Coffee House Writers

Top Menu

Main Menu

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

logo

Coffee House Writers

  • Home
  • Article Categories
    • Creativity
    • Culture
    • Design
    • Family
    • Fashion
    • Fiction
    • Food
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Home
    • Lifestyle
    • Media
    • Memories
    • Music
    • Nonfiction
    • Poetry
    • Politics
    • Relationships
    • Sports
    • Style
    • Technology
    • Travel
  • About Us
    • Our Story
    • Our Founder
  • Meet Our Admin
    • Team Captains
    • Editors
    • Poetry Mentors
    • Advertising Team
    • Recruiting Team
    • Book Club
  • Testimonials
  • Apply
  • Login
  • Travel is a Curious Heart

  • Please Don’t Be Mad Part 1

  • Landry’s Discovery

  • Hollow Moon Part 28

  • In Light of the Night, Chapter Eleven

  • Celebrate the Gift and the Giver

  • A Welcoming Roar

  • IMAX: The Next Evolution in Cinema

  • Summer Nights

  • How Gardening Blesses You with Spiritual Grounding and Calm Energy

  • Divorce And Dating And Other Disasters At Age 40: Part 20

  • The Secrets of Covingport Manor: Part Six

  • The Concrete Jungle

  • My Inner Core

  • Crescent Moons Part 25

  • Dragon’s Rise – Part Six

  • Unnoticed Deception

  • Promises

  • The House

  • Forward , Not Back

  • Jerome Population: Strange

  • The Making Of A Wandering Soul

  • An Open Letter to My New Puppy

  • In Light of the Night-Chapter Ten

  • Metamorphosis

  • Dragon’s Rise – Part Five

  • Day and Night

  • Two women sharing the same space

  • Enchantment and Love

  • Pieces

CreativityEntertainmentFamilyFiction
Home›Creativity›Blackout Part 3

Blackout Part 3

By Deannad
June 3, 2019
1246
0
Share:

Read Blackout Part 1

Read Blackout Part 2

“Hello?” Sarah called out, but there was no one around. She walked toward her neighbor’s yard. Jaxon, the dog, was sleeping in the morning sun. This was the first day in many weeks that the sky wasn’t an overcast gray, and the dog seemed to relish every warm ray. His life wasn’t as disturbed by the blackout as the humans around him.

“You ok, Sarah?” Mrs. Hart, her neighbor, asked as she opened the screen door at the back of the house.

Sarah startled but smiled when she realized who spoke. “Oh, hi, Mrs. Hart. Yeah, I’m fine.”

The little girl moved closer to the older woman and continued, “Did you see a boy in your yard last night?”

“Is your brother missing?” Mrs. Hart panicked. “Oh, no! Well, let’s see…

“No, no, he’s fine,” Sarah interrupted. “A different boy.”

Mrs. Hart looked perplexed and shook her head, adding that Jaxon would have noticed a stranger in their yard. Sarah nodded and walked back to her own house.

Sarah searched for something out of the ordinary. Whatever he was looking for, it had to be an object of some sort. She picked up rocks, turned over trash cans, and even dug a bit into the dirt. After an hour, she came up empty and decided to go for a walk. Maybe she’d see something along the way.

The park was empty, and Sarah found it strange since it was so nice out. She thought for sure more kids would be there with their families considering the sun hadn’t shown in weeks, but the place was eerily quiet. Sarah sat on a swing and swayed gently in the mild morning air. What could the boy be looking for?

Something twinkled out of the corner of her left eye. Sarah turned quickly, hoping to see the boy but was greeted instead by a small rectangular device reflecting in the sun. Sarah walked toward it, and as she got closer, she thought maybe it was a discarded, useless cell phone that someone ditched when charging was no longer an option.

The black metal felt heavy. It had a display screen that seemed to have cracked on impact. On the back of the device was a clip that probably kept it attached to a belt or pants pocket. There were a few gray buttons, but they weren’t labeled with their function. Sarah tried pressing a few of the buttons, but nothing happened. She turned it over to see if there was a power switch somewhere else but couldn’t find anything.

“I haven’t seen one of those in a long time,” a voice boomed from behind her.

Sarah whipped around to find a man about her dad’s age walking toward her. Her stranger danger alert flashed, but she was too curious about her find and wanted to see what this guy had to say.

“What is it?” she asked.

“That,” the man said. “Is an old school pager. I haven’t seen one since I was about 13 years old.”

Sarah turned it over it in her hands. “What does it do?”

The man reached his hand out, and Sarah reluctantly gave it to him. “Well, before cell phones, you could send messages to people so they’d call you back. You’d use these codes and your phone number, and they’d have to find a pay phone or head home to their landline to make the call.”

Sarah didn’t know what any of those items were, but she was smart enough to get the idea. She also remembered her parents reminiscing about how much easier it was to get away with stuff when they were in school because there were no devices or social media to track them.

The man handed her back the pager, saying someone must have tried old school tech in a last-ditch attempt at contact. He laughed and began walking away. “Might as well get a nice walk in on this beautiful day. Haven’t seen sun like this in weeks.”

Sarah stuffed the pager in her jeans pocket and headed home. She checked over her shoulder just in case the stranger began following her. As she approached her front door, she noticed a piece of paper under the doormat. Excited, she picked it up quickly, smiling happily as she felt the weighted paper and read the fancy letters.

“You’ve found it. Now. Let’s move to the next step.”

Tagsfictionhorrormysterypagerpost-apocalyptic storyscience fictionshort storyTechnology
Previous Article

When You’re Lost, Just Read This: A ...

Next Article

Why I Chose CBD

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

  • ghost
    CreativityEntertainmentEnvironmentFamilyFictionMemoriesRelationships

    Ghosts In Apartment 205

    April 6, 2020
    By Beatrice Lane
  • CreativityEntertainmentFamilyFictionRelationships

    Best Witches Issue 20

    August 5, 2019
    By Marissa Allen
  • Brown wooden Adirondack chair
    CreativityEntertainmentFamilyFictionRelationships

    Adirondack

    March 2, 2020
    By Eric Carasella
  • sun, solar, moon
    CreativityEntertainmentFamilyFictionRelationshipsTravel

    A Dark the Sun Loved – Part One

    October 7, 2019
    By Xander S. Lee
  • man with hand in front of his face.
    CreativityFamilyFictionRelationships

    Learning To Cope: Meet James

    August 26, 2019
    By Sylvia Stein
  • Bird mask
    CreativityEntertainmentFamilyFictionHealthHomeRelationships

    Bird- Part 2

    May 25, 2020
    By Eric Carasella

Leave a reply Cancel reply

You may be interested

  • Hourglass
    CreativityEntertainmentFantasyFictionMedia

    “Hourglass,” by Eric Hennig, Opens You Up To A Magical World

  • sunset
    CultureEnvironmentFamilyHomeLifestylePoliticsRelationships

    Operation Lady Justice

  • Houses of neighbors
    CreativityCultureEnvironmentFamilyHealthHistoryHomeLifestyleMemoriesPoetryRelationshipsRomance

    Neighbors

Timeline

  • August 8, 2022

    Travel is a Curious Heart

  • August 8, 2022

    Please Don’t Be Mad Part 1

  • August 8, 2022

    Landry’s Discovery

  • August 8, 2022

    Hollow Moon Part 28

  • August 8, 2022

    In Light of the Night, Chapter Eleven

Latest Comments

  • Ivor Steven
    on
    August 10, 2022
    Thank you Cheryl 🤗🌏💕

    A Welcoming Roar

  • Cheryl, Gulf Coast Poet
    on
    August 9, 2022
    Wonderful poem, Ivor!

    A Welcoming Roar

  • Ritu Anand
    on
    August 8, 2022
    I absolutely enjoyed Summer Nights. Thank you Sunita for sharing your beautiful words with readers. Your ...

    Summer Nights

  • LYNND
    on
    August 1, 2022
    I can't help but think of the similarity between this and the Lake Elizabeth monster, which ...

    Iowa’s Van Meter Monster

  • Verona Jones
    on
    July 29, 2022
    I know right? That's why I never get tired learning about them :))

    Alabama’s Dead Children Playground

Find us on Facebook

About us

  • coffeehousewriters3@gmail.com

Follow us

© Copyright 2018-2022 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.