The First Writing Prize Winner –
WINTER 2023 – 2024
is Eveline Chung
of Toronto, Ontario – CANADA
LIGHTS IN THE DARK
By Eveline Chung
Long ago we were split into nearly two hundred countries. As our world burned, we rushed to find a solution for climate change. We united into one under the ancient name Pangea. Yet even with time, humanity was the same; fear and distrust mingled amongst us, cracking us apart. We became five empires: Cybe, Silvan, Novus, Venti, and Syri.
We were self-dependent enough that we scarcely interacted. Then, as Cybe and Novus quickly expanded and developed, Silvan, Venti, and Syri grew jealous. Centuries after the Peace Treaty was made to let us become different empires, in harmony, we broke it.
. . .
It started on a day too hot to have followed the chill of winter. It was almost evening, but the heat came in waves over the city. Our mentors dismissed us early despite the hour left in class. I walked home on the stark-white pavement with the constant beeping of electronics overhead. Over shops and stores, holographic advertisements lit up the sky. Then came the buzz of the communications system. “Citizens of Cybe. We have begun a lockdown. Make your way to your homes and safe rooms immediately and do not leave. Await further instructions.”
The sky darkened and I froze. I pressed the home button on my watch. The sidewalk’s lights turned on as the scanners picked up my request. I could see the path the artificial glow made. My breath caught as I started running. What was happening?
I reached home as lights flickered out on the street and the sky continued to change overhead. I thought if the city technicians couldn’t even keep the dome bright, what would happen to all of the other electronic systems our world depended on?
I leaned against the door. “Please open,” I shakily whispered. The computers checked the ID card in my wristwatch and let me in. I rushed inside, the door locking automatically.
Were we in danger? My parents would be taking the E-Trans home from work. My brother took his bus, and my sister was relying on my parents to pick her up from her daycare. I swallowed. If they don’t get home in time . . . if they’re hurt . . . if they’re stuck . . .
A static-like noise broke me out of my thoughts. “Citizens—crackle—Cybe. There is—szzt—virus. Zzt—technology is in danger. You—are—in danger. Crackle—stay put—szzzzzzzt—safe—. Zzzt—trust—no one.”
There was a banging noise on the door. I was frozen with shock and terror. Someone was here. “MMMMMH! LEMMEIN!” I raced over to the camera screens, scanning for a familiar face. Every computer was black. Broken or malfunctioning, I couldn’t tell. “ISABELLA!” came the shout from outside. I glanced through the window and my jaw dropped. Lance, my younger brother.
I rushed to open the door, even as the thought came to my mind. Trust no one. Was it really Lance? I waved away my nerves. My brother stepped inside and looked at me curiously.
I composed myself. “Okay. We need to get to the safe room.” Most modern Cybe houses had one room underground with bulletproof walls, defence mechanisms, a radio, food, water, and other necessities. The announcement said to stay in the safe room. We had to go there.
Lance nodded and locked the door behind him. “Isabella, I got a message from Mom and Dad. They should be home soon.” I noticed a little head popping out beside him. My sweet, adorable baby sister.
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“Lily! Oh! You got her from school? They let you?”
“I showed them my ID. Mom told me to get her before something bad happened. They’ll be late because the train is down.”
“You—you were able to contact them? I mean—We should hurry. Did you hear the comm? Our tech is going down. Hurry!” I scooped up Lily and ran down the stairs to the safe room. The room was dark, the metal walls cold to the touch.
I took another breath as I stared at the five locks on the door. I turned all of them, then faced my siblings. “Lockdown. Do you know what that means?”
“Yeah. We did a review in school,” Lance mumbled. Lily stared at the room. It was maybe fifteen by twenty feet, with shelves and drawers, a large icebox in one corner of the room, and a table in another. Five cots stood against the wall. My brother muttered, “I can’t believe this.”
“I know. But . . . we should make a list of everything we have. Just in case we’re here for a while,” I suggested.
Lance nodded. “Okay. But what’s going to happen to us? What about Mom and Dad?”
“Calm down. We’ll try to message them. For now, let’s see what we can make do with it. Sounds good, Lily?” She gurgled in response. I was still shaking, but it was getting better. I was in control of something. We had resources. We were going to be okay.
Our list contained what we would need to survive. Lance and their sister took comfort in finding and sorting the food rations and medical kits. I wrote down each item carefully in a notebook from the emergency bag. We had hygiene kits, purification, food, water, cooking gear, even entertainment.
“Alright, troops, let’s message our parents,” I declared. Lily laughed, and grabbed a pencil, waving it in the air. I fingered my wristwatch. I wasn’t sure if we would even be able to reach them, but it was worth a try.
“Tell them that we’re in the safe room, and we locked the doors. We’re alright, and we have Lily,” suggested Lance.
“And we love them and hope they are okay,” I added, pressing send. “I hope they get it. I wish they were here.”
Lance’s shoulders drooped. “Yeah.” As if on cue, Lily started to cry, rubbing her stomach. “She’s hungry,” Lance said. “Me too. Usually, we eat around now . . .”
“Okay. But we have limited food resources sooo . . .” I dragged out the word as the gravity of the situation suddenly seemed to weigh down on me. Lockdown, no parents. Stuck in a safe room with a potential online virus corrupting our city.
I sighed and grabbed one food pack, tearing the plastic covering off. “So, we’ll just split this up,” I decided. There was a can of meat, crackers, instant soup, and a bar of chocolate. Lily couldn’t eat much with her teeth still emerging, so the soup would have to do. I lit the mini stove with a match while Lance entertained Lily.
We waited for the soup to warm up and split up the other food. Lily managed to eat some chocolate. Lance didn’t like meat, so I mashed up some of the canned sausage for Lily. We only had the bowl the soup came in, so when the soup finished warming, we took turns passing it around.
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“Now what?” Lance asked when we were done.
“We wait. We have the radio since the comms system is down. We’re in a lockdown . . .” Ping. I glanced down at my watch. We’re outside! Open up! ID process isn’t working!
“It’s Mom and Dad!” gasps Lance. “Hurry!”
“Wait. Do this carefully. I’ll stay here with Lily and you go unlock the door,” I said. Lance nodded impatiently as I opened the door. “If it’s not Mom and Dad . . . Just be safe.”
“Yep!” He dashed away. I sighed and glanced at Lily, who was falling asleep.
I spread out the cot and gently put her on top of it. I heard the door opening upstairs and the thumping of footsteps. My mother called “Darlings! We’re home!”
My parents and Lance came into the safe room, looking sweaty and tired. “We’re together, safe,” my father said. “We’ll be fine. How’s Lily?”
“Good. Sleeping.” I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn’t have to worry anymore. I could hand the difficulties over to my parents.
. . .
It was almost fun at first: eating food out of plastic containers, jumping around on the cots, and not having to go to school. Every once in a while, a radio broadcast sent out a message on the details of our situation. We got weekly deliveries of food and water, but I remember them saying that we might not have enough toilet paper. We had a whole shelf of them, stacked on top of each other like a pyramid, but we didn’t have enough. That was the first time I began to seriously wonder how long it would last, the pandemic.
After about a week a message was broadcast. Greetings citizens of Cybe. You have heard of a virus. We call it the VIRTU-FIN. It comes from Silvan. In the past decade, as we have grown and developed in ways that many thought were impossible, Silvan grew angry. They developed a weapon targeted to turn our electronics against us. Stay safe, Cybe. Be wary.
My parents were worried for us and our education. The government’s technicians had developed a new system to learn online. It was heavily safeguarded, and protected from the Silvaner virus. I would stare at a screen all day listening to my teachers. I would finish my homework in class, leaving the rest of the day with little to do. Now people say online schools made our education challenging. During those years, I felt frustrated that the classes were so simple; we were being spoon-fed information. As much as it annoyed me, it also made me sad. How could our education system deteriorate this quickly? I hated the distrust and fear that was poisoning my world.
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My favourite memories during the VIRTU-FIN outbreak were with my siblings. I loved playing games, reading books, and building forts. Whenever boredom threatened to ensnare myself or my siblings, I would make up fantastical stories or create games. Once my brother and I created a spider web maze in the safe room, spending hours taping and hanging strings and decor. We turned off the lights, made spooky sounds, and had our parents walk through it.
Most of all, I loved watching my sister’s firsts. My sister was my light in the darkness of the confusion that was the pandemic. She was a silly, adorable baby, filled to the brim with energy, giving me some when I had none. In some ways, I was grateful for the gap that the virus created. I was able to spend time with my siblings in a way I wouldn’t have had otherwise. Despite going to the same school as my brother, and seeing them at home, I didn’t get to spend much quality time with them. Being at home all day, watching my sister grow, was one of the things that kept me going in the isolation that came with the virus. I remember the joys she brought me.
I was able to watch her first steps. She was sitting down, but she pulled herself up to a standing position. Then she stepped, at first wobbling and then with more determination. I was proud of how she was growing and thriving in a world that was tangled and healing.
I also heard her first words. Momma, Dada, Oppie, and Nunie. We spoke Kor, one of the languages of Cybe, so our family used different titles; younger members would show respect to their elders by using specific names. Oppie and Nunie were variations of the words for brother and sister, coming from the younger sibling. Lily was young and couldn’t fully pronounce them, but it meant so much to me to hear Nunie.
Sometimes the memory of the lockdown was just the feeling. No one knew how long it would last. I was distressed, hopeless. Angry. At the world, at my school, at my family. At me. I didn’t understand why the world couldn’t simply go back to the way it had been. I wanted to be able to go outside, to talk to people, to learn in a school building all without having to be afraid. My parents wanted to protect my siblings and me. Once someone tried to break into our house. They were homeless, freezing in the cold that was usually regulated. My family was safe in our little metal room. We heard of the attacks on the people who dared to go out. No one could be trusted.
I valued the consistency that came with school. Five days a week, we had the same routine. When VIRTU-FIN arrived, I faltered. I had to adjust. Being ten years old at the time in my small world, it wasn’t easy. The contrast between the before and now was shocking to me. All of the change, simply because of a virus, seemed unnecessary. My family helped me the most in the challenging times, with their unconditional love and support. They were my lights, the ones that guided me through the chaos. Especially my sister, who was always so enthusiastic. She gave me the energy to keep adapting through the changes.
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. . .
Now it’s been five years. Everyone is still recovering from VIRTU-FIN. The virus created distrust between Cybe and Silvan. We found a way to block the virus but it wasn’t enough. In the end, we created a treaty with Silvan, knowledge for peace. We handle technology carefully now. I think people now don’t take as much for granted. We depended too much on our creations. We were so focused on our development and growth that we forgot the important things.
Community was one of them. Now we have better support for those who lost their relatives, those living alone. So many people lost their careers before the technicians could keep us safe. Some families are without a way to feed their children. Some people were killed. Cybe doesn’t like to talk much about our homeless, or the orphans, but they’re there. With all of the attacks and the fear, many of them turned against us. I think we may have deserved it. We’ve never really helped them.
In Cybe, the government doesn’t like people who stand out. They want us to be united, all the same, no differences. However, those unique traits make us special. We need to be different because difference brings change. Change for the better.
I think that VIRTU-FIN made us stronger. It showed us how much we matter to each other, and how much we have to fight for. What we must fight for. It showed us how we need to be able to adapt and respond quickly. As one. How can we do it when we are tearing ourselves apart? How are the things with Silvan going to be fixed? We are far too divided.
We found a solution to the virus because it impacted many people, but only because of that. If it had been one city, we might not have felt the pressure. Will we only rise up to the challenge to find a solution when it affects us? After the virus, we saw how vulnerable our world was. It took many people to find a solution. Humanity is a strong force. It’s a thriving community. It will only stay that way if we act together.
# # #
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~a short story by Eveline Chung
