1 The Year of Darkness
Island East of New Zealand - American Samoa
December 31st, 2019
Tuesday, 11:59 p.m. SST
As the night extended, the sky shined brighter than the sun, with fireworks raining down transforming the sky into a canvas filled by colors and thundering noise.
"10!"
"9!"
"8!"
"7!"
"6!"
"5!"
"4!"
"3!"
"2!"
"1!!"
"Happy New Year!!!"
"WoooOO!!!"
"Yeahh!!"
"Alri-"
"Woah... what just happened"
"Where did all the lights go?"
Stripped away of their great climax to start the new year off, everything around them abruptly plunged into darkness.
-
*One hour earlier*
-
United Kingdom - Bournemouth
January 1st, 2020
Wednesday, 10:00 a.m. GMT
*BEEEEP*
*BEEEEP*
*BEEEEP*
"Aaaaaaughhh.."
*Bzpt*
"Man, my head hurts from last night.. and this darn alarm, I forgot to turn it off."
'Well whatever, I guess I'll get up' I thought to myself as I rolled out of bed landing with a thump on the floor.
I got up swiftly after regaining my footing and headed to the bathroom to wash myself up. After all, I had a lot to drink last night.
Looking at my face in the mirror, I saw a straight up mess. My light-brown hair that was usually parted in the middle was sticking upwards resembling a mohawk, whilst my brown eyes had the darkest of eye bags under them that are large enough to convince others that I were a zombie.
Nevertheless, I hopped in the shower to freshen up and brushed my teeth. I quickly hopped into some black sweat pants, a black hoodie and my slippers and made my way to the living room.
Seated on a large armchair, I noticed my dad with his black hair slicked back and the same brown colored eyes as mine fixated on the T.V. in front of him. My mother, in the kitchen with her light-brown hair tied up in a bun and her familiar brown eyes that were peering behind her glasses was making breakfast.
As I stepped out of the hall and into the living room my fathers eyes turned towards me and greeted me. "Good morning Atlas, manage to get some sleep?" He let out with a chuckle.
My mother quickly noticed my presence and also spoke up. "Honey! Good morning, I've made some eggs; they'll be ready in a bit!" She exclaimed with a sweet smile.
"Good morning, I'm still a bit tired but I think I'm good." I replied my father. "Is Lily still sleeping?" I continued.
"Yeah, your sisters still asleep, last night was the longest she's stayed up." He chuckled again as his eyes traced back towards the T.V.
With that I sat down on the couch and watched the T.V. for a little bit while waiting for the food to be ready.
'In roughly 45 minutes every place in the world will have officially entered the new year. The start of a new decade always means changes. Let's just hope they are good ones.'
Looking up at the clock as the reporter mentioned the time I saw it was exactly 10:15 a.m. It's always been weird to me that although I've already entered the new year some people are out there still celebrating and waiting for the new year.
*Ding Ding*
"Food's ready guys!" My mother yelled as she interrupted my thoughts
"Shouldn't we wake up Lily? So she could eat with us?" I exclaimed as I sat up from the couch.
"It's alright; I'll make more for her when she wakes up, let's just eat for now honey." She quickly waved it off as she served my food on the dining table.
My father finished his breakfast first, swiftly returning to the armchair as he turned the T.V. back on.
As I got up from the table as well, I thanked my mother for the food and started walking towards my room.
While I was walking towards my room I glanced at the clock and noticed it was 10:59 on the dot.
*Tick - Tock*
I watched as both handles ticked and the time became 11:00 a.m. Not paying it much attention I walked past it.
"Seriously? What just happened, the T.V. just shut off." I heard my dad complaining and turned around.
"That's so weird; I also lost all power in the kitchen." My mother added.
"Atlas, could you go check the power box and see if everything's alright?" My dad asked as he kept playing with the remote hoping for the T.V. would turn on.
"Sure thing." I replied, as I turned back around and headed for the power box.
Opening it up I noticed nothing was out of the ordinary.
However, as I entered the living room again I found my dad glued to the T.V. screen with my mother making her way over to see what was on the screen. Nothing could have prepared me for what could have come next.
On the screen there a black silhouette appeared contrasting with their white background.
'Testing.. Testing.. 1.. 2.. Hmm it seems that we are live.' The silhouette began talking, eluding an ominous and raspy voice that sent shivers down my spine.
As the man kept fiddling with his mic, I realized that my phone was letting out some noise. Taking it out, I saw the same dark silhouette on my phone screen. Despite my attempts to close the video I had no control over my phone.
'Hello to all humans, and Happy New Year, I have a message for all of you. Now that we have all caught up to the New Year, I can share with you that precisely 24 hours from now all kids born in between the years 2003 and 2005 will be transported to a new world.'
'Recognizing the significance of New Year celebrations on this planet, in an act of benevolence we have given you a whole day in your time intervals to truly celebrate the new year to the fullest! Regardless, I hope you all have a wonderful day and as your saying goes: a very Happy New Year.'
