Shower Scene

Blearily stumbling into the bathroom this morning, I turned the shower on and felt the nice, warm water, slowly wake me up after a pretty restless night. Sans glasses, I openend my eyes and saw a dark shape on the wall near the shower rod. It was large and it wasn't normally there. My first thought was: Moth? No. Such. Luck. CENTIPEDE!! Huge, horrifying, long-legged, vile, quick-moving, fangs-drooling, put on this earth to horrify and disgust me personally CENTIPEDE!! The scream of horror and revulsion must have been heard for miles. I dashed out of the shower and stood there, wet, soap in my hair, trembling with revulsion. This was a HUGE ONE, too. I'd call it a bantam-weight. I splashed water on it and after a short battle forced it down the drain. Since I assumed that was where it came from I found the most lethal fluid I have (Clorox Toilet Bowl Cleaner) and squirted half the bottle down the drain, too. I still haven't recovered. Of all the insects in Minnesota, centipedes are the ONLY ONE that can freak me out to this extent, where my entire body is wracked with continual waves of revulsion and horror. They freak me out so bad, it literally hurts.

Nothing like some sheer, paralyzing terror to start the day off right!!

P. S. Okay, I truly heart Wikipedia. According to the best website on earth, these are house centipedes. You can read about them here. Apparently, they are beneficial to our homes, and though horrifying in appearance they kill spiders, roaches, termites and silverfish. The discussion page is pretty funny, too, describing people's various experiences with them. One person found one in his shower and had no clue how it could have gotten there. He said: "I am half-convinced they teleport." Another said that they can even kill wasps with hardly any strain.

P. P. S. I'm all about them killing other things in my apartment. Munch away, centipedes, I just don't want to see you or know you are here.