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| “By this time it was well past midnight. You know how that is. It’s a time when you start asking questions about things that in the light of day you wouldn’t consider twice. It’s a time … well, we both know how that goes, in the dark hour.” ― David Nickle |
Its 12:00 in
the midnight and all of the clocks in the world stop.
Analog,
Digital or even our old and rusting grandfather’s clock begun to freeze as it
hit the number 12 like someone unseen command every clock in the world to
cease. Everybody woke up from their deep slumber. Some folks who aren’t too
drowsy to sleep try to fix their clock but in their dismay it never works out;
it is stuck at 12:00 where it isn’t morning or night. My younger brothers who
have been watching sci-fi horror most of time told me that we are in the
twilight zone. That mysterious phenomena in the T.V show where the characters
are trapped in a some kind of bizarre world where the odds and mysterious
things become as normal as having a one sunset and one sunrise every day.
I want to
laugh with my brother’s sheer imagination but I guess from now on I will never
see any sun rise or sun set anymore.
We lost time
that day. We didn’t even know when we will start our day or when we will have
to go to work or at school. At first, I felt that we are in paradise. Imagine,
it’s like we have an endless summer (though we can’t see the sun and everything
it totally in the darkness) where there is no school and I can play Final
Fantasy all day. But days and weeks passed (of course we all just estimate the
day and time nowhere days and its confusing) we begun to notice that trees begun
to die. Most of the forest around the globe begun decrease up to 60%. City people really didn’t care at all with
that news. They just really care how will they work if they didn’t know when
will they have to wake up or sleep again. It’s obviously scary to see people
now in the city with sullen eyes that never blinks at all. Some developed deep
eye bags that swallow their whole eyes. They nearly look like zombies from
B-Rated Horror movies in our collection. Yet still they just keep moving and
moving around the city. Groping and wandering around the city where the only
lights that you can see are from lamp post and cars. But the clock is still on
twelve and it never bulge or move. That’s the time when I feel that it isn’t
fun anymore to have an endless summer wherein in fact we didn’t know if its
winter season now or spring.
After some
years (again we were just estimating everything regarding time) people seem to
adapt the new environment. Everything just went back to normal except we are
still in total darkness and most of the forest in the world died as well as the
plants and flowers begun to vanish one by one. Today’s foods are mostly from
animals: meat and fats. Stores are now selling foods and items with triple
prices. They say their supplies are somewhat scarce now that we are living in
the “Twilight” Age. People still try to work like normal people would do. Mom
and Dad told us that if they don’t work, we will never live. School is still
out so me and my brother are now being tutored by an old woman from our
neighborhood who always bring some fresh steak for us. We found it too gross to
eat that kind of food but she insist that a semi-cooked steak will makes us
healthy and strong. Dad told us once that the steak that the old woman brings
is delicious. He asked if it’s a pork or beef she just smiled revealing her
perfect set of teeth (she doesn’t have any denture) and said it is a special
kind of meat.
Crimes then
suddenly become violent. Every time the news flash on T.V I have to cover the
eyes of my young brother for it’s not appropriate for him to see bodies
dismembered and slaughtered like pigs. He will just ask why should his eyes
will be covered every time there is news on T.V. Mom and Dad didn’t really
replied well so I said to him that the news is not good for kids now a days and
it only tells scary things that didn’t really matter at all. “Like in the
Twilight Zone?” he asked. I just laugh and hug him. I am such a lousy liar
after all.
I knew it
will really makes matter worst after I watched a documentary created by some
experts on what is the effect of the twilight age in our lives today. It shows
that being in total darkness for so long without the sun can affect our
physical and mental welfare. It somehow changes our DNA or something about our
genes that makes us adapt to it like we will have the ability to see in the
dark and have a much sharper sense. It’s cool, we are becoming like mutants. But
I nearly fell in my seat as they discuss that as time goes by, now that we are
also running out of meat since domesticated, farm and even wild animals are losing
their numbers rapidly. Then as the documentary continues, it plays a CCTV video
of a lone girl walking in a street. Suddenly, a thin man sprang behind her and
tackles her. At first I thought the man will rape the girl but as I look
closely, the man swipe is hands against the girls belly like a feral beast.
Blood splash in the street, then after wards a scream is heard while the man is
feasting on the girl’s intestines. He glanced at the hidden camera with his two
glowing sullen eyes. They are like burning coals that sends a chill to my
spine, I was shaking that time that I think I will go on a seizure. Then the
man smiled, revealing razor sharp teeth with blood all over it. A deep eye bags
crinkle as he grin.
“Hey big
brother, what are you watching?”
I quickly
shut down my laptop with my hands trembling.
“Ah-no it’s
nothing. Just some show, you know—“
My brother
just looked to me curiously. He is so thin now even though we can still eat 3
times a day with nothing but meat.
“By the way,
I tried to eat that steak from the Old Woman” he said sheepishly.
“What? Are
you kidding me?”
“It’s delicious!
You should try some!” he offers me a handful of meat in his arms. I nearly
throw up as I see that the blood from the steak is too fresh. I remember that
man from the video as he literally eats the girl.
“It gives me
some cool powers too!” my brother proudly says as he ran outside where all the
lights are shut down and you could see nothing but pale moon light which is now
sarcastically a shocking blood red, like making some fun of me after I watched
that documentary. We only see the moon every once in a while. It reminds us that time still exist but tonight
it makes me remember that man in the documentary and the bloodied stake. My
brother went to street while I followed him behind. Our block seems so quite, not
even cicadas and frogs are heard. My brother stepped into a darker part of one
of the alley. I called him to stop his game since it’s quite dangerous for kids
to just stroll around in dark places. As I enter the alley, two bright red eyes
begun to stare at me in the darkness. My knees tremble in fear as it approach.
I screamed until my lungs ached for air then suddenly I heard a giggle, then a
bunch of chuckle and finally laughter.
“You are
such a pussy big brother” the bright red eyes begun to have a face. It’s my
little brother. Then crowds of people begun to surround us. From my teacher, to
the police women, even our Mayor was there. Mom and Dad together with our tutor
emerged behind my little brother like they just materialized from the darkness.
They eyes are glowing red, like the color of the moon tonight, like the color
of blood.
“You should
try it!” said my little brother as he munches the bloodied steak in his arm.
Blood drips in his hands and on his mouth. Everyone grinned just like them man
in the documentary. The smile of a beast or demon with razor sharp teeth. They
start to drool blood one by one as they try to get closer and closer to me. I
can’t move and tears starts to flow in my eyes. I also wet myself which in some
way didn’t matter at all. Their hands starts to touch my body, first its
delicate then it become harsh like they are trying to tear me apart.
It was 12:00
in the midnight. Everything is just silent. I feel those teeth sink into my
thighs, groin, and neck and then suddenly the moon begun to grin. Her eyes are
red and her teeth are dripping with blood.
And then I
smiled on her.
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