5

Reverend Apocalysis: Reality Surpassed Fiction

Chapter 5 – They're Just News

In this era where no word can better describe the social shape than reality, helping each other is both a science and an art. Often, there are more things involved in the decision to help or not.

"If I help you, you'll think I pity you and get angry... If I don't, you'll believe I'm too cold and don't love you enough," murmured Anton as he walked slowly along the roadside.

Anton ultimately chose a random place to eat; there was no need to think as much as when he's with his girlfriend. Yes, he had a girlfriend, and her name was Emma. Although they had an argument a few days ago because he mentioned that if he didn't get into a good university, he would join the military.

Well, Anton can't blame her. She had lately been having problems with her part-time job, and she didn't exactly have the chance to have strong support from her family. Emma was a beautiful girl, perfect even though her feelings and emotions were imperfect; he supposes that's what everyone feels with the person they like.

"Good morning..." Anton opened the door of a small café and decided to sit near the television to at least watch something entertaining while having lunch.

In these last few days, Anton felt a bit distracted, and the things he had been doing were very routine. Since it was summer vacation, he didn't want to go on a trip alone. Besides, he had never been interested in making that kind of trip; his father works, and he tries to study – that's the deal he made with his father.

"Welcome, here's the menu; I'll be with you in a moment!" said a young waitress as she handed Anton the menu.

"[NASA keeps its eyes on massive sunspots on the Sun's photosphere. Recently, the spots have been causing small explosions reaching a critical level.

The recent solar flare was very large, causing a malfunction in communication equipment. Therefore, reports sent to communication departments will be answered with the same response.

Earth's electromagnetic waves can travel to space from various electronic devices and expose particles, causing interruptions in communication.]"

"That's bad..." Anton murmured as he thought more than he perceived.

"Not as bad as global warming, although many people don't care about that." The waitress approached Anton and smiled, "Have you decided what to order?"

Anton smiled slyly, lightly tapped the menu with his hands, and said, "A chicken baguette and a cup of coffee, please."

The waitress nodded and said, "I'll bring it to you as soon as possible, be back in a minute."

Anton nodded in response; after the waitress left, he thought, "Who would have thought that you find the brightest people in the most unexpected places? She seems like a very intelligent woman, not seen much lately."

After the pandemic, young people aged 17 to 22 didn't worry about what the world would be like after quarantine; they were just pressured because some of them needed to show their faces to the public. What very few know is that some students met in online classes, where most of the time they wore masks as a protocol.

The photos, video calls, and many other bonding activities were done this way, each from their homes. What happens next? Many students, especially those who formed a relationship, felt the reluctance to part from those masks that had covered their imperfections according to their own thoughts and criteria.

Even in South Korea, it became a trend to wear masks. Did they adopt a tragedy as a fashion statement? Anton simply saw the world as unreal. It's not that he did anything to change it, but he thought that somehow something would hit them so hard that no one would rise again.

"[In more recent news, the World Health Organization issued a public apology due to an unofficial statement that was announced on its largest social network, clarifying that there is no new virus and that the one called Z-ViraX is just an error! It is said that this virus was finally removed from the list of risks because incubation within hosts fails to occur, and eventually, the virus is eradicated by the body's defenses. However, they say they will release a special statement to clarify all the unnecessary attention this doubt brought.]"

"Just an error, those are pure lies. They want to brainwash us with all these news controlled by the government itself. I'm sure of that; maybe we're all infected already." A man with a military cap said these words while drinking his coffee.

"It could be an error. Lately, with all this quarantine and virus nonsense, people are going crazy. Imagine the doctors? They are euphoric; any small sign of alert, they would announce it even if they are not authorized, like that unofficial statement." A man in his fifties replied to the man who had just expressed his comments.

That's true, Anton thinks the same as the last one to speak. People, especially doctors, are alert to any information they refuse to announce, but somehow, they have lost hope in people.

As Anton sees it, this news is not trending beyond jokes due to insensitivity to death or simply because they have not experienced the true terror of quarantine. When you look at the news coming from China, you will know the true terror that people experienced during the virus outbreak.

A new outbreak of infection, outbreaks, and more quarantines is what China is now. Foreigners would take at least a few more years to be able to leave that country if they are lucky. The right question would be, does the world deserve something worse?

Maybe sometimes, some days, and certain people, but not everyone deserves that. Anton knew many things, but as his girlfriend Emma had told him, what's the point of knowing so much if you never stand in front of others?

"Here's your chicken baguette and your cup of coffee; call me if you need more coffee," the waitress snapped Anton out of his thoughts.

"Thank you very much," Anton said as his cellphone received a message.

"[Mr. Anton, I'm the assigned lawyer that your father has for your family; we need to meet as I have very important news to give you as soon as possible!]"

"I guess I should try contacting my father, but seeing that he didn't answer, it's now my job... What's happening with my father lately?" Anton thought as he composed a response.

"I'll be back home as soon as possible. You can visit me later in the evening as I need to go shopping since I ran out of everything at home!"

"[Then I'll see you tonight!]"

The food didn't taste good, even though it was delicious. Anton couldn't get his father's message out of his head, especially now that a lawyer contacted him. If there's any complication, the lawyer should know something he doesn't.

After finishing his lunch, Anton didn't want to stay in this place any longer and prepared to go shopping before heading home. He hadn't gone shopping in the last week and wanted to fill all the empty inventories because he wouldn't be able to do it when classes resumed.

Returning along the nearest way home, he made a stop at a supermarket to buy some urgently needed items. The art of shopping had to be logical and well-balanced, at least if you have a tight budget.

If it's food for a week or even more, canned food is a good option because it's easy, quick, and hassle-free to cook for both Anton and his father. After that, some packs of rice, soup, and many canned goods that wouldn't go bad even if they went untouched for months on the shelves.

"I should get some boxes of beer; my father would kill me if I don't have his fridge filled with these horrible beers." Anton had already filled a cart with things and went back for another round. The second shopping round was his favorite because he could buy anything he wanted.

These were the little luxuries he could afford with the credit card his father had prepared for him. So, he bought some boxes of 90% cocoa chocolate and many boxes of ice cream, nuts, and, of course, snacks.

Anton was buying a lot of things since his father was just like him in his tastes. He only cared about beer, meat, and watching games every weekend without fail. It's fun to have him back, even though their relationship is more like a great friendship; they had each other.

"Hey, idiot, I told you to stop following me!" shouted a familiar female voice that Anton knew very well.

"Emma?" Anton hesitated for a few seconds before moving his cart towards where he had heard the voice.