PSLE: Cockroach Invasion!

Steven had just come back from school. He took off his socks and threw them up high. One landed on one of the blades of the ceiling fan while the other was on top of his wardrobe but he could not care less.

His room was always in a complete mess. It was a panorama of dust and clutter. His room was definitely an eyesore to any guests. It was as if a potent tornado had just swept by. Stationery was scattered all over. Litter was strewn on the ceramic floor and sweet wrappers were at every corner. The room had the making of a smelly pigsty. There was a faint pungent odour lingering in the air and this room was definitely a magnet for pests. 

However, Steven simply refused to change his slovenly habits. His mother used to scold him, reprimand and even cane him for the mess but he refused to mend his ways and finally her mother gave up and shook her head sadly in despair.

As it was after school, Steven decided to play games on his X-box. He remembered keeping it in a drawer long ago and decided to hunt for it. He searched everywhere and suddenly recalled that it should be in a deep drawer that he had hardly used. Opening it, his hands groped into the deep dark drawer and he felt some tickling sensation on his hands. What was that? Strange! He flinched and withdrew his hands. 

Overcome by curiosity, he decided to remove the whole drawer to investigate. When he forced open it, a pair of obnoxious wriggling whiskers greeted him. It was a humongous cockroach scampering past. Steven gulped down the stone in his throat. “Chill, man! It is only one stupid cockroach! Nothing to be worried about,” he thought to himself.

He lifted the X-box and to his horror, countless cockroaches started scuttling out in troops. “Argggh!” he let out a deafening scream.  A cockroach invasion!  It was a hair-raising moment for him. Shimmering troops of the revolting pests were darting all around. Steven had just found a cockroach 'headquarters’ by accident! Goodness me!

His scream attracted the attention of his mother who came running over. Upon seeing all the armies of disgusting cockroaches, she was alarmed! Instinctively, she grabbed some newspapers and rolled them up swiftly. “Stupid roaches! You are dead!” she cried aloud. She charged at these revolting crawlies and whacked them hard mercilessly. Unfortunately, she only managed to smash a miserable few and their guts splattered everywhere.  Eewww!

Meanwhile, Steven ran out of his room to get a can of Baygon. Then, using it like a fire-extinguisher, he sprayed all over the room and the cockroaches flew like crazy, refusing to be exterminated. However, after some time, they were all killed and Steven’s room smelled like a can of insecticide. 

This experience with cockroaches was definitely an eye-opener for him. He did not know that cockroaches could have infested his room at such an alarming rate. The thought of cockroaches made his skin crawl.

Since that day, cockroaches have definitely become the bane of his life, his worst nightmare. Since then, he keeps his room clean at all costs to keep these vile pests at bay. Since then, his room has transformed itself from the look and smell of a filthy squalid slum to that of a five-star-hotel suite. He has learnt an important lesson: Cleanliness is next to godliness.