SUNSTRUCK | outer banks ¹

FOUR. (power outage)

The bright light that was streaming in through my window was blinding when I first woke up. I stretched slightly, looking over to my bedside table at my alarm clock that sat on it. The power must've gone out, I thought to myself as if it wasn't obvious by the lack of flashing numbers.

    The floor was cold against my bare feet and I shivered, looking down at the large t-shirt that was covering my small frame, the material cutting off just above my knees. I tried to test my power outage theory by flicking on the light switch and with no surprise, it didn't turn on.

    The last time I remembered having a blackout, or a power outage was over a year before. I was having a sleepover with a friend at my place. The two of us gossiped in my room, the actual topic I couldn't remember. Some movie played in the background, totally ignored by the two of us as we sat in the bed attempting to do each other's nails.

    When the power actually went out we didn't know what to do. We ended up lighting a few candles and grabbing some flashlights. And even though my mother called us childish, my friend and I built a blanket fort that we spent the night in. We set it up on the floor and placed the flashlights in it. I retrieved my portable cd player and we continued to do our nails and watch the movie.

    Although, that power outage wasn't due to a nasty hurricane but rather due to the fact my parents didn't pay the bills. I could remember the morning after, once the power had been turned back on and my friend had left my parents began screaming at each other. Each trying to throw the blame on the other.

    This power outage, again, was caused by a hurricane. A natural disaster, not the carelessness of forgetting bills. And even though it was only a year later, I felt I had grown so much from that moment. Not in maturity as my mother called it because hell I'd still build a blanket fort in the middle of the living room if I had the urge to do so.

    "Sam" I called out, opening the bedroom door and walking out into the hallway. The four doors in the hall were staggered but Sam's was 'across the hall from mine. When walking from the kitchen to the hall, the first door on the right was a closet. The closet only really held the extra towels that didn't fit in the bathroom's closet and extra sheets and blankets. Then, further down and on the left was the bathroom. Down more on the right was Sam's room and then at the end of the hall on the left was my room.

    My steps were still a bit slow, I was barely awake and I still hadn't stretched fully. The hall wasn't decorated and there were no windows so at the moment, aside from the light from the kitchen that shined slightly down the hall, it was dark. This a drastic change from my room, where the sun seemed to sit directly outside the window.

    I peered through Sam's half-open door trying to see if he was in his room. I knocked slightly and as I did his door began to creak open. "Sam," I said again, looking in fully now. He wasn't in his room but I took a second to look around before closing the door.

    His room was pretty simple, he didn't have the house very decorated and I didn't care much about it. We gave the house enough personality as it is. Papers lay scattered on his desk, clothes over piled in his laundry basket, and the bed was still not made even though he had left the room.

    Sam wasn't a messy person, just not very organized. That much I could tell, just by looking at his room. He seemed kind of like an unorganized person in general, I wanted to know more about this life. All I knew about his life here was that he lived in this house and he worked at a restaurant that, truthfully I couldn't even remember the name of.

    I closed the door behind me as I exited his room, my feet leading me down the narrow hallway. The kitchen came to view as I got to the end of the hall, light flooding in through the large windows. I looked around, the table was empty and so was the counter. The sink was empty as well. Where could he be? I figured I would have remembered if he had told me he had a shift today.

    I sighed and went to open the fridge, I would look for him after but I needed to get something to eat first. My stomach grumbled, as if on cue. I looked around the corner, into the living room, quickly checking if Sam was in there.

    When I opened the fridge, the thought dawned on me that if the power was out, the stove wouldn't work and neither would the fridge or freezer. Eventually, in the hot weather and the equally as hot house, the food would begin to go bad.

    I grabbed a bowl of cut-up fruit, sitting down at the table as I started to eat. There wasn't much I could do about the food now, not until the power came back on or at least until I found Sam. As I zoned out my gaze fell to the window, more specifically outside of the window. I squinted, looking at the visible damage I could see from where I sat.

    My curiosity got the better of me and I stood, the bowl still in my hands. I walked from the table to the door that led out to the backyard. Carefully stepping over some of the debris that was by the door. I sighed and tried to take in all the damage.

    I took another bite of fruit and scanned the yard once more before walking back into the house. Again, there wasn't much I could do without Sam there. Most of the debris and mess was too heavy for me to clear myself.

    The bowl lay in the sink, and my mission to find my brother was still not complete. I tried to think if he had told me anything about leaving early today. I sat back at the table and let out a sigh. I thought about double-checking the house but before I got the chance, the bright yellow note that was stuck to the corkboard next to me caught my attention.

    'Laney, I'm just down at the motel helping clean it up. Didn't want to wake you, if you need me here's how to get here' The note read, and at the bottom, there were directions and the address of the motel he said he'd be at. At least now I knew I hadn't gone crazy and begun forgetting everything, and I wondered when he'd be back.

    I thought for a minute, going down to the motel seemed like it would be pretty boring but I didn't really have much else to do, the power was out and I had already boarded around the day before. I tried to rack my brain for an adventurous idea I could come up with. Something to do without it involving cleaning up the aftermath of a hurricane. Who knows, maybe I would find something interesting to do at the motel.

    Although, it did not seem likely.