Blackout

The apartment was quiet. It was justified; nobody was home but Emma. She liked the silence every once in a while. Life was already busy and deafening as it was, so whenever her parents and sister were out, she preferred to keep the house quiet for a while. She felt at ease, pouring her energy into the rhythmic motion of folding the freshly dried clothes and separating them in tiny piles according to whom they belonged. 

She could hear children playing outside. Cars drove in the distance. At times a siren could be heard. Then she heard a familiar sound from somewhere inside the apartment. At that, she smiled. Soon enough, her small, white dog came walking in her room. He laid at her feet, his nose buried between her flip flops. Emma broke her rhythmic folding of clothes to pet the small dog’s smooth fur. She felt a wave of calmness engulf her at the motion. And when the dog showed her his belly, clearly demanding more, Emma couldn’t help but chuckle and give him exactly what he asked. It didn’t last long, though. She had a lot of clothes and underwear to fold.

The young woman went back to her chores as her dog slept soundly at her feet. Once again, there was only silence inside the apartment. Outside was another story, but it didn’t matter. After a while, Emma decided to check her phone. Maybe her parents left her a text. Once she tapped the screen, the light of it hit her face, making her realize the sun had almost set. She had no notifications, so she checked the time – 7:38 PM. At that, Emma got up, taking the piles of clothes of her parents and sister, and walked out her room. She left their clothes at the foot of their beds, as it was customary. Then, she decided to turn on some lights along the house so it wouldn’t get engulfed by darkness. Emma would never admit it, but she was mildly scared of the dark.

When Emma got back to her room, all the lights went out. She let out a gasp and her dog growled lowly. Emma wasn’t sure what happened, but once she heard alarms of stores outside going off, she realized it was something local. As such, she grabbed her dog, calming him down with a few kisses, and looked out the window of her room. She couldn’t see anything, though could hear the worried voices of the surrounding neighbors in the distance. As she closed her window, she heard someone knocking on her front door. Her dog practically jumped off her grip with a bark, which made her put him on the floor as they made their way to the front door. Before anything, she peeked through the hole. It was her old neighbors holding a candle. Emma unlocked and opened the door with a smile.

“Hi” She greeted them.

“Hi, darling. We’re so sorry to bother you, but… do you have any idea what’s happening?” The lady asked her. “It’s just, you know, you young ones are on all that social media… maybe there was some kind of warning or something?”

Emma frowned, “No, I didn’t see anything about this. But I’m sure it’s just temporary.”

“We hope so…” The man said, caressing his wife’s shoulder.

“Maybe if you have a radio it would help.” Emma suggested.

“Oh, yeah, I think we have one in our office, right?” The lady asked her husband, who looked thoughtful.

“Yeah, we do.” He looked at her. “Well, thank you anyway for your help.”

The lady also looked at Emma. “Yeah, darling, and if you guys need anything, just knock, okay?”

“Will do. Thank you.” Emma smiled before closing the door. Once she heard the neighbor’s door closing, she decided to lock her door. Just in case. She suddenly started having a bad feeling about the whole situation. Though she knew it could just be her stupid fear of the dark.

Emma brushed it off, moving around the apartment to light some candles as her dog followed. Although the feelings of looming anxiety, dread, and worry didn’t leave, the young woman did her best to focus on the motion of lighting the candles and the warmth of the flames. Eventually, those were the only sources of light. Outside was pitch black aside from people with lanterns walking around confused. Emma then decided to check her phone again. She walked to her bedroom, followed by her dog, and tapped the screen. It was 9:25 PM and still she had no notifications from either her parents or her sister. She knew that could be because she currently had no access to the internet, but the young woman couldn’t help but find it odd that none of them had tried to call. 

The pressure-like feeling in her chest was getting stronger. Suddenly, Emma didn’t only feel it there. She started feeling it tingle down her body – through her arms, hands, through her belly and legs, even her back felt somewhat vulnerable with that feeling. This wasn’t something unfamiliar for her, though she still felt frustrated at it. Emma closed her eyes and took a deep breath before sitting on the floor. She felt her dog licking her arm before also laying beside her. That made her feel more comfort. Emma stayed there for a while, breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth as she touched the cold floor with her sweaty palms. She decided to focus her attention on her chest, where she felt her anxiety the most, then on the tips of her ears, where she felt nothing. Emma kept doing this exercise for long minutes. 

Until her dog barked.

Emma was abruptly brought back with a jump and frustrated sigh. “Willy, you need to stop doing that, I swear. You’re gonna give me a heart attack.” The dog paid no mind though, as he growled and walked out the room, leaving the young woman by herself. As such, she decided to ignore her small dog, as he’d usually do that for the smallest reasons, and went back to focusing on herself. It didn’t last long though as she felt her mouth and throat dry. At that, Emma stood up and made her way to the kitchen, paying no mind to Willy. She grabbed one of the candles in the kitchen and used it to find a glass and water. She poured some and brought the coldness of the glass and the water to her lips before swallowing it down. She almost choked when she heard the front door unlock and open.

“God! You guys scared me! Why the hell were you out for so long anyway?” But when she turns around it’s not her parents and sister.

It’s a man. Tall, robust, with a heavy energy. 

Emma’s eyes widened, her whole body suddenly felt the kick of dread and adrenaline, which made her hands shake. She put the glass of water down and took a step back. “Who are you?” Her voice shook slightly.

The man didn’t reply. He just stood there, looking at her.

Emma tried hard to study the man’s features, but the lack of light made it impossible. She could only make out his silhouette which could be pretty useless for a police report later… if she lived to file it. That thought made her gulp. Her eyes darted around fast. She didn’t have her phone; it was in her bedroom. Fuck. There was also one way in and out the kitchen, which was through its door. The same door that stood facing the front door. It meant she had no way of escaping the kitchen. Then her eyes landed on a knife on the counter. Her mother had left it there accidentally after cutting some onions for lunch earlier. Emma thought of running for it, but at the same time, she wanted to know what the man wanted. She needed to understand if his purpose was attacking her too. So she stood there, studying the man.

“Who are you?” She repeated.

Once again, the man didn’t say anything. Nor did he move.

Emma even started thinking she might be having a hallucination. Or maybe her brain was perceiving some object differently given there was little light. Those thoughts didn’t last long though. The man charged in her direction. As he did, Emma ran to get the knife. The moment her fingers closed around it, she felt a fist grabbing her hair and yanking her back before she was thrown across the kitchen. She was grateful she held onto that knife hard and tried her best to get up from the floor, but the man grabbed her face forcefully. At that, Emma didn’t hesitate. She launched her hand at the man’s inner thigh, stabbing him. He let out a loud grunt and instinctively let her go to grab his wound, which was leaking a huge amount of blood. Emma ran out of the kitchen at the opportunity, her mind raising with questions including where her dog was.

“Willy!? Willy!?” She called out loudly and desperately, almost out of breath. “Where are you baby!?” But she couldn’t hear or see her small white dog anywhere. All possibilities came rushing through her mind and none of them were good. Nevertheless, she decided it was best to run to her room and get her phone so she could call for help. Once Emma had her phone, she closed her bedroom door and locked it before dialing 9-1-1. It rang for a little while as she paced around.

Her thought process was interrupted, when she heard a loud pang from the other side of her door. And it was rhythmic. It didn’t stop. Emma knew the man was attempting to get inside her room. She looked around and thought of a good hiding place, though there was none – her room was rather small and her bed wasn’t high enough for a person to roll under it. So, she decided to try her best to escape. Through her window. Quickly, Emma grabbed her bedsheets and tied them together along with the clothes she had on her chair. She opened her window and threw it all out.

She was yanked by her shirt this time though. The man had come in. He put his arm around her neck, cutting out what little oxygen she could still inhale through her anxiety. Emma tried to fight it, yes. She stopped when she felt an excruciating sting of pain on the side of her ribs. The man had stabbed her. She felt it again. And again. And again. And again. Then, the attacker through her on the bed. The man climbed on top of her, his face now inches close. Once Emma realized who it was, she whimpered.

“This is the consequence of you rejecting me bitch.” Was all she heard before everything went black.

Her eyes opened to light. Much of it. But Emma knew it didn’t come from a lamp. She blinked. The first thing she saw was the rays of sun coming through her window. Then, she heard it. Willy’s paws. Emma turned her head to see his tail wiggling happily as he came up to her. Her brows furrowed in confusion, though she pet him like she always does in the morning. Then she heard her parents talking in the living room. 

“Bro, you’ve been sleeping for so long.” She heard her sister speaking. Emma turned to see her coming in the room. “It’s almost lunchtime. Get your ass up.”

Emma didn’t say anything, nor did she move, attempting to understand what happened. “When did you guys come back?”

Her sister looked at her confused. “What do you mean?”

“What do you mean ‘what do I mean’? You guys were out for hours and didn’t even call or whatever.”

“Emma, what are you talking about?”

“Last night! I’m talking about last night, Jules! There was a blackout and all!” Emma bursts out, frustrated at her sister.

Jules simply stood there looking at her sister for a few seconds. “Did you take your meds?”

Emma felt her face hot, not from embarrassment, but from anger. She didn’t understand why Jules would ask her that, especially given what happened the night before. “Are you fucking kidding me right now?”

“No, I’m dead serious. I’ll get them for you.”

Emma was left alone, trying to puzzle what was happening in her head. Did her paranoia get to her? Was it all just a dream? Or was her sister somehow joking? She was taken out of her thoughts when her parents came in. They looked worried. Emma didn’t like it when they had that look on their faces.

“Sweetheart, Jules told us you’re having an episode.” Her mother said gently as she sat on Emma’s bed.

“Would you like to talk about it?” Her father asked, placing his hand on her head.

“I… I don’t understand…”

“Just tell us what happened, sweetie.” Her mother spoke up.

“There… there was a blackout. You guys left at six to spend some time together out of the house and I stayed with Willy… mom, you told me to fold the clothes and the underwear… I did that and then the electricity died.” Emma explained, tears in her eyes, her lips dry, as she tried to make sense of reality. “I lit up candles… I talked to the neighbors… I-I had an anxiety attack… And then a man… A man came in and attacked me…” Her father pulled her into a hug.

“Emma, we were here last night…” Her mother told her quietly.

By then, she couldn’t hold her tears back anymore. She felt her hands shaking too.

“Maybe you should call your therapist today, yeah?” Her mother suggested.

Emma broke free of the embrace. “Uhm… could… could you guys just leave me alone for a sec?”

Emma’s parents nodded and walked out, closing her bedroom door. Emma’s tears fell free against her face. She did not understand what was happening. Everything had been so real and now her family was telling her it didn’t actually happen?  She pushed herself up, but froze as a sharp, excruciating pain took over her senses from the side of her ribs. Emma’s eyes widened. 

Same place the man had stabbed her. 

With trembling hands, she lifted her shirt up and gasped. 

Bandages.

Carefully, she took them out.

Stab wounds.