August. Miraculously, I’ve kept the bugs at bay for the first summer in years, though they taunt me from their hiding place. Until today. Summer is ending and the invasion of ants appears from under the oven like magic, dark magic. A swirl of red and black, and the memory of burning welts along my exposed flesh. Raid is nauseating and hazardous to my questionable balance. I settle on a cure of deadly liquid—“Ant Bait”—at the army's trail. The smell of burning plastic cascades from under the oven, taking the invaders away in a puff of killer smoke.
Deanna Davidson has a Bachelor's Degree in Creative Writing from California State University, Northridge. She writes dystopian, fantasy, and horror short stories, as well as poetry.