Did the World End?

I awoke to the sound of birds chirping and the sun’s warmth pouring in through my window, was that even possible? The night before the entire planet had been destroyed, the thought of it rattled me to the core.

It was a night like any other, I’d gone to work, I came home, kicked off my shoes, and slipped into something comfortable before warming up leftovers and propping myself on the sofa on my balcony to eat my dinner enjoying some fresh air and the night sky.

I live in a high rise in a very sought after part of town, my view is incredible and I’d take full advantage of it, spending most my nights out there. Reading, eating, talking on the phone.

I was halfway done through dinner when I noticed most the windows in the neighboring building light up synchronously, then I heard a familiar elongated beep, the Emergency broadcast system, I realized then it was their television sets. My TV was off but I could hear the alert from other units in my building, as well as from my cell phone. I walked over to the living room at switched the tv on, I stood there waiting for the message, something inside me told me this would not be just a drill. When the loud beeping stopped rather than hear a robotic voice with instructions, a frantic woman who looked to be in her mid 30’s came on the screen. Speaking rapidly and seemingly catching her breath.

“Not all of you will survive, this message is for those that do, the World as you know it does not exist, you’re part of an experiment, a Matrix, and they don’t like what you’ve created till now, they’re going to destroy you! Please Listen, listen carefully, some of you are marked, I can’t explain it all now, but you’re different, you can’t be controlled or destroyed but they’ll find you and try. At some point in your life experience you were gifted a heart shaped locket, your mom dad, grandma, sister, brother, best friend, Teacher, someone gave this to you! even if you think you’ve lost it you haven’t. It’s been monitoring you, and they’ll find you through it. I don’t even know if what I’m disclosing will help, but at the very least you’ll understand what’s happening.”

A loud bang was heard in the background, like a door being broken through, then the screen went dark.

I stood there in front of my TV in disbelief, I felt sick to my stomach but I comforted myself thinking some crazy lady managed to hack the Emergency Broadcast System.

Then the news came on, their friendly familiar faces made me feel a little less fearful. Clearly the world wasn’t ending, the nightly news was on and they were as chipper as ever, joking about the Broadcast and confirming to viewers that our Emergency alert system had in fact been hacked and the persons responsible had been apprehended. I decided my initial instinct of an actual emergency was off and decided to get back to my dinner, keeping the tv on in the background.

My phone rang, it was the name of my childhood best friend on the caller ID, I hadn’t spoken to her in years, since we were kids. How’d she even gotten my number if it was her, I didn’t know. I picked up and sure enough it was her who greeted me on the other end of the line “Hi Elle, It’s Shreya I haven’t spoken to you in so long I thought I’d reach out and see what you’ve been up to, how you’ve been” it was 10 pm and definitely odd but in the midst of everything else that had happened so far that night I was happy to have this blast from my past on the phone to distract me from the scare we’d all just gone through.

“ I’m doing great, it’s awesome to hear from you, I don’t mean to be rude I’m thrilled you reached out, but how’d you get my number? It’s not listed?” What I heard next sent chills through my body.

“ Your best friend always knows how and where to find you, remember the locket I gave you?” The chills didn’t come so much from the strange words she just uttered but from the fact that she spoke in the same childlike voice I remember from when we were kids.

It startled me enough to drop my phone, when I picked up the receiver again the call had dropped.

At that exact moment I noticed the previously upbeat faces of the news crew had been replaced by looks of worry and concern. I put up the volume on the TV.

“ In breaking news, reports of entire buildings seemingly engulfed by visual static before completely vanishing into thin air are coming in from all over the city tonight and apparently all over the world”

Just then they cut to a live clip of a reporter on site at the Eiffel Tower in Paris France, it showed the reporter standing in front of the tower as it vibrated in a black and white static much like that from a tv station when it’s off air, the same static seemed to spread to the area around it including onto the reporter for a few minutes before it was all gone leaving a dark void behind, like a very black night.

I panicked, I began to hear people out in the streets screaming and crying, I stepped out onto the balcony, I couldn’t fathom the images that bestowed before me.

The gorgeous city view I had just been taking in was anything but, In the sky the moon glitched between itself and the Sun, causing a terrifying strobe like effect and just like Eiffel Tower in France, the streets , buildings and people were staticky and glitched in and out of perception, That’s the the best way I can put it. They were there, then they weren’t. I felt faint, quickly a dark void overcame the world around us, there was no running from it, it became you. I felt light as a feather, the balcony beneath my feet deleted, I turned to look back at my apartment and everything went dark.

It was silent, so silent my ears hurt. I don’t know exactly what happened, but I must’ve passed out, when I came to this morning I was on the floor by my balcony, birds chirping and the Warmth of the Sun shining through, the locket I hadn’t seen in years now around my neck. I’m still wearing the heart shaped locket. I can’t take it off, I reach to rip it off me and my fingers go right through it as if it’s not physically there.

Looking out the window there didn’t seem to be anyone around, the world is eerily quiet.

I walked through my apartment, it was immaculate, everything in its place, the glass on the windows particularly clean. No dust on anything, it all looked brand new. The quietness bothered me, something was off I could feel it. Then there was a knock at the door, it echoed through out. I walked over to the door and peered out peep hole, it was my usual mailman. I opened the door, what’s the worst that could happen. He handed me a letter and stood there silently with a lost look in his eyes until I opened it.

I pulled the paper out of the plain white envelope and read.

“ It happened, we’re watching, always. Quiet is best otherwise silence is necessary.”

Along with the note was my locket, the one Shreya had given me when we were kids. I looked around my neck the locket wasn’t there anymore it was now in my hand.

I closed the door and the mailman walked away, at that moment all the sound came back, I could hear the hustle and bustle of the busy streets outside, my air conditioner blowing air through the vents, my neighbors upstairs walking across the floor. What was going on?

My TV was on, I walked over to the living room they were talking about an earthquake the night before and how everyone was safe, they referenced a previous earthquake of the same magnitude that I know happened 2 years ago, yet they were claiming 10 years ago. I switched the channel, a commercial for a very popular fast food chain was on. Their logo was different and so were the colors on their sign. Just then my cell phone rang, it said “Ramon” with a heart next on the caller ID, I picked up.

“Hello..”

“Hey babe, are you ready for lunch, How does Mediterranean sound?”

I recognized his voice immediately, it was him, Ramon my ex boyfriend, we’d broken up 5 years earlier when I moved away for work, and I didn’t have his number saved on my phone, But there he was on the other end of the line calling sure we have a lunch date. And somehow in my contacts.

Realizing I may be living an alternate reality, I asked him, “Ramon what happened 5 years ago when I moved here for work?”

“I came with you, and I’m happy I did” he laughed and asked again if I was ready.

I don’t know what’s going on or whether any of this is even real, but I’ve kept living this alternate life with subtle differences, some street names are different, books have different endings or names than I remember, things I remember learning about in history at school, I’m

Now hearing are different than I recall. The logos of major retailers are different colors than I remember, and I’m told they’ve always been that way, I can’t find a trace of how I remember things online. Like it’s always been this way.

I’ve grown accustomed to these changes, I keep my locket in a jewelry box in my closet, and I’ve been “quiet” about what happened that night, other than this diary I’m writing I’ve never spoken about it to anyone before. Sometimes I wonder how many others there are like me. Or if you have ever noticed the types of changes I’ve talked about, it’s possible your world ended too and you were restarted in the Matrix.