ERRATIC CONSPIRACIES

True Stories
by: Behzad Farahani

It was a beautiful early morning in the heart of fall. The trees outside my window were ablaze with brilliant shades of crimson, tangerine, and gold, their leaves fluttering gently on the crisp breeze. I lay cocooned in the warmth of my bed, the world outside painted in autumn’s finest colors. The air was cool but pleasant, promising a day of calm and quiet.

Without warning, a tremendous shockwave surged through the room. I was violently tossed up nearly two feet off my mattress, my body suspended in one surreal moment before I crashed back down, heart thundering in my chest. For a split second, my mind darted to earthquakes—I’d felt them before, the subtle rolling and trembling that comes with living in certain parts of the world. But this was unlike anything I had ever experienced.​

Earthquakes rumble and sway, but this sensation was a single, brutal jolt. It radiated an energy that felt foreign and menacing, not the familiar undulations of shifting earth. As I gathered my bearings, the distant echo of destruction grew louder and more real. It wasn’t the earth itself that had roared this morning, but a massive explosion—a bomb detonated just a few hundred yards from where I slept.

The realization washed over me, chilling and profound. The serenity of the colorful fall morning had been shattered in an instant. Outside, the world I knew was now forever changed, the comforting beauty of autumn sharply contrasted by the violence of manmade chaos. My heart pounded with adrenaline, fear, and disbelief as I rose from my bed and moved toward the window, uncertain of what I would find outside, but knowing that nothing would ever feel quite the same again.

Available December 25, 2025