When the world finally stopped

“Just make sure that it comes back.”

“Are you stupid or stubborn? You know very well that I cannot provide guarantees.”

“Not sure about that. You always brought it back.”

“Because you are lucky.”

Dennis Newman shrugged. The messenger was in a foul mood, but he was not a bad person. Dennis knew that he was merely doing his job. Getting through this nightmare was like walking a tightrope and they would both have to keep their emotions in check.

“Alright. I’m lucky. Are you happy?”

The messenger sighed.

“I’m sorry. I did not mean to offend you. It’s just that things are really, REALLY, bad right now. Over the past two weeks, many items were not returned to the original senders. You have no idea how difficult it is for me to tell them that their recipients are dead.”

“I see. You don’t have to apologise. It’s my fault.”

Dennis looked at him with pleading eyes.

“I hope it comes back.”

He handed the black heart-shaped locket to the messenger. The latter took it and asked Dennis to sign a form which confirmed that the item had been properly transferred. Dennis kept a duplicate and thanked the messenger. A few minutes later, he was once again alone in his flat.

Where was his glass of whisky? Ah yes, there it was. On the kitchen’s table. It was the only thing that kept him sane. Over the past two months, he had become a full-blown alcoholic, but it was a meaningless problem next to the silent chaos that was raging outside.

“What will I do if it does not come back? Should I kill myself? It would be so easy. Corina, you must send it back. Please!”

Dennis grabbed the glass and sat down on his couch. He knew that drinking alcohol with an empty stomach was bad, but he could not bring himself to make dinner. Even opening a can of beans looked like it would take a superhuman effort.

“To hell with eating. I’ll just drink.”

He closed his eyes and thought about how it all started. “It” was something that no one had seen coming. The risk existed but it was so small, so incredibly hard to imagine that no one ever bothered to consider that “it” was a possibility.

“It” started on June 29, 2034, at five in the morning GMT. The sun went mad for three days. Powerful solar flares erupted in ways that were never seen before and flooded earth’s stratosphere with highly energetic particles. Hundreds of satellites were damaged beyond repair and then the impossible happened: the internet was completely silenced and stopped working on a global scale. There was no backup, no emergency plan, nothing…The internet stopped. The spinal cord of human communication for the past fifty years just snapped and left the world completely handicapped.

“It” would not have been such as catastrophe had it not been for the advent of another major disaster: the world was hit by another deadly pandemic that forced governments to impose lockdowns that looked like they were going to last forever.

And so, this was the condition of Dennis and of millions of people: trapped at home, with no internet and without the possibility of going outside except to visit the supermarket once a day for one hour. The whole world really stopped this time. Huge numbers of jobs were lost, and this prompted governments to accelerate the implementation of the Universal Basic Income. The UBI ensured the survival of the greater parts of what was left of Western countries. Dennis had grown dependent on the UBI. Without it, he would be dead. Plain and simple.

With the internet gone and without the possibility of leaving home, communication among people became incredibly difficult. So much so that a bizarre system took shape. Government workers called “messengers” would come and pick letters and items from households that were to be sent to friends and family. The item was a “guarantee” that the sender was in good health. If the recipient did not return it, this meant that he or she was dead.

Corina was Dennis’s sister and only sibling. He had not seen her or even heard her voice for almost a year. She was the only member of his family who was still alive. The others had been killed by the pandemic. If the black heart-shaped locket did not come back, it would mean that Corina was gone. That piece of jewelry was the only thing left that kept them together.

“If that thing does not come back, I will have nothing to live for.”

Nothing.

That summed up the life of Dennis.

That summed up the world in 2034.

Ashley Boolell