Short Stories

Aedes Aegypti of the Village

I was walking in the front yard of our home, taking pictures of random things like tree bark, leaves, flowers, sunlight, etc. Suddenly, a brave mosquito appeared out of nowhere and landed on my hand. I thought that since I was moving, it would fly away. But the courage of this village mosquito stunned me. Not only did it not fly away, but it also started sucking my blood. I was like, what the hell??

I started shaking my hand, but she didn’t budge. For some reason, I didn’t want to kill her; I just wanted to shoo her off. Maybe it was because I was a guest in the village for a few days and was afraid of her whole clan’s revenge or something. But the fact is, I was unwilling to kill her. I thought she would leave, but she seemed determined to defy my logic, just like all the other females of the world.

This kind of behavior I have seen a few times in the past too, but whenever I tried to take pictures, they all flew away. I guess all females are camera shy, so if the picture didn’t turn out well, they could blame it on others. So, I took out my phone to take her picture. She defied me again and didn't shy out she was sucking my blood like it's a natural thing to do. Of course, it is natural, and maybe I will allow my wife, but she is an unrelated female and still dared to do that.

I waited for her to finish and started taking pictures. She finished her lunch and flew away without saying thank you. But I let her go, I am a gentleman, so I don't call ladies from behind. Also, it is not like she is the first female to leave me with a scar.

🦟 Meet the Mosquitoes: 🦟
The World’s Most Annoying Superstars

🏛️ Ancient Annoyances

Fossil evidence says mosquitoes have been around for at least 226 million years. That means they were busy annoying T. rex and Triceratops long before they got to us. Imagine a dino tail swatting the air—prehistoric pest control!

⏳ Short but Annoying Lives

Most mosquitoes live 1–2 weeks (males) or up to a month (females). Short life goals: bite, breed, repeat. In warm weather, they can go from egg to adult in just 4–7 days—that’s faster than some of us get around to doing laundry.

☠️ World’s Deadliest Tiny Terrorist

Despite their size, mosquitoes are the deadliest animals on Earth, causing over 700,000 human deaths annually. Not bad (or good) for a creature smaller than your pinky nail.

🕊️ Not All Are Killers

Good news! Of the 3,500+ mosquito species, most don’t carry diseases. But we all know it only takes one itchy encounter to ruin your picnic.

🍯 Sweet Tooth with a Side of Blood

Mosquitoes LOVE nectar and plant sap—that’s their main diet. Only female mosquitoes bite to get the protein they need to lay eggs. Males are the vegans of the mosquito world.

🩸 They are picky eaters

Mosquitoes prefer certain people over others! Factors include body heat, skin bacteria, carbon dioxide output, and even blood type (type O seems to attract them the most).

🧛‍♀️ Only the Ladies Bite

Gentlemen mosquitoes stick to nectar. It’s the ladies who hunt for blood— because they need the protein in blood to develop their eggs, strictly business, no hard feelings.

💧 Breeding Pools of Doom

Standing water = mosquito baby nursery. A female mosquito can lay 100–300 eggs at a time. They lay eggs in puddles, birdbaths, flowerpots, gutters—basically anywhere you forgot to dump out after it rained.

💡 Not Partying Under the Lights

Unlike moths, mosquitoes aren’t big on bright lights. They prefer carbon dioxide, body heat, sweat, and your delightful body odor. Basically, if you’re breathing, sweating, or warm—you’re on the menu.

👃 They Can Smell You From a Block Away

Mosquitoes can sniff out your carbon dioxide from up to 50 meters (164 feet) away. It’s like their version of DoorDash—only they deliver bites, not burgers.

🚀 Tiny Speed Demons

A mosquito weighs only about 2.5 milligrams, but it can fly with a full blood meal that weighs more than its body. It fly at about 1–1.5 miles per hour. Doesn’t sound fast? Scaled up to human size, that’s like running at 200–300 mph. Imagine an Olympic sprinter with wings. Yikes.

🧑‍🔬 Sophisticated Suckers

Their "needle" is actually six tiny needles in one. Two cut the skin, two hold it apart, one drinks blood, and one injects saliva (with anticoagulants and anesthetic). The saliva contains compounds that prevent blood from clotting and—bonus feature—cause the infamous itchy welt. Thanks for that.

🎧 Antennae Are Their Ears

Male mosquitoes hear with their antennae, tuned to detect female wingbeats. It’s their version of online dating: "Swipe right if your wings beat at 500 Hz."

🎶 Love is in the Frequency

That high-pitched mosquito whine? It’s a love song. Males are attracted to this frequency, and in some species, they even harmonize their wingbeats when mating. Mosquito duets: coming soon to a swamp near you.

🌧️ Surviving the Rainstorm

A raindrop weighs 50x more than a mosquito. Yet mosquitoes handle it like being hit with a fluffy pillow. They tumble with the drop, shake it off, and fly away like tiny superheroes.

The Noise of a Hydra

Page 13 From the Diary of Saqlain...

Date: 23/09/3014

It’s me, Saqlain, 13 years old. Well, putting the biography aside for another day, today, I’m going to share a terrifying experience from a few days ago.

First, let me tell you that I am a sound sleeper. Because of that, I don’t usually respond to anything while I’m asleep until it’s time for me to wake up. However, I had never had a scary dream in my entire life that could wake me up from my sleep.

Yesterday, I saw an animated movie before going to sleep. Its name was "Monsters, Inc." The movie mainly consists of a lot of monsters who are teleported to our peaceful world through a teleportation gate. Their aim is to scare little children like me, and after accomplishing their task, they return to their monster world through the gate. Yeah, the story of that movie was something like that.

Let it be, let's start my story…

I enjoyed that movie very much, so I watched it to the end before going to bed. After that, I fell asleep and slept for quite a while. Suddenly, I woke up from a strange noise. And the noise was from none other than the mouth of a seven-headed monster, which is called "Hydra" in different myths. (At that time, I didn’t know what it was. I googled it afterwards.)

The noise coming from its mouth was very horrifying. Besides the noise, the more horrifying thing was that it was on my bed. That shocked me so much that I was unable to move an inch. I felt like a statue and was thinking, what the heck is it? Also, where did this monster come from, to my room?

After a breath, I realized that the tale of the movie "Monsters, Inc." was pretty much the same. Could it be that the story of monsters coming through a teleportation gate to scare humans is true? If that was the case, I could understand how the Hydra came to my room to scare me. As I already knew from the movie, when any child gets scared by seeing these monsters, the monster gains some kind of fear power which they strongly want, and after getting it, they return to their world. So, I tried to act like that. I was scared so the monster could realize it and go back to its place.

I was so scared that I was unable to express any type of reaction at that moment. As you already know, at that time, I was petrified with fear like a statue. My heart was racing but my whole body was frozen still. There was no way I could move, cry, or run out of my bed.

Apart from that, when I tried to cry, it came out like a funny noise. I thought it would go back to the place where it came from, but my comical voice only made the Hydra angry. One of its seven heads turned towards me, jaw opening wider and wider as it came closer. Terrified, I shut my eyes tight.

After a while, I felt a cold breeze around my nose and ears, all around my head. I also felt a sharp object trying to cut my neck. So, I tried to shout and push the Hydra away.

When I opened my eyes, I saw no monster—just my empty room. My whole body was drenched in sweat, and the blanket that had been covering me was on the floor, thanks to my frantic push.

Suddenly, I realized that what I had seen wasn't real, and I started to solve the puzzles one by one. The cold around my head was because it was out of my warm blanket, and the sharp cutting feeling on my neck was from the stupid earphones I had worn to bed. I discovered the earphones' wire had tightened around my neck as I moved.

Thus, I realized it was none other than a horrible nightmare, and there was no Hydra in my room. The story could have ended there, but it didn't. Just when I was reassuring myself that there was no danger, I heard the same strange noise that the Hydra had made.

The scary noise from my nightmare was still playing in my ears. At first, I thought it was a hallucination from that terrifying dream. But after a few minutes, I realized the sound was real and coming from my washroom.

Again, fear crept in, and I wondered what on earth was happening. I tried to calm myself, saying it wasn't true. Nonetheless, I acted brave. I risked it and headed toward the washroom to see what was inside. As I got up from my bed, I saw a cricket bat and picked it up. With a trembling body and mind, I approached the washroom door, ready to face whatever was inside.

I tried to open the door, but in my fear, I was pulling instead of pushing it. I thought someone or something was inside, restricting my entry. After a few failed attempts, I realized my mistake and pushed the door open with my left hand while holding the bat in my right, ready to hit.

To my relief, there was nothing in the washroom except an empty packet of soap lying on the floor, which I had left there by mistake. I finally discovered the mystery behind the horrifying noise. The secret was that three cockroaches had gotten stuck inside the soap packet, trying to escape. Their struggle created the strange noise, which, in my sleepy state, I had mistaken for something dangerous.

In the end, I learned a valuable lesson. Always keep your washroom clean, and never leave trash lying around. You never know what might scare you half to death in the middle of the night!

Better to be safe than spooked! 😅

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse