The Swarm
by Kaylynn Garner
June 7, 2026 | Fiction | Startled, Frightened
Buzzing and the sound of blood made a deafening cacophony in my ears as my small hands lost their grasp on the metal bars of the once seemingly safe playground equipment. All this happened as a narrow angry pointed body hurled towards me faster than my mind could comprehend. Then suddenly I was gasping for air on the ground as pain blossomed and erupted from my arm, as the feeling of fire and venom flowed into me. I clambered away as fast as my scrambled brain and body could move. I eventually ran inside and got away. This was the first time I had ever been stung by one of these hateful creatures; luckily, to this day it’s been the last.
I hadn’t meant to anger the wasps that day. I was just trying to play. Yet, the hateful creatures came from down below. The pain they brought felt like the wait for death row. I often wonder though, do these creatures even know? The despair they bring. Do you think if they knew that’d change anything?
My mother wasn’t thought of as an angry person, at least not to most people. She held onto her anger tight and bottled it up tighter. She’d wait until the wrong thing happened, when the wrong twig snapped, or when the wrong bar was grasped. Maybe that’s why whenever she lost her temper it felt as though I’d stepped onto another hidden nest of hatred.
I learned the language of the swarm, in order to try and anticipate when it would strike. I was learning these lessons from the age of a tike. I’d try to be everything that was needed of me. Yet, she never did see. Even after all her wrong doing. Do you think she’d even change anything?
There I sat strapped into my seat as the swarm rose around me, giving every sign it was going to strike. The doors were locked, the car was running, there she sat screaming saliva flinging from the angry swarm. I sat there petrified, not knowing how to stop the rising buzz in the air as blood pooled in my ears. Then I grabbed the wrong bar. Pain bloomed across my forehead as everything around me was a cacophony of sound. I screamed out as feral words left my mouth. Then again pain bloomed as my glasses flew from my face. I eventually was freed from that all encompassing vengeful swarm. Luckily, to this day that was the last time I got stung.