Wrath of the Wasps

“Urgent News Flash! Across the globe, a pronounced decline in pollination has captured the world's attention. Alarming reports from farmers paint a bleak picture, with crop yields plummeting to unprecedented lows. At present, a team of dedicated scientists is diligently investigating this perplexing phenomenon, striving to unravel the mystery that shrouds it. Remarkably, an entire week has elapsed without a single sighting of a bee, leaving us all in suspense.”

"Oh my!" Brayden's mother's voice rang out urgently from the living room.

Brayden hastily emerged from his room, asking, "What's going on?" He glanced at the TV screen, revealing the grim sight of withering crops on an Idaho farm.

The reporter extended his microphone towards the distraught farmer and inquired, "Sir, could you please share more about what we are witnessing?"

With a heavy heart, the farmer managed to speak, his voice trembling, "My crops have been struggling for the past few weeks, and I lost them all just the other day.”

The reporter expressed empathy, saying, "That's truly unfortunate. We're committed to uncovering the reasons behind this crisis. You're hearing it first from KBOI!"

In a quiet suburban neighborhood, nestled beneath the eerie glow of the moon, Brayden's mother peered out into the darkened yard. "What a weird thing! Where could all the bees have gone?" she questioned, her voice trembling with unease.

"I don't know, man. Bees can't be that important," Brayden replied dismissively, his indifference evident in his voice.

"What are you saying?! Have I not taught you anything? I bet there's a documentary on Netflix," his mother urged, picking up the remote control. But Brayden, ever the typical teenager, had other priorities.

"No, thanks. I need to finish this English paper," he mumbled, shutting the door to his room with a defiant click.

Little did Brayden know that this ordinary evening would soon take a spine-tingling turn.

As the night wore on, Brayden found himself immersed in his English paper, the only source of light emanating from his laptop's screen. Time slipped through his fingers like grains of sand until he realized it was time to prepare for bed. He mechanically brushed his teeth, his thoughts wandering back to the strange absence of bees. Why is everyone so worried? He wondered while massaging his back molars. Are bees really that important? What do they do anyway?

Shaking away the thought, he washed out his mouth and climbed into bed. A quick scroll through TikTok and he placed his phone on the nightstand, the eerie blue glow of the screen casting peculiar shadows across his room.

However, the night held more surprises for Brayden than he could ever have imagined.

In the darkest depths of the night, a faint, sinister buzzing began to echo near his ear. At first, he swatted it away in his slumber, but the relentless noise soon grew too loud to ignore. Abruptly, Brayden awoke, only to find nothing amiss, no source for the sound. "It must have just been a dream," he thought, his mind still foggy with sleep.

Yet, the buzzing returned, more persistent this time. Brayden jolted upright, heart pounding. To his bewilderment, the sound ceased once more. "This dream just won't quit," he muttered, reaching for his phone to distract himself from the inexplicable occurrences. Among the TikTok videos, a few depicted bee propaganda, but Brayden dismissed them as mere internet hype.

Before he could contemplate the situation further, he felt an unsettling crawling sensation around both his ears. Shocked, he dropped his phone onto his face, the screen shattering in the process. There was no time to swat at his ears. The bees were already inside, and their buzzing intensified, growing more unbearable with each passing second.

Brayden's scream pierced the silence, and his mother came rushing into his room, her frantic words lost amidst the agonizing cacophony that echoed in his ears. He writhed in pain, clutching his head as the torment intensified.

In his desperation, Brayden stumbled out of bed and onto the front lawn, hoping that the cool night air would offer relief. To his horror, he found his neighbors in the same predicament, lying on their lawns, their faces contorted in agony.

"What is happening?!" he cried out, but there was no answer. The pain became all-consuming, a nightmarish symphony of torment.

Minutes passed, though it felt like an eternity. Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the buzzing ceased. People began to stir, slowly getting up from their fetal positions. Brayden looked around at his bewildered neighbors, the question in their eyes mirroring his own: Was it over?

It wasn't over. Suddenly, the infected people heard an unfamiliar voice, chilling and unnatural. "I am the queen," it intoned, and a shiver ran down Brayden's spine. "You have all become unwitting vessels, tainted by my subjects. Your prolonged negligence has birthed dire consequences. The climate, once a fragile equilibrium, now skews towards chaotic upheaval. We, the diligent bees, tirelessly toiled to safeguard the realm of nature, only to see our efforts futile. There exists but one ominous remedy to halt the inexorable tide of human-made devastation—bee domination. Prepare to be mere pawns in the orchestration of a new world order.

As the sinister message echoed in their minds, Brayden and the others were filled with a growing sense of dread. The boy’s thoughts turned to his mother. What if he would have just watched the stupid documentary. Would he be in this mess? Their ordinary lives have been irrevocably transformed where the bees themselves had become the masters of their fate, and their once-ordinary suburban existence had taken a haunting turn into the unknown.

© 2023 If It Scares You Productions.