It started with the parrot.
This was supposed to be a fun family trip for my little cousin’s birthday. She just turned 3 and loved animals, so the zoo seemed like the perfect place. I wasn’t all that fascinated by wildlife to be honest, so I mostly stayed on my phone while my cousin and little brother goggled at everything.
“Look, Zara, see the pretty birds?” My uncle lifted Zara on his shoulders and she flailed her arms.
“Pakhi!” Zara replied excitedly. (That’s the Bengali word for bird).
“Yeah! See, those are macaws.”
“This one has parrots.” My brother hopped over to the next enclosure and gazed inside. A few parrots were perched together on a giant branch. Most were squawking, some were even saying English words. Most likely stuff they’d picked up from the human guests.
“Hi,” squawked one. Zarif, my brother, laughed.
“Hi there.”
“Hi. Hi. Hi,” the parrot went on. Another one said “hello”, a third one piped up with “bye bye”. It amused me enough to make me put my phone away. I moved closer to Zarif and ruffled his hair.
“Wonder if they can say our names?”
“Yeah! Hey, can you say Zarif? Zah-reef.”
A series of squawks and the same few words came back in response. Zarif rolled his eyes.
“Dumb birds.”
I rolled my eyes too. Did he actually think they’d start calling his name after he mentioned it once? Ten year olds were so stupid. And impatient. I looked around for my uncle and Zara. They were over by the peacocks, Zara squealing at one in delight because it had all of its feathers spread out. I was about to walk over to them when a new word reached my ears.
“Help.”
I turned around. The parrots were still squawking away and repeating the same hellos and byes. For a second I thought I’d imagined it, when it came again.
“Help.”
The bright green parrot on the smaller branch, right under the big one. I stared at it intently, as did Zarif.
“Help.”
“Hah! What the heck,” Zarif scratched his head. “I bet that one saw someone getting murdered or something. Or getting kidnapped. Or just-”
“Help.”
It was louder this time, loud enough that it had turned a few heads over at the other enclosures too. A few people flocked closer to us, but it seemed like the parrot was done. It didn’t repeat the word again.
“Ifaaz! Zarif! Let’s go.”
Uncle Faisal was calling. I grabbed Zarif’s arm and dragged him over, then we went to go look at the big cats. I half-forgot about the weird parrot for a while. But then these exhibits just got weirder.
The lions were strange. I didn’t notice anything odd at first. I did think it was a bit odd none of them were laying around, since as far as I knew lions typically slept throughout the whole day. Not these ones, they were pacing around everywhere like they had taxes to worry about or something.
Zara toddled closer to the glass barrier we were looking at the lions through. “It’s Simba,” she murmured. I nodded.
“Yeah. Simba. Nala too. See?” I lifted her up and pointed at a lioness. It seemed to notice me pointing and promptly walked over.
“Ahhhhhh!!!” Zara squealed. “Big lion. It’s gonna roar??”
“Um, maybe. Probably not.”
Zarif tried to make roaring noises at it. “Rraaarr. Raar.”
The lioness stared at him. I know the glass barrier was more than strong enough to keep them in, but something about the way it was looking made me pull my brother away.
“Dang. It’s staring into my soul. Look.” Zarif knocked on the glass. “Blink twice if you’re secretly a demon staring into my soul.”
The lion didn’t blink twice, but it did blink once. Zarif laughed.
“Hah. I’ll take that as a no.”
Zara giggled. “Zarif talkin to Nala. I wanna talk to Nala.”
I moved her closer to the glass so she could say whatever she wanted. Zara giggled again.
“Hi lion,” she said brightly. “Wanna come an’ play with me?”
The lion blinked. Twice.
I didn’t think anything of it initially, until Zarif popped up again.
“Ooh. Blink twice if you want us to bust you out of there. So you can play with Zara.”
The lion blinked twice again. Zarif laughed and Zara squealed, but I was getting more and more uncomfortable. There was something odd about the way the lion was staring. Something in its eyes that didn’t sit right with me. Sad, desperate looking eyes.
Like they were asking for help.
“You kids, don’t knock on the glass. It’s not allowed.”
A security guard shooed us away, and we obediently trotted back to Uncle Faisal. I stole one last glance at the lioness. It was looking after us almost longingly.
Monkey enclosure. They all appeared to be the most miserable monkeys I’d ever come across. Not a single one was racing around or swinging from the trees. All just sitting there, silently, either fiddling with their arms or staring back at the humans goggling at them.
Giraffes. They were fairly normal except for the fact that one or two seemed totally lost. As in they kept bumping their long necks into stuff and seemed to have trouble eating properly from high up leaves. Like they weren’t used to it.
The reptile area was where Zarif had a field day, his favorite animals were snakes. But the knot in my stomach just got tighter after one snake kept banging its head against the top of its tank. Another gecko kept jumping from one corner to another and making a strange digging motion with its tiny arms. A lizard tried to climb up the glass tank walls, in vain, and kept falling backwards.
I told myself that they were just animals tired of being cooped up in tanks, and that was it. Despite the fact that I had been to other zoos before and animals don’t act like this normally. And despite how utterly haunting the look in all of their eyes were.
We were finally at the end of our little zoo journey, and I heaved a sigh of relief. The place was making me nauseous at this point. My uncle noticed a photo booth by the exit, and pointed it out excitedly.
“Oh look, they’ve got a souvenir photo booth ! Wanna take pictures?”
I shook my head. I hated taking pictures. Zara hated them too, and she made it clear by letting out a loud shriek of indignance.
“No!”
Zarif, however, rose to the challenge. “Can I take some photos? Just me. I wanna make dumb faces and stuff.”
“Haha, sure kiddo.” My uncle sent him off to the booth, and we waited next to it.
Zarif emerged again a few minutes later, but he wasn’t holding any photographs. I raised an eyebrow.
“Where’s the pics?”
“Oh, in my pocket. Let’s go. I’m hungry.”
I shrugged and followed him, happy to get out of this place. Of course I hadn’t yet noticed anything out of the ordinary. We were almost to the car when Zara piped up with the strangest question.
“Where’s Zarif?”
We all stared at her, and she stared back.
“I’m here,” Zarif waved his arms. Zara only gazed at him for a moment, and looked at me again.
“Where Zarif? Wanna play with Zarif.”
“He’s right here kiddo! See?” My uncle tried to guide her toward Zarif, but she held onto me tightly instead.
“Where’s Zarif go,” she murmured, looking desolate now. She buried her head in my chest and shut her eyes. I patted her hair and looked at my brother and uncle in confusion.
Zarif only shrugged in a “smh-3-year-olds” way, while my uncle scratched his head. “Perhaps she’s playing a game or something. Thinks it’s funny! Haha.”
I nodded. Seemed like a reasonable enough explanation? Well, not really. Zara had never done odd stuff like this. Sure, she had her “threenager” moments. But something about her question didn’t sit right with me.
I briefly caught Zarif’s eye. He was smiling, slightly.
Or was it a smirk?
He looked away immediately when he saw me staring, but it was too late. Uneasiness was setting into me. I tapped his shoulder while my uncle started the car.
“Can I see those photos you took? At the booth.”
Zarif shoved his hands in his pockets. “Why?”
“Um, why not? You said you wanted to make funny faces. I wanna laugh at them.”
“They’re not that funny.”
“Just show me the photos.”
“No. Get in the car.”
I couldn’t. Not until I got the bottom of this. If he wasn’t gonna show me the photos, there was one other way.
“Uncle Faisal, I’ll be right back.”
Before he could say anything I ran back towards the zoo, towards the photo booth. I don’t know what I was expecting to find, if anything. But what the heck was going on? First the animals here literally seem to be haunted, and now my brother too? The way Zara had asked where Zarif was was beyond unsettling. What does she mean, where is he?
I reached the booth just as another family did too. I decided to let them go on first. Mom, dad, and two kids. I idly stared at the macaw enclosure nearby while I waited, hoping they wouldn’t take too long. They were all sitting next to each other on a big branch, occasionally cawing now and then. Five macaws. I thought it was cute how they were huddled up.
I glanced at the booth. The dad and daughter were missing; I presumed they’d gone in to take their photo. I looked back at the macaw enclosure.
I blinked. Huh?
Seven macaws.
No, that can’t be right. There were five literally just now. Did some zookeeper bolt inside the cage and put in two more?
“Alright guys, let’s go.”
The dad and daughter were out again. The little boy was crying now, saying he wanted a photo too. So in he went with his mother, while the other two waited. The girl caught me staring at them and I hurriedly looked away.
What was that?
I looked back again. I could’ve sworn she had an odd, glassy look in her eyes, and the slightest smirk. Similar to the one on Zarif.
I shook my head. I was being weird and paranoid. What did I even think was happening? The animals earlier had probably just creeped me out.
Nine macaws.
I rubbed my eyes repeatedly and stared inside the cage. Nine macaws. No, there were seven. No, even that wasn’t correct. There were five. Five macaws! There’s no way someone could’ve just-
“Done? Let’s go then.”
The family was leaving, looking normal as ever. Just as they exited the girl turned to look at me. The same glassy, eerie look. It felt like she was challenging me with a question. Did you figure it out yet? Huh? Did you?
A family of four.
I glanced back at the cage, locking eyes with the four macaw additions that had appeared out of thin air, and a sinking feeling of dread settled into my chest.
“No,” I whispered. The macaws only stared back, looking lost and desperate. Help us.
“Help.”
One of the macaws had flown straight towards me, and was squawking repeatedly.
“Help. Help. Help.”
I didn’t know how to help.
I didn’t even know- where was my brother? Oh my god, where was he? What the hell did he get turned into?
My head started feeling fuzzy, a million awful scenarios running through. Trembling, I glanced around. A plethora of chirps, squawks, growls, and the occasional roars were sounding everywhere.
Were they all just unsuspecting visitors, stuck forever in their new, trapped, helpless forms?
“Ifaaz? Did you take the photos?”
Uncle Faisal was standing there, Zarif and Zara next to him. I tried to slow my breathing.
“Yes. Let’s go.”
There was nothing more I could do there. My brother and who knows how many other people were trapped inside this godforsaken zoo, maybe forever. I looked at fake Zarif. What the hell even was he? What would I be sharing a room with now? Some kind of demonic entity? A body snatcher?
I pulled Zara away from him. He didn’t seem to mind, just glanced at me briefly with the same glassy look and smirk. I’m your brother now. Haha. You’re never gonna see him again.
Yes I will.
If it was the last thing I did, I was going to go back to that zoo one day and get Zarif back.