The end of the world
I wake up one morning in my apartment, feeling anxious because there has been talk lately of a supermassive black hole passing in front of the sun. It's due to pass today, yet we have received no instructions from the authorities and I wonder if I will still be alive by the end of the day. I decide to leave my city early in the afternoon and take a bus to join my parents, who live two hours away, because I'm too scared.
Around 6 p.m., as the bus arrives in my hometown, I hear a boy about my age say "the illusion has begun." He's talking about the solar eclipse caused by the supermassive black hole. Many conspiracy theories claim that the event isn't real, that it’s an optical illusion or a hologram... I feel very nervous. I wonder what will happen in the next few hours. Outside, in the twilight, the sun can be seen veiled by a strange bluish shadow. The black hole is approaching.
I arrive at my parents' place. My mum isn't there, I have no idea where she’s gone. My dad is in the living room. The orange light of dusk fills the room. He starts gathering a few things together. I ask him if we should head to a basement somewhere. He replies "No no, there's no need". He’s a former sailor and rarely gets rattled so seeing him look worried makes me feel even worse. We just wait in the living room. We don't even turn on the TV.
I eventually go up to my room. I check the news on my phone but the page is stuck on yesterday's updates. Nothing has refreshed and the black hole isn't even mentioned. Yet, it continues its path across the sky, and the damage is starting to be felt on Earth. The dam at the local lake gives way and we are quickly flooded. I dare to hope that the disaster will be short-lived and that the planet won't be reduced to mush. I call an American friend (I live in France) who hasn't yet experienced the effects of the black hole on her side of the globe. She assures me that "it's all bullshit, there's no black hole."
An artificial night falls rapidly. The dream skips ahead several hours and suddenly I find myself in the water, in the dark, clinging to the wreckage of my house amidst the storm. Overhead, the black hole is causing a total eclipse. I try to call my mum, who still hasn't returned, but there's no phone signal. In desperation, I open WhatsApp and manage to get an internet connection. My mum answers. I scream "MUM!!!", completely panicked. The wind is raging. "Sweetie" she replies, crying and clearly desperate, "it's over. We're going to die." I can't believe it, I refuse to accept it. And then she speaks the final words that make my blood run cold: "...and you're going to die too."
I look up one last time. It was as if all the planet's oceans had suddenly risen up, water stretching as far as the eye could see, irresistibly drawn toward the black hole. Monstrous earthquakes are ravaging the Earth. I feel absolute terror, I can't even describe it.
I finally wake up in my room, my mum's words still echoing in my head as if I had heard them for real.