When I was a child, my parents took me on a holiday to Italy. I was alone in my hotel room at night, when I heard a loud, rustling sound. On top of the couch I saw a huge praying mantis.

I had never seen one before in real life, and damn, that thing was huge. With all limbs extended it must have been the size of a book.

And it was loud, and it moved around a lot. It was fast. I was scared.

I tried shooing it out the balcony door, but to no avail.

Man, that thing was terrifying. With its huge and sharp claws, and big, bulging eyes. And it just wouldn’t leave.

So I looked for something to hit it with. I couldn’t find anything, until I looked in the night stand drawer. There was a bible in there.

I thought, what the hell, and started throwing the bible at it. I missed at first, but soon I hit.

It still scurried on. It felt horrible, but I threw again and hit it again. I tried squashing it with the bible when it was unable to move, but that thing was so big, it felt much different from a normal insect. It felt like I was trying to crush a mouse. I couldn’t do it.

Hoping it was already dead, I scooped it up with some magazine and threw it outside.

The next morning, the real horror of the situation revealed itself to me.

I looked where I threw the mantis, and it was still there - and it was still moving its limbs. While it was being eaten alive by ants. So I had crippled it and thrown it to hellish tortures.

Mortified, I left it there and went for breakfast.

…I’m going to hell for this, ain’t I?