I live in a small, isolated town in Montana. The government has put us under some kind of quarantine. We are trapped in our homes and aren’t allowed to go outside. No real explanation was given to us. They just stated that they are investigating a number of irregular deaths and advised us to keep our doors and windows closed at all times. Of course, people have been speculating. They whisper about deadly diseases, 5G radio waves, and alien abductions. But it seems only I know what is really happening here. It seems only I have noticed the increasingly high amount of entomologists and researchers nervously wandering around our city. The insects in my town have changed. They have evolved into beings far more threatening than those science books dared to show us. They are more coordinated, dangerous, and vicious than the ones near your home could ever be. I hope the government officials already know what I know. I hope they have some sort of immaculate plan. I hope they can stop these monsters from ever reaching you.
It must have been about half a year ago when it first happened. I got home from work and forgot that I left the window in our bathroom open. I was gone for about eight hours and wanted to get myself ready for bed.
That’s when I noticed them. Insects, fucking everywhere. On the walls, in the sink, near the ceiling. A million different kinds, varying in size, color, and shape, all crawling around the space I once believed to be mine. It felt incredibly uncanny, like I was simultaneously being watched by a million different cameras. Things only got worse when I turned the lights on. Suddenly, the once so still and quiet creatures all collectively shot towards the bulb, continuously bumping into the bright glass globe.
My hands were visibly shaking as I watched their play, action without reason, creatures that seemed so distanced from whatever I was, that they more so felt like aliens than animals. I felt surrounded, outnumbered, while I desperately swung my fly swatter around to try and get rid of them. It seemingly backfired as their constant buzzing appeared to only get louder and more demanding, causing an itchy sensation to slowly crawl up my spine. It was as if they had sensed an intruder entering their territory. They slowly shifted their attention towards me and started to get closer and closer. Just their sight alone was enough to turn my body into a trembling mess. The heavy thumping of my heart begged me to start running. This was it, I knew that I had to immediately get out of there. I frantically stormed out of the bathroom, slammed the door shut, and tried to calm myself down. But no amount of melatonin could soothe my nerves. In my fleeing dreams, the stars in the sky turned into humongous spiders that were slowly inching closer to me.
After waking up covered in sweat and feeling a profound sense of uneasiness, the first thing on my agenda was to buy some insecticide. Shivers went down my spine as I passed the closed bathroom. It felt like I had lost a part of my home and gave it back to Mother Nature. On my way to the store, I recognized that I saw far more insects than I ever did as a kid. It seemed like they already ruled over our tiny town. When you first start to sense them, there is no going back anymore. You hear them crawling on the supermarket shelves, circling around your food, creeping on your bed and furniture. You start to see them marching down the street, silently preying on the naive, and feel their threatening presence everywhere you go. You start to wonder how others are able to ignore such an undeniable force of nature. And you start to question at which places they are still able to hide from your gaze.
After a quick trip to the store, I equipped myself and got ready to kill these unwanted pests. I had to, it was the only way to escape the constant fear that would otherwise take over my existence. So I took a deep breath and pushed down the door handle. Upon entering the room, I was instantly taken aback. It looked nothing like the space I had seen before. The insects that now covered the room looked completely different. Dragonflies, moths, cockroaches, and numerous bugs that I couldn’t even remotely recognize were crawling inside of nooks and crannies that were entirely unbeknownst to me before. In a matter of half a day, it appeared as if these disgusting monsters created an entirely new ecosystem inside my bathroom. I got goosebumps as their constant murmuring appeared to drown out any sort of humanness that was left in here. There wasn’t an inch of space left untouched by them. They assimilated in the thousands, seemingly choosing the same dark and damp spots to hide.
“Why couldn’t you all just die?” I bitterly whispered, as I slowly aimed the spray at the wall and shot it at a horde of termites. They almost immediately fell to the ground and remained motionless. A slight smirk crossed my face. At this point, I still believed in the infinite power of human ingenuity. I was still convinced that no animal could ever harm us.
Yes, I was somewhat right. Over the years, humanity has created various ways to deal with vermin. Bug spray, traps, pesticides - they are all effective ways to eliminate thousands upon thousands of them. But the insects in my town have changed. I can’t explain how or why they did. I just know that as soon as I entered their domain, it was already over for me.
As I was about to look for the next best spot to use my insecticide, I sensed that the atmosphere in the room has somehow transformed. The age-old instinct to get the hell away from wherever I was slowly set in. Abruptly, millions of insects entered my field of vision, rapidly coming out of the walls, sink, and toilet. They weren’t moving like before. They were marching as an entity, acting as one. I frantically looked around the room as my breathing became more and more erratic. It felt like I was drowning in a sea of color as they slowly approached me. Backed into a corner, I desperately held the spray in front of me, not sure where to aim as I was seemingly getting engulfed by one of nature’s most disastrous plagues. This was more than my fragile body could ever handle. As the destructive wave of insects got closer, I felt infinitely small, just another insignificant part of the endless cycle of life.
In a last-ditch effort to save myself, I shot all of the remaining spray at whatever was directly in front of me, but it was no use, there were just too many to bear. The pure power of earth’s creations overwhelmed me. My body seemed unable to listen to its master, as I abruptly couldn’t move anymore, only destined to watch, while these monsters started crawling up my legs and torso. While my silent tears slowly streamed down my face, all that was left of me was an empty husk of a human being, helplessly balled up as the sensation of a million different antennas, legs, and heads washed over me. When they landed on my eyes and ears, it felt like I was already dead. I had lost any sort of connection to the real world. All I could see were their legs and wings, all I could hear was their constant unbearable humming. My body couldn’t take it any longer. The never-ending fear caused me to pass out, finally freeing me from these excruciating moments of pure torture.
When I woke up, the floor was completely covered in corpses. I slowly got up and examined the place I was destined to die in. No more buzzing, no more flying. The stillness felt almost divine, like I was saved by some sort of merciful god. Uncountable numbers of insects remained on the ground, as the living ones seemed to have gone back into hiding. No bite or scratch marks. I apparently escaped this horrible nightmare without any sort of physical harm.
It is hard to explain what life feels like after such an encounter. The first few months, I mostly remained in bed, unable to cope with whatever happened that day. The rest of the time, I continued to stock up on pesticides and sprays. A newfound sense of paranoia overwhelmed every fiber of my being. The fear of whatever’s hiding in my proximity right now dictated my day-to-day life.
Things appeared to change after some time had passed. Even though past events still haunted me, I felt like I had at least begun to adjust to a normal life again. I started to look for a job and stopped continuously avoiding my friends and family. Even though I still seemed to hear the flapping of their wings at night, even though the same reoccurring dreams still chased me in my sleep, their grasp over me got weaker and weaker. The wounds that life had inflicted upon me didn’t start to heal, but at least they stopped bleeding.
I guess things were destined to fall apart. Someone like me apparently doesn’t get to enjoy the simple pleasures of life. It all changed when I dared to look in the mirror one day. It was supposed to be a mundane morning like any other. A steady routine should have given me my sense of reality back. Instead, I felt the fragile new life that I had built for myself crumbling again, as my reflection revealed that a tiny mealworm was slowly crawling out of my nose. I immediately started screaming and frantically tried to get the pest away from me. Old memories of repressed incidents started emerging again, as an indescribable sense of terror suffocated me once more. I almost instinctively started vomiting until I seemingly had no amount of stomach fluid left in me.
“What have I done to deserve this?” I weakly sobbed, while still hanging over the toilet bowl. It was as if life gave me another chance only to completely crush me once more.
Upon looking down, I noticed what seemed like small specks of grain in the toilet. A bunch of them, some tiny and white while others appeared slightly bigger and colorful. I recognized them almost immediately.
There were eggs inside of me.
The millions of insects that attacked me that day didn’t want to kill me. They wanted to use me.
A few days after that, ominous men in suits started forcing us into our homes. Every day more and more corpses get sent away, probably to some sort of research facility. I dread the day where I will be put in one of these body bags. It seems the end is inevitable. Apparently, everybody who could potentially understand my fear is already dead. Maybe I am the only one that’s left. I can only use my remaining time to try and warn you. The insects in my town have changed. I beg you, pray for me, be wary of what lies in the shadows, and hope that these monsters never come anywhere near you.