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Description
There’s nothing like waking up to the sound of expensive, newly-polished shoe soles smacking against the wet cobblestone road after a raging storm, which has turned into a light drizzle. The air is dense and it’s a little harder to breathe, but along with the dense air comes the delightful scent of the rainy weather. I’ve always had a keen nose, so I knew to hide under something before the massive thunderstorm began. The pitter patter of the water against the ground actually lulled me into a deep sleep. I had a nice dream that I lived in a house with two siblings and two parents.
After I stop spacing out, I stand up and crack every ligament in my back, releasing a loud popping sound with every snap. Then, I proceed to dig through trash cans in an attempt to find somewhat edible materials that can pull me through one more day. The repulsive stench of the neverending pit of absolute garbage never stopped me from taking a look before, so why should it now? I must smell absolutely disgusting to the Diligents- that’s probably why they stay away from the alleys unless they need some help carrying their furniture into their fifth mansion or clipping their toenails even though they can do it just fine on their own unless they broke all of their fingers.
As I’m waist-deep in a trash can, I hear someone shout at me from outside of the alley, so I attempt to pull myself out and end up taking the rest of the trash with me. It’s just as I suspected from that arrogance in his accent. It’s a Diligent. His index finger stretches out in front of my face as my nose takes in at least a gallon of lavender perfume, which makes me want to gag.
“You! Worm! I have a job for you!” he says in an unnecessarily loud voice. “You see, I have something growing on my feet that I’m not proud of, but I don’t want to touch it.”
“So…,” I summarize, “You want me to get rid of your toe mushrooms.”
“Wh-! Such tactless language! I can’t even begin to comprehend how we ended up on the same planet,” he scoffs. I want to retaliate with some smartass comment, but I know that’ll just give me attention, which I don’t want.
So he forcefully grabs me by the arm and pulls me into his gigantic mansion. Like, seriously, how many rooms do you need? I assume that guy lives either alone or with his parents since nobody would want to be friends with such a self-righteous idiot. I assumed wrong. There have to be at least fifty people roaming around this house on steroids of his. As I walk through this crowd of Diligents, I hear people shout things at me such as, “Hey, Worm! How’s that dirt taste?” and other clever gems that I’ve never heard before in my twenty-two years of living as a Worm.
Then, right before he pulls me upstairs, time stops right in its tracks. The face of an absolute angel shines through the crowd- cute hipster glasses, swooping bangs, a long, delicate braid crossed over his right shoulder, gorgeous aquamarine eyes- that can’t be a Diligent. He turns to me and gives me a shy smile along with a wave, and I feel my entire face burn up like the morning sun. The moment doesn’t last long as the dude that pulled me in here yanks my arm and practically drags me up the stairs as a feeling of dread fills up my chest.
We enter a lavish room fit for a king and he makes himself comfortable on a nearby loveseat, taking off his shoes and stretching out his legs. Why did I agree to this again? I head over there and sit right in front of his gross, ugly, disfigured feet. Even my feet look better than this. He’s practically growing a fungus garden on his feet by this point. Don’t even get me started on the smell. As soon as it reached my nostrils, my eyes started watering. It’s like a wet dog ate some onions then bathed in two year old spoiled milk, except worse. Of course, as any rational and partially sane being would do, I immediately reacted by gagging.
“Excuse you! They aren’t that bad!” he shouts, clearly offended.
“Do I have to do this with my bare hands?” I gag.
“I might let you use my tweezers if I’m nice enough….” He begins to hand me the tweezers then yanks them away and laughs. “Did you really think I was going to let a lowly Worm touch my precious tweezers? You must be the most gullible person on the face of the planet!” By this time, I’m absolutely fuming, smoke practically coming out of my ears and my face extremely red.
“Why I oughta-!” I grumble as I make a choking gesture with my hands. Before I absolutely murder this absolute sham of a being, I inhale then breathe. I guess I don’t really have a choice, do I? Fantastic.
After what feels like weeks, I’m finally finished and actually smell even worse than when I entered. I’ve never felt so dreadfully humiliated in my entire life of being the third-class scum on the bottom of Diligents’ shoes. “You wouldn’t happen to have a sink, would you?” I ask.
“Why would I let a Worm like you use my sink?” By this point I’ve just about had it with this anemone that took on a skin shell.
“If you don’t tell me where your sink is in five seconds, I will put that fungus right back where I found it!”
“Of all the-! Fine. The closest bathroom is the one in that small bathroom over there. Don’t touch anything! I can have you arrested for-!”
“Yeah, yeah. I know the rules, you old gnat.” And with that, I head into the bathroom and wash up my hands, as well as my face and my legs and...well...I get a little carried away, so by the time that I exit the bathroom, I’m squeaky clean. I look like I came straight out of a balloon factory! I’m cleaner than a whistle! I feel great!
“You can leave now,” the world’s most uninteresting person growls. So I go ahead and let myself out of the room and head down the stairs. As I head for the door, my face meets someone’s fist and friends. They knock me backwards, forwards, upside-down, inside-out, you name it- they do it, until I hear someone shout something to make them stop, even though I didn’t hear what they said. After falling back-first onto the floor and nearly having my spine broken, I’m almost fully convinced that I’m dead and this man is the angel who is leading me into heaven. Remember that guy I saw earlier with the cute braid and everything? Yeah, that’s the guy.
“Are you alright? I’m so sorry, these men have no manners!” he frets as he holds out his hand at me. I can feel all of the blood rushing to my face as I take his hand and he pulls me close to his heaven-manufactured face. He looks as though he’s a freshly-baked cookie from God’s beauty oven, like he’s the child of Aphrodite and Venus, the goddesses of beauty!
“Uh, th-thanks for helping me out,” I mutter almost inaudibly.
“Oh, uh, it was no problem,” he says as he scratches the back of his head. “So uh…. What brings you into a Diligent house? Not that there’s anything wrong with you being here, it’s just…. Your kind aren't usually in these places…. I-I’m sorry if I offended you-!”
“It’s fine. I’m used to it. One of your friends wanted me to help him out. I didn’t really have a choice, but boy do I wish I did,” I chuckle, sweat gathering on my forehead.
He chuckles back and replies, “Yeah….” Then, the awkwardness consumes everyone. Someone comes up to him and whispers something in his ear. “Sorry, I have to take care of something. I’ll see you later?”
“Uh...sure. See ya later.” I wish I was able to spend more time with him, but I guess I’m just not meant to mingle with the hierarchy. Even if it’s true love, it’s nothing unless I’m one of them. As I head back to my designated alley spot, I think about all these things, and it hurts, believe me when I say it hurts. I’ve never ever felt heartbreak like this before within my Worm clan but I...there’s no doubt that I’m in love with him.
My head begins to throb because of how much I’m thinking about everything. I need to rest. I take the metal sheet that I use as a blanket and cover myself, the sound of the leaking drainpipe above me being the last thing I hear.

Description
There’s nothing like waking up to the sound of expensive, newly-polished shoe soles smacking against the wet cobblestone road after a raging storm, which has turned into a light drizzle. The air is dense and it’s a little harder to breathe, but along with the dense air comes the delightful scent of the rainy weather. I’ve always had a keen nose, so I knew to hide under something before the massive thunderstorm began. The pitter patter of the water against the ground actually lulled me into a deep sleep. I had a nice dream that I lived in a house with two siblings and two parents.
After I stop spacing out, I stand up and crack every ligament in my back, releasing a loud popping sound with every snap. Then, I proceed to dig through trash cans in an attempt to find somewhat edible materials that can pull me through one more day. The repulsive stench of the neverending pit of absolute garbage never stopped me from taking a look before, so why should it now? I must smell absolutely disgusting to the Diligents- that’s probably why they stay away from the alleys unless they need some help carrying their furniture into their fifth mansion or clipping their toenails even though they can do it just fine on their own unless they broke all of their fingers.
As I’m waist-deep in a trash can, I hear someone shout at me from outside of the alley, so I attempt to pull myself out and end up taking the rest of the trash with me. It’s just as I suspected from that arrogance in his accent. It’s a Diligent. His index finger stretches out in front of my face as my nose takes in at least a gallon of lavender perfume, which makes me want to gag.
“You! Worm! I have a job for you!” he says in an unnecessarily loud voice. “You see, I have something growing on my feet that I’m not proud of, but I don’t want to touch it.”
“So…,” I summarize, “You want me to get rid of your toe mushrooms.”
“Wh-! Such tactless language! I can’t even begin to comprehend how we ended up on the same planet,” he scoffs. I want to retaliate with some smartass comment, but I know that’ll just give me attention, which I don’t want.
So he forcefully grabs me by the arm and pulls me into his gigantic mansion. Like, seriously, how many rooms do you need? I assume that guy lives either alone or with his parents since nobody would want to be friends with such a self-righteous idiot. I assumed wrong. There have to be at least fifty people roaming around this house on steroids of his. As I walk through this crowd of Diligents, I hear people shout things at me such as, “Hey, Worm! How’s that dirt taste?” and other clever gems that I’ve never heard before in my twenty-two years of living as a Worm.
Then, right before he pulls me upstairs, time stops right in its tracks. The face of an absolute angel shines through the crowd- cute hipster glasses, swooping bangs, a long, delicate braid crossed over his right shoulder, gorgeous aquamarine eyes- that can’t be a Diligent. He turns to me and gives me a shy smile along with a wave, and I feel my entire face burn up like the morning sun. The moment doesn’t last long as the dude that pulled me in here yanks my arm and practically drags me up the stairs as a feeling of dread fills up my chest.
We enter a lavish room fit for a king and he makes himself comfortable on a nearby loveseat, taking off his shoes and stretching out his legs. Why did I agree to this again? I head over there and sit right in front of his gross, ugly, disfigured feet. Even my feet look better than this. He’s practically growing a fungus garden on his feet by this point. Don’t even get me started on the smell. As soon as it reached my nostrils, my eyes started watering. It’s like a wet dog ate some onions then bathed in two year old spoiled milk, except worse. Of course, as any rational and partially sane being would do, I immediately reacted by gagging.
“Excuse you! They aren’t that bad!” he shouts, clearly offended.
“Do I have to do this with my bare hands?” I gag.
“I might let you use my tweezers if I’m nice enough….” He begins to hand me the tweezers then yanks them away and laughs. “Did you really think I was going to let a lowly Worm touch my precious tweezers? You must be the most gullible person on the face of the planet!” By this time, I’m absolutely fuming, smoke practically coming out of my ears and my face extremely red.
“Why I oughta-!” I grumble as I make a choking gesture with my hands. Before I absolutely murder this absolute sham of a being, I inhale then breathe. I guess I don’t really have a choice, do I? Fantastic.
After what feels like weeks, I’m finally finished and actually smell even worse than when I entered. I’ve never felt so dreadfully humiliated in my entire life of being the third-class scum on the bottom of Diligents’ shoes. “You wouldn’t happen to have a sink, would you?” I ask.
“Why would I let a Worm like you use my sink?” By this point I’ve just about had it with this anemone that took on a skin shell.
“If you don’t tell me where your sink is in five seconds, I will put that fungus right back where I found it!”
“Of all the-! Fine. The closest bathroom is the one in that small bathroom over there. Don’t touch anything! I can have you arrested for-!”
“Yeah, yeah. I know the rules, you old gnat.” And with that, I head into the bathroom and wash up my hands, as well as my face and my legs and...well...I get a little carried away, so by the time that I exit the bathroom, I’m squeaky clean. I look like I came straight out of a balloon factory! I’m cleaner than a whistle! I feel great!
“You can leave now,” the world’s most uninteresting person growls. So I go ahead and let myself out of the room and head down the stairs. As I head for the door, my face meets someone’s fist and friends. They knock me backwards, forwards, upside-down, inside-out, you name it- they do it, until I hear someone shout something to make them stop, even though I didn’t hear what they said. After falling back-first onto the floor and nearly having my spine broken, I’m almost fully convinced that I’m dead and this man is the angel who is leading me into heaven. Remember that guy I saw earlier with the cute braid and everything? Yeah, that’s the guy.
“Are you alright? I’m so sorry, these men have no manners!” he frets as he holds out his hand at me. I can feel all of the blood rushing to my face as I take his hand and he pulls me close to his heaven-manufactured face. He looks as though he’s a freshly-baked cookie from God’s beauty oven, like he’s the child of Aphrodite and Venus, the goddesses of beauty!
“Uh, th-thanks for helping me out,” I mutter almost inaudibly.
“Oh, uh, it was no problem,” he says as he scratches the back of his head. “So uh…. What brings you into a Diligent house? Not that there’s anything wrong with you being here, it’s just…. Your kind aren't usually in these places…. I-I’m sorry if I offended you-!”
“It’s fine. I’m used to it. One of your friends wanted me to help him out. I didn’t really have a choice, but boy do I wish I did,” I chuckle, sweat gathering on my forehead.
He chuckles back and replies, “Yeah….” Then, the awkwardness consumes everyone. Someone comes up to him and whispers something in his ear. “Sorry, I have to take care of something. I’ll see you later?”
“Uh...sure. See ya later.” I wish I was able to spend more time with him, but I guess I’m just not meant to mingle with the hierarchy. Even if it’s true love, it’s nothing unless I’m one of them. As I head back to my designated alley spot, I think about all these things, and it hurts, believe me when I say it hurts. I’ve never ever felt heartbreak like this before within my Worm clan but I...there’s no doubt that I’m in love with him.
My head begins to throb because of how much I’m thinking about everything. I need to rest. I take the metal sheet that I use as a blanket and cover myself, the sound of the leaking drainpipe above me being the last thing I hear.