I was drowning in that chlorine filled pool. The giant creatures with their grubby limbs were flailing about, waves pushing over me. One of them with thousands of long, brown antennas came up to me, holding a giant blue box. A coffin, I thought. She tried and failed multiple times to catch me in that coffin. I was dipping and diving, beating my legs, trying to swim. Finally, she caught me. This is it, I thought. It’s all over. Then, something weird happened. She poured out the water onto the sidewalk. I flipped over on the hard ground. She flipped me back over, knowing that my blood flows freely, and if I was on my back for too long my cells would die. Two more giant creatures cane over; a big one and a little one on his hip. They cooed over me, and splashed me. The first one told them not to hurt me.
I recognized that she was a human.
She sat there with her chin on the sidewalk; nose-to-nose with me. She couldn’t see unless she was so close to me. She admired my orange and bronze body. She looked at my tiny little head and antennas. She sighed, thinking. I walked backed and forth, feeling a connection with this human. She wore a thoughtful expression, her eyes filled with my beauty. After a bit she left to play with her siblings.
In that short amount of time her cousin accidentally stepped on me, ending my time with that human.
She came back to show another human (who wasn't quite as interested in me) her “bug friend.” She searched up and down the sidewalk, looking for the beautiful bug. She called, “Where is my bug friend?” Her cousin told her, and she laughed it off, but inside she was sad. She looked among the cracks in the sidewalk and found what she thought was my head. She looked down sadly at it; even if I wasn’t the same species, she was sad that I had died. I was sad too. I wanted to spend more time with this human. I knew eventually my end would come, and even though it came too soon, it ended with her there.
She came back again and found my head. She got out of the pool that had once tried to drown me, and searched for a place to bury me. She found a little spot, right in front of where we had met. There I lay. “Thank You, God, for Your amazing creatures,” she prayed silently. She went back in the pool, still feeling sad. But, my encounter with her gave her an idea to find more bugs. She found six. Two tiny black ones which she rescued, a bronze beetle that she also saved, and two tall gray bugs with large red dots. She admired them all, but none more than me.
We both learned something that day. Even though I was an entirely different species, she cared for me. She realized that God took the time to carve my skinny antennas and legs, chisel my delicate wings, and shape my little head. She was grateful. And, I learned that not all humans are violent bug killers. Some conduct funerals specifically for bugs whom they rescue.
**Ok, this is a true story from the perspective of my bug friend. That’s while the title is called “My Human Friend.” I spun the prompt a bit, but I thought this would be interesting. I hope you like it!**
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