“Dad, where is Mom? Is she okay? Is she here?” asked Uruvi, stumbling through the doorway. The axe in her hand hung low, cutting along the floor and nearly taking her dad’s foot along with it.

  “Whoa! That looks sharp. Here, let me take that.” He immediately took it from her hand and set it on the footstool that sat beside the door.

  Her whole body felt like lead, dragging her down to the ground. She used all her might to push herself forward.

  “Your mom is fine. She had to be evacuated from her apartment, but has found a place with other refugees,” explained her father.

  They reached the main hall, where she stopped and turned around. “What? Why? Why did you not get her here?”

  “Have you seen the chaos outside?” asked her father.

  She nodded. “Oh yeah. That’s right. I want… I want to talk to her.”

  “Sure, but maybe you should take some rest first. You look…”

  “Like a wreck? Yeah. But I need to know she is safe…”

  “We knew you would say that.” He walked past her towards the dining table, upon which sat an old school landline phone. He picked up the handset and dialed in a number.

  She anxiously watched her father, who gave her a side look as he waited for someone to pick up.

  The ringing stopped with a click, and a woman spoke, “hello?”

  “Sudha. This is Vikram…,” began her father. “Yeah. She is here… I don’t know the details yet… Can you put her on…? Great thanks…” He turned towards her and whispered, “One minute.”

  They waited patiently, with each passing second ramping up the anxiety.

  “Hello?” spoke a familiar voice on the other end. Uruvi recognized the voice almost immediately. Her eyes welled up as she reached out for the phone with both her hands.

  “Savi, someone wants to speak with you,” said her father before passing the handset.

  “Uruvi? Uruvi? Is that you?” asked her mother.

  “Maa… Maa… Where are you? Are you okay?” asked Uruvi, tears rolling down her cheeks.

  “Chinni! (Little one) Are… are you okay?” asked her mother. She could hear her mother wallow on the other side.

  The two spoke for a good while, finally able to make peace with the fact that they both were alright.

  “Stay there. Don’t you dare go out again. I will find my way over,” said her mother.

  “How? It is dangerous. You wait. I will come and get you!” said Uruvi. She saw the horrid look on her father’s face.

  “No. Don’t do such nonsense! They are clearing the roads. I will be able to make it,” said her mother.

  There was no use convincing her; she had already made up her mind. “Okay… I will,” she lied, just to calm her parents.

  She put the phone back down with a click. “How is the phone working?”

  “First. Get some sleep. You look devastated,” said her father.

  “Oh yeah… I think I last slept a day ago.”

  “Dear god. Go now. Get some sleep.”

  Uruvi silently nodded and trotted off towards her room. Her vision had become a blur, barely able to keep her eyes open. She took one look at her room, and everything appeared to be where she had left it. “That is a good sign… I think…”

  She contemplated whether to take a shower or simply change her clothes. However, she could not even finish the sentence in her head before leaping onto her bed. The world around her slowly faded into darkness as she slipped into deep slumber.

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  When Uruvi woke up again, she found herself lying in the comfort of her bed, staring at the ceiling of the room. There was still plenty of sunlight streaming through the windows, filling up her small comfort space. It felt like time had not passed at all.

  “Arya… are you there?” she asked.

  “Affirmative. I am always here.”

  “Wonderful. What time is it? Did I not sleep at all? But I feel refreshed.”

  “Negative. You had a good sleep. It is ten in the morning on Saturday.”

  “Ten… Saturday…” Her brain took a good few minutes to realize that an entire day had passed. “I slept for an entire day!” She said out loud.

  “Affirmative. Physical health – 100%. Mental health – 80%”

  “Well, that is nice.”

  She could hear footsteps from outside her room, followed by a knock on the door.

  “Chinna. You awake?” asked her dad.

  “Yeah. Come in,” she said, pushing herself up.

  He swung the door open and peeped in. “Finally. I thought you were going to sleep another six months.”

  She quietly rolled her eyes.

  “You want to get refreshed?” he asked.

  “I need a bath.”

  “Go ahead. And use the bucket. We need to conserve water.”

  ‘Things are that dire, huh?’ She thought.

  Uruvi walked out of the bath feeling like a brand-new person. It was exactly what she needed to refresh her mind and her soul. She popped on a loose T-shirt and shorts, not before taking a moment to admire her physical transformation.

  She looked the same from the outside, a short, scrawny girl. Only now with a heavily toned body. She had what one would call a sleeper build. “Damn. This is what hitting the gym could have done, huh?”

  “Arya, what is my mental status now?” she asked.

  “Analyzing. Mental health – 90 percent.”

  “90? I think you will need to recalibrate, because I am feeling great!” she said, trying to pump herself up.

  “Affirmative. I will recalibrate my calculations.”

  “I remember you told me about some announcement or something?” she asked.

  “Affirmative. Announcement in one day, one hour, and thirty minutes.”

  “Tomorrow at twelve in the afternoon. What can I expect from it?”

  “Negative. I do not have permission to access the requested information.”

  “Well, I hope they announce that you get more access to information!” she said.

  By the time she arrived at the kitchen, her dad had prepared a plate full of hot food and set it on the dining table. The rich aroma from the curry made her mouth water. Ever since she had been living alone, good food had been hard to come by. Even though she was a pretty good cook herself, there was never enough time for it, leaving her with food from the terrible cafeteria or fast-food chains. She began to devour the food, making sure to savor every bit.

  Her father let out a chuckle and said, “wow. Hungry much?”

  “Oh, you have no idea…” she said, stuffing her mouth with food.

  With her stomach satisfied, she cleaned her plate and headed back to the main hall, where her father was. He sat on the couch, taking a break after his morning house duties. He was a tall, chubby individual with dark brown skin. Thick, short, black hair covered his head, while a clean shave kept any hair off his face. The only physical traits he shared with his daughter were the color of his hair and irises.

  She walked over and took a seat beside him before giving him another big hug. “I was so scared! Had I not known your guys were okay, I have no idea what I would have done.”

  He gently tapped her on her shoulder and said, “it is fine now. Your home… wait. You knew we were okay?”

  She let him go and sat back, resting against the couch. “Yeah. Crazy story. But before I tell my story, why don’t you tell me what happened here? Things look… under control here…”

  He let out a dull sigh. “I don’t know what happened. They tried explaining it, but… it was just too unbelievable.”

  “Where were you when the whole chaos started?”

  “Here. I closed my clinic early that day and returned home. It was just like any other night. But then… I don’t know the exact time… these things started falling from the sky. One landed on our terrace and a few people in our apartment… well…”

  “They turned into something else. Yeah, I am aware,” she interjected.

  He nodded and continued. “They started tearing their way through the building until this boy from downstairs… His name was Karthik. He fought back against these creatures, and soon he was joined by more of them. It took them all night, but eventually they cleared the place of those things. They gathered a bunch of people, who by miracle could do these crazy things like set up phone lines, create fences, and…” He shook his head in disbelief.

  ‘I see… that is where the fences came from…’ She thought.

  “Ever since then, things have been somewhat normal. Or as normal as they can be. We all have jobs to do. I… and a few others, are in charge of water management. A guy named Satish says he has a screen where he can inspect everything…” He let out a chuckle. “I have no idea how that works.”

  She quietly nodded along.

  “I am not sure how much sense that made to you,” he said.

  “Yeah… I think I got a handle on all of that…”

  “You seen stuff too?”

  “You know the war path Karthik went on? Well… that was the entire day for me…”

  He gave her a side eye with a sly smile. “Hmm… I guessed as much from that axe you brought home, but what really happened?”

  She had debated for quite a while whether to tell him everything that happened or not. However, Uruvi never hid anything from her parents, and she saw no reason to do that now.

  She took a deep breath and said, “okay. What I am about to say will definitely freak you out. So… brace yourself for it.”