Zeus stood up from his bed by 6am as his usually wakes up every morning. His alarm rang repeatedly from table and he was forced to wake up. He took his phone from the table and stopped the alarm, then on his data connection and checked his notifications.
Nothing unusual.
He opened his WhatsApp and send some few messages. He looked outside from his window and saw that the sky was cloudy, but is a usual thing which he sees everyday
“Zeus! You are going to be late!” his mother shouted from the kitchen.
“I’m coming!” he replied.
He stood up and quickly took his bath and ate some fried plantains prepared by his mother, he took his bag and rushed out through the door. The street was so busy, vehicles was all over the road horning for each other. Children going to school and traders bringing out their goods to prepare for the day.
It was an ordinary morning.
At school, Zeus spent most of the day thinking about the weekend. At the end of the class the teacher gave them an assignment, during the break period he joke with his friends, everywhere was feeling hot. Nobody knew that they were living through the final hours of the normal world.
By 5pm in the evening, the traffic was heavy, Zeus didn't notice the traffic because he bought a bottle of soft drink and was looking through his phone while walking along the road
At exactly 5:59 p.m., he received a message from his best friend, Michael.
“Are you home yet?”
Zeus saw the chat and smiled
Then the clock struck 6:00 p.m.
Everything stopped.
Not slowed down.
Stopped.
Zeus noticed the vehicle in front of him have suddenly froze. A motorcycle stopped with its rider leaning forward. A bird remained motionless in the sky. And also the traffic light countdown stopped
Zeus looked around in confusion.
He looked at his phone and saw that his time remained at 6:00pm, even when a minute has passed from 6pm.
He refreshed it.
6:00 p.m.
He restarted the phone.
6:00 p.m.
Zeus looked at the wristwatch of an elderly man standing beside him. The hands were also pointing at six.
Zeus said to the man "sir what's the time"
The man looked at his watch.
“Six o’clock.”
Zeus swallowed hard.
A minute passed.
Then another.
The clock did not move.
Another thing that happen was that all the lights in the neighborhood and streets went off.
The traffic light went off, the noise from television and radio set vanished.
Zeus ran home.
He got home and saw his mother standing on the door looking towards the street
She said to her son "Zeus what's happening"
Zeus replied “I don't know.”
Zeus mother tried calling her husband but the was no network to reach him
After some moments they heard people screaming outside the street and running around.
Some of them were crying and calling the names of their loved ones.
Zeus looked up and noticed the clouds have stopped moving.
At that time the world have suddenly become a photograph
At exactly 6:15 p.m. something miraculously happened
The streetlight suddenly turned on again
Every gadgets in the neighborhood also turned on
A strange message appeared on people device saying “THE OLD WORLD HAS ENDED.”
Zeus heart began beating faster.
A second message appeared.
Saying “DO NOT PANIC.”
Then a final message:
“THE CHANGE HAS BEGUN.”
The screens went black.
For more than a minute nobody moved
Then the sound of a distant explosion shook the ground.
Zeus ran outside.
Far beyond the houses, a strange blue light had appeared in the sky. It stretched across the horizon like a massive curtain.
People stared at it in silence.
Then Zeus noticed something terrifying.
The cars that had stopped at 6:00 p.m. were no longer there.
Neither were the motorcycles.
Neither were the buses.
The road was completely empty.
The world had changed.
That night, Zeus sat beside his mother in the darkness, listening to the frightened voices of their neighbors. Nobody knew what would happen next. Nobody knew where the missing vehicles had gone or why the clocks had stopped.
But Zeus understood one thing.
The day had begun like every other day.
People had laughed, worked, argued, eaten, and made plans for tomorrow.
They had assumed tomorrow was guaranteed.
They were wrong.
At midnight, Zeus looked at the clock.
It still read 6:00 p.m.
He looked through the window at the silent streets and whispered, “This was the last normal day.”
And somewhere beyond the darkness, something answered with a deep rumbling sound.
The change was only beginning.