I didn't realize when, but I felt my conciousness fully awake while still being asleep. I only became aware of it though when my body felt pressured by at least 5 times the normal gravity, as my inside felt like they were going to turn into mush.

The feeling didn't persist for longer than a fraction of a second, but it did somehow reminded me of the 'darkness' I've seen approching from my balcony. Just the memory of it sent shivers down my spine...

I chuckled at the strange dreamless place I was in and wondered how long will it take until I can wake up... as wwell as what will I wake up to. Surrounded by no sounds, no light, nothing to touch, no smell and even less something to taste... except for the cigarette still fresh on my lips, I wondered how long will it take in such an environment untill I completely lose my shit. I know for certain that human brains weren't properly wired to endure long periods of times in such conditions.

But the darkness around me didn't last for too long and as if electrocuted, I jumped up from my chair, grabbing the handle of the balcony door and looking around me.

I was immediatly drawn by the sound of the TV and saw how people were sleeping on their desks, while the camera was pointed at a weird angle, proof that the cameraman might've doozed of as well.

I limbered up, streaching like a cat after a reaaaaaly relaxing sleep. I was shocked by how relaxed and well rested I was. I don't even remember when was the last time I felt this good after a short? nap.

"Right! How much time passed?"

I checked my phone and saw 8:36PM of the same day. Barely 4 and something hours since I fell asleep... I wasn't impressed at all. I obviously checked the year as well, but it was still the same 2020.

Outside? Given that Spring was here, there was some light, but winter still had a pretty solid grip on the weather therefore it got dark quicker.

Now then, the question was, is it dark because it's supposed to be, or is it because of the strange darkness that put humanity to sleep?

"Let's check, shall we?"

I smirked as I haven't done this in a while. Lightly tapping on the keyboard of my computer, the screen lit up and I began typing something. I picked a random place in the US, selected a smaller city and brought up a camera. Using a couple of tricks I learned in the few months spent in college before dropping out, I brought up the image of the highway and surprisingly saw... the light of day.

"So we're back to normal... Dissapointing indeed..."

Funny enough though, while shaking my head, I caught with the corner of my eye something blinking in and out outside in the distance. I know for certain that there wasn't anything there as I've been seeing the view outside for over 6 months now. I remember lighting up a blunt and smoking it while watching the darkness getting closer and closer to the portion of sky above me.

What are the chances of a billboard to have been added while I was sleeping in the... 4 and something hours that have passed. Slim to none!

Taking a deep breath I prepared to open the balcony door in my bedroom, but I froze. It burned my nostrils and my lungs, similar to the cold air in the middle of winter after a light jog (in my case at least). I paused and did a double take as something was clearly wrong with my body. Not only was my mind more active, I could feel the decrease of temperature from opening the door like I had a thermometer plasted on the skin of my hands. The air also carried a putrid smell from the ranch down the road, which I never before felt until now. It was not possible, given that I was at the 8th floor, almost 50 feets above ground. Gulping, the saliva in my mouth moved and with it, the strong taste of the cigarette previously smoked, almost made me puke. Hitting the chair with my toes and cursing at the sharp pain while moving it aside, I knocked over a glass which had milk in it three days ago when I left it to dry on my desk and shattered with a deafening sound.

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I had to clasp my hands over my ears and curse again at how loud it was. I wondered if I was having a panic attack. How could all my senses be so... active? It made no sense...

Feeling sick again after tasting the combined taste of the oily breakfast/lunch I had some hours ago and pot, I ran in the bathroom and brushed my teeth. Three times! I felt sweaty, smelly and sticky, so I took a shower as well while at it.

'This is a brand new type of apocalypse. Once that kills you by pissing you off that much...' - I complained under my breath

With yet another change of clothes today, since I took another one before preparing for falling asleep on the chair, I turned on the washing machine since there were one too many things to be washed and went to the fridge. I grabbed a beer and went back for the balcony.

"Right! Wasn't there something I wanted to check outside!?"

Horrified by my rather short attention span, I opened up the cap of the bottle and downed a large mouthfull. Sweet baby Jesus! That's the good stuff right there!

And then, I stopped. I looked back into my room past the chair and blanked. Since it might've been a dream, I took out my phone and checked the time again. No distortions and everything is legible...

"Just what the fu..."

There was this... hmm... how do I put it? There was a huge blue planet covering the entire view of the sky to my left. You could tell by the vivid color that it was just the outer part of its atmosphere and that it was at least a hundred times larger than Earth. There were these... structures that were so big, that they were visible with the naked eye on it, making me wonder just how huge they were up close. Or maybe the planet itself was that huge and... and I stopped my train of toughts there as I realized...

"There obviously wasn't a goddamn planet next to Earth. Not that close at least and not changing the scenery in this... kind of awesome picture! And then, there's the other problem..."

To my right side, the sky was also covered by the view of our Moon, Earth's actual satelite which was still the normal size, under which there was writing. That's right! WRITING! It's like someone decided to paint graffity on the actual sky and instead of a picture, they went for an actual phrase.

I tried calming down my growing excitement by taking a deep breath, only to have my insides roasted again by the same intoxicating feeling. It was like my brain has been sent into overdrive and was trying to piece things together with the limited, yet irrefutable evidence in front of my eyes.

First off, the darkness covering the Earth. It started off after a new pandemic virus attacked the Earth, which made some scientists believe it was the planet's way of dealing with it, but soon realized that it wasn't the case. It was similar to a thin film of darkness that devoured light just like a black hole would. Now them, given the dimensions of that blue planet, it most likely has something to do with it. Might've been something like an eclipse cause by that planet covering the Sun? Also, since it can move, maybe it's not a planet but an actual ship? Ugh... aliens apocalypse it's sooooo low on my list, that I don't even want to consider it. Secondly, there's an obvious increase in my five senses, to the point where I can smell cow dung from over a mile away and 8th floors high. The air itself seems to contain something that improves my brain capabilities to analize and bolster my body's fitness in general. How did I know that? The muscle aches I had because of the few exercises I did yesterday dissapeared like it was a bad dream after only 4 hours. From my limited knowledge, the human body doesn't work like that, as the tissue is highly damaged and takes days to recover.

"And then there's this... Ugh..."

The words were... discomforting.