The Red Alert

      While I was trying to get some sleep in the middle of the night I heard a noise that was accompanied by a red flash of light that came from the screen of the digital watch that I had left on top of my table next to the bed. I thought that it was weird thing to see. My name is Stanley Rivers and nothing extraordinary has happened to me during the first two decades of my life.

       I was very happy since I had been vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus which caused a horrible epidemic around the world and I also got two packages of the COVID-19 pills that were put on the market to remain healthy for a longer period of time. Life was finally getting back to normal or so I thought. The fact was that the red alert that I received came with some changes that I could not explain since I was only a carpenter and a handyman not a scientist that had the luck to work at a call center that kept me working remotely from home. I am a big fan of the music by the Rolling Stones, a gaming enthusiast and a movie buff. Also, I am a huge sports fan since I like pro wrestling, basketball, football, tennis, volleyball, baseball, boxing and MMA.

       So I woke up several hours after seeing the red alert on the digital watch. Then I shaved and took a shower before getting dressed. I put one of the packages of my COVID-19 pills that were inside it on top of the lunch counter and the package looked similar to the one from the Panadol tablets. I was in my apartment about to have breakfast and everything seemed the same until I turned on the television set. There was news all over the place about how the Coronavirus had mutated all over the world and since there was no cure in sight the human population was paying the price. The weirdest part was that the television set said that it was the year 2023 and that the President of the United States was the actor Tom Hanks.

       Everything felt so surreal and I quickly went to access the Internet to see the state of current events. Through my research I was able to see some historic, entertainment and sporting differences like Al Gore had actually become the President of the United States, The Chicago Bulls had won 8 NBA championships while Michael Jordan was there, Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna Bryant were alive while Paul Walker was alive and filming the Marvel film Nova. Also, Robin Williams had actually played the Joker in the first Tim Burton film while still being alive alongside Christopher Reeves who never had the accident that left him in a wheelchair. Another main difference is that it appeared that the Coronavirus started in Africa and that it spread at a faster rate. Many people were working online like myself and the videos that were on YouTube showed that there were no protests at all in the United States during the last couple of years.