Disclaimer: I own nothing but my character and ideas of course.
At the Time of the Blackout, I was ten years old.
I was with my parents. We were at Shopko, shopping for the upcoming school year. I was trying to decide which new backpack I should get, an Avengers one or a pretty blue one with butterflies on it. Then it happened; the lights went out one by one. It was so dark. I was scared at first. I was scared because my mom had her phone out; the screen was black. Dad told us to stay there and he walked away before my mom could say anything.
He was back within the minute. He had walked to the front of the store to see blackness in every direction through the store's glass sliding doors. Others around us were either leaving the store or continuing to put stuff in their carts. I wanted to go home, but my parents were still deciding what to do. My dad said we should stock up on supplies because the power outage looked like it was going to be a big problem. So, we continued shopping.
People are afraid of the dark. It gets them on edge. So when my parents' out stretched arms grazed against others, we shuddered as many of them would cry out in surprise or shout terrible things. I had held tightly to the cart the whole time. The longer I was in the dark, the more I wanted to go home and hide in my bed.
One good thing I had thought at the time was that I got to put both the backpacks in the cart. We went to the grocery section first to find packs of water bottles and boxes of nonperishables. I asked my mom if I could grab some ice cream or popsicles, knowing that they would melt right away without power. She shook her head no at me but I pouted until dad caved in and we made our way to the freezer aisle.
Then to the home and bath areas where my parents grabbed some throw blankets for at night when it got colder.
"Just in case," my mom told me when I said it was still summer out.
She was going to let me pick out the candles, only there weren't many left to choose from by the time we had gotten to that dark aisle.
Finally, after we stocked up on hygiene and dental items, we walked to the checkout counter, not sure how we were going to pay with no electricity. There were no cashiers left. Either they went home to check their families or they were roaming the store.
My dad suggested we just take what we had home. My mom didn't want to steal; they compromised, and decided that when the power comes on, they'd return to pay for the things.
The car wouldn't start. I stared hard through the darkness, trying to understand my parents animated expressions and whispers. I was confused and tired; I just wanted to go home. A few minutes later, we had unloaded anything we had in our car— afraid that someone would try to break in— stuffed our things in the shopping cart, and walked three miles to our house in a near black night.
There were lights around of course to help us see. My dad had pulled out his cigarette lighter; he wasn't the only one to think of that. Many other people were forced onto the streets because every single vehicle was dead in their tracks. And there was the moon. I remember it. It was a full moon, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky that night. The stars were bright. They kept me calm as I clung to the full cart.
This may or may not turn into anything. It depends on if anyone likes it or if I have enough time to get something written. I just wanted to make my own character for the world of Revolution and see what could happen in that situation. Let me know what you think.