Dead Ants Everywhere

Just posted on FINISH THAT THOUGHT http://alissaleonard.blogspot.com/2014/06/finish-that-thought-50.html … theme this week is Dead Ants everywhere :) I shouldn't say it but I really like this little story.

On The March 

Dead ants were everywhere but I was more perturbed by the living ones. I’d stopped swatting them off the kitchen counter, the ones that dared to transfer themselves on to my body were squashed with a scream, mine not theirs. It was an invasion, the march of a conquering army.  

I looked everywhere to find what was attracting them. No spilt sweet substances. They were coming from underneath the back door and heading straight up the kitchen cabinets and the live ones were disappearing into the corner of the internal wall. 

 

What was making them die on the journey? Where were they going? What was the purpose? Mum had always said I had a scientific brain and asked too many questions. Remembering the time I did a school project on Did Mothers always know best? My conclusion was no.

Where was Jake when you needed him? Out with his mates, drinks after work, I was an independent woman I’d solve this mystery without him. He wasn’t the best flatmate, when that huge tarantula ran across the floor he was standing on the sofa with me, screaming too.

 

Standing with the sledge hammer firmly in my left hand I began to hit the corner of the wall. I’d often wondered why Jake kept a hammer like this under the stairs. He’s such a puny little guy. My muscles are more honed than his. 

It didn’t take much strength to shatter the plaster board but it took all my strength not to pass out. The sunken eyes beseeched me, the bones of the skeleton rattled me, the ants were feasting on the remains of its flesh.

“So you’ve met Jolene?” 

I jumped at the sound of Jake’s gentle voice behind me. 

“I knew one day you’d get to meet her”