The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Do They Think As We?
by Naching T. Kassa 

If the girl can see me, she gives no sign. She doesn’t seem to see anything but the screen in front of her face.

I used to see screens at the Institute all the time. Not the way a human sees screens, of course. No, I have too many eyes for that. They only have two. I don’t think they can see the things I see. They can’t see the pollen in the air or the complex hues of a flower petal. They can’t even see the enemies standing right behind them.

I suppose they can’t hear the things I hear either. Their language, that of the body, didn’t make sense to me at first. It wasn’t until I heard their strange sounds that I realized this was their prime means of communication.

Do they have all the senses I have? I don’t know. I don’t know if they can feel the things I feel or taste the things I taste. I know the scientist who developed us wondered if we sensed as they. Those scientists worked on developing our tiny brains. The funny thing is, they think they failed.

And so, they set us free. Free to do what our species has always done.

The girl ignores me as I continue my work. She’s wearing devices in her ears, things humans call “EarPods” or something like that. I have always wondered about those. Jaime, the janitor at the Institute, wore EarPods. He really liked a band called Metallica and one time, he set an EarPod down next to me. I couldn’t help dancing. Perhaps that’s the reason why the girl won’t pay attention to me. She can’t hear me.

Or perhaps, it’s because she’s so large and slow, she doesn’t really see me. I’ve tried so hard to warn her.

When the scientists failed with us (or believed they did), they decided to experiment with larger creatures. You see, they thought size was the problem. They wanted to work with much larger brains.

I try, once again, to warn the girl. She flicks a hand in annoyance, and the resulting wind blows me backward toward a wheat straw. As I pass by, I wonder about focus and whether I would be as obsessed as she. Would I ignore everything in my environment and remain solely focused on one thing? Would I fail to see the gargantuan hand reaching toward me? Would I die wondering what had struck me?

I lift my body high, just as the gigantic hand emerges from the earth and into the sky. I am out of the hand’s reach, but its path toward the girl is inexorable. I have done all I can to help her, and yet…I feel I have not done enough.

They say I was never meant to fly. My striped body is not aerodynamic.

I was never meant to think either.

But, I do.

.

Fiction © Copyright Naching T. Kassa
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

More from Naching T. Kassa:

Sherlock Holmes and The Arcana of Madness: A Horror Mystery

Discover the untold mysteries of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson in Sherlock Holmes and the Arcana of Madness, a trilogy that unveils three captivating cases intertwined with the mystical allure of tarot cards, designed by the renowned, yet infamous artist, Richard Dadd.

A collection of manuscripts, meticulously penned by John H. Watson M.D., is unearthed in 2019 amidst the restoration of Broadmoor Hospital, found inexplicably in the grave of Richard Dadd. The manuscripts’ concealed journey and their remaining unpublished raise a myriad of questions, enveloping them in a veil of mystery.

Available on Amazon!