911!

Chapter 21

The house was freezing as Rose lifted her head from the coffee table, disoriented and shivering. She must have fallen asleep while working on the pageant, she thought, and rubbed her legs so they would wake up. It was just as dark as it was cold and she hugged herself while twisting to look at the oven's clock. But when the screen was dark her stomach sank.

What's going on?

Pushing herself up, she groped the black room, feeling uneasy as she tried to find her phone. It took her far longer than it normally would, but eventually her fingers grazed the side and she snatched it up, like it was something that had been stolen from her. Pressing the home button, the light blared angrily against the dark room and she squinted to read the time. 3:05 AM.

It was cold. It was dark. And Mia was staying at her brother's house.

Rose's heart dropped into her stomach as she realized what was going on, and it made her heartbeat quicken unhealthily. The power was out. And she was all by herself.

The power had gone out before but it was usually when she was asleep in bed or in the middle of the day. Not when she was all on her own at three in the morning. She felt ridiculous, at her age, being terrified of something so simple. But most of the time she would just wake up the next morning to sunshine and sour milk.

Rose tried to focus on her breathing, her adrenaline kicking in and making her once dazed and confused state wide awake with no vices to take her mind off of the situation.

Her phone beeped, just at the right moment to say it was going to die shortly and she bit her lip nervously.

Rose used the light from her phone to help her not bump into anything as she went into her closet and pulled out a thick sweater. After she got her icy fingers to dial the familiar number she held it up to her ear. It was a long shot, and he was probably in bed, but she needed to hear his voice. She knew if she could it would help her calm down.

After a delayed moment she heard the other end pick up.

"Hello?" He groaned out.

Thank God.

"B-Blake?" She couldn't tell whether it was because of the cold or because of her nerves that she stuttered.

"Rose? Are you ok?"

"Blake my power went out." She hated the way her voice sounded like a whimper.

"But you're alright." He clarified and she breathed out a shaky breath, trying to concentrate on her erratic heartbeat.

"I'm fine. Just a little shaken. I don't really know what to do. I know I should just go to sleep but I can't." Her face flamed a little in embarrassment.

She could hear a little stirring on the other end. "Ok. Here's what I want you to do. Find a flashlight, or as many candles as you can. Make the room as bright as the sun if you want. Is it cold over there?" His clear directions took her back a little but she answered him anyways.

"Very."

She heard a curse on his end and then he continued. "Ok, Grab blankets. Tons of blankets. The last thing we need is for you to get hypothermia. The power's probably out because of the weather. How's your phone's battery?"

Rose checked her screen one more time. "It's going to die soon."

"Ok. Once we hang up I want you to put it on airplane mode. That'll save the battery in case of an emergency."

"H-Hang up?" She stuttered. "Blake I really don't want-"

"Everything's going to be fine. Trust me." Blake's voice was soothing and it was just what she needed.