by Ann-Katherine Souilliard

Created on: October 26, 2008

When Darkness Falls

Chapter 1

She was standing at her stove, singing along to her favorite music, cooking her favorite dinner (a person's birthday deserved a celebration no matter how small); when her apartment went black. The spoon dropped into the chili with a thick plop. Fear and panic overwhelmed her. He had found her. He was here. She had to leave. She had to get out before he got in. As she panicked and darted to the bedroom to grab her bag, she fearfully glanced out to her balcony, afraid that she'd see him there. Her first thought was, nope, not there. It took a moment for what she actually saw to sink into her fear soaked brain. The whole neighborhood was dark. It couldn't be him. He wouldn't do something that absurdly noticeable, besides he didn't have that kind of power or skill. She sank to her knees grateful it was just a power outage and she hoped it would be over soon.

In the meantime, she knew she had to do something about dinner and the dark. Chili was not something you could stop cooking halfway through and her very airless apartment was becoming stiflingly hot on this mid-July night. She grabbed her flashlight from the silverware drawer and dug her emergency camp stove out of a cabinet. It took two trips to get her dinner and her supplies all out on her balcony but the cooler air made it worth it.

Sharyn cooked her dinner by flashlight and was grateful for all the experience she'd had over the years dealing with blackouts and dinners back home in rural Idaho. She watched her neighbors, both in her building and across the street, drift out onto their balconies as the hot stuffiness of the indoors began to get to them. Some looked frustrated but many more looked frightened, blackouts were not a common occurrence here in New York City. The behavior of an older gentleman in her building caught her attention. His balcony was catty-corner below hers and so she had a good view of the amused expression on his face. He had a small lantern lighting his balcony and he was kicked back, enjoying the blackout. Sharyn had to know what was funny about a blackout, so she shouted down to him.

"Sir, excuse me, sir?"

"Yes, young lady?" he hollered back.

"Might I ask what's so funny?"

"You might, miss, but the answer is not the type of thing one shouts to the entire neighborhood."

"Not here, not now. You ever have the time, you come see me and we'll discuss blackouts and other things I find funny."

That said he ducked back into his apartment and Sharyn

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