"And... done!" Yusuf take a deep breath after his latest video was finally uploaded to the internet that night. After a minute, his video got hundreds of views, then it doubled, then tripled. Yusuf doesn't care about the view though, all he wanted is that everyone who watched his video should get the messages. While leaning on his chair, he asks himself, why the people today are so... dumb?
Not wanting to mess his head with that question, he turned on his smartphone and open up social media. A lot of news and articles pop up in his feed but none of them makes Yusuf interested. Tired scrolling, he goes to the recommendation page and he is interested in the top hashtag, #monstersarereal. He thought that this is some kind of latest dumb trend that was set up by youngsters but the curiosity made him tap on the hashtag.
The top post shows a picture of a quadrupedal creature – it looks like a tiger, a bear, or a wolf but only a part of its head covered with some fur or hair – which is a kind of a predator. Yusuf takes a closer look – it has a long, skinny tail, the teeth are sharp and the eyes are glowing, staring directly at the camera – making Yusuf uncomfortable. Having goosebumps all over his body, he decided to read the comments section.
'Dang, that's creeping me out.' 'F A K E' 'Nice. Did you draw it or edit it? I think I want to learn from you'
Yusuf scrolls more and more until he found one comment,
'I thought I am the only one who saw this creature'
Yusuf tap the reply button,
'I saw it too!' 'No way! I found this creature a week ago!' 'Me too, I still have a picture of it. Want to see it?'
Yusuf can't believe his eyes and proceeds to check out other posts. True enough, there are more creepy pictures of the creepy creature. Some of the posts have pictures of the creature, others say that the hashtag must be just a place for the artists to show their skills and so many posts that trying to prove it, and some even debunked the pictures. "Nonsense!" says Yusuf, turning his smartphone off.
***
Outside, he walked along the sidewalk to the nearest convenience store. He enters the store and goes to the instant noodle shelf. He picks his favorite instant noodle, curry-flavored cup noodle. Yusuf loves the curry flavor, the spiciness, the sourness, perfect to eat during the rainy night. A lot of the locals love the curry flavor too.
He goes to the fridge and looks for a bottle of water. It's a must to drink water especially after eating a spicy meal, he thought to himself. The cashier scanned the barcode of every item that Yusuf choose. After paying for everything, he fills his cup noodle with hot water at the water heater prepared by the store and leaves the store with a meal for dinner.
***
Fueled after consuming his dinner, Yusuf walked around the city just to spend some time. As he walks, he sees so many things, people walking down the street, eating delicious burgers in front of the burger stall, neon lights, fancy cars, and some cats resting on the bench. Kyanite, the city where he lives now, is popular among business people. This city is like an ATM; the bigger the business, the more money you will get.
Sadly, this city has its dark side, don't let the neon lights blind you. Some of the people in Kyanite are scammers, loan sharks, and selfish marketeer. All they want are the money, they don't care about the consumer's rights. They don't care about what's wrong or what's right, as long as they can get the notes from your pockets.
Not only that, drug dealers are active in the city. Kids were kidnapped and if they are lucky, they become beggars for the kidnappers. If they are not, their organs will be sold. Not to mention some people who are willing to sell their dignity. Hidden by the city's tall buildings and neon lights, some toxic selfish people only think about gold.
Yusuf sits on the bench and looks at the bustling scenery. His head cannot forget about what he saw on social media. Monsters? Really? Those pictures didn't look fake but… maybe the editor or the artist are so good at making it realistic. Maybe that it's just a practical effect. Yeah. It may be a sculpture that was made by the finest hands of the finest artist.
But… why there are a lot of those pictures? Why there are a lot of people admitting that they saw it? What if it was real? What if…?
No, no way.
Yusuf stands up and walks away from the bench. He heading home but still, he cannot endure his feeling to know more about it. Then, he turned on his smartphone and open up his social media. He tapped on #monstersarereal to see any latest post related to the hashtag.
Lots and lots of posts and photos about the monster pop up on the page but he found one creepy post about it;
'IF SOMEONE HAS BEEN BITTEN BY THIS CREATURE, TAKE HIM/HER TO THE HOSPITAL IMMEDIATELY!!! #MONSTERSAREREAL'
"Wait, it brought disease?" Yusuf tap the reply button,
'Please send the bitten person to the hospital because it brought an unknown disease! My uncle got seizures after getting bitten by this creature! Also, if you see it from far away, please don't panic and DO NOT make any sound! It will attack you! Move away from it quickly but quietly!'
Again, Yusuf hardly believed it.
'Is this some kind of joke?' 'Are you serious?' 'You must've been faking it.'
The post received many replies, GIFs, memes, and Yusuf found a link. When Yusuf tapped on the link, a video starts to play. The video was recorded inside a dark room and then a man with a messy thick beard appeared. He looks like preparing something but the viewers couldn't tell.
"Is this thing on? Oh. Okay, we're good," he takes his position. "If I didn't end the stream by myself, the experiment must have resulted as a failure," said the man sending goosebumps all over Yusuf's body. "The reason I made this stream is because this is for humanity's sake. I can't explain it but the truth will be unraveled anyway." Yusuf becomes impatient and skips it to the end of the video.
The man in the video hung himself, his wrist was slitted, the red blood dripping from the wound. His body swinging, his eyes were rolled back in his head, showing the white color of the sclera. "WHAT THE HECK?!" shouts Yusuf from the inside, pressing the home button quickly. His forehead sweats, his hands are shaking, and his mind is spinning, trying to grab all of the senses.
He stood there for a while, taking a deep breath, and releasing it back to the city night air. His head becomes lighter, then giving his forehead a massage. I must be dreaming, it must have been fake, he thought to himself. The video, the pictures, the posts, the hashtag, must have been fake, added him.
As he walked, he tried to forget by thinking something else. I have so many weird things online, but usually, I only scold the idiot ones. Why did people take the pictures of their weird faces, weird posing, and their weird outfit? Why did they make those weird dances? Why would they do it at the wrong place and time? Didn't they think twice? Didn't they think that what they are doing will affect their future?
Yusuf exclaimed
"Help! Help!"
Yusuf stops and turned his head towards the sound. It came from the dark alleyway.
"HELP! HELP!"
Yusuf was confused, his head going back and forth. Should I help him? Should I ignore it?
"HELP ME PLEASE! SOMEONE?!"
"Screw it!" Yusuf runs into the darkness, running towards the sound. He jumped over the trash pile, he bumped into a trash can, he tripped over a rock but all of that didn't stop him. Luckily, he saw an old man laying on the ground. "It must be him!" he says confidently.
"Hey, hey," Yusuf trying to wake him up. He shakes the old man's body but it didn't work. Trying not to panic, Yusuf lay him down to the ground and pull out his smartphone from his pocket. He turned it on and open up the dialer.
CHOMP!
Yusuf's left leg got bitten by the old man, making him scream out loud, and falls to the ground. "HEY! OLD MAN! WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?!" shouts Yusuf but the old man didn't let go. "LET ME GO! LET ME GO!" he shouts again while kicking the old man's head angrily. Finally, the old man releases Yusuf from his bite.
"Argh…" exclaims Yusuf in pain while trying to get up. He looks at the old man, he is shocked, the old man is having seizures. Yusuf back away from the old man, slowly and carefully. The old man flipped his body and starts to growl.
SNAP! SNAP! CRACK!
The horrifying sound came from the old man's body. Yusuf was terrified by the thing he saw and heard in front of him.
CRACK! CRACK! POP!
The old man's bones continue to break, his skin stretches, his body engorged from his normal size. Yusuf starts running after seeing what happened in front of him.
The old man that was once a human roaring from behind. Is he chasing me? Is he angry? What is happening? Yusuf doesn't care, all he wants right now is to get out alive. He could hear the sound of the creature chasing him from behind. He runs across the street, and with a little bit of courage, he turns his head towards behind him.
ROAR!!!
HONK! HONK! HONK!!!
SCREECH!!! BAM!!!
A truck bumps into the creature, making it fly far away from him. The blue blood splatter on the road and the truck. The driver gets out of his truck, checks the condition of his truck, and starts to scratch his head. Yusuf on the other hand ran away from the scene towards his house.
***
"Crap! Crap! Crap! What the heck is going on tonight?! Ouch!" the pain came back from his left leg. He enters his house and locked the door as soon as possible. He enters the bathroom and pulls his jeans up to his knee. He washes the wound with some water while enduring the pain.
Yusuf felt something… off…
He could feel something crawling – no – slithering, near the wound. He takes a closer look, veins popping out, and it came from the wound. The veins keep spreading up, trying to go up to his knee. Yusuf starts to panic and the veins keep spreading and pulsing underneath his skin.
He starts to have a flashback;
'Dang, that's creeping me out.' 'F A K E' 'Nice. Did you draw it or edit it? I think I want to learn from you' 'I thought I am the only one who saw this creature' 'I saw it too!' 'No way! I found this creature a week ago!' 'Me too, I still have a picture of it. Want to see it?' "Nonsense!" Monsters? Really? didn't look fake but… But… why? Why? What if? What if…? No, no way. 'IF SOMEONE HAS BEEN BITTEN…, TAKE… TO THE HOSPITAL…! unknown disease… seizures after getting bitten… don't panic… do not make any sound… will attack… move away… quickly but quietly… 'is this… a joke?' 'Are you serious…?' 'You must… faking it…' "if I didn't end the stream…, resulted as a failure…" "for humanity's sake… the truth will be unraveled anyway…"
Yusuf pressing both sides of his head screamed out loud. He smashes the mirror with anger, turning it into pieces. The bathroom was silent for a while… and he starts giggling. Tears fall from his eyes – the laughter becomes crying.
He cries, questioning everything for what happened that night. He wipes his tears using his hands but it's no use. Nothing he could do, he crying more and more as the veins spreading up his knee. If there's any cure, he thought to himself in sadness.
"The truth will be unraveled anyway…"
That bearded man! That video must have something that could use to stop the infection! Yusuf turns on his phone and opens up the social media. He goes to the recommendation page but the hashtag has gone! "It must be the government," Yusuf exclaims while running his fingers inside his hair.
The image of the man at the end of the video suddenly appeared inside his head. He clenches his fist, and he says "I want to die as a human." He runs all over the house to find what he needs, rope, knife, chair, and a huge sheet of plastic. He found everything and starts to arrange it – the plastic sheet on the floor, followed by the chair.
He ties the rope to the hook that was used to place the ceiling fan. Then, he steps on the chair and ties the rope to the simple noose knot. He pushes his head into the loop and grips the knife tightly with his hand. Lastly, he jumps off the chair, making the rope strangle his neck.
Yusuf struggles in the air, his body swinging back and forth, left and right. He could not breathe, his heart beating fast, he almost lost his consciousness. Quickly, he slits his wrist, and the purple blood squirts and drips onto the plastic sheet. His body is twitching due to handling too much pain.
Suddenly his body act on its own, his arm moves, cutting the rope using the knife. He falls onto the puddle of his purple blood. He unties the rope from his neck and throws it away. He looks to the ceiling for a while before closing his eyes.