The Bug

CHAPTER TWO

"So you see stuff and hear sounds, that's super cool, but not as you moving along the streets in your night gowns" Miya told Griffin as they moved along the tarmac full of dry leaves.

"Well, home is a mess I never got time to change" Griffin replied as he coughed.

The street seemed empty and silent as if it was giving room for the two teenagers to talk without interference.

" What do the numbers look like?" Miya inquired as she stood staring stiff while making her thin eyes more thin.

" Well, they are like digital codes, they are many, sometimes I see numbers on people's heads everything around can momentarily turn into these numbers.

Suddenly Griffin stopped talking and gazed blankly at the road.

"Griffin, Griffin" Miya kept on calling him as she shaked his shoulder.

But Griffin was irresponsive and his eyes turned blank white.

He saw a mass of people coming from all directions running and screaming aimlessly like be headed hens. Tall buildings fell and ruptured as if they were made of silk. The people ran past him as if he wasn't there.

He looked in the sky as rubble from a descending building came and fell onto him but nothing happened then moved as if knowing what to do next, trekking past dead bodies which were covered with soot.

A paper came flying and pasted itself on his face, he removed it quickly and saw the writings on it which included many zeros and ones written in blank bold ink, when he read the numbers his mind didn't interpret them as numbers instead he got words out of them.

The words included coordinates, time and date, which he spoke fast as formula one commentator trying to incite an overlap.

19.0760°N
72.8777°E 24th May,2023 2pm.

He finished talking, while breathing heavily. Then the pupils appeared again in his eyes.

Miya not knowing what to do had pulled out her phone and recorded everything.

"Griffin, are you back?" Miya asked Griffin who had retreated on the road side supporting his hand on a dry leafless tree.

"It has happened again" Griffin replied as he swallowed.

" They, the people died, the people, men and children died. I think it is going to happen." He added

"When I recorded you, you were mentioning some numbers" Miya mentioned as she pulled her phone out of her dark blue jeans.

"When I googled the first numbers you said, they were coordinates"

A brief silence ruled on, as if it was giving Griffin time to process Miya's words.

"For which place?" Griffin inquired curiously as he opened his eyes wide while he stood up.

"Mumbai, India"

Griffin started to blink as his sight blurred , he felt light and the ground under him moved continuously as if he was on a seesaw, he staggered backwards then he fainted.

_____________••••••____________

Griffin woke up calling Miya while he drooled over the white bed sheets jotted with blue dots. he felt his head heavy as he tried to look around white colored room, sharp smells of disinfectants rose everywhere as the fuzzing fan made the room sound like a paper factory.

Griffin was in hospital but no doctor was around. He looked at the television in the room which had a live news broadcast reporting of an unexpected earthquake in Mumbai, India.