The only time I have ever heard or seen such levels of severe weather warnings, were in TV shows and movies of the world ending. But here I am, right into the middle of one. The sirens are blaring, I recognize them as air bombing sirens, Malaysia doesn't have severe weather warning sirens, the closest thing we have is air bombing sirens which probably last sang their tune during the Japanese occupation.
On the television, the radios, and all the online news stations, warnings were being repeated by our meteorological stations. The messages were all the same. "This is not a drill. All citizens are advised to go home and lock themselves in. All windows need to be shut and taped across. High winds are expected and might shatter unprotected window glass. Severe Weather Imminent! This is not a drill! Stay indoors as soon as possible!"
Phone in hand, I scrolled social media. Across the whole of Malaysia, there were concerned netizens all asking the same thing - "Was this a hoax?" "Did our airwaves get hijacked?". Very soon, even the #hoax was trending on twitter.
You would understand our confusion, as the weather outside was your typical clear blue skies, sun out, hot and dry like how every lunar Chinese new year was.
My wife and I shrugged, and went back to our respective tasks of preparing stuff for the celebrations. But soon, the loud din from the outside could be heard clearly, even for us, on the thirteenth floor.
The police were out and about, shouting into their megaphones, instructing people to get back indoors, seal the doors and the windows now. Sirens everywhere, as the police, firefighters, and even the army went into action. Trying to get people indoors as soon as possible.
Looking up at the sky from my balcony, the sky was just as blue as it was before the severe weather warning.
But I've watched enough movies to know, this is how the extras in the movies die first. So with the help of my wife, we taped every window in the house, diagonally from one corner to the other, with a big "X" across the glass. We also shut the windows and locked the loose ones in place as best that we could. The largest pieces of glass in our home would be the sliding doors in the living room as well as the windows in the yard.
Then, we waited, on our computers. Food would not be an issue for a couple of days, I had just gone shopping for groceries yesterday. To cook, we had a portal stove we used for steamboat gatherings, if need be, I had stacks of newspaper and a few wooden framed single beds which could be set alight.
We weren't doomsday preparers, like those American ones. But due to weak infrastructure, water and electricity cuts were a common thing in Malaysia. We had large bottles of water set aside, some for washing and mostly for drinking.
While my wife went into the kitchen to make sure we did have stores of water and food, I saw it happen.
My poor plants on the balcony, my poor poor plants.
Frost began to form on the leaves, the largest Ixora bush was the first to show signs of frost, followed by the Jasmine and my tomatoes.
The next thing I knew, I was curled up into a ball, on the floor holding my eyes shut. Vaguely aware that my wife was next to me, checking on my well being.
The brief moment that I had noticed the frost forming on the plants, it was accompanied by a bright flash, I felt like I had for the first time taken a full hit from a real flash grenade. Closest I've ever been to a similar experience was when flash-bang grenades were popular in a shooter game I played last year.
After the flash, I noticed that the fan had stopped functioning, and our computers had gone out as well. My wife was trying to use her cell phone, but she said it was out too. First thought was that some had set off an EMP near us. But I quickly erased that thought, this wasn't a video game. It was really happening.
Closest natural event I could tie to this occurrence was solar flares, our sun, had a tendency of lashing out every few thousand years. However, there had been no news about any solar storms in the past few months. But besides that, I could think of no other incident which had the same power; after all, just a few years ago, a wild solar flare had knocked out some Indian, Chinese, American and Russian satellites - according to mainstream media.
Anyway, we were startled out of our thoughts by someone banging on our front door. It was our neighbor, he somehow still had a functioning radio. It was one of those olden day relics, we knew him to be an eccentric collector for all things including ancient relics - my wife thought him to be a hoarder really.
He was asking if we understood English as there was some news as to what just happened. He said that the news was originally in Bahasa, before it switched to English. He waved the small radio in his hand and then cranked up the volume.
"Citizens of Earth, this is an unprecedented event in our Earth's history. Most equatorial countries are situated within the storm's eye and are expected to encounter severe weather including rapid chilling and possibly freezing. All citizens of Earth within the affected areas are advised to immediately seek shelter. The clear sky you can see is because of the eye of the storm. As for the bright flash which you may have already encountered, are solar flares lashing across Earth's protective fields. Citizens are advised to not look directly at the sky as these sudden flashes can cause instant blindness. Experts are currently trying to figure out how long these severe conditions will last. Updates will be announced on these emergency channels on radio and television. Our thoughts and prayers to those affected by the severe weather."
The announcement then switched to Tamil, while we explained the best that we could about what was going on to our neighbor. He grumbled something about his day being ruined as he trudged off, leaving his radio with us. He did say he had a few more around his place, so we could keep the radio.
"So we're in a movie now?" my wife laughed.
"We're most definitely not in 'Water World' or 'Mad Max', but from what has happened so far, it seems like we're walking into the set of 'The Day after Tomorrow' or '2012'." I replied, smiling.
We both closed our door and locked it, as we entered our home again. Looking out the balcony, all my plants had frosted over and a layer of condensation had formed on the sliding door. Funny, it wasn't as cold out in the walkway between units, where we had talked to the neighbor just now.
But the voices in my mind prevented me from opening the sliding door to check the temperature outside. For once those voices actually saved my life. In the night, more news came over the radio warning people against opening their windows or sliding doors to check on the temperature if they saw snow forming. Apparently there had been quite a number of reported deaths already, of curious people.
My place had always been cooling, so the night was no different. My wife was already in bed, hidden beneath the comforters, as I laid my head on my pillow, the familiar falling sensation struck me. As I fell, I made myself wake up. I had expected to wake up in some falling dream again, but actually this time, the falling sensation had woken me up instead.
It's 4.30pm, my wife is still away visiting her relatives and will be coming back tonight. The sky outside is the same as it has always been these past few months, dark, gloomy and about to pour its heart out. Nothing like the dry and hot weather which the lunar Chinese new year should have. Thinking of the dream I just had, I should have noticed that it was a dream earlier. There was no way that the skies were that clear currently or has it been since the past 3 years.
I've been feeling lethargic and easily tired the past few days. Sleeping early does not help, I guess I must have fallen asleep at the table again. A falling dream, initiated by falling asleep on my desk, and waking up back to reality via a falling dream within a falling dream.
Or have I just gone back to a dream, after the world is actually ending in 'The Day After Tomorrow' style. One of the many 'extras' who die off camera. Who knows, which reality is actually real?