Storm

Chapter One - "Bad Moon Rising"

It was cool summer night in early August. Me and my girlfriend Kaitlyn had spent the day at Carowinds, an amusement park near our hometown of Gastonia.

The park closed early due to an oncoming storm system moving in from the east. Neither of us said much of anything the whole way home. We'd had a great day and weren't mad or anything but there was just nothing to say.

As we pulled into the driveway I noticed an eerie silence. I heard nothing but the rumble of my '97 Ford's PowerStroke Diesel engine and CCR playing quietly on the used Pioneer radio I'd bought less than a week ago. Kaitlyn was muttering along to "Bad Moon Rising".

Off to the West there was beautiful golden sunset. East however was a black starless sky continually aglow with streaks of lightning.

I backed my crew cab long bed into the shelter I built out back. When we got out of the truck I felt an even stronger uneasy feeling. I saw Kaitlyn felt the same anxiety by the look on her face but she, like me, didn't bother to bring it up.

We walked in the back door and into the kitchen. All the lights on the first floor were off and kitchen switches were sketchy only worked about 25% of the time. Which means we were left in the dark to find our way to the living room light switch.

I knew the house well enough though that I didn't even bother getting to the living room. I just guided myself to the fridge and pulled out a Sundrop.

"How did you even know where the handle was?" Kaitlyn asked.

"Do you not know your way around your house in the pitch black?"

"No actually I don't." she said laughing.

"You should."

"Why?"

"Well I mean for times like this. Or I mean what if the power was out and you really needed a Coke? Hm? Then what would you do?"

Continuing to laugh she said, "I'd turn my flashlight on and then go to the kitchen. Not use my Spidey-Senses."

"Hey now. It ain't Spidey-Senses it's intuition."

"Yeah right."

"Nah I'm serious!" I say forcibly and obviously holding back a laugh.

"Look at you. You can't even fake it!"

"Fake what?"

"Look. Now you're just playin' dumb."

At this moment a crash of thunder louder than the Daytona 500 shook the whole house. In the other room you could hear my dog Bailey barking up a storm at the storm.

"Dadgum that rattled my innards." I said.

"Maybe it'll rattle some sense into that head of yours."

"Now you know good and well that that can't be done."

"You kids hear that thunder?"

"You know mom, I don't think I did." I replied.

"Well there ain't no need to be sarcastic."

"No?"

"I'ma hurt you."

"ABUSE! I have a witness too!"

"I ain't being no witness. I didn't see anything." Kaitlyn said.

"You're supposed to be on my side."

"I am. Usually."

I huffed.

"Ms. B do you mind if I crash on the couch tonight?"
"You know I don't care but what about your parents?"
"They'll be fine with it." she said. "They won't even notice I'm not home." she said under her breath.

"Sure then. No hanky panky though?"

"Dangit mom, shut up!"

"I can't do that."

"Clearly."

Mom retreated back up stairs and Kaitlyn and I settled in for a little Netflix and Chill. Halfway through the opening theme to Hawaii 5-0 everything went black. The TV, the lamp, the streetlight outside. Everything.

"F*" I said under my breath.

"So much for that." Kaitlyn commented.

"I swear the power goes out every other day here!"

"It's an old house babe that's what happens."

"But my dad and I rewired the whole thing ourselves. Modern breakers and everything."

"The streetlight's out this time though. It's not just your house."

"Yeah."

"I'll call 1-800-PowerOn and see when they're fixing it."

"You do that. Whatever they say will be the most inaccurate estimate ever. They're worse than Steam."

"Worth a shot. Hey my phone's dead can I use yours?"

"Yeah sure over there on the charger."

"It's pitch black dummy."

"Oh my bad." I said sarcastically. "Forgot you can't function without light."

"Excuse me for not having built-in night vision."

"You're excused." I said as I fumbled my way through the darkness that filled the room.

I reached the counter where my phone was sitting on the wireless charger and reached for it. I grabbed it and tried to unlock it but it was dead. Despite the fact it was sitting on the charger.

"Um... my phone's dead too."

"No it's not."
"Yes. It is."

"But you just said it was on the charger?"

"It was."

Silence. Even though I couldn't see my hand in front of my face I could picture the concerned look on her face. The silence even more confirmed my theory that she was lost in thought.

Now we don't like to consider ourselves conspiracy theorists but there's no doubt we're not the most trusting of the government. And when something fishy happens, our minds tend to wander towards suspicion than coincidences.

"So... You're saying your phone just died?"

"Yes."

"Within a minute of it not being plugged in?"

"Yes."

"What could cause that?"
"I don't know. An EMP?"
"Real funny."
"I mean I don't know! It's just a coincidence."
"You know what I think about coincidences."

"I do."
"Good. Then you know where I stand on this."

"Look. In all honesty it's probably just electrical interference from the lightning. I first hand saw that lightning can turn things on and off."

"When and where?"

"I don't know when I was young. But there was a storm and this flashing necklace I got at Disney turned on during the night."

"How do you know your parents weren't pranking you?"

"It was under my bed and I was awake when it turned on."

"Well. Alright then."

I'm wasn't exaggerating either that really happened. Scared the s* out of me as a child. Now I'm just cool with it. Nature's jacked up and I fell victim to its prank. I figured that's what was happening here. Just nature playing games.

Kaitlyn and I sat there in the dark talking about this and that and purposefully avoiding the topic of the power being out. Eventually we dozed off to sleep right there on the couch. I had a weird dream that night. There was a storm. Kaitlyn and I were outside, soaking wet, and was screaming at her across a field. She screamed something back that I couldn't here and then it went black.