Millenium

A story about the year 2000

 

The two teenage girls proceeded through the filled streets, there were people of all ages waiting on the pavements or rushing to unknown destinations. Some were dressed up as if attending parties, some casual, and some just down right strange with wigs and costumes covering their true identities. The hustle and bustle of the streets was present, however it had taken a different tone to the usual nights, no argumentative crowds or drunken fights, it was the opposite, friendly crowds and drunken cheers. It was a global celebration on a street wide scale.

 

“This is going to be killer,” one of the young girls shared, a beautiful blonde, dressed to kill.

“Yeah,” the other brunette girl replied hesitantly, she was obviously not the party type.

“Say it with less enthusiasm why don’t you, come on Nikki remember the last time I dragged you out to a party?” the blonde girl sniggered while reminiscing.

“Rachel, you ended up getting pissed, hitting on every guy there, and then muggings here had to walk you home… where you threw up on me,” Nikki replied with a smile trying to hold back laughter and pretending to be annoyed.

Music played through the streets as they picked up their pace and the odd intruding wolf whistle repeated itself as drunken men ogled at the girls. Streamers rained down on the closed roads, no car could drive through the mass of human party poppers that littered the streets.

“This is the year of the Lord, his second coming is nigh, praise him!” an old priest shouted to the people engrossed in his preaching; he followed with a verse about the return of Christ.

“Have you thought of accepting God in your life,” a cloaked woman said forcing a leaflet into Nikki’s hand, “God bless,” she shouted running to another impressionable victim.

“Nutters,” laughed Rachel.

“Armageddon is here! There is no escape, humanity has come to an end…” a crazy looking homeless man insinuated, screeching chants of doom and disaster in a manic accent. He was the stereotypical mad man, let out on the streets for one night before being incarcerated in a mental institute for paranoid schizophrenia. He had flailing white hair, wore a brown overcoat, which smelt like it was drenched in whiskey and stumbled barefoot around the road. With him, he carried a cardboard sign with the words ‘death is salvation’ scribbled across it in almost indistinguishable handwriting.

“Come on we want to get there in time,” Rachel insisted grabbing Nikki.

Nikki nodded having seen enough of the streets pessimistic predictions which seemed to cloud her vision of the celebrations; she was a nervous worrier and frightened easily.

 

Over in an isolated, quite expensive looking house the atmosphere was much different from that of the streets.

“But dad I have to go! All my friends are going, it’s just not fair,” nagged another teenage girl, wearing a stunning black dress that ran from her black hair to her black high heels; wasted in the silent house.

“I said no Debbie! Now sit down while I finish preparing,” contested her father, a hard-headed bald man with a casual down to Earth look about him.

“But it’s going to be the biggest party ever, I’ll never talk to you again if you don’t let me go,” continued Debbie.

“You can go… next millennium,” her father teased, busily grabbing little bits and bobs from around his lounge.

“It’s the millennium celebration dad, not nuclear war, Y2K party time, the only thing that’s going to happen is people having the best time of their lives and thanks to you I’m going to miss out,” Debbie assured.

“I thought you weren’t talking to me,” her father said, brushing off her comment.

“Mum would have let me go!” Debbie shouted.

“That’s it young lady, go to your room and pack your things this instant!” shouted back her father, enraged and red to the face from her last psychological attack.

She ran out of the room slamming the door behind her, making her father flinch, he came across a photo of his family, Debbie, himself, a baby girl and his wife. It was in the traditional family photo pose, all smiling and grouped together, he sighed as he picked it up and placed it with the items he was gathering.

A younger girl walked into the room, “Daddy what should I bring?”

He walked over to her receiving a hug, “Come on, I’ll help you pack,” he said softly.

 

Back on the streets the girls had reached their destination, an apartment building which towered into the sky.

“Jesus, how many floors does this place have?” inquired Nikki.

“No idea… a lot, I’ll give Jake a ring… get him to let us in,” replied Rachel.

An older guy came to the door; he had psychedelic patterned clothes, a party hat, a can of beer in one hand and a spliff in the other. As he opened the door, stumbling a little and spilling his beer, his red eyes widened in celebratory greeting.

“Heeeyyyyy!” he shouted playfully, opening his arms.

“Hey Jake,” Rachel replied giving him a quick hug before pushing him away, “eww… you’re soaked.”

“Yeah,” he said laughing, “some of the guys brought water pistols.”

“Hi Jake… I’ll pass on the hug,” Nikki added.

They followed Jake into the elevator where he pressed the button for the top floor and passed his spliff to Rachel.

“Whose room are we partying in?” Rachel inquired toking the spliff.

“No-ones… no way… too many people turned up… so we’re on the roof! Its wild… the landlords out with family so all hell’s breaking loose,” he replied with a massive grin.

“Cool,” Rachel replied handing the spliff to Nikki.

The elevator doors opened to the rooftop where a rave of drunken friends, friends of friends and complete strangers blasted out into the night’s sky; over the city. Dance and trance music blasted from stereos, kegs of beer were being chugged down everyone’s throat, dancing girls and guys raved with neon sticks and bangles, grinding each other raw and break dancing on the booze soaked floor, drugs were accessible, and cannabis was fuming the air.

“Welcome to the P-A-R-T-A-I!” shouted Jake facing the girls, walking backwards into the crowd with his arms stretched wide.

“Wooo!” Rachel shouted back, running and dancing into the crowd to grab a beer.

“Don’t over do it,” Nikki yelled after Rachel, “who am I kidding,” she mumbled to herself, giving in to temptation.

 

At the house, Debbie’s father stood at the bottom of the stairs with bags of sentimental objects as if he was running away from home, backpacking in the wild outdoors, for the rest of his life. His youngest daughter stood with him grabbing his leg with one hand and holding a little pink satchel, with a teddy bear sticking out, in the other. His house now looked like a recently built, fully furnished, sale; all signs of a family life within it packed away.

“Debbie, come on!” Debbie’s father shouted up the stairs.

“I’m coming,” she shouted back snappily, “I can’t believe you’re making me do this, it’s stupid,” she continued traipsing her bag down the stairs.

“It’s not stupid my dear, the millennium bug is very real Debs and you’ll thank me come midnight,” her father replied grabbing her bag, “Jesus, I told you to pack the bare essentials not your whole bloody room.”

They proceeded outside the house and into a large, well-kept garden.

“It’s a shame, took me ages to get this garden just the way I liked it,” Debbie’s father muttered.

“Oh, for Gods sake dad,” Debbie said, rolling her eyes.

“Come tomorrow this may all be gone Debs, I know you think it’s stupid, but you could at least humour me,” he replied.

“No way… not in front of Eve,” she added smugly.

They stopped at a small mound that resembled a grassy hill and proceeded down some steps, hidden within the undergrowth, to a metallic vault door. The girls slowly strolled inside the dark room, Eve holding onto her big sister for comfort from the dark as their father located and lit the gas lanterns.

“I’ve tried to make it homey,” he stated.

The lanterns lit the whole room; a bomb shelter plummeting far down into the ground and featuring a whole range of survival products and innovations. Extensively thick walls; a miniature recycling plant provided water; military packed food was stacked high and wide; a toilet and shower was closed off in a quaint cubicle; a whole host of plants were present in a small garden patch; a bed was closed off by a curtain; an exercise bike and treadmill provided a healthy fitness regime; an abundant gas supply provided heat from a charming small fireplace; and with books, toys and pictures scattered around it was truly a home from home.

“Oh my God dad, you’re obsessed,” stated Debbie.

“I know it’s a bit much, but it will be worth it come tomorrow, we could be down here for a very long time,” he assured.

“It must have cost a fortune,” continued Debbie.

“Yes… well, money well spent,” he replied with a reluctant sigh.

“And you complain if I want to buy new shoes!” she said in disbelief.

“I like it daddy,” Eve said smiling.

“Why thank you sweetheart, I’m glad someone appreciates it,” he replied, “I’ll get the portable TV we can watch the celebrations from here.”

 

On the rooftop the party was continuing without a hitch, Rachel was dancing with no sense of balance, swaying from side to side with her arms soaring up to the sky in sensual ecstasy.

“Rachel… are you alright?” Nikki interrupted.

“Yeah… I’m… floating,” she replied, implementing her head into the swaying motion and closing her eyes.

“Come on,” Nikki said grabbing her and pulling her limp body out of the dancing crowd.

“Hey! What are you doing…? I was… right,” Rachel shouted changing tone to a whisper half way through and hitting Nikki’s hands off her.

“You’ve had a pill haven’t you,” Nikki insinuated.

“So what if I have… you’re not my mum Nikki… for Gods sake,” Rachel replied, snapping slightly out of her bubble.

“I thought we were going to have a good time, together, but you’re just off your head on drugs,” Nikki continued.

“I WAS having a good time, till you showed up… lighten up Nikki,” Rachel shouted and walked off grabbing a random guy and dragging him onto the dance floor, pouncing on his face.

“Fine! Go f**k about, but I’m not walking you home this time,” Nikki yelled after her.

Suddenly a guy shoved a gun up to Nikki’s face and pulled the trigger, spurting water all over her. She jumped back in surprise, her eyes angered and walked off in a huff.

“Troubles?” a guy intruded.

His multi-coloured, wildly gelled hair and wacky giant sunglasses put her off straight away, “mind your own business.”

“Wow, I’m just trying to help… spliff?” he assured holding out his spliff on offer.

“Yeah, sorry… I’m just in a bad mood,” she replied, accepting the spliff.

“We can’t be having that, come with me,” he said smiling.

She followed him to a corner of the roof where a group of ravers and stoners were sitting on deck chairs, chilling out in a circle.

“Hey guys, this is…”

“Nikki, hi,” she added.

“And I’m Andy… a pleasure to meet you… and these, these are the guys,” the guy replied.

 

The circle continued their conversation as Nikki and Andy took a seat.

“I heard it’s in a year from now, so no worries just yet.”

“No way… that’s like, a rumour… stop us from worrying.”

“What are you guys talking about?” interrupted Andy.

“Y2K man… the big two-O-O… millennium bug.”

“You missed out an O man,” another guy added sniggering.

“Who cares… if it is tonight, when I’m gunna die I’m gunna be so high.”

“This professional dude on the news was talking about it… sayin’ everywhere on the planet will be affected… check this, and I quote, and that the world may end as we know it.”

“You’re so full of s**t man,” replied Andy.

“I saw an old, crazy man on my way here… he had a sign and everything, saying the same stuff,” Nikki added, “kind of freaked me out, what do you think will happen if they’re right?”

“Some heavy s**t!”

“I heard that banks will erase our accounts.”

“Planes falling from the sky.”

“Those missile bases will launch all their missiles automatically and start World War III.”

“Televisions will blow,” added Andy.

“Nooooooo… I’ll miss Simpsons!” a guy with dreadlocks shouted, bursting the group into laughter.

 

As midnight grew closer Andy and Nikki made their way to the side of the roof to watch the countdown and fireworks, the view was beautiful, showing the celebrating city as far as the eye could see. Nikki grabbed her phone from her pocket revealing several missed calls; she dialled the number.

“Hi Debs, it’s Nikki!” she shouted down the receiver.

“Hi… sorry I couldn’t make it; my dad’s gone insane… I’ll tell you about it tomorrow. What’s the party like?” replied Debbie.

“It’s awesome; I met a cool guy… I’ll tell you about it tomorrow. Jake asked where you were, he really wanted to see you, I think he wanted a New Year kiss,” shouted Nikki.

“Damn it, I’ll kill dad,” Debbie replied in frustration.

“Hang on Debs… were about to do the countdown,” Nikki shouted, lowering her phone.

The rooftop crowd ceased dancing and smoking to join a chant into the New Year, even the streets filled with the deafening numbers.

“Ten…”

“Nine…”

“Eight…”

“Seven…”

“Six…”

“Five…”

“Four…”

“Three…”

“Two…”

“One!”

“Happy New Year!”

Fireworks shot into the sky, and the clear black changed to a rainbow of bursting lights, patterns and shooting star rockets, it was as if God had left on a strobe light from heaven.

 

Then Nikki froze, as did many others on the rooftop, pointing to the distance.

The explosions of colour in the sky turned to explosions of fire on the horizon, the bang and whooshes turned to almighty booms. Nikki dropped her phone, people started to scream and still unaware of any panic the crowd beneath on the streets continued to cheer.

 

“That’s weird, my phone just went dead,” Debbie stated trying to turn it on.

“That’s not the only thing,” her father replied frantically changing the TV channels and receiving static every time.

Debbie looked up at her father’s worried face, “Dad?”

 

From the rooftop view Nikki could see block after block of the city lights failing, placing the streets into pitch black, with only the leftover intervals of fireworks and explosions to flash vision on the situation.  She held onto Andy who was staring with disbelief and frozen to the spot. As the street underneath lost its power, a mighty scream soared past the rooftop and into the sky and with every flash of light Nikki could see people darting around in panic, looking for safety, but finding none. People on the roof were just as terrified, grabbing each other and crying in dread. Planes fell from the night sky like swatted flies and landed with Earth-quaking thuds of thunder, exploding like miniature nuclear bombs, decimating whole streets and buildings in the process. Nikki began to cry, she didn’t know what else to do.

“Nikki!” Rachel screamed running up to her, “I’m so sorry,” she wept.

“I am too,” Nikki replied, detaching from the still frozen Andy and hugging Rachel tight.

“What do we do?” Rachel asked.

“I don’t know,” Nikki sobbed.

 

In the bunker Debbie, Eve and their father huddled together holding each other tight as the shelter shook constantly. Explosions and ground-shaking crashes were as loud as on the rooftop.

“I’m sorry dad, I didn’t know,” Debbie said, tears flooding down her face.

“Hush my darling Debs, it will be alright,” her father replied assuring her with a false sense of security.

“Make it stop!” screeched Eve, grasping her father and screaming with her hands over her ears.

“Hang on baby,” replied her father, clasping his arm around her head to cover her ears.

“I wish mummy was her,” wept Eve.

“Me too sweetheart… me too” he replied.

 

On the rooftop all hell was still breaking loose, firework rockets in the sky were replaced with real rockets dropping around the skyline. The rooftop watched in dismay as a rocket hit close to where they stood, people hysterically screamed as an unstoppable, relentless, barrier of flame approached the building. Some people ran to the other side of the roof and dived off, hoping that the building would protect them if they somehow survived the fall, or to just die, quickly. Nikki and Rachel held hands, as they awaited the inevitable.

“Don’t look at it Rachel,” insisted Nikki.

With her other hand in her pocket Nikki felt something and pulled it out, it was the leaflet she had been given earlier and on the front it showed a picture of a nuclear explosion with the words ‘God is your salvation’ on the front. She stared down at it and whispered a prayer as the flame of the explosion rose up the building and engulfed it in fire.

 

After a while the explosions and shaking had ceased within the bomb shelter, Nikki was sitting in the foetal position on the couch shaking from the experience.

Her father was tucking up Eve in the bed, “It’s way past your bed time,” he whispered kissing her on the forehead.

“Can you sing me a lullaby,” Eve asked clutching her teddy bear.

“Of course sweetheart…” he thought for a minute,

“Sleep my child and peace attend thee,
 All through the night
 Guardian angels God will send thee,
 All through the night
 Soft the drowsy hours are creeping,
 Hill and dale in slumber sleeping
 I my loved ones' watch am keeping,
 All through the night.”