Paulo woke up to the familiar sound of the church bell near his house, and for a brief moment, he thought everything had returned to normal. The ringing echoed off the apartment walls, bringing with it a sense of routine, of stability, as if the strange events of the previous night had been nothing but a bad dream. Without opening his eyes, he reached for the bedside table, where he’d left his phone charging, hoping that by the time he woke up, the power would be back and the battery fully charged.
His first act was to press the power button, waiting for the familiar vibration or the screen to light up. But to his surprise—or perhaps not, considering how long he’d had the device—nothing happened. The phone remained lifeless, as if disconnected from any source of energy. “Piece of junk,” he muttered, tossing the phone back onto the bed in frustration, nearly knocking over the bedside lamp in the process. He wondered why he hadn’t bought that new model on sale last week. It would’ve been far more useful now than this dead block of plastic and glass.
Finally, after rubbing his eyes and getting up with a sigh, he made his way to the bathroom and washed his face with cold water, which jolted him back to reality. The power still hadn’t returned. The lights remained off, and he realized his anger at the phone was somewhat misplaced. The problem wasn’t the device but the lack of electricity that had persisted since the night before.
“Well, if the church bell’s ringing and I didn’t miss a chime, that means it’s 6 AM,” he muttered, still a bit groggy from the abrupt wake-up call. “But why is it still so dark? I can barely see inside the apartment, and without lights, it feels like it’s still nighttime,” he grumbled to himself, irritated. The darkness seemed thicker than usual for this time of day. Something was off, and he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
Resigned, Paulo decided he’d deal with the cold water in the shower later, after breakfast. He had an important meeting scheduled with the university dean, and though the circumstances were exceptional, he couldn’t waste any time. The woman was a real tyrant, a worshiper of the System and all the injustices that came with it. “That crazy sellout,” he thought with disdain as he prepared coffee.
With the power still out, he had to rely on matches to light the stove and make a strong cup of coffee, something that would at least help him start the day with a bit more clarity. As the warm aroma of fresh coffee filled the air, he also toasted the bread he’d left out the night before. It was an unusual morning in every way, and Paulo found himself unable to follow his normal routine.
Thinking it over, since he’d woken up earlier than planned and had no idea when the power would return, he decided to make a heartier breakfast. Predicting that the food in the fridge would spoil if the electricity didn’t come back soon, he grabbed some bacon, cheese, eggs, and—why not—a nice slice of picanha he had saved for dinner. Better to eat while he still could. After all, if his meeting with the dean ended with him getting expelled, he at least deserved a farewell feast before facing the chaos of academic life slipping through his fingers.
While eating, Paulo tried to organize his thoughts. He knew he’d be facing a real battle at the meeting. Over the past two years, he’d poured time and effort into his degree, even though his current online job had nothing to do with his studies. For him, finishing his degree was a matter of principle, of completing what he’d started, and not letting people like the dean tear him down. She represented everything he despised about the current system: thinly veiled corruption, ideological control disguised as education, and the imposition of arbitrary rules.
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All because, on one fateful day, he couldn’t contain his outrage and impulsively grabbed his phone to express his opinions about the country’s political regime. That’s how Paulo ended up clashing with powerful figures within the university, and the dean was one of them. His criticism of the government and media excesses had put him in the crosshairs of a system that didn’t tolerate dissent. Now, he’d have to face the consequences.
Paulo glanced at his phone lying on the bedside table. “If only it had run out of battery that day,” he thought. Maybe if he hadn’t made that post, things wouldn’t be so complicated now. But it wasn’t the phone’s fault, he knew that. The problem was his own self-control—or rather, the lack of it. He should’ve chosen his battles more wisely, but now it was too late.
After eating to the point of almost feeling sick, Paulo stood up from the table. He wasn’t in the mood to find fresh clothes, so he threw on the same ones he’d worn the day before. With the meeting looming, there was no point wasting time on trivial details. He knew he’d be facing a real gang inside the university council, and that required focus.
However, as he left the apartment and descended to the building’s lobby, Paulo noticed something strange: things hadn’t returned to normal. The morning shift doorman wasn’t in his booth, something unusual for that time of day. Also, the residents who usually sat on the benches near the gate were nowhere to be seen. The absence of these everyday figures was unsettling. The sense of normalcy the church bell had brought was quickly fading.
The darkness was also troubling. The sky remained almost as dark as it had been the previous night, with only a single candle flickering on the ledge by the entrance. It was as if the natural light of day was being blocked by something—a thick fog, smoke, or some other dense, almost tangible gray substance.
What caught his attention the most, however, was the oppressive silence. There were none of the usual sounds of cars and buses moving through the streets, not even the distant noise of honking horns and engines. The city, usually bustling and noisy at this hour, was completely quiet. No voices, no beggars complaining on the corners, no sirens—nothing. Just the sound of the wind, blowing strangely forcefully, as if it wanted to sweep something off the face of the earth.
And then, Paulo noticed something that made him shiver. The metallic smell he’d sensed the night before was now much stronger. Inside the apartment, he had barely noticed it, but outside on the street, the smell was so intense it seemed to permeate the air. It felt like it was inside him. Each breath brought that unpleasant odor, and worse, he had the eerie sensation that he could smell it not just through his nose, but through his mouth, and inexplicably, even his eyes. It was an absurd thought, but one that made sense in that moment.
Feeling increasingly uneasy, Paulo stopped on the sidewalk, looking around. Something was very wrong, and he knew the events of the previous night were just the beginning of something much bigger. The church bell continued to ring in the distance, but this time, the sound brought no comfort. It was just another reminder that normalcy had been shattered and that he was about to face a world very different from the one he knew.
Besides, church bells only marked certain times, but now they were ringing almost every hour. And how were they even ringing when everything else was without power???