My eyes twitched open due to the endless vibrating of my phone next to my pillow. I glanced over at the screen, where notifications were popping up every second.

I rubbed my eyes and picked up my phone, still half asleep but curious to find out what all the commotion was about. What I saw made me jump out of bed, my jaw dropping. I kept reading those words again and again because I could not bring myself to believe them.

The news was covered in bold, bright letters: “Shocking Announcement: The government has announced that rules no longer exist, as they want their people to be and feel free.”

I immediately checked the information on different sites, just to make sure it was true. Every website showed the same news.

Exhilaration rushed through my veins and excitement washed over me. All I could think about was how amazing today was about to be. Nothing prepared me for what was about to happen.

I got dressed for university, putting on my best outfit, ready for the blast I thought I was going to have. I strolled towards the bus, my earphones in my ears, music blasting.

I reached the bus stop and, as I was stepping onto the bus, I saw a boy pulling another girl’s hair. The girl looked back at him, ready to say something, when the boy snickered, “What are you going to do about it? Report me?”

The girl quietened down and turned away, but I could see the helplessness and frustration in her eyes.

I was taken aback by what I saw, for I had not thought about people taking advantage of the situation and doing whatever they wanted.

As the bus reached my university, I got out of my seat to leave when I noticed people leaving the bus without paying for their rides. I paid my fare and asked the conductor why he was not asking the other people to pay. He told me that he could not do anything about it, considering there were no rules anymore, and he did not want to pick a fight with anyone because that would just put him in danger.

Hearing him, I actually started to rethink the government’s decision and wondered how much worse people could get if this continued.

As I entered the university, the reality of the situation sank in. People were smoking all around campus, violent fights were breaking out across the university grounds and people were vandalising and damaging university property. Every corner was filled with chaos and crime that had no consequences. Seeing everything, I left after only a short while, afraid for my safety.

As I rushed back home to safety, I witnessed a lot of crimes happening in plain sight. People were robbing each other, threatening each other with weapons that they carried around like toys and even beating each other up.

My heart raced so fast that I thought it would burst out of my ribs. I just wanted to be home. I started to cross the road when a car sped across the street, nearly hitting me. Having narrowly dodged death, I started sprinting as fast as I could. I could now see that people had no fear and were doing whatever they wanted.

As soon as I reached home, I entered and locked the door behind me and collapsed on the floor as my knees gave in. My hands were trembling. I had just seen the most horrifying scenes of my life. I was quite shaken by the whole situation, so I locked myself in my room and pushed my desk against the door.

Every minute, my phone would buzz with a new story about another crime on an even larger scale, including bank robberies, bombings, killings and more. Hospitals became full of patients. Social media platforms were filled with videos of people committing crimes. Everything was falling apart.

I was crying my heart out because I was scared and furious at the same time. Every scenario that had occurred replayed in my head. A cold chill ran down my spine as I thought about all the things that would happen the next day.

I must have cried myself to sleep because the next thing I knew, I woke up to the sunlight shining through my curtains. I sat up fast. Everything was silent. I grabbed my phone and checked the news sites and social media platforms. There was no devastating news or horrifying videos. My desk was sitting in its original position.

I gave a short, tearful laugh as I realised that it was just a horrifying nightmare and nothing else.

I opened my door and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water when I froze. The heavy deadbolt lay shattered on the floor, the wood around the door splintered inward and a trail of muddy footprints led into the house…

Published in Dawn, Young World, August 22nd, 2026