The Numbers Above Us - The First Hour

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The world didn’t end all at once.

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It ended in pieces.

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Small, quiet moments—

like someone dropping their phone…

or a scream that cut off too suddenly.

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I couldn’t move from my bed.

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My eyes were locked on the number above me.

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It hadn’t changed again. Not yet.

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But I knew it would.

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Somewhere out there, people were already reaching zero.

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And dying.

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My phone buzzed again.

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This time, it was a call.

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I hesitated before answering.

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“Hello?”

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“You see it too, right?”

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The voice on the other end was shaking.

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Lina.

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“I…” I swallowed. “Yeah.”

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Silence. Then—

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“What’s your number?”

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I glanced up.

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“…twenty-six.”

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Another pause. Longer this time.

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“Mine says 14,” she whispered.

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My chest tightened.

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“That doesn’t mean anything,” I said quickly, even though I didn’t believe it. “We don’t even know what it is yet.”

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“People are dying.”

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Her voice cracked.

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“I saw a video. Someone hit zero and just—collapsed.”

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“I know.”

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The words came out quieter than I expected.

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Because I had seen it too.

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And I couldn’t unsee it.

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“Listen,” Lina said suddenly, her tone urgent now. “We need to figure this out. Maybe it’s time… or—something else. Maybe we can stop it.”

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Stop it.

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The idea felt impossible.

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But also… necessary.

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Because doing nothing meant waiting.

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And waiting meant watching that number drop.

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“I’ll come to you,” she said. “Don’t go anywhere.”

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Before I could respond, the call ended.

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I stared at my phone for a long moment.

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Then slowly, I stood up.

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The room felt different now. Smaller.

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Like the walls were closing in.

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I walked to the mirror.

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And there it was.

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Floating above my reflection.

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I leaned closer.

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“Who put you there?” I whispered.

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No answer.

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Of course not.

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This wasn’t something that could be explained that easily.

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Another vibration.

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This time, a notification from a live stream.

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Thousands of viewers.

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I tapped it.

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A man appeared on screen, breathing heavily as he pointed the camera at himself.

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“Okay—okay, listen,” he said. “My number was 10 ten minutes ago. Now it’s 5.”

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My heart started racing.

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Dropping.

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Fast.

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“I haven’t done anything,” he continued. “I’m just sitting here—”

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His voice broke.

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“Why is it going down?”

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The comments were exploding.

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Mine is dropping too

Same here

What is happening??

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The man laughed suddenly, but there was no humor in it.

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“This is insane,” he said. “This has to be some kind of glitch—”

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His eyes flicked upward.

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He froze.

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The camera shook.

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“…it’s at 1.”

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No one in the comments was typing anymore.

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It was like the entire world was holding its breath.

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“…please,” he whispered.

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Then—

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His body went limp.

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The screen cut to black.

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I dropped my phone.

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My hands were trembling now.

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This wasn’t random.

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This wasn’t slow.

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This was happening fast.

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I forced myself to look up again.

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Still there.

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Still unchanged.

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But now it felt heavier.

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Like a ticking clock I couldn’t hear—

but knew was counting down anyway.

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A sudden knock at the door made me jump.

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Sharp. Urgent.

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“Open up!”

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Lina.

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I rushed over and pulled the door open.

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She stood there, breathing hard, her eyes wide with fear.

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And above her head—

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My stomach dropped.

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“It just changed,” she said, her voice barely steady.

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I looked back up at mine.

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For a split second, I hoped—

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Hoped it would stay the same.

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But it didn’t.

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It flickered.

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Then—

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26… 25

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Lina saw it happen.

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We both froze.

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Neither of us spoke.

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Because in that moment—

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We both understood the same thing.

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This wasn’t random.

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And whatever was happening…

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It had already started.

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