The Worms, the Raid, and Skillet’s Final Leap

July 25, 2026.                           10:37 pm

Part I: The Night of the Worms

​Last night I decided to take out the full bag of trash, as my dad reminded me. He said, “Hey, we need to take out the trash because today is Saturday and the trash is coming.” So I went to take it out, even though it was after 11. I said I’m going to take it out.

​I was getting it ready and my dad said, “I don’t think it’s gonna fit.” Last Wednesday the trash did not come, and we don’t know why. It didn’t come all day. My dad had taken it out around eight something. The trash didn’t come. Nobody’s trash came. I don’t know if it had to do with the weather since it was supposed to be ugly, but it didn’t turn out ugly. Maybe some rain, a little wind or something, but it wasn’t nasty and bad. There was no sign of the trash on Wednesday, so it got left in there for days, for a couple of days. Then Saturday, well, it had just piled up. It makes it harder to put more trash in. So I decided to take care of it. I had actually forgotten about that when my dad mentioned it. I wasn’t really aware what he meant because I had forgotten about last week’s trash. But then I think I remembered. I still made the effort because usually I make it fit whatever trash, even though it’s full. I take it. Then, of course, when I opened it, there was some trash, and I dumped it. But I also saw all those worms that form when it hasn’t been thrown away and it’s just sitting there. A whole bunch of these white worms were just all over the city trash dumpster. They were everywhere. I thought, Oh my gosh.

​I was trying to get that thing to close because it wasn’t quite closing very well. Then I didn’t want to put too much effort in because of the worms. I was intimidated. I thought, Oh gosh, this is gross and bad. I had never seen that many worms like that. It was really bad. I was zombified with these worms all over. I just wanted to finish because it was gross. I tried to close it, pressing it down with the lid. Then I wanted to hurry up. I was attempting to wheel the trash can all the way to the side edge of the road where it should be, to get it ready for the morning. But because I was trying to drag it, I just stopped. Once the top hit my head, I pushed it back. I still tried to drag it, but then at some point I just gave up. I just left the can where it was on the grass on the side of the driveway area. I left it sideways. I thought, Okay, I can’t do this. So I just gave up. I just wanted to wash my hands, go inside and wash everywhere. I didn’t even know if anything got on me from those worms. I was really intimidated and traumatized. I was disgusted.

​I thought, Gosh, because the trash didn’t come last time, this is what happens. Then, in the morning, at some point the trash came. I didn’t get the trash can until maybe after three. At some point, it must have been before three, I decided to think about it. I’m going to see about cleaning that can. I just want to see if the worms are still there. I’m going to see these worms and see what’s going on with the dumpster because the trash had already picked it up. When I go outside and check, I open it. All the trash is gone, but I see all the worms that stayed. There was a whole bunch of worms on the bottom and some on the sides. I thought, Oh gosh, I have to deal with these worms. So I said, “You know what? I’m going to clean this. I’m going to clean this because it’s just pathetic, disgusting.”

​Part II: The Morning Battle and the Observer

July 26, 2026

​I came up with an idea to use water and bleach because I figured that’s gotta kill those things. So I decided to go inside and I told my dad I’m going to clean the dumpster because of the worms. My dad just looked at me, but I don’t know if he understood what I was going to do. So I went to get the bleach, got some gloves. I go outside, get the water hose. I know it’s complicated because the hose was like a pretzel. I decided to try to rinse it, then spray the worms down, whatever was on the sides. I filled it with a good amount of water, not all the way or halfway. It was just enough on the bottom. Once I did that, then I got the bleach, the Clorox. I poured the Clorox. Any worms I saw after a moment trying to wiggle up, crawling, it didn’t kill them right away. A lot of them were still trying to go up strongly. I just sprayed the bleach over them, and then they would go down. Some were still trying to crawl out or crawl up. I thought, Okay, you know what? I don’t like this. I’m not going to be spending this much Clorox. So I decided to go try to get the Raid. I know it’s already on the front porch table. I grabbed the Raid spray and I just sprayed.

​I spray them going around the trash can in counter clockwise. I am spraying and determined to kill these maggots. I make sure all sides are sprayed and the raid spray was weakened and those worms trying to worm-up but with the paper cardboard type paper, I used it to shove them down as they seemed to get higher towards the top as I watch attentively.

​After a while, I do see they are twitching and curling. Some suddenly start dropping or sliding down. Seeing that calmed my mind and made me happier in such relief. Cause I honestly didn’t know what would work to kill them as they are kinda hard to kill or just die slower making it impatient.

​So, I’m just standing there with the can of Raid and just observing, making sure, right? I stood there for a good while, and it was hot. Let me remind you, it’s pretty hot outside, but I just said, you know, I got to do this. I did have some sunglasses on, trying to cover my eyes. I remember I did take some sunglasses to protect my eyes some, but at some point I just took them off because those sunglasses have that magnifying part for reading or something, and it kind of hurts my eyes. I can see good only when using that part when I’m reading, but it also strains my eyes because it’s not the right lens for my eyes. It’s a little too strong for me.

​Part III: Skillet’s Fateful Leap

​So, I’m right here just watching the worms in the can, and I was noticing how they were adjusting more better to stop crawling. The Raid thing was actually working. I just said, I guess this will just take time because a whole bunch of them were writhing and whatnot. So, after a while just standing there, almost about to just close the can, and all of a sudden, I see on the part where it holds the can lid, where it holds the bar, that part, a small creature appeared. It was about half an inch size, you know, one of those jumping spiders, and it was about half an inch big, kind of, or maybe a little less than that, a little less small like that, but it wasn’t so small, and it wasn’t so big. It was just like kind of like a half an inch or maybe less than that, and it was a jumping kind of spider, and it had, yeah, it was just like a dirty beige light colored spider. I don’t know, I think it was kind of like maybe a little bit diamond shaped, its abdomen, but, you know, it was definitely kind of like one of those jumpy glitchy spiders, and it was just there on the side. I imagine it sensed worms or I don’t know. According to my knowledge, spiders do smell, but according to what I understood, they smell with their legs, which is actually very, very interesting. Something new I found out. I got to find out more about senses of spiders because I actually didn’t know that. It’s very educational. So, you know, I see a spider, and he’s just right there, and, you know, and he’s just basically in the same spot of the part I told you about.

​And then, so I’m just like there, and I felt an impulse to name him. We’ll call him, I guess, Skillet. I don’t know, Skillet. I tell, you know, I tell Skillet, hey, I don’t think that’s a good idea. I tell him something like that. I said, I don’t recommend you do that. I don’t think it’s a wise idea. You shouldn’t. I was just telling him something like that, you know, because I kind of forgot what I exactly said. But essentially, I conveyed, I don’t think it’s a good idea. You try to attempt that, but, you know, it’s up to you. You know, I don’t even think I said that, but I just know I told him, I don’t, I don’t recommend that, that you should. And then, you know, when I said that, like, I was just watching on, I’m going to, to like on front of the can, and I look, he’s looking at me, and he did look good at the bottom. He was looking at it, and you won’t believe what happened. That little spider, Skillet, unexpectedly and startlingly, he was looking down at it, because I saw his little eyes looking down at that bucket, and I guess he couldn’t resist, and he just flat out, he jumped. He did a considerable leap. I saw that spider jump before my eyes, and he went down to the pit with the worms, and he actually landed where there was this little space of no worms, and when he dropped there, he vanished from sight. I didn’t see him anymore. Not even a shadow or speck, not a black dot, I didn’t, or some kind of dot. I didn’t see nothing. He, that Skillet disappeared into the Clorox contaminated water, into its doom. And I’m just like, oh my gosh, I’ve never seen that happen. I was, I was profoundly astounded, profoundly shocked. I couldn’t believe that. It appeared akin to self-destruction, but I know it was because of the worms. It was, it was like, it was so entranced, and very, very like, you know, you know, it was like a weird thing out of an animation or something. I was just like, I couldn’t believe what I saw, you know, jump, a spider jumping to, its basically, its death. I was like, I was dumbfounded. I just couldn’t believe that that spider acted unwisely.

​And I had to google that if spiders actually, can they smell, and they actually can, but with their legs, and I was even thinking that if they can smell, then wouldn’t have realized that it smells funny, or is the allure of the worms that much more meaningful for them in an overwhelming desire, wanting, craving way versus, versus the chemicals. Can they smell, can they smell chemicals? It would have been prudent to inquire, because maybe they only smell the insects. I don’t know, but I saw that, and I just said, wow. It was like a moment of reflection right there. I just, I should, I wish I had my camera. That would have made for a compelling recording, because I’m always recording, and that would have been really good as something educational to show the apparent lack of foresight in spiders, where they make these kind of choices, but I guess it’s metaphorically speaking where we know there’s danger, and we still try to jump into it, and we don’t understand what we’re doing or getting into because it’s just, you know, danger is silence, and before you know it, it’s too late. You already jumped, and you can’t turn back. Well, I mean, I guess I can’t throw out web from what I understand, you know, but that’s pretty sad. What I saw, I was just very shocked to see that little spider just jump into that, because I am sure that it, it was intrigued wanting it, and wanted to get the worms, badly. Yet in the end, he couldn’t help it and felt allured to just jump down to it, when deceivingly, he died instantly, I guess.

Last moments of Skillet, the cute tiny jumping spider that chose me to witness its natural instinctual reaction, jumping blindly to a dead pit.💀

Author’s Reflection Note

​What began as an ordinary, grueling household chore—battling a forgotten dumpster full of maggots with bleach and bug spray under a scorching sun—turned into a bizarre philosophical lesson on impulse and survival. Standing there in the heat, watching the chaos unfold, I never expected to witness a small jumping spider I mentally named “Skillet” make such a fateful decision.

​It makes you reflect on human nature. Spiders can smell through their legs, yet the overwhelming allure and craving for the insects below completely blinded him to the silent, invisible chemical danger waiting in the pit. He saw the prize, ignored the risk, and made a leap of no return.

​It’s a striking reminder of how we sometimes march blindly toward our own undoing, lured by desire or distraction until it’s too late to turn back. Danger is often silent, and the choices we make in an instant can change everything.

​“There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” — Proverbs 14:12

​Why I chose this passage:

From the spider’s perspective, dropping down into that clean space might have looked like a successful hunt or a path to a prize. Instead, it was an optical illusion of safety that led straight to destruction. I chose this verse because that’s exactly how it played out right before my eyes—he was looking down at the bucket, and before I knew it, he took that big leap into nothingness and the toxic bleach water. It mirrors how we can be so focused on what we want that we blindly walk right into our own trap.