The Visitors by David Udorah

It was few days to the New Year and I was sitting in my living room enjoying myself with my fully-charged phone. I was chatting with a couple of friends online, most of whom I have never met. We shared jokes and laughed out loud. All seemed perfect till I did something I still term as ‘mysterious’ till this present moment. I sent a broadcast.

“What’s the content?”, you might ask, but I could swear there was nothing different from the funny BCs we all send. You do it, I do it, we all do it. So, why was mine different especially this time? What went wrong? We were all cracking jokes, sending funny BCs, using abbreviations and emojis that signified laughter to express ourselves till I sent mine. It wasn’t like it was the first I ever sent. As a matter of fact, I’m known to send many of such. I sent this particular one that ended with “I’m in my house, Comman beat me”. After sending this, a couple of comments came in and I replied some personal messages and went offline.

Few hours later, I picked my phone to check my messages as I was getting bored. The first message I saw on my screen was the last one I sent. Suddenly, I felt like the last three words were in block letters. It was as if they could jump out of my screen any moment. There was this strange feeling I had and goosebumps covered my body. Then out of nowhere I heard knocks at the door, whoever it was rapped on the door loudly three times. The window blinds strangely came down and I heard the windows close shut with such force as I’ve never seen before. Bulbs started going out till there was crystal darkness and the silence that followed was deafening.

I got so scared that I could feel some liquid flow down my pant. All my senses went numb. I just couldn’t think of the next thing to do. Just then I saw the light on my phone come on. Quickly, I rushed to it hoping to call for help. But like before, I still saw the last three words boldly written in block letters except now they were blood red. What’s going on?

I saw miniature creatures creep out of the spaces meant for volumes, power button, charging ports, and even the tiny spaces for speaker outputs. I’ve never felt so scared in my whole life. Like ants, these creatures crept out till there was nothing coming out again. And like a jigsaw puzzle, I saw them come together to form two creatures with full arms and legs. They had evil grins and shattered teeth, yellow like they have been feeding on Kolanuts all their ‘lives’.

Slowly, they staggered towards me, stopped when they got close and seemed to wait for permission to make the next move. Then my door slowly creaked open and a lanky figure appeared with a mean look and anger written all over his face. He held a cardboard with what seems like my writing on it: ‘I’M IN MY HOUSE, COMMAN BEAT ME’. The only thing I heard him say after he sat on my sofa like he was in a cinema about to see a movie, was “Your wish is my command, Sire”. And then, like a permission granted, these creatures began hitting me. Their blows felt like hammer pounding down to my very marrow. I tried to scream but nothing came out. The more I tried, the more I was beaten and the more I was out of breath. They gave me the beating of my life. Whenever I try to remember this, it still brings pain to me till this moment.

And then like a spell, they stopped hitting me and crept back the same way they came. The lanky fellow who I guess was their boss, sauntered out the door and mouthed these words I will never forget in a hurry, “Be careful what you wish for, Sire!”

Everything came back to normal like nothing ever happened. My windows opened of their own accord and the blinds folded itself back up. Everything went back to normal except me. I had been badly assaulted and beaten to a pulp. You should have seen my left eye and lower lip. My arm’s still broken and I know I won’t be walking conveniently for at least a week. I can’t call the police or tell a friend. Even if I do, what will I tell them? Who will believe my story about the strange happenings? I think it’s better experienced than told. I can’t say I got what I wished for but I sure know I learnt a lesson to watch my wishes and words, especially the typed ones.
Several questions have been running on mind ever since. Like, how did they know my place? Who were those guys? Where’s their sense of humor? For crying out loud, I was just joking. What exactly did I do or say wrong?

One thing is sure though, I’m never going to end a broadcast with such words again! Never!

David Udorah
Adekunle Ajasin University,
Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State.