Fade to Splat- A Cockroach's Demise

  There once was a little cockroach named Chester, or Chico to his friends.  Chico lived a simple life.  He spent his days scavenging from place to place to feed his 977 children and his 32 wives.  Some days were better than others and some  days...well they just sucked.  Today definitely ranked number one on the suck-o-meter.  

Chico had spent his entire morning going from one trash can to the next in search of anything to feed his small family.  He was actually luckier than some of his friends that had much larger families to provide for, so he rarely complained about the task of feeding his own.  In fact, he quite often was found helping his friends hunt for food if he had already found enough for his needs. He was one of the nicest cockroaches in nearly the whole city.

It was nearing the end of the day and Chico had very little to show for his work.  He had managed to find enough to maybe feed half of his children, but he wasn't about to let the other half go hungry.  With his antennae pointing him onward, he came across a potential gold mine when he picked up the slight trace of food coming from the tall trashcan in a bathroom.  Bathrooms weren't his usual gig, but every once in awhile they paid off.  Knowing how many more hungry mouths there were at home, Chico starts the long climb up the outside of the can with his antennae crossed for luck.

As he reaches the top rim, his eyes widen with amazement at the treasure within.  Nearly an entire chili dog and order of cheese fries had been discarded inside.  "Looks like were eating good tonight" Chico says to himself as he prepares to ascend to the reward below.  

As he lowers himself over the rim, he is taken by surprise as a human hand brushes by him to dispose of a wet paper towel.  He had been so distracted by his excitement that he hadn't even noticed the human enter the restroom.  With no time to scurry, Chico loses balance as the hand passes him and he falls helplessly on top of the hand that had caused him to lose his balance.  

He should have run away.  It was the first thing his parents taught him as a young roachling.  "You see a human, You run!"  They had told him that over and over.  He has told his own roachlings the same thing.  But when it came time to follow that life saving advice...he couldn't.  He stood perfectly still and slowly looked up at the enormous being hovering over him.  Their eyes locked and Chico was mesmerized.  "Wait" he pondered. "Why isn't he running away?  Isn't that what humans do when they see us too?"   He couldn't fathom why they eyes staring back at him seemed as perplexed by their stand off as he was.

Chico felt a rush of invincibility as he stared down one of the insect world's most feared enemies.  "He's not so tough" Chico convinced himself and raised his antennae slightly to show his own fearlessness.  "That's right human" he taunted "That's my Chili dog.  Keep your germ infested hands off!"  The human didn't react at first but after another long second passed, the other hand of the human raised and one of the long fingers extended toward Chico in a gesture of war.
Suddenly it clicked.  "He isn't afraid of me"  That's when Chico broke out of his trance like immobility and ran.  He dove beneath the paper towel and around the long cylindrical cup.  As he went deeper and deeper into the trash can, the humans hand came closer and closer, removing every item in its path and tossing it out of the can and onto the floor. 

 When Chico reached the bottom of the can, he ran in terrified circles trying to find his escape.  "A door!!! There has to be a door!"  There were no doors.  No holes.  No cracks.  Nowhere else to run except under the chili dog wrapper.  Chico stood in his hiding spot hoping beyond hope that the human would tire in his quest and move on, but this did not happen.

The wrapper slowly lifted and Chico was left exposed in the bottom of the big empty trash receptacle.  "Why didn't I run sooner?" He scolded himself as he looked up at the human pleadingly in hopes he would be shown mercy. 

Chico knew his time was up when the human leaned in showing no sign of sympathy.  Thoughts of his 977 children flew through his mind and he comforted himself in the belief that his 32 wives would somehow provide for them once he was gone.  He locks eyes with the human again as he prepares to meet his fate.  The stare seemed to linger for a moment, but not like it had when first they met.  This time it was different.  It was almost respectful.  As the human prepared to end Chico's short but purposeful life, he honored him as any warrior would.  He looked him in the eye as he died.