The Day The Internet Died
Part II. 1 Year Before the Outage

Sonya’s phone buzzed as she walked through campus on her way to her next class.

‘Hi Sonya. It’s Aunt Molly (your mom’s sister). Please give me a call when you have a moment. I’m afraid it’s urgent.’

Sonya frowned at her phone, but nevertheless continued her brisk pace. Walking beside her was Christopher, also a med student, trying desperately to keep up while also stuffing papers into his bag. “What’s that face for?” he said.

Sonya looked up from her phone. “Oh. My aunt who I haven’t heard from in years just texted me. Said it was urgent I call her back… I’m sure it’s fine though. I’ll just call her after we finish biochem.”

Christopher stopped abruptly, forcing Sonya to halt as well. “Sonya, if she said it was urgent, you should probably call her back now.”

“I’m sure it’s—”

“It will take two seconds! Just call her back now and see what she has to say.”

“I’m just gonna—,” Sonya started before Christopher gave her a stern look. “Okay! Fine.”

—

Sonya sat in the hospital waiting room, trying to remember how long it had been since she had last slept. One hour to pack. Twelve hour drive. Stopped twice. Sixteen hours since I’ve been in the hospital. Two hours since we’ve last spoken to the nurse. She rubbed her swollen eyes. She couldn’t tell if they were more red from tiredness or tears. But at this point, it didn’t matter.

Alex’s head rested in her lap—a makeshift pillow—as she lay across the hard hospital bench. Even in her sleep, she still seemed to be crying.

—

In the funeral parlor, Sonya sat at a small bench tucked away in the corner. The service and burial had wrapped up over an hour ago, and Aunt Molly had already shuttled Alex back home. Only a few stragglers remained.

Christopher approached her. His flight had landed only a few hours before the service, so they hadn’t had much opportunity to talk. Sonya rose, and they embraced. “Sonya…” he started before trailing off. “Sonya, I’m so so sorry.” Sonya began to start sniffling again, which surprised her because she didn’t think she had any tears left. She buried her face in his shoulder as he continued to console her.

“It’s okay. It’s…” He stroked the back of her head as she began to cry. “It’s okay… Here, let’s sit down for a minute. It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s okay.”

Sometime later, after Sonya had gotten out what few tears she had left, they continued to sit on the bench, her head leaning on his shoulder for support.

Christopher was the first to speak. “Do you… do you know what… um… what is going to happen with Alex? She’s still in school right?”

Sonya, still leaning on his shoulder, spoke, “She’s going to be staying at our aunt’s for the next few days. After that… I think I’m going to withdraw from this semester to come back here to stay with her.”

“Sonya…”

“She needs someone right now. With both of them gone… She still has a few years of school left. She can’t just live by herself, even if she wants to. I’m sure our aunt could take care of her… But we hardly know her. She needs me.”

Christopher grabbed her hand and gently squeezed it. “But who is going to take care of you, Sonya? Maybe I should take off some time as well, come down here to be—”

Sonya cut him off. “No Chris. No… you don’t need to do that. I don’t want you to get behind. I know how hard a year you have coming up.”

“But Sonya, I need to make sure you’re going to be okay.”

Sonya sat up straight. “I’ll be fine. I might be able to get an internship or something at the hospital. Or I’ll just see if I can take classes online. Or I’ll just do… something.” Chris didn’t seem very reassured. “I’ll be fine Chris, I promise. I’ll be fine. I’ll be fine.”

Christopher was quiet for a few moments, before finally speaking. “Okay. I’ll come back down as soon as I can. I’m sure we can figure something out together. Hell, knowing you, you’ll probably figure out a solution for this whole thing before I even get back!”

Sonya shifted her gaze towards the front of the room, where only an hour ago the two caskets had laid.

“Yea,” she said.

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