Thursday morning.

I awoke to the sounds of a siren blaring down the road. Great, another accident. The traffic was the last thing I wanted in the morning while going to work. Still, I had another hour before heading off, so I started my morning routine of taking a shower and brushing my teeth before heading downstairs for breakfast where I saw my son, Michael, eating cereal before breakfast. I grabbed a bagel and sat down on the couch, grabbing my iPad to read the news.

“Terrorist leader Aamir Hadi has threatened the President!” The same old news… Nothing was “new” about it. All this drama for years between the Middle East and good old America. How long had we been at war? I couldn’t remember. Too long, for sure. All these terrorist attacks, and the President just sends in more and more soldiers, feeding a war without end. Pointless as middle school drama, but with more consequences. Whatever, who needs CNN anyways?

Flipping on the TV and putting down my iPad, I noticed more sirens flying down my street. Just then I got an email from the school saying the buses would be late. Must be a big wreck. “Hey Michael, you’re bus is going to be delayed for a bit, ok bud?”

“Alright,” he replied nonchalantly.

I imagined he would be probably be playing on his phone, or whatever kids do these days. I left the TV on as I went upstairs to Iron my shirt for work. I grabbed a dull blue, matching my mood this “fine” morning. I headed to the garage to grab the ironing board, before remembering it being in my laundry room. I set it up and left my cofee to heat up.

As I steamed the wrinkles out of my clothes, I listened to the TV playing some old, cheesy, comedy show. I heard my wife come downstairs and felt her lips against mine as she gave me a good morning kiss. I loved that woman. “Hey, Michael’s bus is going to be a bit late today. I guess theres been a wreck and it’s holding them up.”

“Ok. Did he get all of his homework done?” She asked in a pressing tone.

“I think so. You hear that bud?” I called out.

“Yeah, It didn’t take very long,” he muttered. I glanced back at my cofee, seeing the green light come on. I went upstairs to get dressed and came back down a minute later to kill some time on the TV before I headed off. After 3 minutes or so I changed to Fox news to see the status of the wreck.

My heart skipped a beat..

The video showed reports of worldwide chaos, with screaming crazed destruction everywhere. The terrorist group had set off nuclear warfare, World War III. It was happening, here and now. I felt a wave of panic go off as the feed showed mushroom clouds, rising high above the city, burning everything around it. The channel showed signs of interference, and I heard my son call out from the second floor landing.

“Hey Dad, the internet’s out.”