Something felt off. I had been stopped for nearly a full minute, but not
a single vehicle from the other directions moved. I looked ahead—south, west,
and eastbound lanes. Every car was frozen in place. At first, I assumed the
traffic light system had malfunctioned, but I thought it was unlikely that all
three other directions would break down at the same time.
Suddenly, horns started blaring. Some drivers rolled down their windows,
leaning out like they were trying to figure out what was going on.
I didn’t know why, but a strange tension began creeping up the back of
my neck. I reached for my phone, opened Threads, anything. WhatsApp notifications
poured in—work group chats, family groups, even my elementary school alumni
group.
“Guys, all the lights at Merdeka intersection are red. I’ve been waiting
for nearly two minutes and they haven’t changed. Looks like every direction’s
stuck.”
“Dude, I’m in Tokyo. Same thing’s happening here!”
I stared at the time at the top corner of my screen. 2:41 PM. Three
minutes had passed. No officers showed up. No sirens wailed. Just cars from
four directions, each driver staring at the others in confusion, no one moving
an inch.
From the southern lane, a man stepped out of his SUV. He stood in the
middle of the road and started yelling something I couldn’t quite make out, but
he looked frustrated. A few other drivers poked their heads out, responding to
him. Within seconds, a volley of car horns erupted, making the scene even more
chaotic.
And then, just like that, the light in front of me turned green. One by
one, cars started moving, and traffic flowed as if nothing had ever happened.
No one knew what had occurred. Some technicians I saw on the news said
there were no bugs. No hacker groups claimed responsibility, and there were no
statements from NASA, WHO, or even the UN. Every institution stayed silent. Or
maybe, they were just as clueless.
That very night, social media exploded with speculation. Some believed
it was the government behind it, like a secret simulation for some classified
program. Others said it had to do with aliens, a glitch in the matrix, a sign
of the end times, and some other conspiracy theories I never would’ve imagined
myself.
It’s been a week since the phenomenon. People are beginning to forget, moving on like it was just a strange hiccup in the system. As for me, I still have no answer. I still don’t know what really happened.
—
Read the original version here.
