Bzzzt… Bzzzt
"Abdirahman, what are you doing outside? The swarm is near. Hurry inside and lock your doors."
Ayaan shooed the young boy inside his home while ensuring there were no other individuals wandering the area.
Bzzzt… Bzzzt
Turning her head, she saw a lone locust perched on a young sapling. The locust was around four centimeters long, light brown in color, and possessed a robust body and relatively strong-looking hind legs.
Pursing her lips, Ayaan turned around and entered her home.
Click…
Closing his door shut and locking it behind him, Abdirahman let out an annoyed harrumph and entered his room. He lived alone; both parents had died of malaria when he was six. Their picture frames hung above his bed made of wood and deteriorating further with age. Cement stone walls—colored somewhere between gray and a dusty brown—held several other pictures: some of Abdirahman growing up and others of his friends—children his age.
Peering through the impossibly small crack of his bolted makeshift window, Abdirahman took a glance at the gloomy gray sky and then headed to his bed.
As Abdirahman rested his head on his pillow, his eyes slowly grew heavy. After a minute or two, the weight became too much, and his eyes closed shut.
---
Bzzzt… Bzzzt
Waking up to loud buzzing, Abdirahman rubbed his eyes in annoyance. The persistent sound echoed throughout the village like a cacophony of senseless murmurs.
Getting off the bed, Abdirahman peeked through the crack only to see darkness. A pitch-black lay beyond the window, not due to the arrival of night—but to the arrival of millions of herbivorous insects, covering the sky, blanketing the land. Scouring the earth, leaving behind not even a single blade of grass.
Rumble… Rumble
Startled, Abdirahman turned to the rattling front door. His bedroom door remained open, though he was still unable to see anything due to the darkness.
Feeling his way to his bedside drawer, Abdirahman opened the second drawer and pulled out a matchbox. Although Lady Ayaan said not to turn on any lights during the swarm, Abdirahman figured there was no harm in doing so. The doors were shut, the windows were bolted down, and even the leaking roof had been fixed by his friend Mohamed's father.
Tss…
Pulling out a matchstick, Abdirahman lit the lamp sitting on the drawer.
With that done, he exited his room and headed toward the front door.
Rumble… Rumble… Creak
The front door trembled slightly, letting out slight sounds of creaking and groans as if under strain.
Finally reaching the door, Abdirahman put his ear to the door and waited for the sound to happen again… though the only sound he heard was the annoying buzzing of the insects.
Removing his ear from the door and shaking his head in disappointment—though Abdirahman himself wasn't entirely sure what he was disappointed in—he turned around to head back to his room.
Once he woke up tomorrow, the swarm would be gone, and he would have to help everyone clean up the mess outside.
Rumble… Rumble… Rattle… Creak… BOOM!
After a few groans and rattles that went ignored, the door burst off its hinges and fell onto the floor. Abdirahman, who had barely made it to his room, jumped in fright. At a speed he never thought possible, he ran into his room and shut the door behind him.
However…
BOOM!!!
With impeccable momentum, the locust smashed through Abdirahman's bedroom door, throwing him to the ground. The lamp he was holding fell onto the floor and got extinguished.
With a terrified scream, Abdirahman could only stare up in desperation as one thought ran through his head: "They don't eat meat… they don't eat meat… they don't eat meat…"
Bzzzt… Bzzzt
But that thought barely lasted half a second before excruciating pain filled Abdirahman's entire being.
"Ever wondered what it felt like to be eaten alive—gnawed on by countless insects? Where every piece of your flesh serves no purpose other than to send signals of pain… to remind you of your situation… to cause you to scream—open your mouth wide, letting the insects find another path of entry… a tongue kiss from a thousand bugs?
You'd think it would be painful… it is.
But not excruciatingly so…
The true pain was in my mind—knowing what was happening to me…
Knowing this is the end…
…The end."
---
"Do you want revenge?"
I lifted my head—or at least I tried to—in order to stare at the being before me.
I wasn't used to controlling my soul. It felt weird. Like suddenly growing a pair of wings or popping out a tail and trying to control it as if it were just another limb.
Finally managing to meet the being's gaze, I quickly averted my 'eyes'. The action was almost instinctual.
I heard a chuckle of amusement, followed by silence—silence waiting to be filled with my response.
But…
I was confused… Revenge? On what, the insects? My door?
I was unreconciled, sure, but… Revenge?
"Umm… No, I don't think I do."
"Don't think, huh… So you're not sure. Interesting answer."
Through my peripheral vision, I could see the being fiddling with a transparent bubble using one of its countless tentacles.
"I remember you saying you weren't reconciled. Care to elaborate?"
Huh? I said that? No, that was merely a thought.
"A thought that I can 'hear' loud and clear."
I could somehow feel the being smirk, an odd—terrifying smirk, as if countless bright joyous smiles piled up onto each other… in a gory image of happiness.
The figure adjusted itself onto its throne, a seat composed of countless destroyed worlds and dead stars.
"Go on."
"Umm… I—I just wish this never happened… that I was able to make it to my bed, have a good night's sleep, wake up the next day, clean the village, spend the remaining day playing with my friends."
"Hmm… So you wish you were in control of the situation?"
Rubbing its malformed chin, the being pondered for a bit.
"Control, huh… You'll need power for that."
Ignoring my confusion, the being continued to fiddle with the bubble. Once done, the figure used one of its tentacles to toss it toward me and…
Boom…
---
Boom… Boom… Boom
I opened my eyes to massive fireballs falling from the sky, descending on humongous rats the size of cars.
Shocked, I looked up to see a man clad in majestic armor floating in the sky. The armor had a slightly futuristic vibe. Its silver and blue colors flowed like liquid from the joints.
The rats let out screeches of pain.
They rammed into nearby buildings, running in every direction to avoid the rain of fire.
Helpless individuals screamed and ran in every which way, seeking life in the midst of peril.
Yet I just stood there… stunned. Shocked at my surroundings.
It wasn't until a fireball fell right next to me that I was knocked out of my senses and started running in the opposite direction of the rats and the flames.