As many large things do, this one started small. Those working to lose weight noticed the pounds coming off more easily. Parents noticed carrying their babies and toddlers didn’t tire their backs as quickly as before. Hairdressers’ feet hurt just little less than usual at the end of the day. These and thousands of other small developments were written off as better diet, an improved skin routine or better fitness despite no change in habits. The first proof something more was happening arrived in a dog video. An owner filmed her five-pound chihuahua running in from outside and leaping to the couch. The dog sailed over the furniture and down the forty-foot hallway, coming to a gentle stop on a rug by the front door. Many discounted it as AI slop, but as similar posts appeared the mystery grew. Then the video of the Tiffany lamp appeared.
Passed down from mother to daughter for several generations, the lamp was a sentimental reminder of the past and future for the McQuinn family. While filming their 3-year-old grandson, the child suddenly started whipping around a blanket and caught the lamp bringing it to the ground. The shattered pieces bounced off in all directions and kept bouncing around until coming to rest on the ceiling and walls. Similar videos followed featuring small objects, animals, and children gently floating in air or bouncing off the ceiling and walls. As The Change progressed, larger objects, people, and animals were affected. For many, gravity no longer impeded their transit, although it did bring some complications. Rope lines appeared everywhere, and people walked about as if ascending Everest which was suddenly much easier for the Sherpas. The wealthy tourists continued to struggle up the peak.
Some adapted by wearing backpacks filled with rocks or sewed fishing weights into the cuffs of their pants. Some developed weightlessness only to lose it after a breakup or loss of a loved one. The mystery why some became weightless and others did not, plus the fact it could come and go only confused the public more.
Scientists around the world held endless Zoom conferences to find an answer since leaving home had become too complicated. A gust of wind or failed strap on a weighted handbag sent people twirling into the air like lost balloons. Podcasters and social media influencers pushed countless theories about the cause of the newfound syndrome with ever more urgency since most of them were unaffected. Too little protein, too little testosterone, too many vaccines, Tylenol, or the lack of a solid skin routine all made the rounds.
Eventually everyone noticed another group of people left completely unaffected by The Change. Billionaires, Bitcoin bros, political consultants, manosphere influencers, drug and insurance company executives, venture capitalists and their ilk remained firmly in gravity’s grip. At first, they quietly tried the remedies pushed by the influencers. Then the idea took hold these masters of industry were causing The Change in order to control everyone else. The public turned on them despite the Evil Richie Riches twisting the media they controlled to push stories attributing their “gravitas” to discipline, superior minds, and yacht length all the while encouraging others to pursue a similar path of anti-gravity. It didn’t work, but it did create a rift between the enlightened and everyone else. Most religions chimed in with long and confusing reasons why some did or did not qualify for the pre-Rapture. Over time, things went more or less back to normal with zealots on either side but most people simply trying to drift through their day.