2099; All Lights Out

Chaos and what feels like Yesterday

With a hundred heels on the run and a dozen people falling on to the ground, the only source of light, the bonfire, was put out by the rushing wind that accompanied the waves which were a few feet away from the shore.

The screams worsened in the face of the darkness with people colliding with each other and noises that sounded like utter pains from stampede filled every angle of the place.

"Vvvvzzzooommmshhhhh" The sound alongside discordant tides crashed multiple times with the weight of people's voices sounding muffled as they drowned in its weight and impact.

"Mencia? Don't let go. Let's keep going" Justin said as he tried his every best to stay coordinated in his speech making process.

Mencia couldn't speak. She was only doing one thing, breathing, and she wasn't doing it well enough as Justin kept dragging her away from the chaos behind them to some place ahead that they could not see.

"Gabriel! Gabriel" A girl screamed with a heavily teary voice from somewhere close to the fleeing Justin and Mencia. 

This pandemonium and utter distress flowed within the veins of everyone and the atmosphere was full of gasps and loud pants that resonated from fast-beating hearts.

"Gasp" With a wildly flowing rush of sweat and a heart beat that sounded like a loose drum, Menica rose up quickly from the cave where her back was rested on during her sleep.

This nightmare of the night at Ibiza had been tormenting her repeatedly as she couldn't escape it no matter how short or long she slept for.

Mencia looked towards her right side with her head lowered to the ground as she looked pitifully at the sleeping Justin who held her hand in his. He had been her guardian and only friend ever since they got here. She pitied him for always having to be strong for her, in her low moments where she cried uncontrollably and this was almost every night and Justin did not complain.

This cave was fairly-lit with woods serving as fire-torches hung on the walls. They had been here for a few days or maybe a lot more than that. it was hard to know what time it was when the sun and moon were not hanging in the sky.

Mencia turned her face towards her stomach which grumbled repeatedly. She had not eaten in a while, she could not. Her appetite and irritation upon the sight of withering herbs and perishing fruits was a major cause of that.

"Mencia?" Justin called out from his sleep as he held on to her hand tightly now. He woke up slowly from whatever dream he'd had and looked towards her hand that he tightly held on to. She was holding him right back. He looked up towards her face and smiled a little widely as he sniffled.

"Guys, we have to get going. Take as much fire with you as you can" A muscular guy in his early twenty said to the other males in the cave, about 11 of them.

Justin knew he had to go on this expedition with them, so he got up slowly, fixing his eyes on Mencia.

"Please, come back" Mencia said in a very emotional tone as a tear found its way out of her left eye. She didn't mean to cry, not this time.

"I will" Justin said wearing a smile of a two year old kid while rubbing his fingers against her wrist.

404 days earlier

"Is this where we go our separate ways?" Justin asked with a sense of loss and hurt in his tone as he looked towards Mencia who was being recorded live by a floating Hologram device that transmitted this scene live to millions of streamers on the internet.

They had been in this 'House of Anchors' reality show for 90 days alongside 20 other people and today was the last day they all had together. Justin, over the course of their stay had been smitten by Mencia's beauty and they had barely exchanged more than ten sentences. She barely looked towards him or anyone in this room.

"Yeah, I guess. You will return to the U.S and I'll stay in Spain. That's how this was supposed to end, right?" Mencia replied without much care or bit of passion in her voice and this irked Justin whose feelings were being hurt and this became evident on his face as his countenance became sullen.

Mencia did not want this. For the first time in a long time, someone saw her, and not just for the beauty half the world recognized about her. He looked at her with the eyes of her dead younger brother and she wanted to hug him, kiss him maybe, but the public eye and the media's loose lips left her mute, quiet and in great torture within.

"Justi…" Mencia called out quietly, too quietly for her or anyone else close could have heard while Justin walked away from the podium towards the backstage where he was to exit the building from.