Everything Here Wants Me Dead

It appeared on the ceiling overnight, enormous and unbothered. Relocation was attempted and abandoned. We now share the house under an uneasy truce: it stays on the ceiling, I stay traumatised, and nobody makes sudden movements.

It approached without fear. It held my gaze. And with the confidence of a creature that has evolved past shame, the ibis took my sandwich and strutted off, leaving only crumbs and a lesson.