One morning nothing worked.

She’s tossed and turned all night, but to top it all off at about five in the morning Ella heard the air conditioner switch off. Not just the compressor, but the fan too…and this was the middle of a serious heat wave. She looked across the stinky sheet to catch the time but the clock was dark. OK, she thought, power failure. Alone in her fucking old house, she thought of waiting out the dawn, but headed down for the fuse box.

Slowly down the creaking stairs, she could see through the window on the landing that the street lights were out too. It was dicey in the dark so she crab-walked the rest of the way down and made her way out to the porch. She sat in the heat on a funky old chair and stared out into the dark. She’s never seen a dark like this, and even the stars were lost in the haze. 

Ella meditated on her life of late. Husband gone, the asshole. Making mortgage payments barely, but working two jobs. Eating TV dinners, not good. No TV, though. Had it disconnected. At work, the talk was of “spreading social chaos.” She paid no attention so long as she still got paid. She kept to herself, and stuck to a survival routine. At length an orange ghost tinged the Eastern sky between the trees and houses, making silhouettes.

First one flashlight appeared from a neighbor’s door and then there were others. On the glass table, her battery operated scanner, that piece of shit, might give her the what’s what. She reached for it and turned the knob. Nothing but static. Outside, the voices of people yelling. She made out the words “this is it!” The dogs were aware and they began to bark.

Now she was afraid.

Here’s a great set of links to other micro fiction.