My name is Denise.  I'm a 26-year-old high school history teacher, and this is my story.

Summer vacation has just began, and for the first time in my life I'm getting a place of my own. No parents, no roommates, just me!  Finding an affordable place is tough on a teacher's salary but I got lucky - some friends of my uncle have an old farmhouse they are looking to rent out.  I've never really gotten along with my uncle, and the farmhouse isn't in great shape, but it's a deal I can't afford to pass up!

I drive out there by myself - the movers haven't gotten here yet, and I figure this is the best time for me to really check the place out, see where I want my stuff to go and figure out what else I still need.  A couple of my girlfriends asked to come too, but I told them I wanted to fix the place up a bit first, surprise them!  It's a beautiful day in June; I'm wearing a red and black flannel shirt, a pair of cutoff jean shorts and my 3" black heels.

I start walking around the outside of the farmhouse.  The property I'm renting isn't terribly large but there are fields of corn all around so I have plenty of privacy! I'm already envisioning the parties I can throw out here with no neighbors to complain.  Around the back of the farmhouse, maybe thirty feet away, is an old barn.  I head that way, wondering what it's like on the inside even before I get there and open the door.

As the door creaks open, rusty hinges making a godawful sound, dust flies in the air.  When it finally settles and I stop coughing, I am underwhelmed to say the least.  First off there is no hay. How am I supposed to have a good old fashioned romp in the hay if there's no hay?  Second, it looks like nobody's been inside for decades.  There are old leaves piled up around, the wood looks like it's starting to rot and there are cobwebs EVERYWHERE.  Which means there are spiders, and I have nightmares about creepy crawly things!

It's then that I hear it: a rustling sound, coming from one of the piles of leaves.  The sunlight is coming through the cracks in the beams above me and so I can see some things better than others.  There's something there, something moving in the leaves.  Part of me is scared out of my wits and wants to run; part of me is extremely curious what could be in this barn moving around.  So instead of running away, or moving closer, I freeze, watching the leaves rustling, listening, my heart is in my throat.

Out of the corner of my eye I catch something to my right, a shadow moving.  I turn my head to look, taking my eyes off of the pile of leaves for only a couple of seconds; the rustling sound in the leaves yanks my attention back there as I see the most terrifying sight of my entire life...!

It's a cockroach - and it's the biggest one I've ever seen, by far! It's the size of a child's red wagon, its legs are as long as mine, its antennae as long as my arms, and its eyes...its eyes are huge!  It's a rusty color, almost matching the rust color throughout the barn - perhaps to help it blend in.

I let out a blood curdling scream.  It's moving towards me, and my abject fear has me frozen there, staring open mouthed and wide eyed in helplessness!

I jump when I see normal sized cockroaches.  My mind had no way to be prepared for something like this!  It just stares at me, like it is sizing me up.  And then...

It jumps.

I stumble back a bit by instinct, not by any conscious thought at that moment, because my head is spinning with panic and confusion, not to mention that abject fear I mentioned.  It lands squarely on my chest, knocking me backwards and causing me to fall hard onto the floor behind me, my rear end hitting first and cushioning my fall thankfully.

The cockroach is still on my chest.  It's heavy. I'm struggling, twisting, trying to get up, trying to get it off of me somehow.  My legs - if I can get one up maybe I can kick it off me somehow.  I start to move my right leg up and then I feel its leg pushing on it.  I have strong legs, but its legs are even stronger than mine!  I try my left leg but again its other hind leg pushes it back.

Next I try to reach at it with my hands, my arms, but it's stronger, faster than me, and its front legs spring to life pinning my arms to the floor.  Its middle set of legs are on either side of my torso, giving it both leverage and balance as it holds me in place.

Now I'm terrified! I can't move, it has me pinned, trapped, and its face is moving closer to mine.  I can smell its breath...and it smells hungry.  I can't help but wonder what its last meal was...and then it hits me. I could be its next meal.

With renewed vigor and desperation I struggle with every ounce of energy I have.  This is my life on the line and I'm not going down without a fight! I start twisting, rolling, trying somehow to get this powerful creature off me, while trying to kick my legs and push back with my arms.  It's pushing back, but I can feel its grip loosening a little.  My left arm is slipping out of its grip, I can just about move it, and then finally it breaks its hold on it! I reach up under its head, pushing it up as I lift my head up trying to gain back some of the leverage I've lost.  Its front right leg, the one that was holding my arm, withdraws - have I hurt it somehow?  I relax for a moment, this creature's not as tough as I th-

THWACK.

I never see the leg as it whips forward hard connecting with the side of my temple, stunning me, knocking my head back to the floor. My eyes roll back as my mind starts spinning like a top.  All my struggling stops.  I'm conscious, but I don't know at that moment where I am.  

I feel the cockroach moving, still on me but not pressing down on my arms and legs any more. It knows it's incapacitated me and I know that whatever it's going to do I am powerless to stop it.  One of its legs is pawing at my chest, another is pawing at my shorts, distracting me as its mouth closes on my neck, and then...

It bites.

I feel all of my blood just rush through the hole it created, out of my body and into its mouth.  It's sucking, its mouth is still clamped on my neck, and in a few short seconds I pass out...


I wake up some time later, no idea how much time has passed. I feel extremely lightheaded; I quickly realize it's because I am hanging upside down.  I'm inside some sort of clear sac and I can see out just enough to make out the inside of the barn.  I feel so weak, I can't move at all, all I can do is hang there, with these strange thoughts going through my mind, and wonder what my ultimate fate will be...