A Worldwide Blackout.

It was a long night for me, last night party was so sweet that I didn't know how I got back home. My brother must have dragged me up the stairs, he never gets tired of doing that almost every Thursday.

My head was aching as I got out of bed on Friday morning, I tried switching on the TV for the news which was an everyday routine for me, but the TV didn't come on. I checked the cables and they were intact, I later discovered there was no power.

I could have checked the light bulbs first but it looks like the alcohol was still influencing my action. I sat on the sofa with my phone in my hands, I was staring at lots of unread WhatsApp messages. I eventually opened the first one and he was asking if there was still electricity at my end because he got a rumor about a global blackout, I laughed and replied with "joker".

I was about to read the second message when my brother rushed in, he was panting heavily. I staggered around the parlor to get my iron bat in case someone was after him, I came back to ask who was after him and he said, "the whole world was in crisis".

Rapture? War? I asked, and he nodded saying no. He paused for a moment and eventually let the cat out of the basket after catching his breath, "electricity went off and it has been declared that the world is experiencing an indefinite blackout".

That must be a joke, did you guys plan this, or am I still under alcohol influence? I asked as I walked out of the house in pajamas. I saw almost every neighbor on the street talking about the blackout, so it is real. I called my mom and she said it was the same on her end, so I quickly got into my car with my brother to get her.

There was a queue at every shop, and gas station, and the world soon fell into chaos within a week. On the 16th day, I ran out of gas for my power generator and reality began to dawn on me.

I went in search of gas but couldn't get any and there was no reasonable explanation for how the blackout affected the availability of gas, things weren't the same anymore. I got a mail from my Internet provider saying they were shutting down in a few hours due to the electricity issue.

With a heavy heart, I prepared a farewell post and dropped it on Hive just like many other users did, we all hope things will return to normal after some days but they didn't.

Weeks passed, months passed, and we doubted if we still have our leaders on sit because there were no words from anyone. Survival became a huge problem for the human race and it became a world of every man for himself.

It started with missing my online engagement, I wished I could share my everyday experience online but it wasn't possible so I choose to write them in a big dairy I traded my extra solar bulb for. I did that to pass the story to other generations in case power doesn't come up till my time was up.

My fish started getting sick because I couldn't change the water so I distributed them to people, I felt my world crashing as I lost everything except my family to the blackout. After brooding for some time, the need for survival forced me to get out of depression.

If people have lived without electricity before now, we can as well do the same even though it will be tough.

We started with digging wells in the neighborhood for water, it went on from there to planting vegetables, fruits, and many other things. Live stocks were added and soon we had things in abundance, I didn't believe I could do all those things.

Everyone was concerned about their lives, and the relationship between humans improved because we needed to depend on one another for survival. I forgot a bit about the old world, I usually visit the sports facility in the evening to watch people play football and other sports. It was fun chanting the player's name, it brings back the memory of Messi and Ronaldo, I sometimes wonder what they are doing as well since nobody could watch anymore.

Bonds between families got stronger, I and my sibling took reading as a habit unlike before when we will sit in our rooms playing games, chatting, and watching movies. We began exchanging books in the community, we played ludo, and card games to cool off in the evening after doing jobs on the farmland.

People improved health-wise because we all had access to fresh foods but I still struggled with making fire with wood, the flames get me into a bad state whenever it was my turned to cook. On a fateful, I sat down with a cup of palm wine thinking of how much the world has changed when a man approached me. I offered him a chair and we somehow started a conversation after a brief introduction, his name was Galenkp.

He asked how the new world was treating me, I didn't know where to start because it had a good and bad side for me but I was able to get a few words to express what was going on in my head.

I missed social media, I missed blogging, I missed having to do things like cooking, moving around in a car with gas or electricity. I missed my phone because it was the closes thing to me then but now it is different, my family is the closest thing to me.

Technology depends on electricity and since it is down we have to do everything manually, it was difficult at first but we are used to it already. We have learned to be able to manage resources, avoid wasting of food and many other things. I missed the old world and even if electricity is restored, I will still try to create a balance and never let technology deprive me of beautiful time with my family, fresh food from the garden, personal time for meditation, reading, and my relationship with others.

He smiled and said, I hope you remember all these if things probably get back to normal. He stood up to take his leave after the long conversation, I felt glad talking to him and I showed him a lot of things as we walked down the road.

I returned to lay on the bed and fell asleep almost immediately, it looked like I had too much palm wine. I woke up to the sound of music and almost didn't believe my ears, it looked like power was back.

I rubbed my face and was staring at the ceiling fan, I screamed with excitement and my brother rushed in to check what was wrong. I told him I was excited and he was looking at me with this funny expression.

He asked, why?, and I said with a big smile, don't you see electricity is back?.

His reply was,from where?. I looked around and noticed nothing changed, I asked where mom was, but I didn't let him answer before asking if there was a worldwide blackout or not.

He shook his head and patted me on the back while saying, you had too much alcohol last night, you should rest more and get better

I got out of bed immediately after he left my room, I checked through the window, and to my surprise, there was no farms or garden, everyone was going about their daily routine.

I shut the window and grabbed my head because something wasn't right, I eventually realized that I have been dreaming for hours.

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