Absolute Darkness - A CME Survival Thriller Page 3

  “This wasn’t that,” I groaned as I pulled my keys out of my pocket. “Let’s just get out of here, okay?”

  “Yeah,” Sam said, placing her hand on my shoulder. “It’s going to be fine.”

  I hadn’t realized my hands were shaking until I heard the ringing of the key clanking together. My lips parted as I slowly exhaled a breath.

  “I don’t like being outside in any storm.” I looked up at the sky. It looked the same as any other night. “Is this even real? What the hell is a solar storm?”

  “I’m sure it’s nothing, and the news just wants viewers. Blowing things out of proportion because there isn’t anything else to talk about,” Sam said. “We’ll just get to your mom’s house and wait it out. That’s what they said, right? Stay inside and wait for the all-clear.”

  “We should already be inside,” I said, biting my lip. “Not traveling.”

  She shook her head. “Why is that guy still here? Shouldn’t he be going home?” Sam gasped. “Is that why those people left the burger joint? They seemed pretty worried.”

  I pressed the button on my key fob and heard the soft thud of the doors unlocking. “Get in.”

  “Should I drive?” Sam asked. “I don’t drive like an old lady.”

  “No,” I said, shaking my head. “I know the way. It’ll be faster than trying to give you direction.”

  I walked around the SUV and climbed into the driver’s seat. Sam scanned the radio stations, trying to find more information as I sped down the road.

  My heart was pounding as I zipped down the familiar roads. Everything was different from when I grew up in the area, but it was also the same.

  There wasn’t much information on the radio. Much of it was repeated from what we’d heard at the gas station.

  Stay inside.

  Scientists made a mistake.

  The Coronal Mass Ejection will hit Earth.

  “I wish they would tell us what’s going to happen,” Sam said.

  “Maybe they don’t want people to panic,” I surmised.

  “Let’s hope you’re right, but you’d think they want us to be prepared,” Sam mumbled.

  The blinker clicked loudly as the orange glow from the lights flashed against the massive bush at the end of my mom’s driveway. I thought I’d feel a wave of relief wash over me, but the dark house hidden in the trees seemed somehow different.

  “Is this it?” Sam asked.

  “Yeah,” I said, stopping the SUV in front of the garage.

  Sam glanced over at me. “It’s really dark out here.”

  “This is what it’s like when you don’t have all the lights from a big city lighting everything up,” I said, cutting the engine but leaving the headlights on. “Wait here. I’ll go turn on the lights.”

  “Gladly,” Sam muttered as she hugged herself and slouched down in the seat.

  I turned on my phone’s flashlight and ran to the front door, squeezing my keys in my hand. Just because it was the house I grew up in, didn’t mean I didn’t have an eerie feeling of being watched.

  The key slid into the lock and the doorknob opened with a familiar squeak. The noisy door was one of the many reasons I always got caught sneaking in after curfew. My mom’s house was old. It squeaked, creaked, moaned, and groaned.

  I reached inside and turned on the entrance and outside lights before running back to Sam. She opened the door and handed me my medication.

  “Maybe I should take one of these,” she grumbled. “I wasn’t expecting to stay in a haunted house.”

  “I did warn you it wasn’t going to be pretty,” I said, opening the back of the SUV to get our things.

  “Yes, I remember the warning, however, you left out the part about it being haunted,” Sam said, glancing over her shoulder. “If I have to run for my life, which is the best way to go?”

  I jerked my thumb to the left. “West will get you to the bay. That’s practically a dead-end unless you want to swim.”

  “So, I go east?” Sam asked as she reached in for her bag.

  “I guess, but if you go far enough in that direction, you’ll hit Lake Michigan,” I said, biting my lip. I bumped my shoulder into hers. “You’ll be fine. I lived here for years and never was chased by anyone with a chainsaw.”

  Sam grimaced. “Don’t give the creeps listening in any ideas.”

  “You’ll want to go south,” I said as I led her toward the house. “Back to the gas station.”

  “That’s probably the guy who’ll come out here with a chainsaw.”

  I shook my head. “You have quite the imagination.”

  I stepped inside the home and sighed. The mess was overwhelming, and the spiderwebs gobbed up on the ceiling made me want to drive back home.

  “Okay,” Sam said, closing the door. “Um, where should I put my things?”

  “Wherever you want.”

  The house wasn’t much different from when I stopped by after my mom’s funeral. It was cold, damp, and empty. The warmth from my mother was gone, making the place feel completely different from the home I’d grown up in.

  The living room couch piled with blankets on one end looked the same, but it didn’t seem like the same couch. I sat down, resting my face on my closed fists.

  “Are you okay?” Sam asked.

  “It’s just weird, you know?”

  “Unfortunately, I don’t.” Sam frowned. “Can I do anything to help?”

  I shook my head. “It feels like I don’t belong here. Like this place belongs to a stranger.”

  “Yeah, that creeper from the gas station has probably been squatting here, and when he gets back, he’s going to get his revenge for us poking around,” Sam said with a smile.

  She was trying to lighten the mood, but I didn’t have it in me to even force a smile. I stood and cleaned the folded blankets and clothing off the couch.

  “You can sleep here,” I said.

  “By the door?” Sam asked, picking at her fingernails.

  “Fine, you can take my old bedroom,” I said.

  Sam smiled sweetly. “Do you think the internet works out here?”

  “It should. I didn’t cancel it,” I said.

  Sam crouched down and dug out her laptop from her bag. “I need to video chat with Dott.”

  “Oh, sure. No problem,” I said, looking around. “I’m just going to check out the house and heat up some food.”

  “Make me something too?” Sam said, blinking her beautiful lashes.

  “That doesn’t work on me,” I said with a raised brow. “But sure. I can do that.”

  Sam gingerly sat down on the couch. “Guess it does work on you, huh?”

  The living room was a large square room that blended into the dining room. A wooden table was hidden under the boxes and piles of God-knows-what, but it hadn’t been used in years. Only one of the chairs was empty… the one my mom would sit on when she had company.

  Behind the table was the sliding glass door that led to the patio. I walked over and checked to make sure it was locked. The backyard was completely dark except for a pale glow from the fingernail-sized moon.

  I let the curtains fall back into place as I walked down the hall and turned on the bathroom light. Sam’s excited voice filled the air, which helped give the empty home a bit of life. The feeling that something was going to jump out at me faded… slightly.

  The bathroom was the least cluttered room, but even the counters had empty toilet paper rolls and boxes of tissues stacked a foot or two high. There was makeup on the counter that my mom probably hadn’t touched in at least fifteen years.

  “Baby girl, I miss you soooo much,” Sam said as I stepped out into the hallway. “I’m sorry, daddy had to wake you, but I just had to see you.”

  “It’s okay, Momma,” Dott’s sleepy voice said sweetly.

  “I should put her back to bed, Sammie,” Jameson said. “Glad you got there okay. We’ll talk tomorrow, okay?”

  I didn’t have to look at Sam to know she was fro
wning.

  The door to the spare bedroom opened halfway. I flicked on the light and backed out when I saw the room completely filled with junk.

  At the end of the hallway, the last two rooms were my bedroom on the right and my mom’s on the left. Both doors were open. My hand felt cold and tingly as I brought it up to flick on the lights to my mom’s room.

  The bed was made, and there wasn’t anything on it. There was a path through the junk that led to the bed, but the rest of the floor space was filled with containers and clothing, and toys from when I was a child.

  My room wasn’t too bad. There were random items piled against the walls, but there was more walking space. It was like she’d only just started filling my room with items before she passed.

  I left the light on and walked down the hall. Sam was staring at her computer screen.

  “How’s Dott?” I asked.

  “The cutest,” Sam said. “Just checking on some work things quick.”

  “No problem. My room is the last door on the right. No rush, just letting you know,” I said, picking up my plastic bag of items from the gas station. “If you want, I can attempt to change the sheets on the bed.”

  Sam’s eyes widened. “I don’t think that will make any difference.”

  I emptied the bag of items onto the counter and opened the microwave door. It squealed on its old rusty hinges. The microwave had been the same one that had been in the house all my life. I wasn’t even sure if it was safe to use it.

  I tossed the food in and set it for two minutes. A yawn stretched my mouth wide. I hadn’t even realized how tired I was. Driving for so long had been exhausting.

  There was a loud thud that felt as though it shook the house. The lights and the microwave shut off instantly.

  “Ouch!” Sam howled as something crashed to the floor in the darkness.

  Crackles and pops came from the outlet where the microwave was plugged in. Sparks burst out and caught nearby papers on fire.

  Flames rapidly multiplied. It wouldn’t take long for the house to burn to the ground. And maybe that would be for the best.

  Sam shook my arm. “Mel! Do something!”

  5

  I reached down under the sink, grabbing the fire extinguisher, which thankfully was still there. It was a gift from my brother after he’d moved out.

  I pulled the pin and squeezed the handle. The white powder put out the fire almost instantly.

  “I’ve never had to do that before,” I mumbled, staring into the darkness. I couldn’t see anything except for the distracting orbs of light that moved with my eyes.

  The room was pitch black.

  “What the hell was that?” Sam asked.

  “A fire.”

  She groaned loudly. “I know that, but why? My laptop zapped me. I threw it on the floor.”

  “Guess something short-circuited or something?”

  “So, what do we do now?” Sam asked. “Hotel?”

  My heart was pounding. I exhaled slowly, trying to calm myself.

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea with this solar storm or whatever it is that’s supposed to hit tonight,” I said, setting down the extinguisher.

  “We can’t stay here,” Sam said, dramatically coughing. “Too much smoke.”

  The darkness hid my rolling eyes. Any smoke from the small fire had already found its way out of the poorly insulated home.

  “I can’t think,” I said, stepping past her.

  I needed my medication before I started to hyperventilate. Panic was on the verge of exploding, and I needed to contain it.

  “Where are you going?” Sam squeaked. “Don’t leave me in here alone!”

  I turned around, grabbed her hand, and pulled her with me out of the house. My feet stopped after three steps onto the yard.

  I gasped at the sky. Bright blues, greens, and reds danced and swirled far over our heads.

  “What is that?” Sam asked. “Aurora Borealis?”

  “I’m not sure, but I don’t think so,” I said, tempted to pivot and go right back inside. We could find a closet to hide in and wait safely until morning. “Maybe it’s from the solar storm.”

  “That doesn’t look like anything we need to take shelter from,” Sam said with a shrug. “If you ask me, it’s kind of pretty.”

  There was a faint but sharp whistling sound in the distance. I turned toward the sound, but I couldn’t see anything.

  “Do you hear that?” I asked as the sound grew louder and harsher.

  “How could I not?” Sam asked, tugging on my arm. “We should go back inside.”

  The sound was so loud I covered my ears and crouched. It felt like the earth was shaking, and the trees around us were going to get ripped right out of the ground.

  The thunderous sound began to fade before we could even get inside. It hadn’t taken long to pass overhead.

  “Was that a plane?” I asked.

  “Couldn’t be,” Sam said, still holding my arm. “It would be too low.”

  The boom of whatever it was smashing into the lake nearly knocked me off my feet. I held out my arms to steady myself.

  “I think that was a plane,” I said slowly.

  Sam and I exchanged a long, horrified look in silence. My breathing slowed, but my heart was still racing.

  “I need to get my medicine,” I said.

  “Yeah,” Sam said. “Are you sure we shouldn’t just get our things and find a hotel? We can come back first thing in the morning.”

  “Fine,” I said.

  I was afraid to leave, but I was also scared to stay. The sky freaked me out, and a plane had just crashed into the bay. There was a feeling in the air I didn’t like… the creepy, spine-tingling feeling right before a really bad thunderstorm. Although this was different. We didn’t know what was going to happen.

  Sam reappeared with both of our bags. “Let’s go.”

  We walked side by side to the car. Sam opened the passenger’s side door and tossed the bags into the backseat before sitting down. She shut the door and curled her knees to her chest, hugging herself into a tight ball.

  I put the keys into the car and turned them, but nothing happened. The dashboard lights didn’t even come on.

  “What are you waiting for?” Sam asked, shaking her foot. “Oh,” she said, letting her legs drop to the floor. “Your medicine.”

  “No,” I said, shaking my head. “Well, yes, but that isn’t the problem.”

  “Problem?”

  I tried the keys again. Nothing.

  “The battery must have died,” I said, resting my forehead on the steering wheel.

  “Is that even possible?” Sam held out her palm. “Let me try.”

  “Sam,” I groaned. “I know how to start a car.”

  “Humor me,” Sam said.

  I gave her the keys, and she leaned over. As I expected, nothing happened.

  “Huh,” she said. “Well, I guess we’re stuck here then.”

  “I’m not sure what we should do,” I said, leaning back my head back. “It’s too dark in the house.”

  Sam blew out a breath. “Do you have your phone? Is there someone we can call?”

  “Umm… like a mechanic?” I said, reaching into the back to retrieve my phone from my backpack. “They probably won’t come out until morning anyway.”

  “I guess,” Sam said. “I just hate this feeling.”

  “Me too,” I said, tapping the button at the side of my phone. “That’s weird.”

  Sam’s wide eyes turned to me. “Now what?”

  “My phone won’t turn on,” I said, repeatedly pressing the button.

  “Out of battery?”

  “No, I was charging it as we drove,” I said, holding up the white cord. “Do you have your phone?”

  Sam dug into her back pocket and pressed the button. “Mine isn’t working either.” She looked into my eyes. “I’m starting to get a little freaked out.”

  “Starting?” I asked, gesturing toward the g
love compartment. “Would you mind passing me my medicine?”

  “Only if I can have one,” Sam said with a frown as she passed me the bottle. “Kidding, of course.”

  “I know,” I said.

  Sam sat back in her seat. “Did your mom have a phone?”

  “I canceled it.”

  She rubbed her hands together and sighed. “Guess we’re camping then?”

  “Guess so,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck as I looked up at the sky. “House or car?”

  “Car,” Sam said, reclining the seat. “Definitely car.”

  Sam reached forward and pressed the button to lock the doors. She sighed heavily as she laid back down, curling into a tight ball.

  “I hate camping,” Sam mumbled.

  “Have you ever gone camping?” I asked.

  “No, because I hate it,” she snapped.

  I unscrewed the lid and popped one of the pills into my mouth. My lips curled around the nearly empty bottle of water I had in the cupholder. The warm water didn’t make it easy to swallow the medicine.

  “Think your mom has a flashlight in there somewhere,” Sam asked.

  “Probably,” I said, watching the colors swirl in the sky. “The batteries are probably dead, though.”

  “Do you think she has spare batteries somewhere in there?” Sam asked.

  I blew out my cheeks. “Probably. Why? It’s not like we can hunt around in the dark.”

  “I know.”

  “Don’t worry,” I said, resting my hand on her shoulder. “We’ll get this all figured out in the morning.”

  Sam’s eyes glowed in the darkness. “Of course, we will, but what if I have to pee?”

  “Try not to think about it,” I said. “You could always squat.”

  “Oh, dear God. I’ll try not to think about it.”

  We both relaxed as best as we could into our seats. My eyes would close, but they never stayed closed for long.

  I was exhausted from the trip, but my heart was still racing, and my mind was buzzing.

  Pins and needles started to crawl up my leg. When I shifted my weight around, I noticed Sam’s mouth hanging open. She had somehow managed to fall asleep.

  I yawned and looked up at the sky, hoping the swirling colors would put me out. A shiver ran through me as I quietly tried to find a comfortable position.