July 29, 2020
2:40 a.m.
There's this infestation in my home lately, and I'm killing spiders every day like a maniac; spray cans full of transfluthrin, or a homemade solution of water and tea tree oil with camphor, and even a herbal pesticide ordered online. Sometimes I sit alert, eyes focused with a cup of tea in one hand and a spray can in the other, crouched next to the closet in my room, anticipating their daily to and fro under the gaps in darkness, to waylay and ambush them. I'd hate to kill, but their population has become a nuisance.
And then I wonder, what if governments would start working like that too? The thought causes goose pimples to rise all along my spine, just like the ones I get when I spot a nasty, maleficent spider. Spoosh! I kill one more under the carpet.
I was arachnophobic once, but now my sister calls me “Miss Muffet,” garnering revenge. It has become a terrible routine—this odor of sprays and chemicals is all I can inhale these days. And it suffocates me. I feel inhuman, and much like an executioner, but I keep killing them nevertheless. And with each day, I don't know if they are dying slowly, or I am.
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