The Last Winter Night
“Hey, Lance, you alright?”I look at my friend as we walk home from school. It’s a great day to relax, and I can’t wait to go home so we can watch the newest episode of the show we’re addicted to.“Y…yeah, Ian, it’s just…” Lance’s voice trails off into the winter air.“Dang dude, it’s freezing! You didn’t bring a jacket?”“Not like it matters…” I hear him muttering.“Well, who cares? As long as you don’t die or anything, I’m good!” Lance’s face turns into a scowl. “Uh… forget I said anything.”The rest of the walk home’s silent as we take a few minutes to buy some snacks at the convenience store. Well, “we” meaning me; it seems like Lance isn’t in the mood for some mouthwatering poutine chips. I reach into my pocket to grab my wallet, and the clerk stops me.“Um… actually, just take it. On the house,” She chuckles nervously. It looks like she hasn’t slept in days.“Sweet! Thanks!” I nod as Lance and I head out the store. What a stroke of luck, huh? Now that I think about it, the store doesn’t seem as lively as it usually is. I normally see a couple kids trying to steal some candy in the back, but even they weren’t there today.“Hey Lance, how come you didn’t get anything? I don’t have any food at home right now. Well, maybe when mom and dad come home—”“I’m not that hungry.”“You sure? The show’s not gonna be on until 8 PM, that’s four hours from now! You didn’t even eat lunch, now that I think about it.”No response. Well, maybe he was just feeling a bit sick. You can’t really be too careless these days. Heading out on the street, we both notice a ton of ambulances and police cars roaming around. My town’s usually a quiet one, I wonder what’s going on here. I shrug and open my bag of chips; free stuff always tastes better. I take out my phone to grab a quick selfie and post a status, but…“Hey, what the heck? No service?”I restart my phone and check to see if it’s off airplane mode. No dice.“Yo, Lance! Gimme your phone real quick.”Lance takes out his phone and gives it to me. I notice that there’s a countdown on his lock screen, but it seems to be in the same situation as mine.“You don’t have service either, huh?” I hand the phone back to him. It’s too far to try and head back to the convenience store now, but I can wait a bit to check on my other friends. Other than the emergency vehicles, the rest of the walk home is quiet. Perhaps too quiet.We arrive at my place, with a peculiar addition near it; a room encased in glass. I don’t remember anyone building something here yesterday, but maybe it’s just a pop-up shop or something. I shrug and head to the door. After grabbing my keys and unlocking the door, I realize that Lance isn’t next to me.“Yo man, what’s up? The door’s this way?” I flash a silly grin at him, but notice that he’s fixated on that weird room. “Maybe dad’s trying to do something new with the house. Seems pretty cool.”“Y…yeah,” Lance looks pensive and shivers.“Hey dude, what’s going on? You’re not this quiet normally.”“You don’t get it, do you?”“Huh? Oh crap, I forgot to work on our school project, didn’t I?”“It’s not gonna matter, none of this does,” Lance looks like he’s about to cry.“Hey, if you wanna talk about it, let’s go inside.”“You know what? I’ll see… I mean, have a good life.” Lance looks defeated and runs off.“Bro, our show’s gonna be on!” I frown and try calling him, remembering that there’s no service. I enter the house, where my dog is sitting on the couch.“Rufus, watchu doing over there? You know mom hates it when you’re there!” I pet my dog furiously. He wags his tail and starts to cough before jumping down and heading to my room. As I follow him and open the door to it, I notice that my television is on.“Hey, mom?” I call out. No answer. That’s weird; it’s the same countdown that Lance had on his phone; the timer looks like it’s under four hours. I look for the remote and try to turn off the television. It refuses to respond. I’d go over and manually turn it off, but the buttons on the TV are broken and I don’t want to do a lot of cable management to yank the power outlet manually. I guess it’s countdown clock on channel 3 for the time being.As I turn on my computer and log onto a chat room, I stare out the window and notice that it’s darker than usual. Is it a red tint outside? I hear muffled cries and screaming in the background. What’s happening?Ping!I hear a notification. And another. And another. Well, at least my internet’s working. My buddy Skipper’s online and asking me how our digital project’s coming along. It’s a new video edit I’m making for an internet advertisement, some sort of body wash that’s been all the rage online.> Skipper: You got the visuals done yet?> ChrazyFire: Yeah, gonna be exporting the project tonight.> Skipper: Cool; also, get on voice chat for a bit. Everyone’s going crazy for some reason.> ChrazyFire: ikr? Dude, is your phone working?> Skipper: Uh… lemme checkNo, but my internet is? That’s strange.> ChrazyFire: Guess America’s screwed too.> Skipper: We’ve always been, amirite?> ChrazyFire: lmao, but yeah. My buddy and I can’t access our phones either huh. Well, see you in a bit.Before I switch to my usual voice chatroom, I yawn and decide to take a nap. Nothing too out of the ordinary, I need my rest. Perhaps I’ll wake up and my phone will be fine…***“…un…so…Bunso… Gising na, bunso!”My eyes jolt awake and I see my mom in my room. I rub my eyes and see that her eyes are puffy.“Are you okay ma?”“It’s… it’s nothing bunso, just…” She’s sniffling, “I’m so proud your my son.”“Um… thanks,” I’m not sure where this is coming from, but I can tell she’s got something on her mind. “Mom, by the way, did you or dad turn the TV on earlier? It’s-“The television is now ticking down to 20 minutes. I’ve been asleep for that long? I look out at the window again; everything feels chaotic somehow. The sky grows redder even though it’s supposed to be night, and the everyone around me looks… off. Either they’re down in the dumps or smiling way too much. It’s unnerving. I shrug and turn around; my mom’s gone.“Mom?” I’m starting to get nervous, but I shake it off. Crap! I’m supposed to be doing a voice chat! I log into my computer and start typing, but I notice on the screen an ominous message:Server has been terminated.W…what? It seems that Skipper’s online, so I try to message him.> ChrazyFire: Dude, wth is going on?> Skipper: What’s up?> ChrazyFire: The server! It’s like… gone> Skipper: I don’t know, they deleted a bunch of them for no reason.> ChrazyFire: wut> Skipper: Yeah, a bunch of members are confused too. I tried talking to them, but whenever I asked how they were doing, they stopped responding.> ChrazyFire: You happen to see anything weird in your room?> Skipper: Yeah, a timer that’s been on my phone for some reason. It’s like at 5 mins now> ChrazyFire: Ah crap, same. Do you know what’s gonna happen?> Skipper: End of the world probably.> ChrazyFire: Haha, very funny(The message could not be sent. Retry?)I try clicking again and again but the message keeps failing. Frustrated, I restart my computer and realize the internet’s down.“Pa, did we pay the bill?” I yell to the living room. No answer. I put on my coat and head back outside. My jaw drops as I notice that my parents are holding each other close, looking at the glass room again. They seem at peace, but something in their eyes looks like they’ve given up.“Mom? Dad?” I frown and notice the glass room is getting redder by the minute. It’s starting to get hotter and I notice the snow around us is melting.“It’s okay, we know where we’re going,” Mom’s starting to cry with a smile on her face, “Would you like to say a prayer with us? One last time.”One last time? “Uh… I’m-I’m gonna go inside.” I reply and head back into my room. I should leave, but where would I go? I take another look at my television, and the countdown is nearly at 0. 3 seconds left.Oh right, my show! Don’t know how I’m going to watch it now, I wonder what will happen when
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