Whoops! Sorry guys, I kind of forgot about the story for a bit there -- I just started a new job, and have been really busy. Sorry! Oh yeah – I own nothing.

ON THE WAY DOWN

Chapter 6

On Wednesday morning, Lizzie woke up to the sound of a horrible storm. She rolled over to look at her alarm clock, only to find the neon digital numbers to be nonexistent. 'Great, my alarm clock died,' she thought, throwing back the covers and sitting up. 'It's still dark, so hopefully I'm not running late… where's my watch?'

Lizzie fumbled for the switch to turn on the lamp beside her bed, but when she flipped it, nothing happened. "Shit." The power was out. That would explain the total darkness of the room. An eerie feeling washed over her; she'd always hated power outages, and the feeling was stronger now that she lived alone.

"Baby steps… baby steps…" Lizzie said softly to herself as she carefully maneuvered her way to the door. About halfway across the room, a loud clap of thunder shook the house and startled her so badly that she screamed. Once she reached the door, she flung it open, hoping there would be more light. No such luck.

As Lizzie slowly stumbled her way into the kitchen, the storm continued to rage outside the house, showing no signs of lessening. She found a candle in a drawer, and used it to provide enough light to find the heavy-duty flashlight in the garage. Once she had enough light to get by, she grabbed her cell phone off the kitchen counter where it was charging and flipped it open. The screen proclaimed that she had 8 missed calls from Nicole's cell phone.

"Shit." She cleared the screen and noted the time. 9:38 AM. "SHIT!" she repeated.

Lizzie quickly phoned the clinic, but hung up after seven rings. She scrolled through her list of phone numbers and selected Nicole's number.

"Nicole? Hey, are you at the clinic?" she asked when she heard a voice on the other end.

"No. I left around nine… I got there at a quarter to eight and the power went out about five minutes after I walked in, and it still hadn't come back on by nine so I grabbed the appointment book off the front desk and took it home and called everyone to let them know the clinic is closed today," Nicole replied. Lizzie breathed a sigh of relief and sank down into the couch.

"Well, looks like we've got a day off. And I'd be willing to bet the power will be out all day and this storm is definitely not letting up soon. I'm gonna go so I don't run the battery out on my phone, in case I need it later on," she said.

"Alright. I'll talk to you later."

Lizzie flipped her phone shut and sighed. What on earth could she do all alone in a dark house with no electricity? Just then, there was a furious pounding unmistakably coming from the front door. Lizzie froze. Who in their right mind would be out in this weather?

She practically tiptoed to the front door and tried to look out the peephole, but it was no use. The blackness outside allowed her no view of what was on the other side of the door. 'I'd be a complete moron to open this door,' she thought. But a nagging thought occurred to her. 'Whoever is out there is probably soaking wet, and is gonna get sick from this weather… besides, even murderers wouldn't go out in this crap. It has to be someone who got stuck in the weather.'

She reached for the dead-bolt, but paused just before her fingers brushed it. Should she open the door?  Was she going to regret this? Hell, would she live to regret it? 'Please God, be with me this moment and protect me from harm,' she prayed silently as she unlocked the door with trembling fingers. She turned the knob and as soon as she gave the slightest pull on the door, it blew open, almost hitting her in the face.

The person standing on her doorstep was staring downward, with nothing but a poncho protecting them, and she couldn't see their face. "Hurry, come in, get out of the rain!" she yelled, and the person's head suddenly jerked up at her voice. She realized that whoever it was probably hadn't even noticed the door open.

The stranger stepped into the foyer and Lizzie pushed the door shut, pausing for a second. Should she leave it unlocked? What if this person was a killer, and she needed to escape? Being wet and alive was better than dry and dead. She locked it anyway and turned back to look at her visitor. "What were you doing out in…" She started to speak, but when her eyes met his, her voice cracked and no further sound was expelled.