2:30 A.M., my alarm clock reads. Great, I couldn’t even make it through a night of peaceful sleep. The past several days had been insane and busy with homework and midterm exams before fall break, and even though I was home for the long weekend with little work to do, sleep still escaped me, and I was restless. Restless and freaking tired.
Since I’m awake, I go ahead and check my phone for any notifications from friends who were staying up late during break. I love my friends, but they were definitely idiots sometimes. Fall break was supposed to be a time to catch up on sleep, not screw up our sleep schedules even more, in my opinion. I roll my eyes and grin to myself, my gosh I missed them already.
I click my phone on. Zero notifications. Well, that’s weird. I was always getting Snapchat notifications through the early hours of the morning. The left corner of my phone screen flashed two words- No Service. I guess the storm knocked out a cellphone tower somewhere, which meant no talking to friends for the time being.
I glance at my clock again and decide to head downstairs for a snack and to see if Dad was still awake. He usually stayed up late working on his case trials and depositions for his firm. Pulling on a sweatshirt over my head, I put my phone in my pocket and open my bedroom door, walking into the hallway.
Pitch black. The hall lamp was turned off, and it was never turned off. Ever. Even when we went to Switzerland for two weeks over the summer, Mom left the hall lamp on. It was kind of just a symbol for us- a beacon of light during the darkest of nights. But tonight, it was off. Could the storm have cut the power out too?
I take a quick backward step into my room and clearly see that the nightlight plugged into my wall was still turned on. Well, okay then. Moving back out into the hallway, I go over to the lamp and click it on.
Nothing.
I click it again.
Still nothing.
Nothing.
I click it again.
Still nothing.
I shake my head, whatever. Probably just a busted bulb or something. I turn on the flashlight on my phone and sneak down the stairs, careful not to wake everyone who was asleep upstairs. Reaching the bottom of the steps, I notice that there are no lights on downstairs either. I guess Dad was already in bed. Oh well, I’ll hang out with him and the rest of the family in the morning.
The kitchen is straight ahead, and I go right to the freezer, craving some chocolate ice cream. I open the door and stand there, realizing that the light in the refrigerator didn’t turn on when the door was opened. The power must be out. But why didn’t the power outage affect the lights in my bedroom? Tonight was certainly turning out to be strange. I reach out and grab the handle on the fridge door, suddenly feeling dizzy from the headache that had been pounding since I woke up a bit ago.
A floorboard creaks loudly behind me. I turn around. There is nobody in sight. I shake my head and grab the carton of ice cream out of the freezer, realizing I may as well just eat it straight out of the container before it all melts anyway. Getting a spoon from the drawer, I dig in, savoring the sweet taste of chocolate on my tongue.
A shadow passes down the hallway outside the kitchen. I set my spoon down.
“Dad?” I call out.
The kitchen is straight ahead, and I go right to the freezer, craving some chocolate ice cream. I open the door and stand there, realizing that the light in the refrigerator didn’t turn on when the door was opened. The power must be out. But why didn’t the power outage affect the lights in my bedroom? Tonight was certainly turning out to be strange. I reach out and grab the handle on the fridge door, suddenly feeling dizzy from the headache that had been pounding since I woke up a bit ago.
A floorboard creaks loudly behind me. I turn around. There is nobody in sight. I shake my head and grab the carton of ice cream out of the freezer, realizing I may as well just eat it straight out of the container before it all melts anyway. Getting a spoon from the drawer, I dig in, savoring the sweet taste of chocolate on my tongue.
A shadow passes down the hallway outside the kitchen. I set my spoon down.
“Dad?” I call out.
No response.
“Mom?”
“Mom?”
Nothing.
“Sierra?”
What the heck was happening tonight?
Forgetting about the ice cream for a moment, I turn my phone’s flashlight to a brighter setting and head down the hall, wanting to know who was trying to freak me out. I head back up the stairs, not seeing anyone. I decide to peak into the bedrooms just to make sure everyone was asleep. I hated feeling like I was all of a sudden insane. I open Sierra’s door and glance inside.
She wasn’t there.
Hmm, maybe she was spending the night at a friend’s house, and I just didn’t know she had left. Mom and Dad were certain to be here though. They would never leave for the night without telling me. I cross the hall to their master bedroom and turn the doorknob. I look inside their dark room and raise my flashlight to shine on their bed.
Their bed was empty.
Mom and Dad were gone.
There was no cell service.
The power was out.
I was all alone.
Or, maybe I wasn’t alone.
All I knew was this- I was terrified.
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