Bygone Conspiracy (Part 1.)

BYGONE CONSPIRACY

PART 1.

One Sunday afternoon, the internet suddenly went out. At first, we thought we had forgotten to pay the bill, but Marshall confirmed that we had. We waited to see if it would return in the evening, but it didn’t. We called our neighbors and found out that the entire city was without internet, and it wasn’t just our service provider, but several others as well. Later that night, we learned that neighboring cities were also without internet.

This made us think about how strange the situation was. I had been following conspiracy theories for years and they all talked about a grid power down, but I didn’t think this was it. I sat on my living room floor deep in thought. We had been without internet before, but not for this long and not with all service providers at the same time. I was jolted back to reality when I heard the baby crying. Milan usually slept soundly as long as her music was playing, but YouTube wasn’t an option now. Marshall said he was going to make some tea for Milan, and I went to get her from the crib.

The following morning, we awoke to the stark reality that the internet was still down. Day after day passed with no resolution in sight. Businesses began closing their doors, and schools debated whether to close as well. The service providers seemed just as baffled as we were, or at least that’s what they wanted us to believe. All they could tell us was that they were working to fix the issue.

We were completely cut off from the outside world, and everything felt surreal. Social media had been a lifeline for the younger generation, and its absence was keenly felt. Teens wandered aimlessly, unsure of what to do with themselves. Tragically, the suicide rate spiked as depression set in and overwhelmed them. Hospitals were overrun with every kind of emergency imaginable. Psychiatric wards overflowed with patients, and everyone seemed to be acting out of character.

Just when we thought the world couldn’t plummet any further into despair, it happened. We awoke to a morning shrouded in darkness; the electricity had vanished. Life as we knew it had crumbled before our very eyes. The last vestiges of communication were snuffed out. Supermarkets, shops, and stores were teeming with frenzied crowds, clamoring to stockpile batteries, gas, kerosene, lamps, and any other essentials they could lay their hands on.

Panic and chaos reigned supreme as people scrambled to prepare for the unknown. The streets were filled with the sounds of shouting and car horns as traffic ground to a halt. The once-bustling city had been plunged into a state of disarray. We had been bracing ourselves for this moment for two years. I had confided in Marshall about the premonitions I had been having to stock up on supplies and we had heeded those warnings. Our supplies were plentiful enough to sustain us for a year or two if rationed judiciously.

As we hunkered down in our home, we couldn’t help but feel a sense of foreboding. What would become of us in this new world without electricity? How long would our supplies last? Would we be able to survive? Days turned into weeks and weeks into months.

The loss of the internet and electricity was merely the beginning of our troubles. That fateful night, an emergency broadcast from the President blared through the airwaves. It must have been around 9 pm when the military and police units took to the streets, their loudspeakers booming with warnings for everyone to remain indoors and not to venture beyond their communities for the next few days. The country was on lockdown, and martial law loomed ominously on the horizon if they could not quell the rampant looting and riots.

The streets were awash with frenzied mobs, wreaking havoc and disturbing the peace. Stores, shops, and supermarkets were being ransacked without a thought for their fellow countrymen. It was a catastrophic calamity. Marshall and I knew we had to act fast. We called an urgent family meeting with our daughters, Lauren and Serayah, in the living room to discuss our contingency plans.

TO BE CONTINUED!!