"One day, space distortions randomly appeared in the sky and ground. Then monsters that were straight out of fantasy started pouring out wreaking havoc and destroying cities in mere hours but suddenly, superhumans appeared to counter the monsters."
"I wish life was just like that."
I stood up immediately after closing the manga I was reading and started preparing for the day. Hi! I'm Ras Yggrel, born and raised in the Philippines and ready to conquer the world! Why am I having an internal monologue? Well, all the main characters do so and that's how this weird habit of mine started. Oh, by the way, I'm a Grade 11 student at the University of the Crimson Lotus. This university just screams "Main Character" vibes! That's why I wanted to attend this school even though the tuition fee is high.
"It's time to eat!" My father shouted from the kitchen as he is already done preparing breakfast while I was currently exercising and talking to myself. Well, I couldn't really make the food wait so I just stopped midway through my exercise and headed to the kitchen to eat.
Once I entered the kitchen I looked at the clock and realized an hour has already passed and I'm about to be late for school so I hurriedly ate, took a shower, then changed into my uniform then bolted out of the house while shouting, " I'm going to school!"
I ran towards the jeepney terminal and luckily caught the last jeep going to town. I took a sigh of relief and the sweat starts to run down after running so fast. Going to town from home takes 20 mins with jeepney and another 15 minutes walk from town to school. But now I'm stuck in traffic. I guess good luck doesn't last that long. As I pulled my phone to distract myself, a sudden alert message appeared
" Apocalypse starts at 7:59:59"
I tried to ignore it and close it but for some reason, I couldn't, it won't even let me turn the power off, it's just there. At that same moment, another passenger in the jeepney angrily cussed at the phone and said,
"Is this another trick of the government? Did anyone also receive an alert message?"
I raised my hand and other passengers also voiced out that they did. Everyone was in a state of shock because they can't use their phone to do anything. As the traffic finally moved, we passed by a big LED monitor on the side of the building.
A passenger shouted and pointed at the screen, "Look! The big monitor also has that same alert message!"
The jeep comes to a stop and everyone tried to look outside the window and panic started to ensue. That also caused the other cars to stop moving and the only thing I could think of is that I'm going to be late. So I went out of the jeepney and started running, I only have 15 mins left before I get marked late.
I arrived in front of my classroom after 11 minutes of continuous running. The teacher is already inside and was having a discussion with the students about the alert message earlier.
"Wow! You made it in time," my teacher said.
"Ma'am you look extra pretty today ha ha," I nervously laughed while hurriedly walking to my seat.
"Ras, don't sit down yet."
"Po?"
Everyone's gaze was directed towards me, my friends were giggling while some are just looking.
"What do you think about the alert message that suddenly appeared? "
"Well, I think it's some sort of prank or a wide area hack."
"You think people will do that?"
"Yes?"
"Okay sit down."
"Thank you po."
"Nevermind that, let's continue our lesson"
As I sat down, my seatmate tap my shoulder and asked,
"Is that really possible? I mean it also made every device unusable."
"Maybe, if the hackers are good enough. Also, have you tried using an actual radio?"
"Nope, we don't have one."
Then our attention focused on the teacher. Time passed by and we didn't really talk about what was happening because we were too busy doing activities ON PAPER. The recent event really made our life hard.
The class ended for the day, we checked the countdown and there were 30 minutes left. My friend Lando happily shouted,
"Guys! What if we stay here until the countdown ended?"
The majority declined immediately because they already want to go home and finish their homework.
"Geez, everyone's too industrious. I'm in for this idea," I said.
My other friends; Jimmy, Antonio, Tala, Freya, and Carmela also agreed because they're too lazy to do the homework.
"Great! I'll go buy the chips and drinks, my treat!"
Lando ran to the canteen then me and the others started cleaning and making a place as if we were on a picnic inside the room then we sat in a circle and put our phones in the middle. Lando came back with a bunch of snacks and then joined us. We talk about theories as to what happened until we noticed there was one minute left. We just randomly started counting down every second and immediately stood up. As the countdown nears, we also started shouting. Then the countdown hits zero. We closed our eyes and waited for something to happen, a few seconds went by and nothing really happened.
"Told you guys, that was just a prank by someone."
Then a large explosion happened nearby followed by a strong earthquake.
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[1] Po and opo are Filipino words that are commonly used to show respect to someone who is older or a person you respect.