Mantis King. Scary short story
One girl was very afraid of insects.
Mom and dad told the girl many times that only wasps, bumblebees and bees are dangerous, and all other insects cannot do any harm to the girl. But it didn't help.
And the grandmother once told the girl a fairy tale about the mantis king, who was very evil and the gods punished him for this: they made his kingdom tiny, and all its inhabitants ugly.
"And all the insects since then are so small, and therefore they have to be afraid of everyone, and no one is afraid of them," said the grandmother.
"And where is the mantis kingdom now?" the girl asked.
"It is hidden deep underground," answered the grandmother, "and there is no entrance or exit."
"How do insects get there?" the girl asked again.
"When they die," Grandma said.
Then the girl began to kill insects when she saw them, so that they would all end up in an underground kingdom. But no matter how much insects killed the girl, there were no fewer of them.
And then the girl learned that when people die, they are buried in graves underground.
"So," thought the girl, "people are insects too."
And now, when she looked at people, she noticed that people are very similar to insects.
"Are people big or small?" one day the girl asked her grandmother.
"They are small, but the Earth is big, and the Sun is even bigger," said the grandmother and showed the girl a book that told about planets and stars.
"People are really insects," the girl realized, "only for some reason they don't know about it."
And when the grandmother told the girl about space, the girl guessed that they are all in the underground kingdom of the mantis, because only underground can be cold and dark. That's what was said in films about underground caves.
But other people didn't notice anything at all. And they lived like they didn't know anything. Only some children realized it like the girl. One boy who studied with a girl in the same class once said to her:
"I'm a firefly. When the night falls, I start to glow. I am glowing now, but you can't see it, because it's too bright here."
Then the girl told him a fairy tale about the mantis king and the underground kingdom.
After that, the boy stopped going to school. The teacher said that the boy fell ill and would now live in the hospital.
But one night, a firefly boy flew in and sat on the window in the girl's room. And he really glowed - like a real firefly.
"You must help me," said the boy, "we must kill the mantis king."
"Why?" the girl asked.
"Because, it is his fault that people have turned into insects. With his death, the curse will disappear. Come with me."
The girl climbed out the window into the street, where the firefly boy was waiting for her.
"How are we going to find him?" the girl asked.
"I know where he lives," said the boy.
"Why did you stop glowing?" the girl asked.
"So that no one would see us."
And he led the girl behind him. They walked for a long time in the dark until they came to a house.
"Are you sure he's here?" asked the girl.
"Yes," said the firefly boy, "have a look yourself."
The girl looked through the open window. There on the bed laid the mantis king.
"How are we going to kill him?" then asked the girl.
"Here," said the firefly boy, and took out a large axe hidden in the bushes, "you must climb in there and cut off his head."
"Me?" the girl was surprised, "but why me?"
"I did not have time to do this," the firefly boy answered, "and now I'm already dead."
"If you are dead," the girl said, "then why do I see you?"
She wanted to touch him, but she could not - her hand went through the boy's body.
"Yes, you really died," said the girl.
But the axe the firefly boy gave her was real. The girl took it and climbed through the window into the room. She quietly crept up to the sleeping mantis king and raised the axe above her head...
"What am I doing? - the girl suddenly thought, - what if it's not true? Maybe I went crazy, and there is no mantis king..."
The girl looked at the sleeping man. And suddenly she saw that the mantis king was looking at her.
The girl screamed and brought the axe down with all her might. There was a crackling sound and the mantis king's head was separated from the body. The king's eyes became closed.
But the dead body suddenly twitched, as if trying to get up. It froze for a second and twitched again, even harder.
The girl stepped back in horror.
The dead body twitched again. And then it cracked in half and a praying mantis head popped out of it. The new mantis king looked at the girl and suddenly laughed - as if someone was scratching glass with a knife.
Here the girl could not take it anymore. She screamed and ran away...
Illustration: Frost7q
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