Stéphanie Lemoine was comfortably settled in her best friend's bed, but her expression was far from relaxed. She held her cell phone in her hands as if it were a relic, although it had not been working for almost two hours now. It was just an estimate, however, as she didn't know the exact time. She felt so vulnerable without an internet connection! Yet she didn't want to leave her phone in her pocket for fear of not noticing when it started working again.
The natural daylight passing through the large window of the room, which still retained some childish elements, highlighted Morgane's tired features. Next to her, Stéphanie was half lying down, lifting her legs and leaning against the nearest wall.
Anxiety had begun to give way to boredom for the two young girls raised by televisions, tablets, and cell phones.
"Still nothing?" Stéphanie asked, trying to conceal her impatience.
"Nope, nada. And you?" her friend replied with a desperate sigh.
"Nothing either. I don't get it! I left it charging all night! There should be at least... 15 or 20% left?"
"That much?" the girl replied, turning her head slightly towards her friend with a hint of surprise in her voice. "I'm down to 5% by this time. By the way, what time is it?"
Morgane reflexively looked at her phone before remembering that it was dead, despite being only three months old.
"Oh, um. Wait. There's my alarm clock... which also doesn't work anymore... Ah...
"What bad luck! Seems like nothing's working! Buses, cars, phones, watches..."
"Wait! There's that big clock downstairs, in the hallway!"
"The grandmother clock?"
"I think it was hers, actually!"
The two colorful-haired teenagers jumped up and raced down the stairs until they stopped in front of the big wooden piece of furniture. The pendulum was still swinging, which was a good sign. However, there was still a problem.
"Um... Morgane, there are no numbers. Can you read the time with the hands?"
"Well, um, it's been a long time and I've always used numbers... S-six thirty? Ha, no, that's not possible! It took me at least half an hour to get home!"
"Look at the little hand! It's a bit past the six!"
"So seven thirty-five, then? Makes sense!"
"Yeah! Um, I think I should head back soon. My parents must be home by now."
"Um, maybe... You said they weren't home when you got home, and since they work far from here, it'll take them a while to get back. With luck, they'll know when the phones will start working again!"
"Hope so! Gotta update my story! Too bad my phone died! I could've snapped some crazy pics and vids," Stéphanie exclaimed enthusiastically.
"Exactly! Haven't seen anything as wild since we found out Roberta Mendoza's pregnant, but not by her boyfriend!"
"Totally! And I saw there were new filters! Didn't even get to try them all out!"
"The one with bunny ears and hearts was too cute!"
Morgane seemed all excited, but quickly silence fell. The two girls had exhausted all possible topics of conversation in two hours. They had talked over a hearty snack of soda and chocolate biscuits about the general power outage that had seemingly paralyzed all of Paris, their phones not working, accidents caused by vehicles abruptly stopping and traffic lights, the day at school, the handsome Kevin who turned heads, music, and rumors about the hottest celebrities of the moment.
"Well, uh, gotta head back."
"Yeah! Be safe! We'll catch up... well, as soon as things get back online."
"Face time?"
"Sure, whatever. Just hope everything go back by tonight. Otherwise, I think I'm going to go crazy!"
"Well, if nothing works by tomorrow, at least we won't have classes!"
"Yeah... but I'd prefer everything to go back to normal."
"Agreed! Well, see ya!"
"Chaos!"
Stéphanie gave her best friend a kiss on the cheek and left the apartment under a bright sun. Despite the late hour, there were still two hours of daylight left. The spring air was mild and warm, which contrasted with the previous week, rainy and cold as in the middle of autumn. The two friends, who had known each other since they were little, didn't live far from each other, a fifteen-minute walk at most. Yet, she had come by bike, as she didn't want to walk that long.
The street, usually noisy and bustling, was incredibly quiet. Not a single car was moving. Instead, she could hear the birds singing, the wind in the trees, and in the distance, some detonations. Several columns of smoke, as black as ink, could be seen in the distance tearing the sky. There were also complaints and curses coming from the residents of the neighborhood buildings who couldn't get home. Fortunately, this was not the case for the residents of Morgane's building; the keypad doors were locked and refused to let anyone in from outside.
The giant power outage that disrupted all of Paris left many people already quite annoyed at the door. They had walked home, sometimes from the other end of Paris, only to find the door closed! Morgane's building's door was broken, so you could just pull it open.
Stéphanie lived with her parents and older sister in a small house north of the Saint-Denis canal, practically opposite the Stade de France. The neighborhood was rather peaceful as it mainly consisted of detached houses built on the same model as hers, except of course on match days. However, it would be even more peaceful if it weren't sandwiched between an important highway leading straight to Charles de Gaulle Airport on one side and a housing project composed of several blocks of buildings on the other. Sometimes she would wake up in the middle of the night because of the noise of motocross or scooters racing at high speed in the neighboring streets. Sometimes it was fireworks that woke her up from her sleep.
The young girl arrived in front of her house in just a few minutes and inserted her key into the lock. She then noticed that there was already a key inside, a sign that at least one of her parents had returned.
"I'm home," she declared without addressing anyone in particular.
A strong, angry, and worried male voice immediately sounded from the living room.
"Ah! Finally! We were worried sick! Where have you been, for heaven's sake?! Do you see the time?"
"Well, no! My phone is dead," she replied cheekily to her father as if she couldn't be reproached for anything.
Although Xavier Lemoine was very angry with his daughter, he couldn't disagree with her on this specific point. After all, he himself didn't know the exact time. Everything had stopped working, even the wall clock with hands in the living room that still showed 5:37.
"Don't talk back to me like that, young lady! According to your schedule, you finished at 4:30 today," he scolded authoritatively.
"Yeah, well, I didn't come home right away, 'kay? Like, I'm allowed to do stuff, right?" she replied with a defiant air. "I went to the Fnac with some friends, and then headed home! Well, I tried because my bus broke down at the same time as all the cars on the street and my phone! So I walked home! And since no one was home and nothing was working, I went to Morgane's to check if there was any power!"
"And you couldn't leave a note? Was that too complicated?"
"I... I didn't think about it," the girl conceded, looking away.
The tone had dropped as quickly as it had risen. Stéphanie's father didn't want to get angrier than he already was. He was too tired. Like his two daughters, he had walked home, but not without taking a big detour to find his wife and come home with her.
Xavier was a teacher at the Angela Davis High School, where his two daughters attended. Fortunately for Stéphanie, she didn't have him as a teacher. He was quite demanding with his students. With her rebellious temperament, he would have quickly clashed with her, leading to punishment each time. She was stubborn, lazy when she wasn't interested in the subject, and quick-tempered.
Teaching history, geography, and civic education, Xavier Lemoine was a man passionate about his job despite its challenges. In his classes, he had many troublesome students to deal with. Understanding how the world works and its organization didn't interest them, nor did how society had developed over centuries or knowing the rules of living together.
He only taught juniors and seniors while Stéphanie was in sophomore year. Her older sister, Marie, was indeed a senior, but the school had ensured she wasn't in any of her father's classes.
His wife, Christine, worked as a cashier at the Carrefour Saint Denis located within the triangle formed by the Saint Denis market, the Saint-Denis Basilica Cathedral, and the Saint-Denis Cemetery. Her father had quite a journey from the school to reunite with his wife after passing by the empty house, a total of three and a half kilometers. Because he hadn't done any sports since high school and commuted by car every day, walking that much was almost a feat.
"Come on," he eventually sighed, "don't just stand there in the hallway. Come into the living room."
The young girl obeyed, tossing her bag by one of the armchairs before flopping into it herself. Reflexively, she pulled out her phone before realizing she couldn't do anything with it. She placed it beside her and, with nothing else to do, listened to her parents' conversation. Marie was seated on one of the polished wooden chairs at the dining table, facing her father.
"And then? How did you manage?"
Christine sighed deeply, massaging her tired face.
"I didn't know the prices, so we had to check each item one by one, then calculate it on paper! Without a calculator! It was horrible! Hell! The customers were crazy! Serving one customer took ages, so we had to ask them not to take more than ten items! You can guess how they reacted! I was called a bitch, a slut, useless, and all sorts!"
"Damn! Those jerks," Xavier gritted his teeth indignantly.
"Seriously! I'd love to see them in our shoes! Thankfully, Moussa, the security guard, was there. With his rugby player build, he managed to calm more than one customer. But don't think for a second the men were the most violent! You should've seen the women! Martine, you know Martine? She got slapped because she refused a check! Even though we haven't taken checks for months! Not even because of the power cut!"
Christine turned red and seemed on the verge of exploding as she recalled her crazy day. She had never seen anything like it! In fact, no one had. No one was prepared for this. All the employees were overwhelmed by the events.
Xavier placed a comforting hand on his wife's trembling thigh.
"But you made it, right? You handled the crisis," he said.
"You think?" she chuckled hollowly. "Since most customers, except the elderly, didn't have cash, we had to exceptionally close earlier. Much earlier. And thank goodness! I served three customers in almost half an hour, the time it took to find prices and do calculations! I haven't done calculations like that since... middle school, I guess?"
"I admit, even I would struggle," Xavier smiled wryly. "A mistake in carrying and it's chaos!"
"Yeah! That's exactly it! I think we had quite a bit of theft before they told us to close our registers. They told us to come in as usual tomorrow, hoping the electricity will be back. And you?"
"Oh, you know, I wasn't too affected. I had just finished my classes. Well, I couldn't make my photocopies because the machine wasn't working, like everything else. I'll have to come much earlier tomorrow morning since I won't be the only one needing to make them. But what bothers me the most is my car that I had to leave in the parking lot. I don't like it, Chris."
"Same here. Do you think it'll come back tomorrow?" his wife asked, leaning towards him.
"I hope it's done before then," the man said, getting up. "Otherwise, it might escalate pretty quickly. Anyway, are you hungry?"
"Yes!" Marie and Stéphanie exclaimed simultaneously.
"Oh, I'm so craving pizza," Christine said, suddenly in the mood for a cheesy dish.
"OK! Pizza it is," the family man clapped his hands as if to motivate himself.
Xavier headed to the fridge to fetch a budget four-cheese pizza. As soon as he opened it, he noticed the absence of light. That could only mean serious trouble if the situation didn't return to normal soon. With a bad feeling, he turned to the oven.
"Oh..."
"What?" his wife asked, turning back with concern.
"Well, with the power cut, the oven won't work."
"Oh, right. Well, never mind. Canned ravioli it is then. We can add some grated cheese. I brought back a big bag from work," Christine suggested with a resigned smile.
Xavier returned to the fridge, which, although off, could keep food cool for a few hours. He put the pizza back in its place, on top of an opened packet of ham.
"Um, we really need to limit opening the fridge. Same goes for the freezer. Otherwise, the temperature inside will rise, and we'll have to throw everything away."
"What a pain," Christine groaned, feeling her headache intensify.
Xavier opened the tin can and poured its contents into a shiny, almost-new small saucepan before placing it on the gas stove. Luckily, it wasn't an induction hob. He turned the gas knob while exerting pressure to ignite it, but no blue flame appeared. Gas was flowing, he could hear it. Understanding the problem, Stéphanie's father fetched a lighter and manually lit the gas.
"It's on, but it's not heating up much!"
Unfortunately, the joy was short-lived because the more he waited, the more the gas seemed to struggle to come out. Although he turned the gas up to full, only a tiny flame burned under the saucepan. It had barely had time to heat up. Eventually, the flame went out. Xavier closed and reopened the gas several times, to no avail. He looked at his wife with a slightly helpless expression.
"Well, uh, I suggest sandwiches."