around everywhere for insects but this time there was nothing to be found. My mother made me herbal tea and stayed with me in hopes that it would calm me down and when I had no more tears left I quietly sipped the tea and lay down. I slept but it wasn’t the good kind of sleep, I woke up feeling more tired than before and was in no state to go to school so I called in sick. I was alone at home and everyone else had left, there something crawling on me. Not this again. I ransacked my mother’s drawers for sleeping pills and I popped in a couple, I was desperate, this should help me to sleep and sure enough, it did. This time I woke up to see that I had scratched myself in my sleep. I’d scratched off the skin and the blood was trickling out from everywhere. There were also a couple of dead roaches next to me; I was horrified and oblivious to what had happened. I stripped down and stood under running water for the longest possible time. It was the only time I didn’t feel something on me and didn’t want to peel my skin off. I wore the loosest cotton t-shirt I owned and went to sleep in my parents’ bed, it had to be a safe place. I was woken up by my mum who had returned after her shopping trip with dad, she saw the state I was in and with tears streaming down my face I told her about the whole episode. They decided to get the whole house exterminated, I agreed as I felt that might help with the whole situation. That night I dreamt about seeing myself sleep, I watched myself for hours sleeping there. When I got up in the morning, I felt a funny taste in my mouth and my eyes hurting to stay open. I again stayed home to get some rest. While brushing my teeth there was something stuck in between them, when I finally managed to get it out, it appeared to be something remaining of a cockroach’s body. Did I really eat one? I wanted to hit my head on the wall till I passed out or this nightmare got over. I silently contemplated what to do. I was tired, paranoid and hadn’t  slept properly. I didn’t know anymore.