I’m standing by my window. The rain pounds the glass. The winds howls though the gaps. The air raid sirens wail. Visibility is less than 3 feet. It’s freezing cold and pitch black outside.
It’s noon.
The last reports indicated the war had come to us. They had struck first and struck hard. All modes of communication asked us to stay indoors, switch off lights and hide in basements if we had them. The street lights turned off and everything closed. Hiding from air raids was the priority. Telecom providers were overwhelmed as social media posts and phone calls overloaded the bandwidth. Communication slowed to a crawl, calls began to be dropped. It was midnight when we heard the first bang. It shook the earth, it rattled my house, it rattled my heart.
It’s been pouring hard since then with hurricane force winds. Every now and then an explosive boom flashes cold blue light into my dark house and hurts my eyes. I still don’t know if it’s bombs or thunder. The first to go was the satellite TV and radio. Apparently they’re jamming it. Mobile data and communications turned dark next. The last mode of communication left was cable internet. They targeted our all our communication lines. Destroyed our fibre cables. I don’t know when we lost power. With no power have out of water as the pump doesn’t draw. With no power it’s getting colder as the heaters are dead. With no power I cannot call for help.
It’s the second noon there’s been no sign of the sun. The sun is supposed to be right up in the sky. I can’t see the sky. I can’t see my own front yard. The wailing wind is getting louder. It sounds like people screaming. Maybe they are. The rain almost sounds like white noise. It’s like someone is slowly rising the volume rocker of my static TV, but my TV died hours ago. I can only see what I light with my torch. My dim world is punctuated with blinding-flashes and ear-bursting bangs that seem to keep getting nearer. I just realised, for some unexplained reason, the air raid sirens are still ringing. Banshees still singing their song of death.
I thought I saw the sun. Warm and golden. Radiant and round. It split through the darkness. But then it began to darken. Ugly bubbles began to turn the sphere of light into a angry mottled mess of a cloud. And then it disappeared.
The bang that followed, felt malevolent. My house almost collapsed. The winds have only gotten stronger since then. I can’t open any of my door or windows now. I feel weak. Is it radiation, or just dehydration? Imagine dying of thirst in rain. I don’t know how long we’re supposed to hold out. Soon I will run out of batteries and will have no torch. In the pitch black and the screaming static rain, the blinding flashes and deafening bangs will remain the only reminder I can see and hear.
It’s been days since I’ve last seen light outside. I think the sun has set on us for good.