Today's #flashfiction #TheLoneRoach

“Something stinks.”

Pig-Pen*, Peanuts #quote

Well CJ should be coming over today. Anyway onto the flash fiction!

The Lone Roach

       Even cockroaches have birth defects. It's not one that makes me look ugly. I look rather fine or even handsome. I've got nice broad antennae and my wings are quite flat and vibrant. My eyes bulge in that way that's popular with the ladies now and my leg's have a strong curl. And who couldn't love my black-brown exoskeleton. But not many can appreciate my features because of my birth defect. I'm really quite useless because of it. And besides the occasional chance no roaches follow me because of it.

        It's very sad they won't stay around with me. I've found a wonderful food source. An apartment building strung with mouse holes. The mice a long dead. I even see some old rat poison in the holes. But the passageways the mice made are still there. The humans may have sealed them on the surface but the network and volume in the walls is for us. But because of my birth defect nobody will follow me. I live in this utopia alone.

        It really is a utopia. I can go to many food sources in many human apartments and eat whatever I want. I even get a view of a human TV too from one of my mouse holes. I think I learned English just from being alone and watching the humans from all my mouse holes as I nibbled on food I stole from whatever pantry I stole. I like basketball by the way. The Wongs watch it a lot. If I get lucky they'll turn away from their coffee and I steal a sip.

       My birth defect? I don't release any of the pheromones or smells cockroaches normally do. None of the other cockroaches can track me. I also can't smell other cockroach pheromones even though I can smell other smells fine. So I can't communicate with other cockroaches and they won't swarm around me or follow me or be with me. I've tried to integrate before with some random swarm I found but it's like I wasn't even there and I couldn't figure out where they were going.

So I chose to live alone. It isn't so bad. I'll just sit and watch TV with the humans. I wonder if basketball is on...