Cockroach

There's a cockroach in my bathroom. I met him the first week I moved in here. With my limited knowledge about cockroach life, I would say he was a baby. Perhaps he was a different species of small cockroaches, I wouldn't have known. Our first encounter was pretty intimidating. I still remember the blood rushing through my ears as I stifled my scream when I first saw him hanging by the door. Had he been huger or darker, I am sure my scream would've brought the whole town to the few feet of my bathroom. He was but a harmless thing. So I let him hang around.

We met in fleeting glances. In my multiple visits to the bathroom, he was either found at the floor or the sink or the door. The door seems to be his favourite hang out spot. I am always almost met with surprise at this bathroom dweller. But we both keep to our businesses, almost never getting in the way of each other. He was always roaming about when I am peeing or staring at me while I'm bathing. If I hadn't known any better I would've said he was scared of me. Rather, we were two nonchalant beings, going about our lives, not bothering each other. He had multiple ways of escape. Perhaps he could've scaled the wall and jumped through the exhaust vent. There's a sizable gap in the bottom of the bathroom door and an insect his size could've made a run for it and chosen a better space to live than that humid, dirty bathroom. Yet, I find him there every day, going about, running around, like cats chasing mice.

Our fingers could've brushed one day if I wasn't cautious enough. He was hanging by the doorknob in the gap of the lock. I could've crushed him when I tried to lock the door. Miraculously he made an escape. I have grown quite fond of this small bathroom companion. On days I feel alone, like the days I forget my phone, he keeps me company in the lonesome bathroom. He plays hide and seek between buckets and sinks as I poop in peace. He runs between my bathroom slippers sometimes and I try so hard not to step on him, hopping on one leg on the bathroom floor.

In the last twenty days, I have seen him grow quite a bit. He is not as intimidating as a big black cockroach that disgusts me. I wouldn't lie to you and tell you that I'm not scared of his growth. I am worried that one day he will become that big black intimidating thing on the floor and he will go flying about. I hope that day doesn't come and I hope that he is one of those different species. I would say I am more worried about that day where he is terrified of me and goes flying about and me terrified of him, I will smash him against the wall. Till then, I shall let him dwell there. I shall be surprised by his presence everyday and I shall just let him live in the part of the bathroom that will be his.