by Tracey Lund

Created on: January 09, 2010

Sabrina checked her emergency supplies again as the electricity flickered. She knew she was lucky to have made it this long without losing power, but the snow and freezing rain was still falling steadily and most of her neighborhood had already lost power. It was only a matter of time.

She had already blocked every door and window in the living room with blankets to keep in the warmth and her faded red sleeping bag that she had since childhood, when she used to go camping every summer with her parents, was spread out on the floor. She had been away at college five years ago when the camping trips ended. Her parents’ car had slid into a deep ravine during a snowstorm. Her mother was killed on impact, but her father and only sibling, Lucille, who was twelve then, had been trapped inside the vehicle and eventually succumbed to hypothermia. They were found about four days after the car had crashed. Now every time Sabrina saw snow she grieved for them. The guilt and loneliness of being the only one left still filled her in times like these.

Another flicker of the lights brought her back to the present. She quickly swiped the tears off her cheek and went to the kitchen to boil some water for her Thermos while she had a chance. Almost as if on cue, when Sabrina screwed the cap back onto the Thermos, the lights blinked three times then stayed off for good. She ducked back into the living room and snuggled into her sleeping bag, grateful that she had thought to charge her I pod. Now that the TV wasn’t going, she could hear trees and limbs crashing to the ground throughout the area, making the outside world sound like a war zone. She quickly fumbled for music on her I pod to drown out the sound.

No sooner had Sabrina started to put the ear buds in when she heard a knock on the door. Or maybe a better word was a pounding! It took her a minute to recuperate after nearly jumping out of her skin. Who would be out there at this time of night in this weather? She wondered. Maybe they want to rob helpless people while the electricity is out. She didn’t think that would be the case, but, just in case, she scoured her emergency kit for a makeshift weapon. She came up with her flashlight and a can of roast beef and calmly stalked to the door. Just as she was rustling through the blanket to get to the door, the impatient visitor was pounding again, harder this time.

“What can I do for you?,” she asked gruffly through the barely open door, shining

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