Fast asleep with only faint distant sounds, too far away to attract attention, dogs barking at a distance and owls hooting like a ghost who is trying to ask for directions with a very poor vocabulary. Amidst this loud silence comes a deep buzzing sound, Bzz!-zeee!!-Bzzz!!! and slap. That hurt. But no time to contemplate who gave my hand the order to spank me. I am pulled out of my sleep, and it may take a while to get back in.

"There is a mosquito in the room", I seem to be telling me, as if I did not know about that. "Stubborn and persistent. It will surely come back, and I better be prepared".

I stretched my hand with my eyes closed, tapping till I touched a solid mesh. It's a racket. But I will not be playing lawn tennis this night. I just got armed with my bug zapper. Waiting for the next buzz with fingers ready on the trigger.

Bzzzz!-zeeee!!-bzzzz!!!, With my thumb pressing on the trigger, it makes a hissing sound. "I knew you would come back", as if talking to the mosquito but actually to myself. As I swat the hissing racket back and forth, soon I got a Snap! Crack! Or Zzzap!, whatever that sound is. It is loud and sharp like a spark.

"Yes, I have got you" That is how it was said in my mind, so loud that I almost voiced it out. Now I can sleep again. Threat neutralized!.

From the time I got the Zzzap till the time I found my sleep, I found myself asking what was in the bug zapper that snapped the mosquito. I did not swing it with force, but once the mosquito touched the mesh, it Zzzap with sparks and the smell of burning flesh.

I know the bug zapper is powered by two AA batteries with a combined voltage of 3 Volts. This model has no Ultraviolet light, but it hisses and shimmers in the dark. Ultra high voltage producing burst of plasma is visible between the separated mesh. Reminding of the clear warning ⚠️ printed on its handle.

This is not a toy
Voltage 3000V

Powered by two 1.5-volt batteries. It gets a total of 3 volts as input. Where does it get the extra 000 to make it three thousand volts?.

Even when I was questioning where it got all the power, I still knew touching the hissing mesh was not a good idea. It will hiss like a high-tension power line. In the dark, I can see bursts of high-voltage plasma appearing as cold blue lightning storms, pulsating and arcing like the heartbeat of some angry insect god ready to launch lightning bolts at any insect that dares.

The zapper makes lightning bolts out of two small batteries.

My curiosity is getting out of hand. Tomorrow I will definitely investigate. I would love to see for myself what secrets are encased inside this racket.

A screwdriver and a voltmeter are all I would ever need to confirm or debunk my suspicions.

Conclusion

So I lay there in the dark, listening to the silence. There was no more Bzzz. No hoo hoo hooo in the trees. Just me, the faint blue glow vanished once I released the trigger, and now a question was buzzing louder than the mosquito ever did:
What’s inside this thing that turns 3 volts into lightning? Tomorrow, the screwdriver comes out.
For now... I sleep. Armed.

I am inviting @josepha, @rubee2as1, @dequeen and @bossj23 to tell us, how do you handle that singing mosquito.

Media Credit

Composer	@manuelhooks
Captured with	Galaxy-A15
Posting Date	[Sunday 23rd August]
	(@) 2026