A Day That Began in the Middle of the Night

Lien woke up to bright light shining through his bedroom window. The light illuminated the mess that was in the room. Lien wasn't untidy. He just didn't have time to clean. At the age of 22, he combined his last year of university studies with an internship at work.

Lien looked at the window. It seemed to him that something was wrong. When he picked up his watch, he realized what it was. It was three o'clock in the morning. Lien jumped out of bed and ran outside.

— “What’s going on?” the neighbors whispered in surprise.

The whole street was filled with the same surprised people. They all looked at the sky in which a white beam of light shone, coming from the far end of space. These people could still guess for a long time what was happening. But Lien hurried back to the house.

It was all about his grandfather Rennie - the only person close to him. Rennie was a scientist and worked in a research laboratory. So he could say more than the others.

Lien hurried to open the door to his grandfather's room. But the room was empty. Rennie's bed was unmade, things were scattered around. And on the bedside table was a jar of his pills. Everything indicated that he was in a hurry to go somewhere. Lien was worried that Rennie hadn't taken the pills. He had heart problems and had to carry them with him at all times.

Lien quickly grabbed the pills, threw on his jacket, and, getting on his bike, rode straight to his grandfather's work.

Rennie worked at a research center, so Lien had no doubt he would find him there.

While riding his bike, Lien heard nothing but the beeps of the phone ringing for Rennie. Along the way, Lien met dozens of people who were enthusiastically watching the sky. This situation was all over the world. From cars, apartments, planes, trains, ships, and even a space station on the moon, people watched the strange phenomenon. Rennie did not pick up the phone.

Lien concentrated and pedaled as hard as he could. Now he could hear the sounds around him again. There was something that was bothering him. As if what was happening now was more than a mysterious natural phenomenon. And it was something sinister. Lien rode up to the gates of the research center, jumped off his bike, and ran to the entrance. The guards stopped him at the checkpoint.

— “Sir, please show me your pass.”

The pass was no problem for him. It was this research center that Lien had been interning at for a whole year. It was the place he had dreamed of working at.

Lien handed the pass to the guard.

— “Excuse me sir, no one with clearance below level three is allowed in today.”

Lien looked at the guard in confusion. But the guard just handed him the pass back.

— “Orders from the superiors.”

Lien had no choice but to return home. He was holding his bicycle in his hands and dragging it behind him. Lien returned home and climbed onto the roof of the house, to the telescope that was there. He tried to see the mysterious phenomenon through the telescope. However, apart from a bright white beam, he saw nothing.

Lien dropped his hands, went back to his room, and did what most people in the world did—turned on the television and waited for something to clarify the situation.

For the first four days, the media had been pushing a single idea that was being spread everywhere it could. The idea that what was happening now was an unexplored cosmic phenomenon that would end in the coming weeks.

During these four days, society more or less got used to the unusual phenomenon. People tried to continue living as they had before. However, on the fifth day, the world finally learned the truth.

Scientists from different parts of the world began to publish the results of their research. They gave interviews, published articles in newspapers and gave the public a scientific explanation for the phenomenon. And they all described the phenomenon as follows: "An all-consuming big bang that will lead to a complete rebirth of the universe."

Everyone took this information in their own way. Someone continued to believe the authorities, who tried with all their might to convince people that this was a temporary phenomenon that did not threaten them. Someone decided to live the last year as the last and realize everything they dreamed of.

Lien decided for himself that he would just live.

And so one of Lien's days passed, in which he tried not to think about the imminent catastrophe.

— “They say that an all-consuming explosion will reach us in a year,” — said one of Lien’s three classmates, on the way to the university.

— “Rebirth! Just call it Rebirth. It sounds calmer that way,” — added the second classmate.

Lien tried to skip such conversations and not enter into discussions.

— “Hey, Lien. What’s going on at your center? Don’t they talk about it?” — said the first classmate with interest.

— “I don’t go there anymore,” — Lien answered distantly.

— “Really?” — asked the first classmate in surprise.

— “Well, what’s the point of us thinking about work anymore?” - said the second teammate confidently, believing that he knew what Lien was thinking about.

— “Really?? Then why do you keep going to university?”

Lien simply continued walking silently.

At the university, Lien was listening to a lecture and from time to time he was distracted by the window. He was looking at the all-consuming explosion that was approaching.

He was distracted by the laughter of his classmates.

— “Look, the teacher is hanging again!” — his classmates whispered mockingly.

The teacher was distracted from the lecture and, like Lien, looked thoughtfully at the end of the universe that was approaching them.

At that moment, the earth shook. And somewhere in the distance, the sound of an explosion was heard.

“Again?” Lien thought distantly.

Something was happening somewhere far away. And these strange events began shortly after the appearance of Rebirth. People were informed that spaceships were being tested, which would later be able to study this phenomenon.

However, these strange events were happening in different corners of the world.

— “It’s like they’re preparing for war,” said one of Lien’s classmates.

“Just surviving this year…”

Lien looked thoughtfully at the teacher, who was staring out the window in confusion.

“Will it be possible to live peacefully in a disappearing world?”

While Lien was riding home on the subway, he occasionally glanced into the eyes of the people sitting in front of him.

In the eyes of the children, he managed to find joy and peace, because they did not understand what was about to happen. However, in the eyes of the adults, Lien saw anxiety and numerous thoughts that he could no longer read.

Walking along the street and approaching his house, Lien tried to distract himself, but at that moment the phone rang. Lien reached for the phone. He looked closely at who was calling. It was his grandfather, Rennie.

Lien picked up the phone without delay.

— “Hello! Hello!” — Lien hurriedly shouted into the phone.

Rennie was in no hurry to answer.

— “Is that you… right?” — Lien said sadly and calmly.

— “Hello… Lien…,” Rennie said in a calm voice.

— “Why didn’t you call?”

— “I… couldn’t…”

— “Pills! Did you get new pills from the doctor?” — Lien asked anxiously.

— “Listen, Lien. Something will happen soon that will change the world again. No matter what they say, everything you hear tomorrow is true.”

— “I don’t understand.”

— “I need to go.”

— “Rennie!!!”

Lien heard the call being ended.