Buzz in Shower - A Short Story

Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash

Tuesday. It is another usual day, the same rudimentary routine of waking up, freshening, getting ready and going to work.

Half-awake, I rise from the bed and I step into the shower, toes flinching as they touch the chilled ceramic tiled floor. My mind still in shreds; I am still dreaming. It felt as though I sleepwalked to my bathroom, to splash water on my face, to get myself out of slumber. I am still in my dreams, I could not get the picture out of my mind, the witches & wizards bewitching mankind.

As I make my way with a towel in my hand to the bathroom and splash some water on my face, I decide to take a shower and get it over with. I strip down, wear my shower cap and step turn the knob. I adjust the perfect pressure and temperature, turning the water on high and letting the water beat over my head in steamy rivulets. My eyes still closed, as the heat soaks into my skin, I stand still waiting for the picture in my mind to go away, as I lean against the cool tiles when my legs threaten to buckle. Steam filled the room as I continue to shower on with my loofah and shower gel.

Out of nowhere, I hear a buzzing sound. My eyes open wide. Now, I am wide awake, alert. I scan through the bathroom, to locate the inception. I again hear it. This time it felt as if it were bees meditating while they fly making their way through. I was no longer in slumber, the sound yanked me. Amidst the shower, I had to locate the bee before it finds and stings me. My mind swirls, and I turn off the knob, so the steam clears.

I rip the shower curtain to the sides and I don’t flinch, engrossed in a treasure hunt to find the hidden honey bee. The water continues to cascade down my body, massaging my stiff muscles of back from long hours of sleep.

I crack an eyelid and raise a brow at the same time. I find the bee, after looking for it for good fifteen to twenty minutes. It has flown to reside comfortably on my towel. I try to chase it out of the door but in vain. The bee kept flying within the four walls, as though it didn’t want to escape. It felt trapped perhaps, but little did the bee know, so was I. It flew. It flew all around the tiled walls, threatening me each time. While I kept swaying side to side trying to escape coming in contact. I couldn’t escape out of the door, I was lathered with soap from head to toe.

The bee finally decided to rest. It sat still on the tile opposite to where I stood. I swiftly turn on the knob and set the temperature and perfect pressure for me to wash off the lather and make an escape out of the door.

I finished taking my shower. All along, it did not move at all. As though it was dead or perhaps, it decided to let me finish my shower. I move closer. As I look right at it, I can see it’s large black compound eyes and translucent wings. How strange it would be if we could see as they do, from their tiny vision, split into tiny images, like the images from a shattered broken mirror.

I step out of the steamy room all clammy and glistening with droplets of the sweat of fear with goose pimples on my skin — what a strange shower experience I had had, an adrenaline-filled one, eyes wide awake submerged in fear, pumping me up at the start of my day.

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