“Hello.”

“Hi, is this Holly?”

“Yes, Krista?”

“Sorry, I just got your message. I can’t believe I dropped my clutch. Thank you so much for finding it. I guess I got lucky. But anyway, do you think I could come by and pick it up tonight?

I stumbled on my own tongue. Krista wouldn’t make it down to my place from Springfield until at least 2 a.m.

“I uh, yeah,” I agreed without thinking about it anymore.

I regretted giving Krista my address while I sat there and sipped on my fifth Orange Crush and vodka of the long night.

It was nearing 2:30 a.m. and Krista had yet to arrive. I texted and called her in the last hour and had yet to receive an answer back. She was driving though, I guess.

Making matters worse, a heavy rain had begun to fall in the last hour and the hard pitter patter of the precipitation on my thin roof dulled every sound around me. Krista could have slipped in the house through the back door which would no longer lock, scoop up her clutch and leave again without me even noticing.

I sat in my little living room, staring out the window at my gravel driveway waiting for that red Ford Focus to pull up. All I could think about was seeing headlights soon. I was buzzed, tired with a brain fried from thinking about trauma for hours. I should have been more scared, but I think my mind was so worn down and exhausted, it was pushing the fear back and pulling up my desire for sleep. I plunked a Five Hour Energy shot into my drink and chugged it down.

I quickly felt that sick, syrupy kick of an energy shot kick in, but it started to fade almost as soon as it came. My eyelids went back to being heavy and started to slowly open and close while I stared out at my wet yard, bathed in the pale light of my flood lighting.

One more futile flutter of the eyelids and it was all over. My eyes remained shut and my body went limp in my rolling computer chair in the living room with my body facing my front yard. Between the long day of travel, the half a handle of vodka I downed, and the stress in my head, my body finally tapped out and I fell helplessly into sleep.

The entire world was dark when I woke. I shook my head, rubbed my eyes and scanned my surroundings, tried to absorb as much of what I saw, as soon as I possibly could.

No clock in sight and no cell phone in reach, I had no idea what time it was. All I knew was at some point in my sleep cycle, the floor light in the front yard had shut off and whatever lights I had in the house had as well.

Had the power gone out?