Invisible Intruder
It was like any other day, but an uninvited guest entered the apartment to give family a deadly surprise.
Clouds slid across the sun and a shadow fell over the apartment as the intruder stood on the chests of two middle-aged adults. The siblings stood in horror as everything they knew and loved was about to be taken from them. The family had prepared for a home invasion but their precautions had not stopped the invader. The following is an eyewitness account.
They were a family of four: a mother, a father, and two adult siblings, a brother and a sister. In early March, there was news that an intruder had been invading other homes in the neighborhood, and the family was not about to take the news lightly. It is better to take on the initiative and be over-prepared than under-prepared. Whenever the family would leave the house, the doors would be locked shut, they would wear masks and gloves, and they would disinfect packages to prevent anything from entering the apartment. But most importantly, the family followed the golden rule: they stayed at home as much as possible, using conference calls for work and school, and only leaving to buy groceries and other necessities.
However, the mother was an exception to the rule.
A certain corporation knew of the risks of a home invasion, yet they still required the mother to be present in the office at least twice a week. She would return home, wearing a mask and disinfecting her body and clothes as soon as possible every week without fail. The daily routine has been set for the whole family. This was exactly the opportunity that the invader was looking for.
How did the intruder slip past their defenses? They grew complacent as the months went by, using less hand sanitizers, disinfecting less clothes the moment they arrived home. Unwillingly, a backdoor revealed itself for intruders to take the opportunity and they invited themselves in.
The mother was taken hostage by the intruder. There was nothing she could do. She was too tired and too weak to resist, barely eating and barely moving a finger. Something was wrong, but the family could only sit by and watch.
October 2020. The mother arrived home as usual and locked the door behind her. A shadow slipped past the door cracks. It was too dark to see the intruder’s face, and nobody in the household noticed the invasion in the beginning. But the intruder had already caught the mother by the throat, dagger threatening to cut off her supply of oxygen, counting down the two weeks to reveal itself to her. At first she had symptoms of the common cold, only coughing and sneezing. “She’s sick, so eat and stay in your rooms for now,” the father commanded the siblings. But the siblings did not take his words seriously because the mother was “just sick.”
As the days went by, this intruder slowly had their clutches on the entire family. They pinned down the mother to the sofa by the living room. She was unable to move, unable to breathe, and unable to sleep. Her eyes looked so black and tired, as if she had seen darkness itself. Soon enough, the intruder would also pin down the father just as hard. The intruder’s true objective of taking away the oxygen of the middle-aged adults was finally complete; perhaps taking their lives would have been the icing on the cake. The two siblings were spared their oxygen, but instead the intruder stole their senses of smell and taste overnight.
Thanksgiving weekend was not as thankful. There was no extravagant food prepared nor the joy of bringing family together. Hostages in their own home, the family felt miserable while the intruder lived like a king wearing a crown, eating away the family bit-by-bit.
Thanksgiving day. The intruder feasts on medium rare lungs, eating like a king with a crown on its head. The daughter wishes to do stop the king, but the mood was too dark for a festive time of the year.
The next day, the mother went to the hospital to get tested, but she never came back from the visit – she was hospitalized, with no clear indication of recovery. The intruder was not done with their fun, however, as they decided to focus entirely on the father next. Occasionally, the daughter would see the father pinned down by the invader and she would always initiate the same conversation: “Dad, how are you feeling?”
“I’m okay. I just need to rest,” he would reply, then immediately go to sleep on the couch. His chest would inflate and deflate like a pump at abnormal speeds. He’s a terrible liar. The daughter begged to call 91, but her father refused. The intruder continued to sip the oxygen through a straw while the siblings were unable to do anything about it.
On the first Friday of December, the brother and sister decided to monitor the father’s condition overnight. They would take turns resting while the other watches every hour. The daughter could not bear the thought of losing her father to this interloper, this intruder. Tears and fog formed and clogged up the vision of her glasses. I needed to get rid of these intruders and protect my home, she thought.
A faint whisper came out. “...Are you crying?”
It was the father. He had woken up by her whimpers.
“Yeah,” she paused. “I’m scared.”
The father gestured towards a cell phone. She pressed three numbers on it and spoke with the operator on the other side.
The final straw drawn, she dials 911. Even if there is something behind her, she knew she would be fine. The father realizes this, and lets her call once their eyes met.
Even when medical aid finally arrived, the intruder rests his elbow on the father's chest. His consciousness was a flickering candle in the darkness.
The intruder has left the household for now, but their crimes left massive aftereffects to the family’s health. Two months later, the mother and father returned home from their hospitalizations. The mother has recovered completely, while the father needs the support of an oxygen concentrator to stabilize his oxygen levels. The son’s and daughter’s sense of smell is completely changed and greatly affects the way they enjoy food.
The intruder can be found everywhere, invading other houses in other towns and cities. They cannot be captured by normal means. The family redoubled their efforts to protect themselves from another invasion and take extra precautions by wearing masks both outside and inside the apartment. They will continue to do so until a cure would capture all invisible intruders from all households.
Half a year has passed since the intruder entered the home. The father has healed completely from his battle against the intruder. News spread that vaccines were widely available for the town and the family had no doubt in their decision to take it. Feeling a bit sore from the aftereffects, it was way better than the actual experience they felt so long ago. Something entered the house once again. A shadow of its former self, this intruder was way weaker than its predecessors, and in no time, the family triumphed over it.
The clouds parted, the skies clear. The sun was shining brightly through the living room, leaving no trace of shadows.
The family returned back home and redoubled their efforts to keep any more intruders out of the house. The only thing behind them are their shadows to remind them of the past. They will look forward, towards the future.