Strange Memories | ONC 2024

Chapter 3: Headline

Mia turned around to find herself standing in front of a void. It was pitch black in comparison to the white surroundings. Mia slowly stepped backward. Without warning, she was drawn forward towards the void. Frantically looking around, there was no object to hold onto. Mia let out a high-pitched scream as she was pulled into the void like a magnet, being devoured by gravity.

As she fell into the void, Mia felt a force pulling her apart. Her body stretched like taffy, contorting into surreal shapes as she entered the event horizon.

Mia found herself in the middle of darkness with no light anywhere. She tried to speak, but no sound was produced. She screamed, yet her scream was not heard. Was this the end of the universe?

Mia awoke from her sleep to the sound of her alarm. Rising up from her bed, she realized that it was only a nightmare. What she had witnessed last night was haunting her, even in her dreams. Mia tried to get her mind away from the nightmare.

Mia slowly noticed that the sound of the thunderstorm, which had started overnight, had disappeared. It was extremely good news.

A brand new day. I wonder if mother is making pancakes for breakfast.

Freshening up, she approached the window and drew the curtains apart, hoping to witness a bright sunny day. However, her hopeful expectations were shattered as she gazed upon an entirely different sight. Thick fog blanketed the familiar streets of Broodhaven, obscuring visibility and casting a dark, eerie atmosphere over the awakening world.

What the? How?

Mia rubbed her eyes and blinked rapidly several times before glancing out the window again. Her eyes were not playing tricks on her. There, in front of her, was the fog.

Mia reached for her mobile phone, which was on the bedside table, and opened the weather forecast app.

How is this possible? It was supposed to be a sunny day. How is the app wrong again? Last night there was a thunderstorm, and now this morning there is fog. What is going on with the weather?

With her growling stomach, Mia made her way downstairs, heading towards the dining room for breakfast. As she approached the dining room, her mind still racing to make sense of the mysterious fog outside, she heard noises from the living room. Mia walked over to the living room to find the television on.

"Our top news for the morning. Last night it was forecasted to be a clear night, but unexpectedly it started raining, which turned into a thunderstorm. Some of our local residents were caught in the rain, but they took shelter in time. One of our locals was not so fortunate. Local resident Mia Steve was unfortunately struck by lightning. Luckily, fate had spared her and no harm had come to her. Our reporter Daisy Williams conducted an interview with Mia Steve last night at the local hospital where she was being treated by doctors. Let's go to the interview," reported the male news presenter.

Mia gritted her teeth in embarrassment as she watched herself on the news being interviewed. What would everyone think of her covered in mud? She couldn't bear to see herself on the news.

"Look at you on the news," said Zack. "And on the front page of the local newspaper."

Mia looked behind her and saw her brother and parents in the living room, all of them watching her interview.

Zack was holding up the newspaper, and there on the front page was a huge photo of Mia lying in the hospital bed in her muddy outfit.

Why did I have to make the headline on the front page of the newspaper? The whole town is going to see me now.

As Mia listened to her own interview on the television news, she started to worry.

Mother's going to kill me when she hears in the interview that I missed curfew.