Yusuf opens his eyes, take look around, and sits up. He becomes more confused because he is surrounded by darkness with no end. "What is this place?" he asked while he is still in confusion and sleepy state. He heard a beeping sound coming from behind him, and then he turns around.
"Mother?" he exclaims, staring at his mother, laying on the hospital bed.
Beep, Beep.
The machine that attached to his mother made sounds simultaneously with her heart.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
"Mother! Somebody, please help!" cries Yusuf as the machine beeps faster and louder, stating that his mother is in critical condition.
"Doctor! Nurse! Please!" cries Yusuf to the infinite darkness behind him.
BEEP!!!
"No… no, no, no, NO! NO!!!" screams Yusuf as his tears run down his face. He holds his mother's hands dearly, not wanting to let her go. Why, why, cry Yusuf from the inside. Suddenly, her mother's hand twitches in Yusuf's hand, making him lift his face.
"Mother?" asked Yusuf to his mother's body with confusion.
His mother opens her eyes and tightens her grip making Yusuf's hand hurt. She pulls him into her arms opens her mouth.
ROAR!!!
"AAAH!!!" scream Yusuf.
***
Yusuf sits up, took a deep breath, and wipe the sweat that came from his forehead. He looks around and realizes that he had a nightmare. That wasn't taking him long enough to feel something sticky on his forehead. He looks at his palm – his hand stained with purple blood. He stands up and is surprised by what he sees – he is standing on a stain of purple blood.
He rushes to the bathroom, takes off his clothes, and starts to shower. During the shower, his mind became more and more confused. The hashtag, the pictures, the video, the old man, the hanging, the slitting, and now, the purple blood. Then, he remembered about his wrist and starts to check it. The wound that was supposed to be on his wrist – gone, neither scars nor scab on his wrist.
He is getting more and more headaches, thinking about what happened. "That's it. I'm not wasting my time for this," he finished showering and get out of the bathroom. He put on his clothes and clean up the mess he did last night. After that, he sits on his chair, tired because of cleaning and thinking.
He takes a deep breath and turns on his smartphone. He swipes up, and a lot of notifications related to his video pop up on top of the screen. His video receives a lot of likes and comments from the viewers. The notifications appear from one to another so fast that he can't even read the notifications.
After the notifications stop popping up, he swipes down to see all the notifications. He scrolls up to see the first notification and he read it.
'TVN2 commented on your video 1 day ago'
"Wait, 1 day ago?" Yusuf confused. "I know it's nighttime right now but it should be '3 hours ago' or '5 hours ago', right?" says Yusuf, trying to convince his heart. "There's no way I've fainted for a whole day," he says again.
He turns off his phone and puts his hands at the back of his head. He starts to ask himself, could it be any worse? Frustrated, he stands up and walks to the front door to get some fresh air. He reaches out to the doorknob but then he stops, stunned while thinking about last night.
What if I got attacked again? Will I die? Will I survive? What if it was looking for me? Will it find me? What if I came across it? What if it was near my house?
A lot of questions hovered inside his head, making it more and more difficult for Yusuf. "Whatever happens, happens!" he says as he grabs the doorknob and opens the front door. Nothing in front of him, only a hallway that was lightened by fluorescent lamps. He peeks outside his house, and takes a look to the right and the left, he didn't find anything that should be worried about.
Still, he didn't want to go out because of what happened. Then, his stomach starts rumbling, indicating that he is hungry. He searches for food all over his house but he couldn't find any. He decided not to go outside and hold back his hunger because of what happened to him last night.
He turns off all the lamps in his house and tucks himself into the bed. On the bed, he planned to go outside during the daytime and hoped for a better tomorrow. His head is still full of questions and confusion. He changes his sleep position so he could stop thinking about the miserable last night.
AAAAAH!!!
The scream of a woman coming from the house above shocked Yusuf. "What the heck is going on up there?" wonder Yusuf about what he just heard.
SMASH! CRASH!
"NO! DON'T COME CLOSER!" shouts the woman.
Yusuf's heart beats fast as more questions come into his head.
AAH! AAAAAH!
The scream suddenly stops.
Yusuf is shaking and sweating heavily, he starts to question himself about what he just heard. Is it the monster? It is here? Above me? Yusuf hoping it is not the monster he met last night or any kind of those vile creatures. He doesn't know what to do, but he feels like he must do something.
***
Yusuf standing in front of the house and sweats heavily. He looks to the left and right, he notices that the lights are dim. This indicates that not many people live on this floor. Yusuf grabs the grill gate and tries to open it but it's locked.
He pulls the padlock as hard as he can.
CREAK! CLINK!
"Oh no! What have I done?!" says Yusuf while panicking. He pulled the padlock so hard that it snaps off the metal that place the padlock from the grill gate. Yusuf carefully opens the gate and closes it back after entering. "Now the door," exclaimed Yusuf as he pushes the door.
As he already knew, the door is also locked. Then, he pushes the door with all of his might.
CRASH! THUD!
"Ow…, What is wrong with me?" grunt Yusuf while standing up. He broke the door so hard that it made him fall to the floor. He closes the door and takes a look around. The house is so dark because none of the lights are turned on. Yusuf is sure that what he heard from his house is not a dream or hallucination.
HUFF…
He starts to feel some chills down his spine. He turns his head towards the huffing sound that came from a room. He looks at the door and takes some slow, heavy, big steps toward the door. He grabs the doorknob, swallows his nervousness down the throat, and embraces what will happen next.
Creak…
HUFF…
"I should call the police…" says Yusuf in disbelief.
In front of him is a creature that looks like a folded rug but still resembles a human and it is on the floor. He could hear some squelching sound coming from that creature. It looks asleep because it didn't move at all. Yusuf feels sick looking at the thing and decided to leave.
Squelch…
Yusuf looks behind him, that thing finally unfolding itself. The front side of the creature is red and filled with rows of short tentacles that look like tongues. Not only that, both sides of the body are filled with a row of sharp teeth – making it look like a mouth – down to the middle of the waist. The "mouth" emits a terrible smell – smells like a rotten body – and it is slimy too.
A half-dissolved body is located in the "mouth", making Yusuf almost throw up. Finally, its head – the head doesn't have a jaw, the mouth is connected to the "mouth", and the top of it is covered with long hair – and it looks directly at Yusuf. The thing gets up, making the half-dissolved body falls from the "mouth". It attacks Yusuf aggressively but he quickly dodges it.
The thing falls onto the floor and Yusuf tries to make a run. Yusuf falls onto the ground because the creature grabs his leg by his ankle. The creature pulls Yusuf towards itself, trying to devour him. Yusuf tries to kick the creature's ugly face but it manages to catch his feet before he could land a kick.
The creature opens its "mouth", the smell spread across the house making Yusuf hardly breathe. The creature pulls Yusuf slowly into its disgusting "mouth". Yusuf could feel the sticky slime and some hot air all over his leg. Yusuf struggles to escape but it looks like he won't make it at any moment.
The creature is finally reached up to his chest. Yusuf struggles even more than he could but his effort doesn't show any working results. He punches the thing's face many times so it could become unconscious. Yellow blood drips from its hideous face but it won't let go of its prey.
Yusuf's heart beats getting harder, his blood circulation getting faster, and his punches getting stronger. Yusuf finally fed up, grabbed its head, and poked its eyes using his thumbs.
"DIE!!!"
CRUSH!
The thing's head was crushed between Yusuf's hands and yellow blood squirts from it. Yusuf realizes what he has done then pulls himself out from the disgusting creature. Yusuf looks at his hands, making him shocked at what he sees. All of his ten fingers have sharp and long claws.
What the heck are these? Did I have become a monster?
He becomes so confused that he swipes his hands in the middle of the air, trying to get the claws off from his fingers. Sadly, it won't come off so he stops trying and look at the creature that he just killed. It looked different from the other one, he thought. He takes a look at the corpse but turns away because he is disgusted by its look.
He gets out of the smelly house without turning back.
***
The sound of the washing machine fills the silence inside his house. He just sits in front of his computer and looks directly at the screen. His claws are finally gone but he is still in confusion. A lot of new questions came into his mind.
How did the claws come out? When did I become so strong? Why is this happening to me?
He even cannot get the horrific image of the monster and the corpse that he saw earlier out of his mind. The smell, the slime, the struggle – all of it – he can't forget it. He doesn't feel safe staying in his house anymore – no – to stay in this city. Maybe this awful city is the main reason these monsters exist.
Yes, this city is ruled by greedy people so that's why these monsters are here. They get getting richer by oppressing the poor ones. The poor ones getting more and more poor day by day. The monsters are here to kill these people so everything will be balanced again.
But… why me?
Why did I also got dragged into this situation? I'm neither rich nor poor but why? Have I done something terrible to the people?
He starts to realize that maybe it is because of his videos. The problem is that he did his research regarding any topic of his videos. He will never post any video without doing any research. He will be criticized by the people on the internet if he did not do that.
Suddenly, Yusuf opens his mouth and speaks, "Is it because of my… mother?"
Now Yusuf remembers that tomorrow is the day to visit his mother at Serpentine. Suddenly, he got an idea, the city must be safe from these monsters. So, he could live there peacefully from this madness, he thought. He is smiling happily, ready to get up from the chair to pack some stuff.
Before he gets up, he stops, he remembers something important. He looks at his dearest computer with some heavy feelings. He turns on all the devices he needed to make this one important moment. He set up everything, the camera angle, the lighting, the volume, and then take some deep breaths.
"I'm quit from making videos."