Coffee House Writers

Top Menu

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Article Categories
    • Creativity
    • Culture
    • Design
    • Family
    • Fashion
    • Fiction
    • Food
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Home
    • Lifestyle
    • Memories
    • Nonfiction
    • Poetry
    • Politics
    • Relationships
    • Sports
    • Style
    • Technology
    • Travel
  • About Us
    • Our Story
    • Our Founder
  • Meet Our Admin
    • Chief Editors
    • Editors
    • Poetry Editors
    • Advertising Team
    • Recruiting Team
  • Testimonials
  • Apply
  • Login

logo

Coffee House Writers

  • Home
  • Article Categories
    • Creativity
    • Culture
    • Design
    • Family
    • Fashion
    • Fiction
    • Food
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Home
    • Lifestyle
    • Memories
    • Nonfiction
    • Poetry
    • Politics
    • Relationships
    • Sports
    • Style
    • Technology
    • Travel
  • About Us
    • Our Story
    • Our Founder
  • Meet Our Admin
    • Chief Editors
    • Editors
    • Poetry Editors
    • Advertising Team
    • Recruiting Team
  • Testimonials
  • Apply
  • Login
  • Calm Seas

  • Dreams Change: Life Continues

  • Gardening: The Ultimate Stress-Relieving Activity for Better Health

  • Visiting the Arboretum

  • The King

  • Time

  • Mr. Keith’s House – Part VI

  • I’ll Never Live Up to the Call

  • Skinchangers Chapter 2.2

  • Behind Your Mirror

  • A Gap In Time – 1

  • Saying Goodbye to NCIS: Los Angeles After 14 Years

  • Love’s Cut

  • A New York Summer

  • Welcome to Hell: How Can I Help You?

  • Paradise Falls: Chapter 1

  • Cloaked Miracles, Part 3

  • Becoming a Mother

  • A New Home

  • Unlock Your Hidden Potential: How to Tackle an Extraordinary Challenge with Ease

  • Appreciate Your Talent

  • Writing With ADHD: How Hard Could it be?

  • Southern Ways – Part 1

  • Skinchangers Chapter 2.1

  • The Book

  • The Familiar Mask

  • The Mystery of Cash Castle: Part 14

  • Shivering Leaves

  • Calming the Chaos of the Heavy Mental Load

  • Paradise Falls: Prologue

CreativityFamilyFictionEntertainment
Home›Creativity›Blackout Part 2

Blackout Part 2

By Deannad
May 20, 2019
912
0
Share:

Read Blackout Part 1

Sarah pulled the paper off the tree. The paper felt odd in her hands, heavier than the sheets of lined loose leaf she used at school. It was also slightly yellowed and the handwriting looked like one of those fancy invitations her parents used to get for weddings.

She carefully folded the note and stashed it in her jeans pocket as she looked around the woods behind the playground. Every so often a bird would chirp and a tree branch would rustle, but there was no sign of the boy. After a few minutes, Sarah turned back toward the park, checking over her shoulder here and there.

That night Sarah sat down to eat with her family. The menu consisted of canned vegetable soup heated over an open flame and stale rolls. If she dunked the bread into the hot soup, it softened a bit, making it more edible.

Her father tried to make small talk, asking each of her family members what they did during the day. Her brother just shrugged, his depression over the lack of power worsening every day. Her mother rambled nervously about walking with a neighbor to a nearby gardening store to look for seeds.

“We figured we might as well start planting vegetables and fruit, right?” she said optimistically. “They’ll need time to grow, and I’ve always wanted a garden.”

Sarah wasn’t confident that her mother’s plants would last, especially since the woman managed to kill a cactus two years ago, but maybe her neighbor’s thumb was greener.

After dinner, Sarah headed to her bedroom to sneak chocolate chip cookies she swiped from the convenience store up the road. She ate one per night so that she could make the dessert last as long as possible. As she savored the last bite, she heard movement on the ground below her bedroom window. Sarah carefully moved toward the glass, keeping her body as close to the frame as possible so whoever lurked below didn’t see her. Since it was dark inside her house, it was easier to hide, but she was sure she’d still cast a shadow against the moonlight.

It was the boy. He was running through her backyard, peering under rocks, looking inside garbage cans. He seemed frantic, and every few seconds he’d stop and look around, chewing his fingernails. Sarah could see his chest heaving nervously. She watched him for another minute and just as she was going to reveal herself, he took off into her neighbor’s yard. He nearly fell into the hole their German shepherd Jaxon dug out of boredom last night.

It was too dark to see where he was, but Sarah could hear him digging around their yard and garbage cans.

The next morning while her parents whispered about survival and her brother stared blankly at the wall of the living room, Sarah went to search the area where she last saw the boy. He had knocked over their trash cans, letting packaged food debris scatter across the grass. It looked as if a raccoon tried to take advantage of the leftovers, too. She looked for other signs of his presence, maybe even another note, but there was nothing.

Sarah rounded the house toward the front lawn and there it was. Tacked to a large rock in her mother’s flower garden was another sheet of the same heavy paper.

“You have to help me find it.”

Tagsshort storyscience fictionSciFiDeannadfictionhorror
Previous Article

Refresh: How They Came to Be – ...

Next Article

Five Steps To Creating Vision Boards To ...

0
Shares
  • 0
  • +
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Deannad

Deanna is a freelance writer and editor based in New Jersey. Her work ranges from comic books to press releases. She loves anything creepy or weird, and will even subject herself to cheesy horror movies regularly.

Related articles More from author

  • https://unsplash.com/photos/O33IVNPb0RI
    MediaCreativityFictionCultureStyle

    Surviving Your First Rejection Letter

    September 24, 2018
    By VL Jones
  • CreativityRelationshipsFictionHomeEnvironmentCulture

    Paraworld Chronicles-Alphas, Coffee, And Mr. Sloshy

    June 18, 2018
    By jlwilling
  • Mothman
    FictionHomeTravelCultureEntertainmentCreativityLifestyle

    Chicago Mothman

    October 26, 2020
    By VL Jones
  • frustration laptop outage powerless lonely unplugged disconnected
    TechnologyEntertainmentCreativityRelationshipsFictionHome

    Unplugged

    August 19, 2019
    By Allorianna Matsourani
  • Fog, Dead Tree
    FictionHomeEntertainmentEnvironmentCreativityFamily

    The Vanishing – Part 3

    August 3, 2020
    By Donna Trovato
  • CultureEntertainmentCreativityFiction

    Shadow Field Chronicles, Part I: Declaration

    January 13, 2020
    By Scarlet Noble

Leave a reply Cancel reply

You may be interested

  • FoodEntertainmentSportsCultureFamilyRelationshipsEnvironmentHomeHealth

    5 Reasons Why Americans Love Football Season

  • Love
    CultureRelationshipsMemoriesEnvironmentHealth

    The Ups And Downs Of A Helper Personality Type

  • FamilyRelationshipsPoetryMemories

    Daddy’s Girl

Timeline

  • June 5, 2023

    Calm Seas

  • June 5, 2023

    Dreams Change: Life Continues

  • June 5, 2023

    Gardening: The Ultimate Stress-Relieving Activity for Better Health

  • June 5, 2023

    Visiting the Arboretum

  • June 5, 2023

    The King

Latest Comments

  • Ivor Steven
    on
    June 1, 2023
    A wonderfully thought provoking poem Ynes … "You may never know what results of your actions, ...

    I’ll Never Live Up to the Call

  • Behind Your Mirror, Is in this weeks Coffee House Magazine – Ivor.Plumber/Poet
    on
    May 29, 2023
    […] Hello dear readers and followers, I am now back writing for “Coffee House Writers” magazine, ...

    Behind Your Mirror

  • Creative Nonfiction Types and Writing Tips - E. M. Sherwood Foster
    on
    May 27, 2023
    […] My serial publication The North Wind at Coffee House Writers! Part 1 is here. […]

    The North Wind – Part 1

  • Reblog: Why You Need Realistic Writing Expectations- Andrea Lundgren - E. M. Sherwood Foster
    on
    May 24, 2023
    […] My serial publication The North Wind at Coffee House Writers! Part 1 is here. […]

    The North Wind – Part 1

  • How to Write Dual Timelines - E. M. Sherwood Foster
    on
    May 22, 2023
    […] My serial publication The North Wind at Coffee House Writers! Part 1 is here. […]

    The North Wind – Part 1

Find us on Facebook

About us

  • coffeehousewriters3@gmail.com

Follow us

© Copyright 2018-2023 Coffee House Writers. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s administrator and owner is strictly prohibited.