Chapter 2 SURVIVORS

CHAPTER 02 It was early evening, traffic was starting to take shape and slow down, Bruno was driving stressed, he had had a day at work like everyone else, but he hated being stopped. He had not yet adapted to the sudden growth in the flow of cars, nor did he understand how, in a country where gasoline and the cost due to it grew so much, there could be so many people leaving public transport to rent or buy cars, because before the pandemic, at the beginning of the night the flow was less, and he was able to get home without stress. He lived alone and had learned to like solitude, born in the south of Brazil, he left the cold city as soon as he finished college with a dream of investing in himself and he went after that dream to become real, working, improving himself , passing needs until the immense empire took the form it now has; he chose to fight alone because in the beginning he suffered a lot of deceit, but that time had passed, now he was a great tycoon in the city of São Paulo, known and respected within the business sector, a fifty-year-old man, rich and humble, treated people with respect regardless of class, he barely saw his family, but he always sent his parents much more than was necessary for them to have a good life, for a while he even insisted that they live elsewhere, in a large and luxurious house, with staff to take care of and help them, but they refused, they preferred to remain in the same house where they raised their children, without much luxury, they liked the simple life they had, they valued what they had built and their roots, they believed that this culture that had influenced their son to be the great man that he was. Bruno got home, he wasn't married, he didn't even have children, he chose to be lonely and if he didn't die before old age, he had already prepared everything about how he would be taken care of, he wasn't religious, he didn't have vices, he was a person who did what he wanted wanted and when he wanted. He greeted the employees he found wherever he went, some he even knew, but others he didn't, because he had a housekeeper to take care of these things, then he went up to his suite, it didn't take long to take a snack for him to eat and left it in the room while he was preparing it. the huge bathtub for the year, going over in his mind all the day's work, turning on the huge television that he had on the panel in front of the bathtub, bath time was to relax, he put on relaxation music and closed his eyes trying to empty his eyes. thoughts, so he tried to keep his sanity even carrying such a professional burden, he didn't complain, he had the life he fought to have, but he knew the risks and impact that a high level of life could cause on the mind and body, so every day he did his own relaxation sessions, he also valued physical conditioning and good nutrition. After the shower, the night went on as normal when he began to observe a huge movement among the employees, he thought about ignoring it, but that remained, he looked from above, Vilma, his housekeeper trying to calm everyone down, but it was clear that she was also very nervous, what would have happened was something serious, it was better to intervene before the situation got even worse. - Vilma - he called her worriedly, waiting for her to approach - What's going on? - The sun - she said with eyes full of tears trying to contain the emotion, but not succeeding, hugging him and starting to cry. He called another girl who was in the place, ordering her to bring something to calm Vilma, trying to guess what had happened to that person Sol, was it a relative of hers or an employee of the house? She drank some water with sugar that the girl had brought, and she was taking a breath and calming down little by little, everyone else remained there, everyone had astonishment on their faces, Bruno was scared and didn't even know what, the suspense was shaking him. - The sun Bruno - she said with a trembling voice - it hasn't set. Bruno stood motionless looking at her, he was a person easily stabilized to contain reactions, but in his heart he felt angry that everyone had gathered there to play a trick on him, he did not understand the reason for that and already imagined that some clown on the internet, who was the way he referred to current entertainment, was there in his mansion trying to pull such a ridiculous prank, he ran through their minds all the ways he could process it. -I didn't understand Vilma- he said- Who is the sun? The little lady took him by the hand and accompanied him to the window, it was eight o'clock and he didn't believe it when he looked outside seeing the night as clear as day, that didn't seem possible, he went to the street where the neighbors were talking about the event. Bruno couldn't believe what he was seeing, he entered quickly with his parents in mind and dying to know the immensity of the event, calling direct to real sources while letting his employees follow through the newspaper, on the huge television that he almost never used. He ordered someone took care of Vilma, he had the affection of a son for her, they had worked together for a long time, while he received updates from his contacts, he spoke with the parents, he called with the intention of reassuring them, but ended up being calmed by them. No one knew how to explain what was happening, the news was already worldwide, no scientist and no newspaper had concrete information on why the sun did not go out and why the rest of the world was normal except for Brazil. The situation left Bruno terrified and he knew that it was true that no one left, because his money bought the information. He wasn't the only one who was like this, desperation took over many, the great movement was all over the country, an entire country was without direction and scared away by fear, the religious claimed it was the end of the world, but nobody, but nobody admitted that it was a strange end to happen in Brazil and not in the United States of America, the Brazilians did not accept it or the possibility of starting to experience catastrophes, because they were not prepared for that, they did not have attics or basements in their houses, no stocked up on food, didn't know what to do.