Ya know, a textbook makes an excellent surface to pile stuff onto.

I used to be mighty afraid of bugs too, until I split up with my first serious boyfriend and had to start killing my own bugs.

I once slept alone in a tent with a huge grasshopper which found it interesting to walk all over my head. I threw a book on top of it, only to realize the next morning I'd missed it and it was sitting directly above my face, with an amputated leg.

I felt sorry for it.

The moral of the story is, stop being such a girl, Emily: collect the bug with a bunch of toilet paper and toss it out of the window. It's not going to kill you.

Emily, you have to be brave.

If you can't do that then take advantage of the situation and go watch your city wake up on a long walk.

You do know that where there's one cockroach there's likely to be others, right? Fumigate that fucking flat pronto.

This has to be the most pathetic Scanner topic ever rivaling when Scanner Brian provides horribly inaccurate observations about law.

how did a cockroach make a rustling noise?

I had the same thing happen to me. I used a can of paint as you used the textbook, the problem was that it happened like 3 times so I moved. I know sounds drastic but i couldn't sleep!!! I kept a roach spray next to me and put sticky traps all around my bed - not fun.

I found this enormously entertaining. I have a centipede phobia so I get it.

That happened to me in Hong Kong years ago.  I was awakened by a rustling sound, turned on the light and discovered a giant roach walking over some plastic wrapping I had discarded.  I forget what I smushed it with, but I stayed in a different hotel the next time I came through that city.

I second the spraying and roach-trap suggestions.  Maybe also invest in pajamas so you don't feel as vulnerable?

Emily I feel for you, as a guy I enjoy bugs and snakes, but feel as you do with mice as my terrifying critter.  I like the suggestion about toilet paper but would instead flush it down the toilet.  I also sleep nude and as a precaution, I keep underwear with in reach.  I have like you experienced cock roaches rustling about at night and found bait that they eat and are then eaten by their brethren to eliminate the problem. Where there is one there are probably many more unseen.

I forgot to inquire about your cat.  I hope it is ok

Wow, you had one hell of a night, I just read your post about centipedes and feel your anguish with your horrible experience.  I say it is time to call in a professional exterminator and stay with a friend while it happens.  If you don't have such friends you can stay in my pad, albeit a bit removed for your immediate needs.

Cockroahes are simply delicious when sauteed in butter and topped with a light lemon marsala sauce. Keep that in mind during the "lean times".

Emily,

Everyone who tells you to be brave is 100% wrong. I have a horrible fear of bugs (particularly spiders and moths, but I think that's only because I have never actually encountered a cockroach).

When you see a bug it is not a time to be rational and "collect a bug with a bunch of toilet paper". As if I am going to get remotely close enough to a bug to pick it up with my hand!

I once slept on my couch in my living room for 3 days because I knew there was a moth in my bedroom but I couldn't find it. I also recently bleach-stained my bath mat because bleach was the only chemical in reach to drown a spider I saw in the bathroom. Needless to say I didn't go in the washroom again until the spider had disintegrated.

Feel free to write about your personal troubles with bugs. You will have my sympathy every time.

You should just move to Florida as a form of cheap exposure therapy.  The entire state is infested with ginormous, aggressive insects.  Seriously in about a week you will right over this whole bug issue.  On a side note, hair spray make a great bug spray, it's cheaper, probably less toxic and smells better.

Emily, I'm not afraid of roaches but I feel for you. You did right crushing it with that textbook, but always remember to vigilantly clean everything afterwards in daylight if you prefer. I crushed a huge Honduran cockroach on vacation and left it under the vanity tray in my bathroom and my Day 2, the whole frickin' bathroom stank of rotting flesh. I left a big tip and a scrap of paper pointing to the stash. At home I occasionally find the fuckers and use a big wad of Kleenex to crush them. Flush them, don't toss 'em in the trash, in case they have eggs. The poison bait is better than spray pesticides.