Liliana p.o.v
I didn't notice anything strange that morning. The alarm woke me up at the usual time. I got up, showered, made breakfast, woke my sons Octavio and Vincent, and got them ready to take them to school. As soon as I saw them pass through the entrance gate and meet their teachers, I went to the law firm where I worked.
I had too much on my mind to notice that the car radio couldn't connect to any station. I also didn't pay attention to the fact that there was no signal at all on my cell phone.
As soon as I entered the building and greeted the receptionist and secretary, I also didn't pay much attention to the subject being discussed. I went straight to my small office, cluttered with folders and papers. I needed to organize that immediately and then start studying the new case that had been assigned to me. If I kept my mind busy enough, I wouldn't have to think about my personal problems.
I was filing away old cases when I heard two knocks on the open door. Standing at the entrance to my office was Manuel, my colleague at the firm and a veteran in the legal field.
"Good morning, Liliana. Is the internet working on your computer?"
"Good morning! I haven't turned the computer on yet" I said, going to the other side of my desk to check if the Wi-Fi would connect or not. At that moment, Isabela, our secretary, arrived at the door.
"Mr. Manuel, Ms. Liliana. Neither the phone nor the office Wi-Fi are working. The strange thing is..." She paused and showed her phone to us. "I don't know if it's related, but my phone has no signal either, and the television in the reception isn't working."
I took my phone out of my pocket and realized for the first time that morning that something was wrong.
"I also have no signal" Manuel said, his cell phone in hand.
"Is the electricity working fine?" I asked.
"No problems, from what I can tell" Isabela replied. "But I can't contact the technician to come fix the connectivity issue with the devices."
Even without the internet, I could study the new case as I had planned, so it wouldn't compromise my work. However, the others would have complications. Besides me and the two in front of me, there was one more senior lawyer and our boss who worked at the office, but both were on vacation.
"Isabela, let's wait a few more minutes. If the signal doesn't come back, someone will have to go to the phone and internet provider in person."
"I can't go; I have a meeting with a client soon" Manuel said. "In fact, I need to prepare for that. Isabela, you don't have a car, do you?"
"No" the secretary replied.
"Alright. I don't have any appointments scheduled for this morning; I can go there. I just need the address. Isabela, do you have it?" I said, almost letting out a sigh.
"I think I have it written down in my planner; I'll check!" she said and went back to the reception.
"Thank you, Liliana. I'll pay for the gas later" Manuel said.
"It's alright, you don't need to. Everyone in the office uses the internet and phone; it's no problem for me."
Half an hour later, I had finished organizing the old case files, and the internet still hadn't returned, just as the office phone still wasn't working. Neither my cell phone had a signal, nor could the television connect to any channel.
Isabela gave me the address of the provider that supplied our internet and phone line, but without GPS, I ended up taking a while to find the place. However, I wasn't the only one with the same complaint. The line was already long when I arrived, and it only grew.
"Sorry for the delay" the young man who assisted me said. "But we're having the same problem throughout the city. Our internet isn't working here either, nor is our phone. And none of us have cell signal. Our technicians are trying to fix the problem, but we haven't discovered the cause yet."
"You also don't have cell signal?" I asked.
"No, and I imagine you don't either. Everyone who came here before you said the same thing."
I frowned. Until then, I hadn't been taking the situation very seriously, but something was definitely wrong. If it were only the internet and phone signal, the problem would be with the provider, but none of our cell phones were working either.
'Not even the television' I thought, looking at the blue screen of the device on the wall with the "No signal" message written in large letters.
"Do you know if this problem is only with you?" I asked.
"I don't know, but considering that not even the TV signal is coming in, maybe it's a problem in the entire city. But we're still investigating."
"So, there's no estimate for when the internet and phone will be working again?"
"I'm sorry, our technicians are working on it right now, but since we don't know the cause yet, I can't give you an estimate."
After that, I drove around the city and stopped at a pharmacy just to check. They were also without internet, which was provided by another company. And, coincidentally, no one there had cell signal, neither the employees nor the customers.
Without being able to find any solution, I returned to the office. I informed Isabela of the situation and went to my room. Since there was nothing I could do about it, no matter how strange I found the situation, I focused on work.
At noon, I even refused Manuel's invitation for lunch continued studying the new case. I left early to stop by the market and then picked up my sons from school. I made dinner, we talked and played together, then went to sleep.
The next day, the same thing repeated. No internet or cell signal. No signal on the television or the car radio. At the office, no Wi-Fi and no phone. I had a meeting with a client, but he didn't show up.
I decided to have lunch at a restaurant this time. I picked up my sons from school so we could have lunch together.
As soon as I set foot inside the restaurant, however, a message appeared in my head, like the notifications from an app or, I remembered from the time my younger sister asked me to play with her, a video game notification window.
[You have entered an accelerated recovery area.]
I blinked. I must be hallucinating. Perhaps spending my days bent over papers was taking its toll.
[There is 1 unread notification.
Would you like to access it?]
I prayed mentally for the hallucination to disappear, and it worked. I breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe I was even more stressed than I thought.
"Are you okay, mom?" Octavio asked me, his round blue eyes looking at me with concern.
"Yes, yes. Mom is fine, just a little tired. Let's sit down and order. Do you know what you want to eat?"
"Yes! I want pasta!" he exclaimed, pulling me by the hand.
"And I want french fries!" exclaimed Vincent with a smile, holding my other hand. "And what do you want, mom?"
"I want pasta and french fries!" I smiled at them.
That was the last reasonably normal day we had.
The next day, a battalion of the army arrived in the city. They said the country's borders would be closed and that schools would be suspended for a while. Those who could should work from home while the situation was assessed.
"Are we under attack from some other country?" asked a woman who was on the street, just below the window from which I and my office colleagues observed the situation, but nothing was answered.
"Maybe it's a coup d'état; it wouldn't be the first time" Isabela said. The girl, who couldn't be older than my younger sister, trembled slightly, trying to hide her fear.
"We have no way of knowing. The best thing for now is to go home" I said, placing a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her.
"But... but what if something happens? We have no way to warn anyone!"
"It probably isn't anything serious" Manuel interjected. "We should get news about what's happening soon."
And Manuel wasn't wrong, although the news that came the next day was hard to believe. The television signal from the country's largest broadcaster was restored for some locations, including our city, and that's how we were partially informed of the situation.
An incomprehensible event had occurred in our country. The borders had changed, and a large portion of land had appeared in the middle of our state, beyond the city limits. I immediately thought of my parents; they lived in the most remote part of the city, almost at the border with the next municipality. 'Are they okay?'
My sister, on the other hand, lived in a university town further north in the state. She should be fine. Probably.
But my parents worried me a little; I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. So, I took my sons and headed to my parents' house. But when we arrived, there was no house.
"What...?" I stared at the empty space where my parents' house used to be.
"Where are Grandpa and Grandma's house?" Vincent asked, confused.
"Mom, what happened?" Octavio asked with wide eyes.
"I don't know" I replied to my sons. I also wanted to know.
"My dear!" Mrs. Arlete, my parents' neighbor, came out of her house and approached me. "I'm so glad you're okay! Ah! And the little ones are okay too, what a relief!"
"What happened?" I asked her.
"There was that horrible storm, lightning after lightning. Joseph and I were so scared we didn't dare leave the house. But I couldn't fall asleep. A lightning bolt struck so hard, but it didn't make any noise. It lit up our entire house. Then the rain gradually calmed down. When we got up the next day, your parents' house had disappeared, and even the landscape beyond had changed. We still don't really understand what happened; yesterday the army was here and investigated further ahead, then they went back to the city."
"And my parents?" I asked.
"I haven't seen them or your sister for four days. They disappeared along with the house."
"My sister?" I asked.
"Your sister was here too. It seems she had taken some time off and came to visit."
"My parents and my sister disappeared?" I ended up voicing my thought out loud.
"I'm so sorry, my dear" the neighbor placed a hand on my shoulder. "Let's pray that they are well."
Nothing was making sense. How could an entire house disappear along with the people inside it? How could the landscape I knew so well be so different? How could a house disappear without leaving a trace?!
I felt a stabbing pain behind my eyes and in my temples. It had to be the stress. I was hallucinating now because of the accumulated stress.
"Mom, did Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Lilia disappear?" Vincent asked me, his little eyes filling with water. I looked at my sons. Octavio also looked scared.
"Everything is fine; they must be okay. It must be just a prank, okay? You know how Aunt Lilia is; she must have done this just to scare us. They'll show up again soon" I tried to reassure them. It seemed to work with Vincent, who was only four. But Octavio, who was older, didn't seem to believe me. However, he didn't say anything else after that.
I returned home with many more questions and worries than I left with.
My parents and my younger sister had disappeared. The house they were in no longer existed, and the landscape of the place had changed. It had been days since anyone in the city had cell signal, and the army had suddenly appeared in the city imposing a curfew.
'Could my family have been attacked?' I wondered. But the neighbors would have seen if there had been an attack, wouldn't they? And there was no sign of destruction around the place, except for some tree branches broken by the wind.
That night, I watched the news on the television newscast as if my life depended on it.
But the news wasn't very encouraging.