English: Dawn on the lower Zambezi river – Zambia עברית: אור ראשון על נהר הזמבזי בתחילת עונת הגשמים, אזור הזמבזי התחתון (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It was a stalemate as time stood still. Ever so slowly, the men inched closer to my bed , they weren’t walking, they were just gliding as if propelled by an engine and unfortunately for me I was immobile. It was as if a slab of concrete was resting on the lower part of my body, I felt pinned down, I couldn’t move. With no other option but to await my grisly fate I closed my eyes and in doing so I was able to  draw strength within me and my grandfather’s voice seemed to echo deep within my soul,

”The weakest thing in the world is fear, once you look your fear in the face, its power is broken.”

But it was hopeless, the only fear staring me in the face were three stinking men, and then it occurred to me, why not scream?

And I opened my mouth expanding my lungs for a tsunami scream but it was just a whimper that escaped, the sound was akin to a hen been strangled.

Beads of perspiration gathered on my brows like soldiers going to war. I watched with apprehension as death approached, whoever these people are, whatever they want, nothing is going to stop them.

They got to my bed and all three of them bent down at once, the sight which met my gaze was simply out of this world. They weren’t men at all, they were nothing, an empty space fluffed up in men’s clothing.

”I don’t get it,” I said out loud pleased to hear my voice, where have the men gone? And I did what I should have done earlier, I shouted with every ounce of strength I possessed.

”Daddy!”

I felt a tremor go through me but nothing happened, there was an eerie silence. And then it occurred to me, if they could get to me, what’s stopping them from killing my parents before proceeding to my room.

I tried moving my legs and found out they were working, something must have happened when they got to my bed, I thought and leapt to my feet as if struck by lightning.

My room was quiet big so I have a lot of space to manoeuvre and move away from the men but my eyes was on them. I was still fully clad in my party clothes because I was too tired to change before I fell asleep. I just needed to get away from my room and find my parents. I went straight for the door but it wasn’t bulging, yet it wasn’t locked. The three things hovering over my bed began to hum. I banged on the door repeatedly shouting,

”Daddy, mummy, can you come get me?”

”They can’t hear you,”

They hissed behind me but I was still watching them bent over my bed, how can they be speaking so close to me? This has gone on far enough, I thought and turned round.

”What the hell do you guys want from me?” I yelled angrily.

But there was no one there, just an empty space and I was beginning to question my sanity. I can’t see them, they can see me, is that not how people lose their senses? When they start hearing whispers and voices speaking from the sky?

And then I lost control and did the unthinkable, I went over to those things and kicked one of them in his backside and there was a howling sound.

”Yeah, common, give me what you’ve got,” I snarled angrily.

I kicked the second figure, another heartrending sound, the more I kicked the more their screeching increased in intensity.

”You guys are even losers,” and I landed a killer punch on the head of the third  figure and that was when I made my biggest mistake.

They straightened up and strode towards me pulling their hoods back in the process, they looked like ordinary men with long brown hair but when they opened their mouths, they’ve got no tongues, rather they had snakes for tongues. I moved back glancing at my bed and saw the necklace grandpa gave me shortly before he died.

”I got it from the Zambezi river,” he had explained with a mysterious glint in his blue eyes while fastening the gold chain on my neck, ”keep this under your pillow, you never know when it would come in handy.”

”How can you get a gold chain from a river?” I had queried him.

”There are worlds beyond our world,” he said carefully, avoiding my eyes, ”I met a woman in that river and she gave it to me.”

”I don’t believe in aliens Grandpa,” I said softly.

”Mina,” he called my name softly, ”what if you were the alien my child,” I smiled at that but said nothing.

The gold chain under my pillow was actually fending off those strange fellows, I moved back looking for a way to get to my bed and that was when the door of my bedroom was blown apart by a brutal force.  And my dad’s big frame filled the door, his  face was dripping blood but he was shooting wildly, screaming with a deranged look on his face.

By now the men were circling me like a predator, waiting to pounce, my dad did not stop shooting, I lurched forward and my head was almost ripped apart by the snakes in the men’s mouth, they attacked me, hitting me in the head and lashing at my face but I managed to fend them off, getting bitten in the process and I knew I was mortally wounded.

”Dad, save yourself, get out,” I yelled, watching in horror as he stepped on the fallen door, coming into my room, a determined look on his bloodied face.

But it was too late, my dad threw his gun on the floor in anger when it was not having any effect and attacked the creatures from behind, punching them furiously and then there was silence.

I was slipping into unconsciousness, they must have done something to me. The last thing I saw was the face of my dad hovering over me,

”It’s alright Mina, you’re safe now.” And I saw a similar gold chain on his neck.

”I am sorry dad, they’re just too powerful,’ I whispered weakly while my life slowly ebbed away…

NP: Happy Thanksgiving dear friends, I hope you’ll enjoy reading this piece as much as I enjoyed writing it. I have decided to turn it into a book (like a novella) I will publish it soon but I promise to post one more next week. Thanks for reading, I appreciate it!!

Cheers-:)