The Day The Internet Died

Alex woke up Friday morning in her bed—still in yesterday’s clothes—having apparently made the transition from her desk sometime overnight. After a long shower and a change of clothes, Alex cracked open her door to take a peek outside.

Sonya was sprawled out on the couch—also still in yesterday’s clothes—fast asleep. It was unclear if she had stayed up waiting for Alex to return, or had just passed out from sheer work-induced exhaustion.

Alex gently closed the door and returned to her bed. Okay. It’s just after 10 now. Katie should be arriving soon. She spent the next few minutes looking out the window, waiting to spot Katie’s car. It was a good distraction from having to think about last night.

She realized that she hadn’t told her sister where she was going, or even that school was canceled, but at this point she didn’t care. Yesterday’s fight had solidified her desire to go to the protest. She wanted answers. She wanted the internet back. And she would do anything for that.

Katie’s car arrived in the driveway and gave a brief honk, immediately making Alex tense up. She did not want Sonya to wake up. She did not want to have to deal with that right now. Thankfully, mercifully, Sonya was still asleep when Alex opened the door. Carefully, she crept by the couch, and with the utmost care, opened and closed the front door.

“Woah. You look rough. What happened last night?” Katie watched Alex as she entered the car and began to buckle.

“No—Nothing… nothing,” Alex responded.

But Katie wouldn’t accept the response. “You sure nothing happened? You look like, pardon my French, a wreck.”

“Wreck is an English word,” Alex retorted, before letting out a deep sigh. “Sonya and I got in a fight last night.”

“You and Sonya always get in fights.”

“Yea. But this one… I don’t know. This one hurt.”

Katie reached over and squeezed Alex’s hand. “Well, now you’re with me and you don’t have to think about any of that anymore. Now, we’re rebels on a secret mission to infiltrate a protest and demand answers!”

Alex responded by squeezing Katie’s hand back. “You’re in a cheery mood,” she said. But when she looked into Katie’s eyes, they didn’t look so cheery. It seemed she had had a rough night as well.

Katie reversed out of the driveway and put the car in drive. “Well, I guess it beats the alternative!”

—

As they drove towards the Telecom building, they passed by a few future protesters on foot. And then a few more. And then several more. Before a while, the entire street was congested with pedestrians and cars, making it impossible to continue any further, even though they were a good mile away from their destination.

Katie, attempting to find a spot to park, piped up, “Damn. I did not expect this many people to be here. This has gotta be like the entire town!”

“I know right,” Alex replied, looking to see if she could make out anyone in the crowd.

They were forced to continue the journey on foot, blending into the crowd of protesters as they marched towards their destination. Katie grabbed Alex’s hand. “So we don’t get separated,” she said. Once again, Alex was reminded just how much she needed Katie.

The crowd continued to get denser and denser as they waded their way towards its epicenter. I’m starting to have a bad feeling about this. Well, maybe I ALWAYS had a bad feeling about this. Already people were getting heated, roughly bumping others aside to get past them.

After a particularly rough shove, Katie turned back and snapped, “Hey bud! Chill out! We’ll all get there eventually!”

The crowd reached its peak right in front of the Telecom building, where a dozen or so police officers stood guard in front of its entrance. Unfortunately, from Alex’s perspective it looked like the protesters outnumbered them around 100 to 1. Their presence seemed to have little effect on the crowd, who were by now getting even more boisterous, even though the protest wasn’t due to officially kick off for another hour.

A disheveled man shouted from amongst the crowd. “Tell those Telecom fuckers to get out here now and tell us what’s going on!”

“YEA!” shouted the crowd in unison.

Emboldened, the man continued. “It’s our fuckin’ right to know what’s going on! So tell them fuckers to come out here right fuckin’ now!”

Wow. He sure likes to say fuck. Alex felt Katie squeeze her hand to confirm that she was still there.

“Alex, I don’t know about this.”

As Alex looked around at the still growing crowd, she realized that they were now firmly planted in the middle, making it hard to move anywhere else. One of the policemen looked like he was about to step forward to speak, but the crowd wouldn’t hear him out. Alex and Katie started to get jostled, as the crowd competed to rush to the front to confront the officers.

Alex glanced over at Katie, whose face a mix of trepidation and fear. “Alex…”

The battering increased as more people tried to force their way by. A protester barreled through Katie and Alex from behind, breaking their hand hold. Seconds after, Alex felt a sharp elbow dig into her from the other side. Alex turned to confront its owner. “Hey! Watch out!” Clutching her side, Alex turned back, only to find that Katie was no longer next to her.

“Katie!” Alex shouted at the top of her lungs. But the sound was only swallowed up by the increasing volume of the crowd. “Katie!”

The man’s voice from earlier rose above the crowd. “Take this, you police fucks!”

CRASH!

Alex saw a glass bottle shatter by the feet of one of the police officers.

CRASH!

Another, this time making contact with a riot shield.

The policeman who had earlier stepped forward now raised a megaphone. “ATTENTION! THIS HAS BECOME AN UNLAWFUL ASSEMBLY! DISPERSE NOW, OR YOU WILL BE FORCED TO DISPERSE!”

But all this did was rile up the crowd even more. More things were thrown at the officers, who had to fully huddle behind their shields. Alex continued to get jostled from all sides. She scanned the crowd, desperate to spot Katie. “Katie! Where are you!”

Alex’s breathing started to rapidly increase as the crowd closed in around her. This is not what was supposed to happen. I just… I just wanted answers. More shouting. More sounds of glass shattering. More shoving. Why did we come here? Where’s… where’s Katie? I need Katie. Shoving. Shouting. Nearby, it sounded like a window was shattered. The crowd continued to compact, squeezing the air out of Alex’s lungs. Katie. Katie.

BOOM!

Off to the side, a police car was now engulfed in flames. The heat radiated over the crowd. The policeman yelled something over the megaphone again, but it was muffled by the roaring crowd. From somewhere amidst the chaos, a shout, “Alex!” But Alex couldn’t hear it.

Why… No… I just wanted answers… I just… I just wanted to see them again… Alex cupped her ears and bent down to shield herself from the heat. The crowd roared around her. The sound: piercing.

The roar continued. The heat increased as the flames tried their best to suck all the oxygen out of the air.

Hot. Hard. To. Breathe. Please. Make it stop. Air. Someone help me.

“Alex!”

Make it stop. Make it stop.

“Alex!”

Make. It. Stop.

“Alex!”

Make… it… stop.

—

End of Part 1.

To find out what happens next without the wait, head to patreon.com/connoraidan

Otherwise, Part 2 will be posted around 2-4 weeks after the release date of Part 1.