What Next ???

Olivia Nambam *

Ant Receives Honeydew from Aphid :: Pix - Dawidl / Wikipedia

Yawn! I stretched myself and smiled, feeling the warmth of the sun. With my eyes still closed, I took a deep breath.

I could hear the birds chirping and I could feel the excitement in me. I opened my eyes and washed myself.

I put on my hoodie from the hook and quickly glanced at myself in the mirror before I left the room.

With excitement, I ran downstairs and went straight to the kitchen. I drank a glass of water and went outside for a walk. Outside the house was a lawn with a beautiful garden and a pond.

I could see my reflection as I walked passed it, somewhat blurred. I went towards the garden and to my usual place in the left corner. It was an ant hole under a big tree. It was my favourite spot.

I would always come there every morning to destroy the ant hole with my brother. We thought, it was fun to do it.

Unfortunately, that day I was alone. As I started placing small pieces of bread outsider their hole, large ants came out in a group and carried away the crumbs. They look like a group of slaves being ordered to work by a little bigger one which was right under my nose.

I pressed it with my index finger and it was dead. I smiled at myself. I was so used to it.

It was fund spraying water from the hose pipe into their holes and doing all sort of things to it.

But that day was no fun. Without the presence of my brother, it was very boring. I sighed and gazed at the hole.

At that moment, one ant caught my eye. It was quite bigger than the others. As I saw it, I felt strange and felt like it was connected to my life.

It looked like someone from somewhere had sent it there specially for me. It was different from the others.

I gazed into the ant's eyes and strangely felt that it gazed back at me with its black beady eye. I could feel a sense of power that overcame me and it was calling me towards it.

I thought, it was strange.

Suddenly, I could see that everything was getting bigger. Actually, it was I who was thinking in size and not that the others were getting bigger!

I was an ant!

I did not know why and why on earth I had become an ant.

I was scared to death.

The previous ant had vanished.

For the first time in my life, I felt scared of these tiny little creatures. There was no time for me to even think what to do next.

I was ordered to work and I tried by best to pick up the crumbs lying on the cracked grounds outside the hole, but I couldn't.

I tried a smaller one but it was still too heavy.

As I came running out of the hole, I saw my brother. I felt very glad and thought that he noticed me and had come to my rescue.

But I was wrong. Then, I saw his index finger...