Tuesday – When the Billionaires Fell
Later that night, Jas sat cross-legged on the floor, flipping through a stack of old newspapers they’d salvaged from the community center’s archives. The pages were yellowed and brittle, but the headlines still screamed of the chaos that had unfolded.
“Listen to this,” Jas said, running a finger down the page. “‘Tech companies lose trillions as crypto bubble bursts.’”
Ivy Mae let out a bitter sigh. “People put so much faith in money that didn’t even exist.”
Roman leaned against the wall, arms crossed. “And when it all crashed, those at the bottom got crushed the hardest.”
Jas flipped to another headline: “Billionaires Lose Everything Overnight.”
They raised an eyebrow. “Did they, though? Did they really lose everything?”
Roman snorted. “Yeah, maybe they lost some zeros in their bank accounts. But they still had offshore accounts, private bunkers, security teams. They weren’t the ones digging through garbage for food.”
Ivy Mae stared into the dim firelight. “I remember watching people on the news losing their homes,” she murmured, her voice tight with emotion. “And then… it was us.”
Jas scanned further down the article. “It says here that when the stock market collapsed, a bunch of billionaires tried to flee. Some disappeared to private islands, others to underground bunkers they’d built for ‘just in case’ scenarios.”
Roman scoffed. “Cowards. They built this whole system, made people believe in it, and the second it started falling apart, they ran.”
Ivy Mae’s jaw clenched. “And they still had people protecting them, didn’t they? They bought loyalty. Kept their bodyguards and private jets while the rest of us were fighting over food.”
Jas nodded. “Yeah. But not all of them made it. Says here that when banks collapsed and governments started seizing assets, some billionaires lost everything. No more private security, no more power. They became targets. The people they exploited didn’t forget.”
Roman smirked. “I bet some of them tried to blend in. Pretend they were just like everyone else.”
Ivy Mae shook her head. “Too late for that. People had nothing left to lose.”
Jas exhaled slowly. “The system wasn’t just broken. It was rigged from the start. And when it finally collapsed, it wasn’t the billionaires who suffered. It was us.”
Roman pushed himself up. “Well, not anymore.”
They fell into silence, each lost in thought. Outside, the wind howled through the broken windows, carrying whispers of a world that had once been and the echoes of those who had tried—and failed—to control it.