How can I explain that the world didn't end with fire or war but doors
Yes doors.
At first, it was small things from missing neighbors to a family that didn’t wake up in the morning. No screams. No warnings. Just a knock on a door, and then silence.
Elias, a naive man in his thirties, had been there from the early days when the whispers began. The doors had taken his family, especially his favourite brother Daniel.
According to the rumours, a sickness was moving through the city. But no one was critically sick. No symptoms, no cough. Instead, it was always a knock on the door. Someone would hear it, open the door, and every other person in the room would be gone. No stress, no struggle. Just a faint echo and a voice that wasn’t yours anymore.
The government enforced a curfew, everyone was to stay indoors and ignore the sounds. The churches prayed. Radios called for help from experts. One by one, they went quiet. But no help came.
Still the knocking spread.
Months passed. The city of Lagos collapsed. Gradually the whole country followed. Humanity vanished. All behind its own doors.
Somehow the only man left in the world was Elias. He was careful not to answer knocks on his door. He survived by scavenging abandoned flats for canned beans and rice, boiling water from rusty tanks, and keeping a knife close, though he knew it wouldn’t matter if the knock ever came.
He had rules, rules he obeyed. Rules that kept him alive. His number one rule was never to answer the door. Never trust a voice from outside. Although you're alone in the world, never believe that you are not alone.
There were days loneliness nearly killed him. The nights stretched and the silence pressed heavily on him. He found himself speaking aloud to himself. He was gradually going insane. He even pretended to talk to his brother. It got to a point he started hearing Daniel's voice and hallucinating his face.
Until that evening, the air smelled different. Of dust and smoke. Elias was sure he was the only one left. Maybe not in the world but in his community. He wondered who was making fires.
He locked himself inside his crumbling apartment, scared to the bones. His hands shook more than usual. He had been counting the days since he last heard any sound that wasn’t his own, and as the number increased the terrified he became.
Then it came.
Three knocks. Slow. Deliberate. On his door.
His eyes popped open. His chest went cold. He blew off the fire he had made to keep warm. And sat perfectly still, listening to the hollow echo fade.
Another knock. Firmer this time.
"No," he muttered under his breath. His voice rising.
He read his rules. He was sure he had followed them all this time.
"Don’t open. Don’t listen." He kept muttering.
But then, through the wood, came a voice.
“Elias.”
He flinched. Not just that the voice called his name but because the voice was familiar. It was Daniel's.
“Elias… It’s me. It’s Daniel. Open up."
He could hear his breath. He was already crying in fear. He pressed his hand to his mouth trying so hard to choke back a sob, to answer the voice. But it was too late, he had heard the voice, Daniel’s voice. Clear as the last time they’d spoken, before the city emptied.
“I found you. You’re not alone. Open up, please,” the voice pleaded.
Elias pressed his hands to his ears. For a long moment, there was only silence. Then, softer, gentler, came another knock much louder than the first time. And he heard it loud and clear, even with his hands against his ears
He squeezed his eyes shut. He prayed. He muttered. He wasn't going to answer. It wasn’t possible. It wasn't Daniel. He had vanished years ago with the others.
But the more he resisted. The more a force pulled him to the door. A force fueled by loneliness, clawing at him like hunger. His heart wrestled with his mind.
Gradually, he found himself at the door. His hands found the latch.
The voice outside continued. “Come on, brother. You can do this. Don't leave me out here."
Tears blurred his eyes. He fought to hold back. But the force was stronger. Stronger than his will to live. Against every one of his own rules carved into his memory, he unlatched the door and pulled it open. To a figure standing behind the door with Daniel’s face. It had the same dark eyes, the same tired smile, too wide to be human, stretching farther than it should. Turning unfriendly. The skin on the face hung loosely, like an oversized skin. The eyes blinked faster and out of rhythm.
Elias stumbled back. He slipped a knife behind the door to his hand. “No. You’re not him. You're no Daniel.” he cried.
He tried to stab the creature in the face, but it tilted its head, laughing mockingly and devilishly at him. The voice echoed deep into the night.
“You opened. Now you'll follow." The face said.
No matter how Elias fought to be free. The creature was stronger. I had this uncontrollable hold on him. A case of a willing mind but weak flesh.
"No!" Elias cried. But it was too late. Something was already crawling inside his skin. He tried to shout but his throat was dry and his voice wasn't his anymore. He saw his reflection in his cracked mirror, his eyes glowing faintly, his jaw jerking open and closed like a puppet’s.
The face of the Creature turned and walked away into the dark night. Elias struggled to pull back but his leg moved against his will. Like a servant following the master.
He was one now.
Gone like the rest of the world.
The end of humanity.