Mona woke up with the pillow wet with her sweat. The AC is off, doors are still closed and the night is still outside the windows. She reached for her phone, "3:54 Monday 4/9/2023", along with a glaring notification "5% battery". Guess who had a 30 minutes Youtube video about the  city of Amsterdam as background noise before sleeping and not plugged it. 

No wifi. One explanation only: Power outage.

Mona can endure most things. 22 degree Celsius days, 5 deadlines in 3 days, a decent meal a day, teammates being uncooporative, 5 km of walking up-hill, a particularty painful toe-stub,... but not a summer night without an AC.

5 minutes of laying on her stuffy bed finally broke her. With her newly found strength and motivation to escape the trap, she sit up right and rose to her feet, move slowly to avoid the possible post-sleep headache. Mission Failed. She stumble back down to sways the dazze. She have no energy, even after 3 hours of sounded sleep. 

Last night was rough for her. Her motocycle broke down on the way home in late evening. The nearest one around was just under a kilometer away, and fortunately she got help for the last quarter of the road, thanks to a friendly looking man. The man disappeared right as she reached the road-side workshop, not for even a thank-you. A fixer-upper later and she was ready to make the rest of her way home. 

Now safe to stand, she go look for something cool to fill her stomage. First, the fridge, then the open balcony over looking here area. She live in a crowded appartment complex near her univeristy. Bright light emits from 24/7 stores on the ground floor across the road. Peaceful, yet, strange. How are there still electricity down there, but not up here? "Different building, different power lines." She presume. 

She saw a boy, around her age, was also standing in the balcony, close enough to her appartment that she can see he is holding something, white and blue. A milk carton? At 4 AM? On a Monday? From past experience she knows they go to the same university, but different major. He seem like a Software engineer undergrate, and strangely so. 

Remember that music video of You belong with me by Taylor Swift? Mona does. Mona have an laptop. Mona got what she wanna say in mind, and she must do it, quick. 

"How long until the electricity is back on?"

"Around 5 AM, I think" he reply with an iPad. 

16:20 - 17:10