EXCERPT FROM BLACKOUT — A DARK PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER BY J.E. NICKERSON
She reached the corner of Fifth and Oakston, sliding to a stop. The car rumbled as she stared at the red light. It changed, and she continued through the intersection, following the row of cars spaced unevenly in front of her.
Then, the world blinked.
In a single heartbeat, the streetlamps vanished. The glow from the storefronts along the boulevard died, turning glass windows into jagged mirrors, black as doll’s eyes.
She looked at the cars that had started to line up across the intersection. Their headlights disappeared, leaving only dark silhouettes, save for the sudden, panicked flare of red brake lights that looked like dying embers in the vast, sudden void.
Hazel slammed on her brakes, the tires skidding across the asphalt before the car shuddered to a halt. The inertia threw her against the seatbelt, a sharp, metallic click echoing in the cabin.
The silence she had relied on suddenly shifted. It no longer felt like a comfort. It added to the disorienting absence of light around her. The distant, constant drone of traffic, the low-frequency thrum of the city’s electrical grid, the buzz of neon signs had all faded. A heavy, suffocating weight pressed against the glass of the windshield.
She began to hear faint sounds of horns, like a swarm of bees descending across the neighborhood. She glanced at the houses, expecting people to emerge.
No one moved. Nothing changed.
She slowed the car and listened to the rumble of the engine. Her breath hitched, shallow and ragged in the stillness. She waited for the flicker of a transformer, for the city to groan and stutter back to life, but there was nothing. Only the pitch-black horizon where the city skyline used to be.
The darkness was so complete it felt physical, a cold pressure against her skin. She watched time pass on the dashboard.
Five minutes, then ten.
Her pulse began to hammer against her throat. She pressed the console, turning the radio back on. The sea of static remained. She changed the channel, flipping through the presets.
No voice answered back.
She continued to cycle through the stations. Even the faint signals from stations in the neighboring town were gone. Only static remained.
This was not a normal blackout. She had been through them when the power company used them to cycle power off and on to protect the grid. They usually ended in minutes.
It had been twenty minutes, and no lights had come back. The darkened windows of the stores continued to watch her.
Gretchen.
She had to call her. See if she was all right.
BLACKOUT — A Dark Psychological Thriller by J.E. Nickerson
Available now on Amazon.
For Mature Audiences Only.
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