The Day The Internet Died
What would happen if the internet suddenly vanished?
To read along with the audiovisual version, click here: youtube.com/@ConnorAidan
To listen to the audio-only version, click here: Stories on Spotify
Monday
It started with a murmur. What was hardly a hushed whisper at first began to build and build, as spurts of conversations sprouted around from all sides. Something was going on. Something had happened, and it wasn’t good. Because all around, those hushed whispers held a feeling, and it was a feeling of unease.
—
RINGINGINGING. *school bell*
“Did you get my super, special, amazing, heartfelt, birthday text? I’ve been working on it all morning.”
In their crowded high school halls, Katie was bubbling with energy, as usual, and much to the chagrin of Alex. Always bubbling. Bubbly Katie.
“Oh uh, I haven’t read it yet…” Alex pulled out her phone to check for the message, but no message was there. “Are you sure you sent it? I don’t have any new… Oh wait, I don’t have any signal.” I don’t have any signal? “Give me a sec.” Alex fumbled with her phone to restart it, but the connection issue persisted.
An uncharacteristic frown crossed bubbly Katie’s face. “Come on! I spent all morning writing it. The least you could do is read it,” Katie pouted. “Fine, if you want it that way, I’m not afraid to embarrass you right here, right now by reading it out loud in front of everyone!” Katie reached down to pull out her phone and began to read. “Dear Alex, your bestest friend in the whole world wanted to wish you the happiest birthd—… Oh wait, I don’t have any signal either.” Katie began to furiously tap on her phone.
The bell rang, cutting their conversation short.
Mr. Sanderson’s fourth period was abuzz with conversation. “I can’t get my phone to work, can you?” “No, I don’t have any signal.” “Hey, I don’t have any signal either!”
The ever-plump Mr. Sanderson walked in and hushed the crowd as he strode toward his seat. “Alright, alright, settle down class. Time to learn. Switch your brains into World History mode!” Mr. Sanderson chuckled at himself as he took his seat with a hard plunk and started clicking around on his computer. “Hold on, I just gotta pull up the… hmm…wait a second.” Mr. Sanderson sat back in his chair and gave his scruffy beard a stroke, before returning for a second round of more frantic clicking. After an unsuccessful round two, Mr. Sanderson sunk back into his chair with a deep sigh.
Around Alex, people began to murmur. Mr. Sanderson rose to silence them. “Alright class, just give me a second. I can’t seem to get the school Wi-Fi to work. I’m just going to pop next door to Ms. Robinson’s class to ask. Open your textbooks to uh… to the last thing we learned about.” Satisfied with his not so precise directions, Mr. Sanderson sauntered out the door. “Hey Olive, I can’t seem too…” The rest was cut off as the door closed behind him.
Immediately, the classroom was a hive of activity.
“Can anyone get their phone to work? I don’t have any signal.”
“Not me.”
“Not me either.”
“Do you think they installed a cell blocker? You know, to keep us from like, cheating?”
“Seriously? Why would they do that?!”
“But even the school Wi-Fi doesn’t show up. They wouldn’t block their own Wi-Fi. Maybe it’s because…”
Alex, who wasn’t much of a talker, especially in the absence of Katie, sat back and let the conversations envelop around her. Already, her thoughts were beginning to whirl. The school Wi-Fi isn’t working either? How could both the Wi-Fi and cell service be down at once? Is that even possible?
Mr. Sanderson opened the door, bringing the boisterous conversation to a halt just as it approached its climax. “Well class, it seems like the network might be down in the building. But don’t worry,” Mr. Sanderson said with a smug grin. “We’ll just have to do this lesson OLD SCHOOL.” After he said that, he waddled up to the seldom-used whiteboard and uncapped a marker. “Now… can anyone tell me, uh… Joshua, summarize what you learned for homework.”
—
Class passed by excruciatingly slowly as Mr. Sanderson attempted to improvise a lesson on the fly. Of course, none of the class was paying any attention, as everyone was too busy secretly pulling out their phones every few minutes to see if it was back up. Alex was similarly following suit, glued to her phone turning the lock screen on and off, hoping each time that somehow something would change.
She continued this on the ride home in Katie’s not-so-brand-new-preowned car, giving updates to Katie as she went. But even though they were getting further and further from the school grounds, the reception still wasn’t coming back.
“Is it back now?” Katie asked, hands firmly planted at 10 and 2 as she headed towards Alex’s house.
“No.”
“But we’re like at least 50 miles from school at this point!”
“Katie, I don’t think our town is even 50 miles wide in total.”
“You know what I mean.” Katie retorted. And then again, after a brief pause, “What about now?”
“Oh wow, it’s back!”
“Really?!”
“Nope.”
—
Sonya was already home when Alex arrived. Shuffling around the kitchen, she looked up as her younger sister entered.
“Well well well, if it isn’t the birthday girl! Happy birthday Alex!” She paused briefly to pull out a store-bought cake that she had until then kept hidden behind her. “And look, your big sis even got you a cake!” Her smile beamed in direct contrast to the heavy bags under her eyes.
“Thanks.” Alex’s curtness spoke volumes.
Sonya continued her shuffle around the kitchen, speaking as she moved. “I’m so so sorry that I can’t stay for your special day, but you know tonight I have the night shift at the hospital. But I promise to make it up to you. What do you think maybe this weekend you and I—”
Alex cut her off. “I know. You always have the night shift.”
Sonya stopped in her tracks. “Well, that’s not technically true. But you know it’s easier to pick up overtime hours now that—”
“I know. Thanks. I’m fine. I’m pretty busy right now anyways. The usual. Homework, and a test on Monday. Anyways, Katie’s stopping by after her work to celebrate with me.”
After taking a moment to gather her thoughts, Sonya replied. “Oh. Well… that’s good. Of course, she’s welcome anytime. You know, maybe we can all—”
“I’ve got to do my homework now,” Alex said, ending the conversation by shutting the door to her room.
—
Immediately after shutting the door, Alex slung off her backpack and sat down in front of her computer. Please. Please tell me it’s working here. But after some increasingly frantic clicking, and the subsequent unplugging and replugging of cables, she was forced to acknowledge that it was in fact not working here either. Even the router refused to submit to her tampering. No Wi-Fi at school or here. Where’s my phone… Still no cell service. Maybe if I… Oh come on! Why today?!
Alex slouched back into her chair, eyes staring up at the ceiling. From down the hall, she heard her sister calling to her. “Okay Alex, I’m heading off to work now! Tell Katie I said hi! I’m sure you two can rummage up something from the fridge. Save me a slice of cake! Oh, and don’t stay up too late! And don’t forget I love you!”
How could I forget. Alex waited until she heard the front door shut before creeping out of her room back into the kitchen. On the counter sat the now unboxed cake, on which some underpaid grocery store employee had been forced to pipe:
Happy Birthday Alex! Love Sonya, Mom, & Dad
But for Alex the message only stirred up anger.
—
“Well, I think it’s sweet,” Katie said while munching on a slice of cake. “It shows that she cares about you.”
Katie and Alex were sitting in the living room, the now partially eaten cake residing on the coffee table in front of them. The TV wasn’t working either—only displaying static—so they were forced to choose one of Sonya’s cheesy DVDs. Katie hadn’t even bothered to change out of her McDonald’s uniform.
“You know, I wonder if the internet is out at my house as well. Actually, do you think my parents even remembered that I was coming over here tonight? Oh! Do you think they think I’ve been kidnapped?!” Katie was always one to err on the side of dramatic. This time, it seemed kidnapped child was the role she selected.
“I just hope it’s back up by tomorrow,” Alex mumbled in between bites of cake. “You know, I think I read something once about how a guy dug too deep and accidentally cut the main fiber cable to a city, leaving them without any service. Maybe that’s what happened here.”
“You think so?” Katie asked.
“Maybe. I think they couldn’t even call 911 or anything. It was a big deal.”
“Oh… Do you think Sonya is having to deal with that right now?”
Katie bringing up Sonya again dampened Alex’s mood. “I’m sure she’s fine. She’s very good at always handling everything, even if you don’t want her to.” The last bit Alex mumbled under her breath.
“You know, I don’t understand why you hate Sonya so much now. With what you two have been through, I figured—”
Alex quickly cut her off to change the subject. “What about your parents? Don’t they like, work from home on the internet?”
Katie leaned back into the couch, as if the thought had just now dawned on her. “Oh yea… I guess I hadn’t really thought about that. Well… then I hope it comes back soon!” After that momentary pause, she perked back up, as if all the doubt had already left her mind. “Anyways, since it’s still not back up, I guess I have to read my super special birthday message to you in person!” She picked up her phone from the table. “Dear Alex, your bestest friend in the whole—”
Alex quickly snatched the phone out of her hand. “Please don’t read it out loud! I’ll literally die of embarrassment!”
—
That night Alex lay in bed, staring across at the blank computer monitor over on her desk. It will be alright. It’s just one day. You can survive one day. As long as it’s back up tomorrow, everything will be okay. No need to panic.
Tuesday
It still wasn’t back.
As Alex walked through the school halls, she could feel the outward projected misery around her. It seemed like the entire school was reeling from a great loss. All around, people were trading stories of their own home experiences.
“Yea, our Wi-Fi didn’t work either! And neither did the TV! My Dad was absolutely pissed that he missed football.”
“Who cares about your Dad and football! Joshua and I were supposed to go on our third date last night but I couldn’t even text him to find out where!”
Now that sounds traumatic. Alex walked by several pockets of similar conversations. It seemed the outage was the only thing anyone was capable of thinking about. Even Katie was noticeably on edge.
“My God Alex when I got home last night my parents were freaking out.”
“Did they think you were a helpless kidnapped child?”
“No! They didn’t even care about me! They were too concerned with how they were going to report in for work tomorrow.”
“Ouch.”
Katie, disappointed that she hadn’t been heralded as the helpless kidnapped child, shifted the conversation. “What about you? What did you do after I left? Don’t you usually spend like all night online?”
Alex thought about the night before. About how she had woken up every few hours just to check if it had come back on. “Yea… it was, not very fun.” Habitually, she pulled out her phone again, only to be reminded that it still had no service.
—
On their way home, Katie stopped for gas, only to find that all the pumps were now cash only. They went inside to ask the clerk.
Katie approached the counter, with Alex trailing slightly behind. “Excuse me, it won’t take my card.”
“Sorry gals, cards don’t work with the internet being down. Cash only.”
Katie let out an overly dramatic sigh, before reaching into her purse to try to scrounge up some bills. “Cash only… who even carries cash anymore… I don’t even think I have… Oh! Ugh.” Katie had only been able to find one $5 bill. “Well, I guess I’d like $5 of gas please!”
Alex stood back, observing the conversation. Cash only… So is everywhere like this? She looked in her own wallet and found only disappointment.
—
When Alex arrived home, she found Sonya slumped on the couch, hospital scrubs still on. On the table sat a half-eaten bowl of microwavable mac and cheese and a newspaper.
Sonya perked up seeing Alex come through the door. “Alex! Welcome home.”
“Hey.”
“You won’t believe what happened last night. I showed up to the hospital, and the ENTIRE network was down! We couldn’t access any of the patient records, and all night they had us running around, trying to find the paper files. I didn’t even know we had paper files!”
Alex mumbled something under her breath as she walked into the kitchen to grab a drink from the fridge.
Sonya swiveled on the couch to face Alex’s direction, and continued, “You know, you didn’t tell me yesterday that everything was out.”
Alex came out of the kitchen, juice box in hand. “I thought you knew.”
Sonya deflated. The fatigue was visible across her face. “Alex…” Sonya turned back and grabbed the newspaper off the coffee table. “Anyways, one of the doctors coming in for the morning shift brought this in. He let me snag it off him since he was done with it.
Figures. We are a family of handouts now. Alex grabbed the newspaper from Sonya, and looked down at the front page.
—
SERVICE DOWN ACROSS ENTIRE COUNTY
Across the entire county, all telephone, internet, and cable services are down. As all networks continue to be inoperable, WNYB News has been unable to reach outside county borders to assess the full scale of the outage. Members of our Frontline Team personally drove out to Telecom’s city branch building to request a comment, but as of publishing no comment has been given. It is our hope though that Telecom will be able to provide a statement shortly. By then, other Frontline members should be back from neighboring counties to see if this is a larger-scale issue…
—
“Wow,” is all Alex managed to get out.
“I know right. Anyways…” Sonya paused briefly before continuing, “Because of all the pandemonium they need me to come in again for another shift tonight.”
“You usually have Tuesdays off.”
Sonya sighed. “I know. But with all THIS,” she emphatically waved her hands in the air, “it’s different. If they can’t get stuff back online soon I think we’re going to be in big trouble. They need all the help they can get.
Alex stared at Sonya before turning around to head to her room. “Okay,” is all she responded.
As soon as Alex closed the door, she fell face-first onto her bed. Turning over, she glanced at the blank computer monitor mocking her from her desk before pulling out her phone. Still no service. Still nothing. She sat up and walked over to her computer to begin a cycle of increasingly frantic clicking that she already knew wouldn’t give her the results she wanted. After a while, she crashed back into her chair and let out a grunt of frustration. What is going on! How is it still not back yet?! What could possibly have happened? Why did it have to go out now? Now, of all times!
Alex’s frustration soon gave way to anguish. That night, after Sonya had left for work, Alex sat on the couch eating her second bowl of microwavable mac and cheese, staring at the blank TV screen in front of her. Things wouldn’t be like this if Mom and Dad were here.
Wednesday
The student body’s previous day of despair had now been replaced with outright agitation. The outage persisted, and now the conversations had shifted towards conspiracy theories.
“I bet someone was digging for oil and cut all the lines.”
“If that’s true, then why wouldn’t Telecom have blamed them? Not saying anything sounds really shady.”
“They’ll have to say something soon, otherwise the government will do something.”
“Well, my Dad says that the government and Telecom are working together to control us!”
“Joshua, tell your Dad to go back to watching football.”
“He can’t!”
Alex looked once again at her phone before putting her bag in the locker.
—
Sonya was already gone by the time Alex arrived home from school. On the coffee table was the newest paper and a sticky note on which Sonya’s terrible handwriting sprawled:
Had to go to work earlier than normal. Still CRAZY. For your reading pleasure. Love u!
The newspaper didn’t reveal much new information. Only that now they were sure the outage at least expanded to all the neighboring counties, and that Telecom still hadn’t issued a statement despite mounting pressure from local government officials.
They must have really messed up. Alex put down the paper and rummaged in the fridge for a juice box. Getting pretty low on mac and cheese. Wonder if Sonya knows about the cash thing.
Alex returned to the living room and plopped down on the couch. I wonder if she secretly enjoys being at work. Then at least she doesn’t have to be here with me. She took a sip of her juice box, before checking her phone once more just to be sure.
Alex eventually turned her meandering gaze to the front window and noticed something off. A piece of paper clung to their hedge that she hadn’t noticed when she first got home. Tiptoeing outside barefoot to snatch it, she realized it was actually a printed out flier.
—
TAKE BACK WHAT IS YOURS
We the people will not stand for this injustice and restriction of basic human rights. Do not believe the Telecom lies. Do not believe the government lies. Stand with us and demand answers.
On Friday, August 7th starting at 12PM we will gather in front of the Telecom building and demand answers.
—
Along with the text, the page was mostly dominated by the large black and white silhouette of a face, or at least one that looked like it had been run through the photocopier one too many times, destroying most of its identifiable features.
Creepy. Some poor schmuck must have been going door to door with these. Probably made them himself to try to prey on people’s insecurities. Who would even believe this crap? Still, the silhouette of a face unsettled Alex. Though it lacked features, its strangeness succeeded in eliciting a very off-putting presence.
Alex brought the flier inside and tossed it on top of the ever-growing pile of loose school papers that had taken semi-permanent residence on her desk.
That night, Alex once again found herself laying in bed, staring across at the blank computer monitor. Her agitation was beginning to turn into desperation. Surely tomorrow, at least something will be back up. Anything. I mean, won’t people be out of work? It’s been like…one-two-three days! Her gaze then drifted over to the flier still on her desk. In the dimly lit room, the face seemed almost alive. Alex got out of bed, grabbed the paper, and turned it face down. If this goes on much longer, people will start believing this crap.
Thursday
It seemed that people were in fact believing this crap. At school, Alex was once again surrounded by conversations about the outage. But this time, all anyone was talking about was the flier.
As Alex waded through the crowded halls towards her locker, Katie ran up from behind. “Alex! Hey Alex!” Katie, looking perturbed, held up the flier. “Look at this creepy flier that was taped to my door last night!”
Alex skimmed the flier, confirming that it was the same as hers. Yet again, she was confronted with that face. “Yea, I got the same one too. Creepy mug.”
“Do you think it’s true? About Telecom and the government?”
“Of course it isn’t true. It’s probably just some guy trying to take advantage of the situation to rile people up.”
Katie frowned, before continuing, “But still, everyone at school seems to have gotten one. That would be pretty hard for just ‘some guy’ to do!”
Alex had to agree with her on that one. Though their town was pretty small, going door to door in one day would have taken a lot of work.
Katie continued, “Anyways, my parents were pretty freaked out about it. You know how they get about these… things.” Alex knew what she meant. Katie’s parents were very susceptible when it came to conspiracy theories. Katie held up the flier again. “As soon as they saw it they were all doom and gloom. I mean, they’re already super anxious. And now this! They haven’t been able to work for like three days now!”
Alex could see how torn up all this was making Katie, how her parents’ anxieties were starting to map onto her own. Alex wished she could comfort her, but didn’t know what to say.
Just before lunch, the principal came over the intercom announcing an impromptu school-wide assembly to take place before third period. As Alex filed into the packed gymnasium along with the rest of the students, she noticed several teachers huddled together in the corner talking excitedly, as if something big was about to happen.
After the students had all crammed in, Principal Moreno took his place at the podium in the center of the basketball court. He carried with him a loose stack of papers, which he briefly thumbed through before addressing the crowd.
“Hello students. I hope you are all doing well today. As you know, a few days ago our town experienced an outage of all phone, internet, and cable TV services.”
The crowd of students murmured in agreement.
“Well, I must inform you that we have just received an official letter from the federal government. It seems that the outage is in fact across our entire country.”
Immediately the students erupted into conversations. Alex nervously looked around to see if she could spot Katie.
From the podium, Principal Moreno raised both his hands, “Now now, please! I haven’t finished yet. Because of this national outage, the President has decided to declare a national State of Emergency…”
The students erupted again before he could even finish the sentence. This was not the news they wanted to hear. Alex finally managed to spot Katie on the other side of the gym, busily speaking to those around her.
Again, Principal Moreno tried to calm the crowd. “Please everyone! Please settle down. It will all be okay. This is just a formality so that the government can distribute aid where it is needed. There is no need to panic.” But to Alex, his tone seemed more like he was trying to convince himself than them. “That being said, since it appears that the government is preparing for this to become an extended situation, we have decided to cancel school tomorrow in order to hold a school-wide faculty meeting to address adjusting certain procedures going forward. So, please let your parents and guardians know about the situation and make sure to…”
—
It was safe to say that if the students weren’t anxious before, they were now in a full blown state of panic. The flier, coupled with the unfortunate timing of the announcement, had everyone convinced they were in the middle of some kind of giant conspiracy in motion.
Katie, most of all, seemed incredibly shaken after the assembly. “This isn’t good. This is not good,” she said, pacing back and forth in front of Alex in the crowded hallway. She stopped and turned to face Alex. “A national emergency… Alex, my parents are going to freak out when they hear this!”
Alex could feel the anxiety pouring out of Katie. In truth, Alex was just as anxious as well. Alex started, “I’m sure… maybe…” but was unable to find the words needed to calm down Katie. Why this? Why now?
“You don’t understand!” Katie shouted, resuming her pacing. “My parents… you know what our situation is like. You know how hard it’s been. They can’t be out of work for this long… I can’t be the only one feeding us on my shitty McDonald’s minimum wage!”
At this point, Katie was reaching mass load and looked like she could break down at any moment. And if Katie broke, Alex knew she was sure to follow. Think of something to diffuse the situation. Think Alex. Think. Think think think!
Katie began to whimper, “Why is this happening to me…”
“What if we went to that protest?”
“What?” Katie looked up at Alex, sniffled, and rubbed her eyes.
Alex grabbed Katie’s bag and dug around until she found the flier. “That protest. From the flier.” She held up the flier so that Katie could see it. “See, it says it’s tomorrow at noon. And now we don’t have school tomorrow.”
“You want to go to the protest?” Katie said.
“Well…” Alex reread the flier. Stand with us and demand answers. “Maybe if we go, we can get some answers. Maybe if enough people show up, they’ll be forced to explain what’s going on.” Already, Alex realized that the reasoning seemed far-fetched at best, but right now she wanted more than anything to get Katie out of this mess. After all, it had been Katie who had helped her so much during her lowest lows.
Katie stopped rubbing her eyes and focused entirely on Alex. “You think if we go to the protest, things will get better?” At this point, it looked like Katie was ready to believe anything.
Alex reached out and put her arms on Katie’s shoulders. “I think it’s a good idea.”
Katie leaned in to turn it into an embrace, sniffled, and faintly smiled. “I missed my old Alex.”
—
On the ride home, Alex could only think about how this was definitely a bad idea. She was sure that nothing good would come of it, and that a bunch of angry people grouped together did not often lead to great results. But, perhaps a bit selfishly, she too wanted answers. Alex stared out the window, watching the buildings pass by.
Day 4… and it’s out all over the country… and no one knows what’s going on? How is that even possible? There’s got to be something. SOMEBODY has to know what’s going on. They must just be keeping quiet to cover their asses… But day 4. DAY 4! Alex’s thoughts continued to spiral more and more. And cards don’t work. Do they expect us to just pay for everything in cash forever? Do people even have that much cash? Does Sonya? What are we going to do for food next week? Can you even withdraw from the banks if their networks are down as well?
The frustration continued to build as Alex arrived home to find a very tired Sonya sprawled out on the couch. It looked as if she had only recently gotten home, like she had been working straight through since yesterday. Get yourself together.
Sonya rubbed her tired eyes. “Hey Alex. I heard at work that we’re in a State of Emergency. What’s school saying? Is there anything I can get for you? Any way I can help?”
“No.” Alex’s frustration continued to rise. I am not a baby. I can take care of myself.
“Are you sure? Maybe I can—”
“I don’t need your help!” Alex snapped back. “You are not my Mom!”
Sonya sat up on the couch. “Alex, I know I’m not your Mom. But it’s my job now to take care of you—”
Alex slammed her fist on the counter. “I can take care of myself!” Her voice rose louder and louder, the pent up frustration pouring out of her. “I didn’t ask you to come back after they died! I could have taken care of myself! I’m not a baby!” At this point, tears were welling up in her eyes.
Sonya rubbed her temples. “Alex, please. Can we not do this again right now? I’ve just had a double shift at the hospital and am running on, like, max 3 hours of sleep.”
“Then leave me alone! Stop trying to butt into my life! Stop trying to baby me and pretend that you’re Mom when we both know that you aren’t!” At this point, Alex’s yells were at peak volume.
“Alex—”
“No! Don’t Alex me!”
Finally, Sonya couldn’t take it anymore. Standing up, she shouted back, “Do you think I wanted to come home Alex?! Do you think I wanted to drop out of med school to move back to our shitty town to take care of you?! To deal with how much of an emotional wreck you’ve become?! Do you think their deaths didn’t destroy me just as much as it destroyed you?!” Tears streamed down her face.
Instantly, Sonya knew she had gone too far. “Alex… Alex, I didn’t mean that—”
But by then, Alex had already slammed her bedroom door shut.
Breathing rapidly with tears still streaming down her face, Alex ran to her commuter and began to click around frantically. “Please be back on. Please. Please… please…” But no matter what she did, the internet was unyielding in its silence.
Tears rained down on the keyboard as Alex desperately tried to get anything to work. “Please… please… I need to see them. Please…”
Alex collapsed into a full sob at her desk. No matter what she did, the tears would not stop.
“Please…”
Friday
Alex woke up Friday morning in her bed—still in yesterday’s clothes—having apparently made the transition from her desk sometime overnight. After a long shower and a change of clothes, Alex cracked open her door to take a peek outside.
Sonya was sprawled out on the couch—also still in yesterday’s clothes—fast asleep. It was unclear if she had stayed up waiting for Alex to return, or had just passed out from sheer work-induced exhaustion.
Alex gently closed the door and returned to her bed. Okay. It’s just after 10 now. Katie should be arriving soon. She spent the next few minutes looking out the window, waiting to spot Katie’s car. It was a good distraction from having to think about last night.
She realized that she hadn’t told her sister where she was going, or even that school was canceled, but at this point she didn’t care. Yesterday’s fight had solidified her desire to go to the protest. She wanted answers. She wanted the internet back. And she would do anything for that.
Katie’s car arrived in the driveway and gave a brief honk, immediately making Alex tense up. She did not want Sonya to wake up. She did not want to have to deal with that right now. Thankfully, mercifully, Sonya was still asleep when Alex opened the door. Carefully, she crept by the couch, and with the utmost care, opened and closed the front door.
“Woah. You look rough. What happened last night?” Katie watched Alex as she entered the car and began to buckle.
“No—Nothing… nothing,” Alex responded.
But Katie wouldn’t accept the response. “You sure nothing happened? You look like, pardon my French, a wreck.”
“Wreck is an English word,” Alex retorted, before letting out a deep sigh. “Sonya and I got in a fight last night.”
“You and Sonya always get in fights.”
“Yea. But this one… I don’t know. This one hurt.”
Katie reached over and squeezed Alex’s hand. “Well, now you’re with me and you don’t have to think about any of that anymore. Now, we’re rebels on a secret mission to infiltrate a protest and demand answers!”
Alex responded by squeezing Katie’s hand back. “You’re in a cheery mood,” she said. But when she looked into Katie’s eyes, they didn’t look so cheery. It seemed she had had a rough night as well.
Katie reversed out of the driveway and put the car in drive. “Well, I guess it beats the alternative!”
—
As they drove towards the Telecom building, they passed by a few future protesters on foot. And then a few more. And then several more. Before a while, the entire street was congested with pedestrians and cars, making it impossible to continue any further, even though they were a good mile away from their destination.
Katie, attempting to find a spot to park, piped up, “Damn. I did not expect this many people to be here. This has gotta be like the entire town!”
“I know right,” Alex replied, looking to see if she could make out anyone in the crowd.
They were forced to continue the journey on foot, blending into the crowd of protesters as they marched towards their destination. Katie grabbed Alex’s hand. “So we don’t get separated,” she said. Once again, Alex was reminded just how much she needed Katie.
The crowd continued to get denser and denser as they waded their way towards its epicenter. I’m starting to have a bad feeling about this. Well, maybe I ALWAYS had a bad feeling about this. Already people were getting heated, roughly bumping others aside to get past them.
After a particularly rough shove, Katie turned back and snapped, “Hey bud! Chill out! We’ll all get there eventually!”
The crowd reached its peak right in front of the Telecom building, where a dozen or so police officers stood guard in front of its entrance. Unfortunately, from Alex’s perspective it looked like the protesters outnumbered them around 100 to 1. Their presence seemed to have little effect on the crowd, who were by now getting even more boisterous, even though the protest wasn’t due to officially kick off for another hour.
A disheveled man shouted from amongst the crowd. “Tell those Telecom fuckers to get out here now and tell us what’s going on!”
“YEA!” shouted the crowd in unison.
Emboldened, the man continued. “It’s our fuckin’ right to know what’s going on! So tell them fuckers to come out here right fuckin’ now!”
Wow. He sure likes to say fuck. Alex felt Katie squeeze her hand to confirm that she was still there.
“Alex, I don’t know about this.”
As Alex looked around at the still growing crowd, she realized that they were now firmly planted in the middle, making it hard to move anywhere else. One of the policemen looked like he was about to step forward to speak, but the crowd wouldn’t hear him out. Alex and Katie started to get jostled, as the crowd competed to rush to the front to confront the officers.
Alex glanced over at Katie, whose face a mix of trepidation and fear. “Alex…”
The battering increased as more people tried to force their way by. A protester barreled through Katie and Alex from behind, breaking their hand hold. Seconds after, Alex felt a sharp elbow dig into her from the other side. Alex turned to confront its owner. “Hey! Watch out!” Clutching her side, Alex turned back, only to find that Katie was no longer next to her.
“Katie!” Alex shouted at the top of her lungs. But the sound was only swallowed up by the increasing volume of the crowd. “Katie!”
The man’s voice from earlier rose above the crowd. “Take this, you police fucks!”
CRASH!
Alex saw a glass bottle shatter by the feet of one of the police officers.
CRASH!
Another, this time making contact with a riot shield.
The policeman who had earlier stepped forward now raised a megaphone. “ATTENTION! THIS HAS BECOME AN UNLAWFUL ASSEMBLY! DISPERSE NOW, OR YOU WILL BE FORCED TO DISPERSE!”
But all this did was rile up the crowd even more. More things were thrown at the officers, who had to fully huddle behind their shields. Alex continued to get jostled from all sides. She scanned the crowd, desperate to spot Katie. “Katie! Where are you!”
Alex’s breathing started to rapidly increase as the crowd closed in around her. This is not what was supposed to happen. I just… I just wanted answers. More shouting. More sounds of glass shattering. More shoving. Why did we come here? Where’s… where’s Katie? I need Katie. Shoving. Shouting. Nearby, it sounded like a window was shattered. The crowd continued to compact, squeezing the air out of Alex’s lungs. Katie. Katie.
BOOM!
Off to the side, a police car was now engulfed in flames. The heat radiated over the crowd. The policeman yelled something over the megaphone again, but it was muffled by the roaring crowd. From somewhere amidst the chaos, a shout, “Alex!” But Alex couldn’t hear it.
Why… No… I just wanted answers… I just… I just wanted to see them again… Alex cupped her ears and bent down to shield herself from the heat. The crowd roared around her. The sound: piercing.
The roar continued. The heat increased as the flames tried their best to suck all the oxygen out of the air.
Hot. Hard. To. Breathe. Please. Make it stop. Air. Someone help me.
“Alex!”
Make it stop. Make it stop.
“Alex!”
Make. It. Stop.
“Alex!”
Make… it… stop.
—
End of Part 1.
To find out what happens next without the wait, head to patreon.com/connoraidan
Otherwise, Part 2 will be posted around 2-4 weeks after the release date of Part 1.