Beeep-

. . .

Beeep-

. . .

Beee-

Esmey wearily stopped the outgoing call, staring at her screen in defeat.

The bright glare of her phone, which was the only source of light inside the loft that was now shrouded in darkness, illuminated her haggard face and tired eyes. Her father still wasn't picking up.

She again wondered for the nth time: How stupid was she, trying to call him of all people?

But, who else can she call? Esmey wasn't particularly close to anyone. With no friends and no other relatives, that afternoon, the distraught Esmey who had no one else to rely on fell helpless. So she dialed her fathers number over and over again for the first time in years. But when night came, she finally seemed to give up on trying to reach him.

Her fingers were still trembling and the sound of a woman's shrill screams reverberated in her head. Esmey grimaced, grabbing her temples tightly.

After the ordeal was over, she learned that the man who collapsed at her door was a neighbor that lived right across from her. His wife, who arrived just a few minutes before the paramedics did, hysterically collapsed at the grim sight of her husband in a pool of his own blood.

When Esmey heard the sound of sirens in the distance, she irritably rubbed her ears, and heaved in annoyance. With her knees held close to her chest, she forcibly closed her eyes.

Sleep. I can't think anymore, just sleep.

But the living room floor was just too cold and uncomfortable so she hauled herself up to the couch, curled herself up into a ball, and scrunched her eyebrows, hoping for a good rest.

But after a long night of twisting and turning, Esmey still ultimately woke up with dark circles.

Any small noise that she heard during the night had startled her awake. Her delusions made the shadows in the dark feel like a sword that could cut her at any second, without warning. She wondered, how many more of these nights could she handle? The paranoia she experienced was similar to those long nights after a fight with her father. . .

Esmey checked her phone for a sign of her father and found that he sent her a message after she had managed to fall asleep from pure exhaustion.

'I'll be back the day after tomorrow, keep your bags packed.' 

Esmey stared in disbelief. So many calls made in desperation and these were the only words she got in return?

He just repeated what he told me before leaving, she frowned.

Esmey clutched her phone, wondering about what to reply with when her screen suddenly lit up with another message. It seemed that someone added her to an unnamed group.

The message 'Who added the mute??' came as quickly as it went between the endless stream of others. Esmey gaped at the chaos of messages flying across her screen in confusion.

What is this?

A few seconds passed before an admin of the group muted all the members and sent out, 'LISTEN. We're not getting anything done like this. Just add any other students you know, share what you might know and shut up if you have nothing else to say. Seen the videos online? Spit out the links. Have relatives/parents in important places? Then share with us common people what the hell is going on. I'm kicking out anyone who takes this a joke. The sirens in my neighborhood were going on back and forth all night, I'll cut off an arm and leg if it's a false alarm of something bigger going on.'

After unmuting all the members, however, the same flood of useless chatter ensued.

'Soooo you're saying we're all gonna die?? Lol'

'Cure for your anxiety, my friend. [U.tub Video Link: Cat With Deep Meow Part. 7]'

'Dont say that!!! I still haven't seen 1-2-Free in concert yet!!!!! T＿T'

'囧'

'Nothing is on the news. Stop being paranoid and scaring everyone.'

'Maybe its propaganda for a new arg game?'

'I didn't hear any sirens? Slept like a baby too.'

[Maya<3 has left the chat.]

'[U.tub Video Link: THE END OF THE WORLD? (XX STREET FOOTAGE)]'

'I veto the agr game propaganda!'

[ASSDESTROYER has left the chat.]

'So many messages. .'

'Can you guys take this more seriously??'

'Wtf. THIS is how you're all choosing to react? No its clearly not for some stupid game. Didn't you hear the ambulances all night??? And all that shit posted online??'

'I didn't hear anything.'

[qjdsb has left the chat.]

[Princess Mae has left the chat.]

'They were going back and forth all night how could you not hear. . .'

'Where do you live?? I didn't hear anything either'

'Admins please pin my message. My uncle has had a scorching fever and really bad seizures since last night. But hospitals are REFUSING to let him in. They gave us fever-inducing medicine and sent us off but he's clearly NOT okay. Please, please please, if anyone can help my uncle is the only family I have and. . .'

'Stop leaving the chat and listen. This is serious.'

'Well then seriously suck on deez nuts'

'Lmao 100+ messages in less than a minute. My phone is literally burning up.'

'Why wouldn't any hospitals let him in?? Fake.'

'Admins why the fuck would you add our WHOLE grade to a chat?? This is a mess'

'[U.tub Video Link: New virus?]'

'I thought I'd never have to hear from you ugly mugs again after graduation so wtf is this chat?'

'@Admins kick out class 1,3,4,5 they're all dumbfucks.'

'Still think nothing is going on? I'm ready to leave the country bro wtf is this [U.tub Video Link: 67890036]'

'That's FORMER class 1,3,4,5. Please, I'm a big college boy now.'

'Your trash class 2 are the dumbfucks'

'Fuck you.'

[my username was taken has left the chat.]

'@Admins can you pin the. . .'

Esmey dazedly scrolled through the laggy chat. In the span of a night, things all around seemed to be shifting. She hesitantly clicked on some of the videos but most of them, besides the ones that were of cute cats and weird songs, were dead links. Esmey tried video link after video link, again and again, until her anxiety started setting off alarms in her head. 

Something is going, something is definitely going on. . . right?

Why else would her father suddenly anxiously move them? Why would so many people simultaneously act hysterically if it was really nothing? Even if they just wanted to create chaos, would it easily reach this degree in a span of one night? And that man yesterday. . .

Esmey's mind churned uncontrollably. Finally one of the videos loaded.

In front of what seemed to be a supermarket, a man lay on the ground with severe bruises all over. He was convulsing, drenched in blood with a crowd of worried onlookers all around him. The video was short but enough to spring forth a chill in Esmey's heart. This was exactly what the man from yesterday also looked like. The comments were disabled and the video name was just a string of numbers. Even the account that uploaded it seemed to be a throwaway.

'Do you know?' A private message popped up on her screen. 'Your dad knows, right?'

Her dad did know. And it was easy to assume he would know, considering how much of an influential figure he is.

'He didn't tell me anything.' Esmey added an, 'I'm sorry' before sending the message. But the other side didn't reply back.

Esmey kept looking online for more clues but, other than private group chats, the internet was oddly quiet on the topic.

She anxiously leaned forward when she finally found a forum thread discussing what's been happening. Scrolling down, none of the comments seemed to have loaded and when she hit refresh, the page could no longer be found. Esmey turned on the tv and tried calling her father again.

Flipping from channel to channel, Esmey heard the disappointing chimes that singled the end of a call and messaged her father instead. She changed her wording multiple times, 'My bags are still packed. Sorry, I know you're busy but where are you right now?'

Her father sent back a message rather quickly this time. 'I'm in H city right now.'

Right after sending the message, he finally called back, "You're still at the apartment, right?"

"Mn."

"Good. Listen, things have changed so I'll be back by today. They're going to send the army out soon to start picking some people up. They already set up a temporary base near where the apartment is and I got us a spot there so we can leave quick.—"

"What . . ?" Esmey swallowed, "The army? Why. . . ?"

"—We. . . Just listen. . We'll have everything we need over there until this all blows over. We'll go straight there once I'm done here. After things calm down and they clean their mess up, everything will be back to normal. Okay?"

Esmey still had a stomach of questions, "Okay. . But what exactly is going on? Why is the army getting involved. . ? Some people. . are saying there's a virus. Others are saying there's a gas that's—"

Her father laughed in anger, "Useless idiots couldn't even keep the internet clear of all that junk? It's not a gas or a virus, don't worry, we're safe. It's just—," Her father walked to a different corner, "Some greedy bastards of a shit pharmaceutical company somehow managed to screw up pretty badly. Just think of it like, mild rabies."

"But. . it doesn't really look like rabies. . . "

"It is what is. That's not important right now. Right now, all that's important is for you to remove to stay put and wait for me, okay? Just stay there."

Esmey uttered an 'alright' and turned her attention to the time, calculating how long it'd probably take for her father to return.

"Are you okay?"

Esmey nodded. Then realizing her mistake she quietly said, "Yeah, I'm. . fine."

". . Are. . you sure?"

The word 'no' was on the tip of her tongue, "Yeah."

"Good. Take care and stay put," Her father hung up in satisfaction. Esmey was unused to the frivolous care of her father, biting her lips in discomfort.

Why was he so confusing? If he really cared, wouldn't he have called earlier? The sound of a siren outside brought her attention back to more urgent issues, propelling her to push those thoughts to the back of her mind.

Quickly deciding to spend the rest of the day looking online for more answers, Esmey left the tv on a news channel and plugged her phone into a charger, anxiously awaiting whatever would come next.