It was dark, darker than normal. I reached for the lamp next to my bed. It did not respond. I could not see anything but a dim red light glowing from under the doorway. I sat still in the dark. I heard mumbles in the hallway, I heard footsteps.

I heard a knock on my door and then it opened. A bright light shined in my face, my pupils contracted and all I could see was a blob of white no matter where I looked.

“Rico you OK,” Liz asked.

"Yes, what's going on?" I replied trying to avert my eyes.

“I’m not sure, the building lost power,” Liz stated as she took a quick look back in the hall.

“The whole building?” I said as I stood up.

Liz handed me her light. Then she pulled out her key ring and switched on a small bluish light.

“As far as we can tell, the elevator is out too,” She sounded nervous, “John went down to the basement to see what was going on.”

I went out into the hallway. Folks were gathering in the Common room on the floor. One person was looking at the terminal and trying to get it to respond. It flickered and went dark.

“Not even the backup works,” the person said.

I walked to the stairwell of the building, opened the door, and shined the flashlight down. It ominously lit the floors and the stairs. I wanted to go down. My nemesis, one step at a time. I was getting the hang of walking but stairs were a different matter.

I held the rail and placed my foot down. I brought my other foot down to each step. I was getting the hang of it as I made slow progress. This was a bad idea. I convinced myself that this was better than sitting and waiting. I needed to know so I pushed on.

On each floor I passed I heard voices of the tenants, I heard the questions and the mummers and speculations. Everyone was staying put. I came to the last door on the first floor. I stopped and rubbed my sore legs. I looked up at a sign on a door that read “To Basement”.

I opened the door to another flight of stairs. I sighed and took a deep breath and continued on. Once I got to the bottom I saw a small corridor with an open room at the end. I could see a stationary beam of light striking the wall.

“Jon, you down here?” I said with a loud tone. No one replied.

I pushed down the hall to the open door. I cautiously peeked in.

“Jon?”

“Jesus! You scared the crap out of me,” Jon stepped out of the darkness.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

I was startled too and took a deep breath.

“Did you find anything?” I asked.

“Nothing, I can’t get anything, not even the backup system is responding.”

“Nothing?”

“Nothing,” He said once again, this time it made me worry, it made my heart race, “We need to go next door, and they have the main circuit. It could be damaged." He reasoned.

He rushed past me and ran up the stairs. I tried to follow but going up was way worse than going down.

“Hey Wait up,” I yelled after him.

“Take your time baby legs, I’ll meet you there.” He said with a chuckle and then disappeared behind the open door at the top of the stairs.

It took me far longer than I wanted, but I managed to get up the stairs. The top of my legs was in pain and I was sweating.

“This is worth it, remember this is worth it.”

The basement door closed behind me as I forced the first-floor door open. It was still dark. There were people gathered around the open door in the main lobby that led out of the Mason House. It was dark out there too. People were, at the least, worried.

I hobbled outside to the sidewalk. It was dark, very dark. I could not see the tall buildings, the road, and the sidewalks. Only what my light lit. I looked next door and I saw an open door. I walked over still scanning the area with my light.

The building was quiet when I entered and I saw the service door open at the end of a hall. I saw a light jiggle up the stairs as Jon returned. His forehead wrinkled with worry and he was sweating.

“Nothing,” He swallowed.

“I don’t understand,” I looked into his eyes.

“There is no power going to the main circuits,” He swallowed again, “and by the looks of things there is no power at all.”

My heart was pumping. “That can’t be, I don’t even think that was possible?”

“I don’t know. I am heading down to Maintenance, I need to find out what going on.” Jon said as he shoved past me. He ran into the dark. I watched him leave until the flicker of his light was no longer visible. People stood outside the Mason House with lights looking around. They were defiantly worried, one child was crying in her mother’s arms. She held her tight. I stopped and looked at them. My father and mother are off-world, I felt relief about that. Then I thought about the contact between child and mother I was observing. I was never hugged, at least that I recall. Was that why I was so disconnected from them? It looked comforting.

“Rico,” Liz called me from the doorway, “Come with me, you need to see this.”

I unsteadily walked to her. She put my arm over her shoulder and supported me. She awkwardly helped me up the stairs. It took forever but she was determined to get me to the roof garden.

The roof door opened and we limped out to the middle of the garden, sweating and breathing heavily. I looked around. It was dark as far as the eye could see. I crept to the edge and leaned against the rail. I looked down. I saw the folks at the Mason house below looking around with blades of light from flashlights lighting the dark surfaces.

I looked out further. There were little lights speckled throughout the city, other purists. What I did not see was a single EC, police, or vehicle. The city was silent.

“What’s going on?” Liz said with just a hint of fear in her voice.

“I don’t know?” I replied, “Jon said he was going to find out. Maybe this is just for a moment. We should just sit tight.”

We did we sat on a bench and she held my hand. I looked down at it, feeling that warmth that I felt when she saved me. It was comforting. We sat there just looking out into the dark, feeling a breeze. Slowly others came up and sat quietly.