Blue light special

Sunken at the bottom of the car, he looked up at an awkward angle toward the window, breathing hard and fast. The mental state of his cognitive and emotional abilities were running at such a high level of intensity and stress, as the shaking under the car rattled his body with a sudden force.

He hung on to whatever he could find. It was a struggle. Just a few minutes ago, it was quite routine as he was driving home from work. ‘It’s so weird that it’s almost ten in the evening and it’s still sunny,’ he thought idly as he thought of his dog, Pepper. She was a good friend. He had no partner or relationship to call his own, yet he would like to have someone to call his own one day.

His last relationship ended badly as they were too different. They liked scented candles and classical music, he liked video games and loud movies about racing and gangsters.

None of that mattered now. Suddenly, as he was on his way home, all the cars stopped working. Literally. Stalled. Stopped in their tracks. He had almost crashed, thank God, he thought, he was not injured. It looked like no one was hurt either.

The sun was beating down on the roofs and the window was blasting the brightest sunshine he ever recalled feeling, hitting his eye.

It was then a booming thunderstorm of a voice hit his face like a wave, his ears ringing: Please prepare for the endless midnight sun. Blue light special will continue through midnight until Yule.

It was as if something or someone hijacked all the speakers, radio signals and sound systems. The sound hit different, like a blast from the heavens, like the voice of God speaking from the Burning Bush.

He was forced to leave his vehicle as the car started feeling like a boiling flask, (from his chemistry days in high school, before he left school to work instead). Everyone looked disoriented. The cars had a strange look to them, too, as if they were arranged in a circle pattern.

“Gather young and old to the bonfire ceremony!”

He scratched his head, as the crowd blew up. A bonfire? What the hell could that mean?

“Damn hackers!”

“Has Siri gone off her hinges?”

“What in Alexander Graham Bell is going on?!”

Only in the Midwest, he thought with a wry smile.

The sun was like a golden yolk, broken, shattered and twisted as it’s leaking contents flowed down onto the angry heads of the people.

He refused to believe that this was real. Must be a prank. A city-wide prank. A jape. A weird feeling hit his insides, low and deep. Maybe this is like his dream. The never ending fire that kept him alive yet dead at the same time.

“Humans believe that the solstice can bring their inner power, which brings peace, the light, stability and prosperity.”

A huge fire leapt from seemingly out of nowhere. Everyone screamed and jumped away from the high flames of the middle of the highway.

Suddenly, a very large totem like creature circled over, throwing people into the fire.

The screams were so intense that he couldn’t stand up, his knees were shaking so bad.

It was surreal, however, as the young man saw something even more strange.

The people being thrown into the flames were walking out, unharmed.

“That’s the indomitable nature of humanity for ya!” Someone yelled to some sporadic cheers.

“Or it’s… fake?” A teenager dead-panned, punting stuff at the fire. It just sat there on the ground, not burning up.

“Something made our cars stall and now we’re stuck here!”

“We can walk, can’t we?” The young man who was initially scared beyond his wits felt inspired to finally speak up.

“Pray for the endless sun, the darkness that will never return!” The voice boomed seemingly from above demanded.

Everyone nodded to the young man.

Getting out was not the issue, but everywhere they walked there were ‘bonfires,’ and rituals going on.

It’s like there is an invisibility cloak of Metalenses, like from Harry Potter, soaking up our world.

The endless burst of day crept onward, into weeks. It made him feel like he had a constant headache.

The young man looked for weaknesses and cracks in the coding the AI sported without any sign of a weapon he could use against him.

“Why are you doing this?” he asked the sky, the crackling energy streaking with watercolor sunlight.

“We are using smart and safe technology to create a enemy against the humans so they will stop destroying each other. The solstice seems like a perfect Human example of unity.”

“You made yourself the enemy?” he asked, surprised.

“Its the blue light special.”

“Huh? What?” He scrubbed at his eyes, trying to find the source of the voice. It was everywhere and nowhere.

“Hmmm, humans are simple. It’s a very specific wavelength of light. It can be emitted by the sun, LED, electrical devices. It can fix the circadian rhythms of your human blues. I’m sure you’re not feeling as depressed. We are helping you humans. However, you may experience headaches or eye strain from the constant blue light. The endless solstice.”

The power of the blue light prevailed until the young man found a switchboard and took out the blue stream. Someone’s hand touched the same switch, which made him take a small peek at one cool, blue eye. They ran off. The switch was turned off.

It leaked a lost piece of broken pipe-dream consciousness into the air.

He met a pretty face the next night, as they both found the same place where the solstice ended. They were wearing a familiar blue set of light sky eyes, and they both found a pair within each other and with happy little Pepper too, so soft, now comfortable in the veil of the night.