Scarab

WARNINGS: FOOD, BUGS, GENERAL TERROR AND HORROR(?)

Inspired by Beetle: A Nursery Rhyme

I know a beetle

Who lives down a drain

His coat's very shiny

But terribly plain

When I take a bath

He comes up the pipe

Together we wash

Together we wipe

Alex watched from his table of geeks in the corner of the cafeteria. It was the one place where the teachers couldn't catch them using their phones during school hours because no one could see around a pillar support that was at the edge of the table. They always had to sneak phones during class in this strict school that was as far north in Maine as you can get without crossing the border to Canada.

"Alex? Ally?" Small, red-haired, and eccentric Jake was snapping his fingers in front of Alex's face. "Stop staring. They'll steal your soul." Alex couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"Do you realize how ridiculous you sound?" He scoffed as he fixed his snapback for the millionth time and pushed his wavy brown hair back under it. "They're human, contrary to the popular superstitions in this town. They can't do anything to me. They don't even notice me."

"Why would you want them to notice you? Although, I will admit that some attention from tall, blonde Daddy over there would not be such a bad thing..." Alex's friend Meg decided with a mouthful of food. She was the lady of the group.

"Scott? He has a permanent scowl. What could he give to you?" Jake piped up.

"I'd take anything," Meg nodded. "Just look at that stubble...."

"You're disgusting," Alex said, reaching out and closing Meg's mouth after seeing a fantastic view of her chewed hamburger. "And stop...sexualizing them or something. It's weird. Just because they don't act like us doesn't mean they aren't human too."

"My mom said that you shouldn't look into their eyes, because they suck all your soul and personality out through your pupils until you're as dead as them. And even if you're left with a fragment of your soul, you end up as nervous and skittish as the black guy," Jake whispered. Meg and Alex blinked.

"Jake, your mother is on crack," Meg said firmly.

"She is not!"

"She is kookoo!! Someone put her in a clock!"

"She was telling the truth!!"

"God, Jake. Sometimes you're so gullible I want to smack you in the most violent yet loving and adoring way."

Alex tuned his two best friend's bickering out as he turned back around to watch. They were all dressed in black. The little blonde girl, Kirstin, was wearing a black blouse and the same dark makeup she always did with her pale lips set in a bored line. The "Daddy" that Meg was obsessed with was wearing a simple cardigan and leaning over into the small brunette with perfect bangs' ear and whispering something very intently. Alex vaguely remembered the brunette from his trig class earlier in the semester; his name was Mitch. Kevin was sitting there twitching and watching the cafeteria with shifty eyes as normal, though the last one, Avi, wasn't even blinking. He stared straight ahead, not even batting an eyelash when Mitch leaned over and searched through the zipped pockets of his leather jacket for a sharpie. None of them even bothered to try paying attention to the world around them.