Blackout

This is a first-person description of a teen's experiences when, on an unusually silent night, the lights in his house go out.

The man in the white shirt froze as he heard a click behind him. For a few seconds, he stood motionless, afraid to move. And then, very slowly, he turned around  - first his head, then the rest of his body. His reddened face was met with a handgun. The gunman’s face was cloaked by the shadows, and his right hand  - the one holding the gun  - was the only part of his body in the light, the rest being a mere silhouette. He leaned forward slightly. For a moment, the victim’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, but he flinched in fear as the gun was brought up and pressed against his brow.

    A loud bang sounded as the gun went off.

    And then everything went black and silent.

    Damn it. I sat staring at the TV, though I could not actually see it in the dark. It was the third power outage today, and it had chimed in just as the season finale of my favorite show had reached its suspenseful peak. I leaned back on the sofa and groaned as I realized that the power would not be back for at least an hour. The power grid was one of the victims of the intense summer heat, and they were blacking out sections of the city for at least an hour at a time to avoid complete failure. The longest blackout so far lasted three hours; the people in my neighborhood were so pissed that they actually brought out a protest that day.

    Blackouts cause one’s sense of time to slow down. I was slumped on the sofa for what seemed like a whole fifteen minutes, but my glowing wristwatch confirmed that barely a minute had passed. It was 8:56 pm, and everything was dark. I groped around for the flashlight that I always kept within reach, then I remembered that I had taken it to my room last night, and hadn’t carried it back. Damn it again.

    Blindly, I stood up, and almost crashed into the table nearby. Cursing, I pushed the table aside.  I was not afraid of the dark, but it annoyed the hell out of me. I extended my arms in front of me, moving one step at a time, so as not to bump into anything. My progress was excruciatingly slow.

 

    Although I couldn’t see a thing, it wasn’t pitch black inside the house. A very faint bluish glow hung around in my far left where the kitchen was, illuminating nothing, but palpable all the same. It was probably the moonlight.

    My hands felt the wall, and I turned right, in the direction of my room. Once the flashlight was found, it would all be over. A sigh of relief escaped me. My relief, however, was replaced by annoyance once more as a smell reached my nostrils. It was a stench of decay. There was probably a mouse dead somewhere.

    There was a screeching noise behind me, and I was startled to a stop. It sounded as though something had been moved across the floor, though I didn’t remember bumping into anything. Frowning, I resumed my groping, when I heard it again.

    My heartbeat quickened, and my throat suddenly felt dry. Was there someone in the house? A burglar? Burglaries were not uncommon during blackouts. A few had already happened in the neighborhood in the past week. It did seem odd, however, that a burglar would stumble around in the dark like I was doing.

    ‘Hello?’ I called unsurely. ‘Is anybody there?’

    Silence.

    My voice was shaking. ‘If you want anything, then just take it and leave  - I won’t stop you …’

    In answer came the screech again.

    Frantically, I tried to hurry towards my room. My head hit something solid with a dull thump and I was almost knocked over. In my haste I had walked right into the wall. Regaining my balance, I reached out to touch the wall. Oddly, I couldn’t find it.

    Panic was settling in as my hands clutched at nothing but air. Abandoning my attempt, I hurried again, and crashed through a door. This time I lost my balance and fell. My face hit the smooth cold floor, and a pain sprung up there a moment later. Then I was up on all fours and fumbling around. My groping hands soon found the bed. Yes, this was my bed, and this was my room. I jumped into the bed and, sure enough, found the flashlight.  With exceptional quickness, my fingers reached the switch. I flipped it on.

    Nothing happened.

    Panting, I did it again. Then again, and again. I thumped the flashlight hard a few times with my palm, but it still failed to light up. I lay on the bed, my heart palpitating, not knowing what to do next.

    ‘Oh my God …’

    The words escaped my mouth involuntarily. I was sitting bolt upright now, transfixed in horror.

    The blue light I had seen before was now creeping into the room, but not like ordinary light. It seemed to be slithering in. It was brighter now, not as faint as before. And strangely, I could still see nothing except the light.

    Then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, the light vanished.

    I wish it hadn’t.

    There was now something else in the room with me.

    My body was paralyzed with fear. My breaths came in short heavy gasps. I felt like I would never be able to speak again. I tried turning my head, but what was the point? I couldn’t see anything.

    But I could feel its presence. It was there, without doubt. The thing wasn’t stationary, though; it was circling me. At one time, it was behind me, and in the next instant it was to my right. In spite of the fear that had gripped my heart tight, a small part of me wondered what this entity wanted.

    Right in front of me, the darkness intensified, overshadowed by something darker than itself. Again, I sensed the entity. It was writhing, rejoicing, getting ready for the finishing act.

    That was the point where I lost all of my sanity.

    With a desperate scream, I pulled myself out of the bed and ran. It wasn’t long before I crashed into something into something hard. Helpless and lost, with flailing arms, I collapsed onto the floor. Darkness and fear pressed down on my chest, and I could not muster the strength to get up.

    For a brief moment, I saw the strange blue light again. From all around me, a faint but vicious chorus of voices whispered, ‘Light does not last … darkness is eternal … come to us, come into the darkness …’

    And then everything went black and silent.

 

 

Reviews

[Cicera]

Fear is indeed a blackout of reason. But seeing from the way you ended your story, judging by the abrupt way you cut it and delivered the end with a sort of an encrypted message, I should think the deal here is different. Fear outspoken almost unabashedly, and loneliness so solid to the grade of selfishness, in combination create distorted conception.

Or maybe it is a true moment of self realisation that maybe and happlessly this character was not lucky enough to realise. After all, this hypothetical darkness of the mind was not the only thing that was the matter. Under those circumstances it was to come out to daylight, to the real light of the day that lived only in possibility.

The way you put it in the last paragraph, it sure is a strange thing to say and end your story. But out of this strangeness different ideas can emerge-by evaluation of the information you give-and the mind of the reader. It offers interpretations on levels both metaphysical and realistic.

My opinion: We are living in a world divided into charity-loving nations. While it is ridiculous-I think-to have the poor and the rich in the first place, obviously there are people whose systems would practically collapse without the problematic coexistence of the two.

This idea could parallel well with other themes and emotions in your story like fear, frustration, selfishness, disgust and mental disorder and deliver a perhaps more geo-political aspect to the story.

[Reeti]

here's a gripping story. it starts off with realistic actions and thoughts to rationalize as much as possible. it'll be great if u continue the story as its next chapter. may be, u can intricately speak more of the 'symbolic darkness', literal darkness or both there? it might say more about the character and his outcome? I love thrillers or philosophical contents. (i hope i don't sound like i'm patronizing here).

[Faiza Iqbal]

Great story. Beautiful thinking =D