Insectos Mortales

PROLOGUE

The bell rang and the door was opened. In the doorway, there stood a man in his thirties with a dark camel colored complexion and black eyes. He was greeted by a man of his age who was wearing his night suit.

"Richard, hey!"

said the owner of the house.

"Hey, Manuel!! What are you doing?"

"Nothing, I was just in the basement as usual."

The door was then closed by Manuel and the night sky was no longer in view. There was no one in the house other than the two men. The house was designed in the best possible way. It had white walls full of portraits of a family with four members, a mother, a father, a boy and a girl. The floor which was of pure marble was pressed on by oakwood furniture.

The two men proceeded towards the basement. Unlike the house, the basement was dark and shabby. It only had a desk and a chair in it. On the desk, there was something outlandish to which Richard's eyes fell as soon as he entered the basement. He asked his best friend about the jar of bugs with red eyes in front of him.

"What is this, Manuel?"

Manuel moved forward quickly and grabbed the jar. He kept it in one of the drawers in the desk and stared at his best friend without any expression on his face.

"This is nothing."

"Nothing. Really? I am not a fool. I am not your fifteen year old daughter."

Richard shouted.

"What's the matter with you? Stop shouting. I will tell you about it."

Manuel said to his irrational best friend.

"You had better."

Richard replied as he sat down on the only chair in the room. Simmons then started talking as he roamed in the basement.

"As you know, since the death of my wife, I haven't been myself. I have left my job at the Greenville Memorial hospital and have stopped paying any attention to my kids."

"Yes, I know. Mary's death has left you wretched."

"One of my friends gave these bugs to me just to keep them safe. He is a botanist. He is working on how to protect plants from them. As his mother was sick and he had to go out of town and he didn't have anyone else he could trust, he gave these bugs to me."

"He trusted you with these bugs?"

"Yes, he did. They were not like this when he had given them to me. Anyway, one day, I was just experimenting with some chemicals and some other stuff which I added to this jar."

"Why did you?"

"I wanted to know if I would be able to kill the bugs and help my friend. Instead of that, I did the complete opposite. I made them into deadly species. I made them the insectos mortales."

"The what?"

"The insectos mortales. It's a Spanish word. It means deadly bugs."

"Yes, of course. I keep on forgetting that you are Spanish. How do you know that they are deadly?"

"I tested one of them by keeping it in the same container as a mouse. The mouse died within a few minutes."

"It died?"

Richard asked with raised eyebrows.

"Yes, it died. I think that they can kill humans too. I am just going to throw them away. I don't want anyone to find out about them."

"How long have you had them?"

"It has been a month."

"A month. You didn't tell me about them?"

Richard said in an irritating voice.

"I was creating an antidote in case they got released or something."

"Where is that antidote?"

"Inside two watches. I have given one to my daughter and one to my son."

"Well...well. This means that you should give the bugs to me."

Richard stood up from the chair and walked towards Manuel until they stood face to face.

"You didn't hear me I think. I am going to throw them away."

"You shouldn't. These bugs have a lot of potential. You shouldn't throw them away."

"I am going to. There is nothing you can do that will stop me."

Manuel had moved towards the desk and had his hands on the drawer.

Both of them got into a heated discussion. Fortunately, there was nothing to attack with in the basement. Otherwise, Richard would have made the discussion bloody.

Nothing changed Manuel's mind. Finally, Richard stormed out of the house.

Manuel was all alone in the house or at least he thought he was.

There was someone looking at him from a distance. Someone knew about the bugs. Someone wanted them.

Manuel took out the jar from the desk to throw it away. As he stepped out of the basement, his throat was slashed and the marble floor was stained with blood. There were splotches of blood on the white walls and the oakwood furniture.

The murderer took the jar of bugs and stepped out of the house through the back door. He was met with the dark night sky and the shining stars.