London, United Kingdom

  Ana is overly - excited; how could she not be excited, when her school had planned a trip to the jungle. After all, it was not everyday that a middle schooler was allowed in the woods of the jungle, and she got to show off her clothes for once instead of wearing that nasty uniform.

  “Ana Smith, come down this instant!” called her Mom. Right, she had forgotten that she had promised her mother that she and her mother would go to the market.

  Ana glanced at the clock, it was 2:45 am. Her school had closed early today so that they could prepare for tomorrow's trip. She hurriedly got ready and ran down the stairs.

  She was about to find her mom when she discovered that her mom was sitting on the couch, watching TV that had some kind of news channel on. The news reporter on the TV was blabbering about some kind of unknown creatures that were found roaming in the jungle.

  Her mother, who still hadn't changed out of her work wear and had her signature bun on with her name tag, Willa Smith , glanced at her and then at her watch. “A whole 45 minutes late. I suppose that you were doing something fairly important for being this late, missy” Her mother had her signature stoic face on.

  “Sorry mum, I got a bit carried away while thinking about the trip” Ana was embarrassed to admit that she just basically had daydreamed 45 minutes away.

  “This child, I don't even know what to do with her anymore.” Her mother replied.

  “Mum! I'm right here?” Ana couldn't believe that her mother would use the line in front of her.

  Suddenly, the honking of a vehicle cutted off their conversation. Her mother checked the clock. “Well time to go, Missy. Your bus is here.”

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Ana smiled at her mom and went upstairs to take her bag with her. She came downstairs and made a run for the gate. She waved happily at her friends, who were sitting at the window. She waved her mother goodbye, who waved back. She boarded the bus and scanned the bus for her place. She smiled at her mother for the last time when-

  ……

  Cairo, Egypt

  Ring-ring-ring

  The loud blaring of the alarm woke her up; Myra was still lying down on her bed and lazily turned off the alarm. She then sat up and began to ponder, when did she exactly set up the alarm? Huh, weird.

  The aroma of caramelized popcorn roasted to perfection and the hooking fragrance of fresh baladi bread jolted Myra fully awake.

  “ Has someone broken into my house ?” She thought, “ I don't even have enough money for today's lunch! What are they trying to gain by breaking into this house?’

  Myra picked up the bat she kept by her bedside for safety and tip-toed to the kitchen, her steps hidden by the carpet on the floor. “ Whoever the thief is, they sure are a good cook” she thought to herself.

  She slowly opened the kitchen door-

  “Finally. I thought that you were never gonna wake up!”

  Only to be met with the figure of her college roommate standing with a pink apron and a pancake on the stove.

  “I thought that you were a thei-”

  …..

  Rublyovka, Moscow, Russia

  The sun was fading in the horizon, indicating the illusion of a canvas painted by a young artist. A car stopped in front of a villa. This part of the neighborhood was particularly rich. A girl, probably in her teen years, stepped out of the car. She gave some money to the driver, and went inside the villa.

  The butler looked at her and took her suitcase. “Your room is ready, miss.” The butler said and headed inside.

  “ Alina!” the girl's younger sister, who was waving at her the same time shouted

  Alina smiled seeing her little sister oh so enthusiastically welcoming her. “ I'm back, sugarplum”. She said, fondly.

  “ I'm not sugar. I am very scawy” The little girl said

  “ Of course you are, Flora,” Alina replied, smiling at her little sister's antics.

  Flora took her sister’s hand and led Alina upstairs. She turned around and opened the door to Akina’s room for her elder sister. They both went inside, unaware of the danger that loomed -

  ….

  T||IINN#NNG€GGG-

  At that moment, every human in existence looked up. They made an eye contact with it

  It looked back

  "Destruction. THIS IS THE-"

  Spalt-

  The human's eye exploded

  …

  January 2026,

  Humans, please try hard to prove your worth.