The Day The Lights Went Out

We begin our story with a simple man and the unfortunate events that unfold.

 My name is Niklas Orion Sinclair. I am 18, and I am a senior at Odyssey High School. The day was any other from the perspective of a teenage boy; boring, wanting to fulfill the need to sleep, and satisfying our hunger. However, what I didn't know was that was the day that life as we knew it would change. It was approximately 6 o'clock in the morning when I had received a phone call from my mother, Ariana Marie Sinclair. She had arrived at work, and had noticed that the electronic doors were not working. However, she was mainly concerned about my father, Richard Aro Sinclair. He had left to work at the Odyssey Power Plant to review all of the recent renovations that the plant had undertook.

"Niklas, " My mother had said to me in a shaky tone, "Please, drive over there and check up on him." I sighed, and had simply replied, "Yes mother." It was about a twenty-two mile drive from my house to the plant. I grabbed my red helmet, my leather coat, and my keys and ran downstairs. I had walked into the garage, and petted my brown and white tabby, Lily. Little did I know that would be the last time I would see her; see any of my family. I got onto my bike, and tried to start it, and to my prior knowledge, had forgotten that I had to buy more gasoline. I got off of my bike, punched the button to open up the garage door, and picked up my family's gas canister. I walked outside, and looked back at Lily. The garage doors started to close, and I looked into her eyes; eyes that were as green as an Evergreen Tree, eyes that were concerned, pleading me not to go.

It emotionally hurt me not to stay; I loved Lily with all of my heart.

I started to slowly pick up my pace as I made my way down the sidewalk, and then I took off into a full-blown sprint. I reached the gas station after five or so minutes, and looked through the window at the cashier. He waved at me, and then proceeded to charge for the gas. I waved back at him, and started to pump the gas into my canister. Shortly thereafter, I ran back to my house. I used my key button to open up the garage door, and I walked over to my bike and refilled my tank. After I finished, I got onto my bike and started it up; it purred in amusement. I pulled my visor down on my helmet, and sped off. 

Approximately 21 miles down the road, I had reached neck-breaking speeds at 70 miles per hour, and started to slow down. I felt a vibration passing through my body, and a loud boom quickly followed it. I swerved off to the side, hit a bump, got thrown from my bike and had basically rag-dolled into a tree. Everything started to go dim, and I slowly started to black out.

I awoke to the sound of high-pitch noise echoing throughout my brain. I slowly opened my eyes to see that my bike was propped up by the tree beside me and that my helmet had been taken off of my head and placed in my lap. Everything was blurry, and it felt as if I had been spinning around rapidly and stopped suddenly. It took about 3 minutes for everything to return to normal, and as soon as it did, I started to scan my surroundings.

Trees were obliterated, the road was cracked, and all around there was metal debris, though I could not tell what it was from. I stood up and started to panic. I knew I had to make a decision at this point; continue on, or just wait here. I knew that my father might have been caught in whatever that blast was, and then it figured it out... I was a mile away from the power plant. Tears started to spill over my face, and I looked up at the sky and noticed that there was a black trail of smoke rising from the east. I got on my bike, and raced down the highway.

As soon as I got there, I couldn't believe the disaster that appeared before me. The facility had been utterly destroyed. Debris and shrapnel littered the field, along with countless burned bodies. I heard hissing from something, and I looked up. Above me, quickly descending was a huge piece of metal hurling its way towards me. I ran off to the side, and had barely escaped being crushed to death. I ran towards the entrance, and quickly covered my mouth and nose. I smelt gasoline, and had noticed that it was escaping from a vent that had been unearthed from the blast. I looked around for a quick escape, and soon noticed a bunker inside a hill. I ran over to it as fast as I could, and as soon I reached the metal door, I pulled it open with all of my might. 

It was pitch black inside. My heart raced, and my breathing quickened. 12 years of counseling over an irrational fear, and yet here I am in the same exact situation that I wanted to avoid. My legs started to shake, and I felt around the wall with my hands, and soon found a light switch... however; nothing lit up or turned on. 'Breathe, breathe', those words replayed in my head over and over again. 

A powerful force rattled the bunker. I flinched, but I had kicked something; a generator of some sorts. The emergency power kicked on, and all around me everything was dyed red. I started to walk down the corridor, and soon stopped dead in my tracks. Lying down on his stomach was my dad, barely breathing. I ran over to him and knelt beside him. Tears started to swell over my cheek, and as one slid down my face, it landed onto his pale skin. "Father", I said, choking upon my own words.

 His eyes started to slowly open, but there was one problem; his eyes were glowing. He leaned up quickly, grabbed me by the wrist, and threw me onto my back. I struggled against him, and I refused to look into his face. All of the sudden, there was a sharp burning sensation raving through my body from my neck. It felt like an eternity just lying there, helpless against him. I started to feel anger towards my father; why was he doing this?

 That anger started to quickly shift to fury. My father, no, this man, if that is even what you could call him, was draining me of blood. I felt around for something to hit my attacker with, and my hand hit a pipe. I grasped it with all of my might, and rammed it into his head. Blood spewed from the wound, splashing the wall and staining the floors crimson. Some had landed on my face, and I felt something deep within my soul craving it, reveling in the sweet, coppery scent. My muscles started to tighten, tearing underneath my skin and begging to be released. 

Agony, pure agony. In those minutes after I was bitten, I wanted to die. I remember that I screamed until my lungs were searing, clawing at my neck, begging for death to deliver his sweet kiss to me, but all I got as a reply was the sound of my own torture. An insatiable hunger suddenly burned within my body, and my throat was parched. I looked at my father's blood, and felt myself lusting after it. My body started to move on it's own, and soon I found myself leaning over him, the taste of blood in my mouth.I savored it to be honest. My vision had started to dim, and I soon fell fast asleep.

That was the day that the lights went out and that life as we knew it had flickered out like a candle on a windy night. From that day on, life as I knew it was completely flipped upside down.

Author's Note

Same as always, please let me know if there is any grammatical errors, or if there are some parts that I should consider rewriting, rewording, etc. I'm very attentive to detail, so if it is hard for you to read, I am apologizing in advance.