Author's Note: I decided to not leave you guys with just the Peanut Butter Jar of Doom, so I'm also posting this chapter today. It's part of a rare two-chapter story, so more on this subject will be coming. This is one of my favorite compositions ever, and yet also one of the most horrific. It comes from the depths of my writer-soul. I hope you enjoy it (as much as one can enjoy a story that contains the likes of…roaches).
. . .
Snaga 3 was the unfortunate orc who had drawn the short straw and now had to lug around the precious cargo. Precious in that it would be their next form of attack in their ongoing mission to drive Estel insane. In all other ways, the contents of the wooden box were everything except precious.
"Get your lousy hide over here," Snaga 2 demanded roughly as they approached the apartment.
"You want this in a hurry," Snaga 3 retorted angrily, "then you do it yourself".
"Stop your yapping," Snaga 1 yelled at his companions. "Someone'll hear you."
It was true; the apartment was certainly not empty this time. Several cars were parked outside, and high-pitched giggling emanated from the apartment rooms where Estel and her friends dwelt. Snaga 3 reached the bottom of the staircase and slammed down his box ungracefully, huffing in ragged breaths and wiping away sweat. Even though the sun was down, it was still hot.
"Why didn't we come in the day time?" Snaga 3 asked the others furiously. "How are we supposed to do anything with those wretched students being inside the apartment?"
"We couldn't come in the day, moron," Snaga 2 replied with an eye roll. "That writer-scum has been here the whole day."
"What does she do, anyway?" Snaga 1 pondered. "Sleep? It's not like college is hard."
"Shut up!" Snaga 3 shouted before quieting his voice, furtively glancing around to make sure he had not drawn attention to himself. "No more talking; we'll just dump the box beside their door; I'm sure its contents will get into their apartment without any more help from us."
The orcs did just that, hauling the box to Estel's doorstep and plopping it down. Snaga 1 took out his dagger nervously, poising it above the wooden container but hesitating to create a breach. Despite his innate evil, the orc felt what his race could hardly feel—afraid. The evil contained in that box was beyond description, containment, or reason. The only thing that made Snaga 1 able to finally punch a hole in the wood was his greater fear of Sauron's wrath. As soon as the break was made, the three orcs jumped back and sprinted out of the apartment, not wanting to stick around and see the beasts emerge.
For a proper understanding of what followed, a brief history of the dreaded contents of the box is needed. In Elder Days, when the Dark Lord Morgoth took the Elves and corrupted them into orcs, he was quite pleased with the manner in which he had marred Eru's creation. This success prompted him to breed a far more evil creature, one that he spent many years laboring over in the darkest pits of Angband, his fortress.
The result was a physical incarnation of pure wickedness—the absolute negative of all that is good or pure or joyful. Having taken a fair little butterfly, Morgoth put it through countless tortures and changes, pouring into it the darkest evil of his soul until at last the species was complete. This monster was designed not to destroy good through force of strength, but rather through sheer terror and presence of impenetrable darkness, possessing an atmosphere of evil that was enough to make even the Nazgûl seem cheery in comparison. When the breed was ready, Morgoth released the creatures from his fortress to plague his enemies, and to this day, the beasts are the best weapons against light and good.
Of old, these monsters were called the Ulqui, from which the Elves derived the word and concept of evil. But in the Common Tongue, the creatures were named cockroaches, a term that causes the strongest of hearts to fail and the bravest of warriors to shrink back in horror. After the fall of Morgoth, Sauron took the roaches which had survived the War of Wrath (which was most of them since even nukes are useless against them) and bred the terrible race in Mordor. It was these miserably creatures that the orcs had just released into Estel's apartment, and the menaces were soon crawling out of the box and underneath the door.
The first encounter Estel had with the fiends occurred after the girls had invited some people over to study. When the last guest left, three of the roommates were sitting silently in the living room, contemplating the night's events. Thalion was among them, seated at the table without any real purpose. It was then that she saw It sitting still above the front door.
It was a massive, grotesque creature, far bigger than any roach Estel had ever laid eyes upon. It stared with evil, dead eyes at the room, no doubt contemplating its best course of action to wreak total destruction. A dark sense of dread fell on the room as its presence settled in, and Thalion's mouth fell open.
"Guys," she said slowly, never taking her gaze from the horrific creature. "Um, there's a huge roach above the door."
All people expresses themselves differently. For some reason, Estel almost never made noise when she felt distress or surprise. She usually gasped and slapped her hand against her mouth, which of course didn't make any sense since she didn't scream. Her eyes would get wide and her heart would race, but unless you could actually see her face, you would not have known she was startled.
But several of Thalion's roommates were not like her in that regard. For them, the more noise one made, the more convincing her emotion was. Whether it was glee, surprise, fear, lack of sleep, or pretty much any other feeling, they usually let everyone know via a loud and piercing cry. This squealing was typically hard to decipher so that from her bedroom, Estel was never sure when she heard it what emotion was being conveyed. This time, however, the scream that resounded throughout the entire apartment complex could not have been mistaken for anything except sheer horror.
The yelling lasted for only about ten or fifteen seconds, shorter than normal, before it was realized that this form of communication would not rid the room of the dreaded beast. In fact, Thalion suspected that in a way similar to the Pixar movie Monsters Inc., roaches probably gained their energy from screams of fear. The creature continued to stare at its soon-to-be victims, giving such a cold look that Estel nearly fainted.
"The Raid," she finally managed to mumble in a shaky voice. "Get the Raid!"
Now, of course you are probably asking why she would say that rather than do it herself. It is a fair inquiry, and indeed it is what she should have done. But our dear little Thalion suffers severely from cockroachaphobia, so the normal fear of the beasts that is ingrained in every human being is especially amplified in her. So rather than springing into action, she merely remained transfixed in her chair, hoping that someone in the room was a better warrior against insects than she was.
By the grace of the Valar, that was the case. One of the two others in the room scurried to the counter where the said repellant stood ready for action. It was the only weapon developed by those who oppose darkness that could actually have any effect on the terrible roaches. Legend said that Celebrimbor had designed it long ago using the best skill he possessed, something which has won him undying praise and honor among all peoples. Taking this mighty weapon in hand, the brave girl came within seven or eight feet of the front door, aimed her shaking hand at the foe, and let out a last breath to dispel her nausea.
Estel prayed that Eru would have mercy on them all and speed the Raid at the roach with all power and accuracy. The girls all dramatically held their breath as the one with the Raid pushed her finger onto the button and unleashed the spray of fumes at the spawn of evil, letting out a scream as she did so for good measure.
Eru granted Thalion's prayer, and the spray of mist struck the creature and soaked it. But roaches are not known to die quickly, no matter what weapon one uses against them. The foul creature scurried in very evil and creepy fashion down the door and onto the floor, charging its attacker with the intent to slaughter her and everyone else in the room before the poison could take effect.
But the girl had not stopped spraying (or screaming), and the Raid—thank the Valar!—ate away at the roaches' evil members, causing it to literally gasp in pain. Audibly. The evil thing actually made noise! Its raspy death cries seemed to resound not only in the room, but in the hearts of the girls present.
Estel's roommate, that faithful saint, kept spraying even when the roach had lost the power to move forward. The beast writhed as pain enflamed all of its being before at last rolling over on its back in defeat, its wicked legs curled up in the air. The darkness that had hung over the room abated in part, though while the beasts' body remained, its presence lingered in the memory of the traumatized girls.
Finally, the screaming stopped, though for good measure, the girl kept spraying the body until there was a nice puddle of Raid on the floor. The three girls continued breathing hard as they attempted to recover from the ordeal, but Thalion was pretty sure she would need counseling after this. To attempt to lighten the mood, the girls resorted to joking, the only means left of coping. In the following day, Estel even wrote a eulogy to make fun of the beast.
Oh, what was she thinking?
. . .
Unfortunately, as I said earlier, I am not done with roaches. *tries to keep lunch in her stomach* They will appear in the next chapter when I have the time to post it. Please be sure to review! I hate to even ask…but have any of you guys ever had to deal with the evil that is cockroaches?