A/N: Thanks for your reviews!
Chapter 3
Ten minutes later, they were still in total darkness as Johanna held onto Jim's hand while they felt their way to the kitchen. "What drawer is the flashlight in?" Jim asked.
"The junk drawer," she replied. "But I can't swear that it'll work…I don't know if there are any batteries in it or not."
"Why would you have a flashlight and not have batteries in it?" he asked; his tone a little gruff, setting her on edge as she bumped into the counter.
"Probably for the same reason you have pots and pans but rarely use them," she retorted.
Jim took a breath, biting back a sharp retort. He had given her a hint of attitude…she was nervous, now wasn't the time for random bickering. "Okay, point taken. I'm sorry."
"It's alright," she said softly, silently counting as she ran her hand over the drawers, finding the third drawer handle and pulling it open. She reached inside blindly, moving her hand around until finally it landed on the round barrel of the flashlight. "I've got it," she said, pulling it from the drawer and fumbling with the switch. It flicked on much to her relief and Jim's.
"Good, it works," he stated. "Now we can see to turn the radio on and see if we can find out what's going on."
Johanna shined the light toward the radio on the counter and Jim clicked it on, turning the knob until he found a station that was still broadcasting.
"It is a city-wide blackout, all five boroughs are effected…" the voice on the radio stated.
"Oh God," Johanna murmured.
Jim slipped his arm around her waist, giving her hip a soft squeeze. "We'll be alright," he assured as the man on the radio continued on, making announcements for off duty police officers to report to their nearest precincts, for people to stay put and use caution.
"We're still waiting for answers as to what has caused this blackout or how long it will last…"
"That's not what we wanted to hear," Johanna remarked.
"No, it's not," he agreed. "So let's get stuff together. I know there are some candles in the bedroom; do you have any others?"
"Yeah," she replied, doing her best to shake off her nerves. "I have a box in the pantry that has candles in it. It's on the top shelf."
"Okay; let's find the box," he said as he took the flashlight and guided her toward the pantry.
They carefully moved around the table and chairs, making their way to the pantry and opening the door. Jim quickly found the box on the top shelf and pulled it down, carrying it to the table. He opened the box and began to pull out candles. "These skinny ones might not be much use," he said as he pulled out a few candlesticks.
"They're better than nothing," she replied. "But I'll have to find holders to set them in."
"Do you know where they are?" he asked.
"Yes, up in the one cabinet above the counter. The matches are in the junk drawer…I think that lighter you bought for candles might be in there too."
Jim nodded as he pulled out bigger candles. "Here's some good candles."
"Let me have the flashlight so I can get some plates down to set them on, I don't want wax running everywhere."
Jim passed her the flashlight, watching her as she hurried to the cabinet and pulled down candleholders and small plates to set the larger candles on. "Let's go ahead and light some on the table," she told him as she sat down her silver candleholders.
He put a candle in each holder as she went back to the junk drawer and grabbed the book of matches she found. She handed them to Jim and he plucked one from the book and struck it, lighting two of the candles on the table. "It's not much light but it helps a little," he told her. "Let's get some lit in the living room."
Johanna picked up the plates and followed Jim into the living room with some of the bigger candles. She placed a plate on each stand near the couch and Jim lit them before moving across the room and putting one on the coffee table that they had shoved away to make room for the mattress. "Since we're sleeping out here, we won't put any in the bedroom," he stated.
"We need one in the bathroom though."
"Definitely," he agreed as they made their way down the darkened hallway. Jim set a candle in the bathroom and lit it. "Leave the door open so we can see the light a little in the hallway."
Johanna nodded. "We still have two candlesticks left…what should we do with them?"
"Maybe we'll just save them in case we need a replacement in the kitchen…and we do have a couple in the bedroom on the dresser but we're not going to light those right now either. Since we don't know how long it's going to be, we'll save what we can, just in case we need them later."
"Okay," she agreed. "Let's bring the radio into the living room."
"Good idea. Do we have extra batteries?"
"Yes, I definitely have batteries for the radio."
"Good. Do you have another flashlight?"
"No," she said with a shake of her head. "I rarely ever use the one I have."
Jim nodded. "I have one in the car. I'll go get it."
"You can't go out there in the dark!" she exclaimed. "Besides, the elevator is out."
"I can use the stairs. I need to go get it, we need it, sweetheart."
"I'll go with you," she said softly, her hand wrapping around his.
"No way in hell am I letting you go out in this darkness."
"I don't want you going out in it either," she told him.
"I'll take your flashlight, I'll be as quick as I can," he promised.
"Jim," she sighed. "If you really want to go, let me go with you."
"No, not a chance; this city is in complete darkness and I don't know who's crawling around in it. You're staying here and locking the door behind me. I'll take the stairs; I'll hurry as much as I can."
"I don't like it."
"I know…but I'm going to do it anyway," he told her. "Let's get the radio brought in here and then I'll take the flashlight and run down to the car."
"I think we'll be fine with the one flashlight."
"I'm going to the car, Johanna. We need to have everything we can on hand. I'll be careful. Get the radio."
She sighed deeply as they went to the kitchen and got the small radio, carrying it into the living room and putting it on the stand. Jim grabbed his keys from the coffee table, seeing the worry in her eyes in the dim light they had created for the room. "It'll be fine," he murmured to her, pressing a soft kiss to her lips.
"I just wish you wouldn't go out there…and you're going to have to go down four flights of stairs in this heat and back up; the radio just said that it's still 86 degrees and humid."
"I'll be fine, I promise. I'll hurry. Come lock the door behind me, put the chain on too; I'll knock when I come back."
"I'd rather go with you."
"You're not. Is Mrs. Blackston still with her daughter? If not we're going to have to check on her."
"She's with her daughter until sometime next month."
"Did she take the cat with her?"
"Of course."
"Just checking in case we had to use the key she gave you to get it."
"No, she took Fluffy with her."
"Good, I'm sure they're taken care of. Now come lock the door…no arguments."
Johanna sighed once more and followed him to the door, peering out into the dark hallway. "Hurry," she whispered. "And be careful."
"I will, now lock the door."
She hated to do it; she wanted to at least make sure he reached the stairway safely but he was gently pushing her back inside as he held tightly to his keys and the flashlight. She closed the door as he wanted, putting the locks in place.
"Be right back," he called to her before she heard his footsteps moving away.
Johanna moved back into the living room, the coolness they had achieved in the room had waned, stuffiness slowly seeping back into the room. She made her way to the couch, kneeling on it as she reached for the lock on the window that didn't hold the air conditioner. She pushed it up a little, hoping they'd be able to get a little air in the room even if it was warm air. Noise from the street drifted up to her, making her even more nervous for Jim. She tried to shake it off though, abandoning the couch and heading for the dark hallway. She kept her hand against the wall as she moved into the bedroom, carefully feeling her way around the furniture to reach the window and unlock it, pushing it up a small amount to allow some air into the stuffy room.
She made her way back to the living room, settling down in the chair to begin her wait for Jim. The announcer on the radio was advising that they unplug all appliances, including air conditioners and fans to keep from overloading things whenever the power did come back on. She got up and moved to the air conditioner, finding its cord and following it to the outlet and unplugging it. She went back to the bedroom and stumbled around until she found the cord of the fan and unplugged it as well. She debated about what to do about the stove and refrigerator but decided to wait for Jim and his input on that situation. Back in the living room, she unplugged the TV as well. She returned to the chair, trying not to dwell on how long it might take Jim to come back to the apartment. She shivered slightly despite being warm; she didn't like this…didn't like knowing the entire city was blanketed in darkness. It made her uneasy in ways she wasn't sure she had felt before. It seemed silly to be scared, she was safe at home…but she was scared just the same.
As the minutes passed, Johanna fought the urge to go search for her watch in the darkened bedroom. Having her watch wouldn't do her any good…counting off the minutes Jim had been gone would only add to her anxiety. She kept going to the windows, peering out into the darkness, hoping to see some speck of light somewhere in the city but all she could find was hints of flashlights in the streets, the flicker of candlelight visible in some windows in buildings across the street. She could hear voices on the sidewalks, the sounds of horns as drivers tried to make their way home or to wherever they were going without the aid of streetlights and traffic signals. She sighed deeply, fighting the urge to put up the screen and lean out the window to see if she could spot Jim. He wouldn't want her hanging out the window in the darkness…and neither would her father. In fact, she could hear Frank McKenzie in her mind telling her not to be stupid and to keep her damn head inside where it belonged.
With that thought in mind, Johanna settled down on the sofa, focusing on the voice on the radio who was imploring people not to use the phone as the lines were getting congested. She worried her bottom lip, she'd like to call her mother but she'd hold off, wait for things to calm down and then she'd call and check on her parents.
"We have no possible guess on when the power will be back on at this time…" the announcer stated once more.
"I wish you'd quit saying that," Johanna muttered as she rose from the sofa and moved around the mattress on the floor to pace the room. What was she supposed to do to keep busy? She couldn't crack open her briefcase and work, there wasn't enough light for that. She couldn't go bake something because that required power and the lack of that was what she needed distracted from. She couldn't watch TV; they didn't want the phone to be overused. She couldn't go down into the streets where it sounded like more and more people were gathering; Jim wasn't going to allow that with everything going on…and honestly she didn't really want to be out there in the darkness, not knowing what might happen next. What was she supposed to do?
"Jo," a voice called out as a knock sounded at the door.
"Thank God," she muttered as she hurried to the door, releasing the locks to let Jim in. "I feel like you were gone for hours," she told him as he moved into the apartment.
Jim laid down the flashlights on the stand as she relocked the door. "Believe me, the trip back up all those stairs felt longer than the trip going down," he remarked as he wiped away the sheen of sweat on his brow.
"You're probably overheated," Johanna said as she moved toward him, seeing the light sheen of sweat on his chest. "Go get a cool washcloth and get cooled down. I'll get us a cold drink while we still have ice."
"Yeah, we may as well use up the ice because it's probably not going to last long," Jim stated as he headed for the bathroom.
She grabbed their glasses from the stand and hurried to the kitchen, opening the freezer and grabbing out some ice for each of them before she quickly shut the door, trying to keep its coolness locked inside for as long as possible. She opened the fridge door quickly and grabbed out two sodas and let the door shut. She filled their glasses and carried them into the living room to wait on Jim. After a few moments, he returned to the room, taking the glass she offered him as he came near. "Thanks, sweetheart," he said after taking a long sip.
"How is it out there?" she asked, watching as he headed to the kitchen.
"People are starting to congregate in the streets," he replied. "It's kind of eerie in some ways, looking out and seeing nothing but darkness. I looked up at the sky and could actually see the stars and you know we don't often see them in the city."
"That's true; I wish I could've seen them…but someone wouldn't let me come along," she commented before taking a sip of her own drink.
Jim smirked at her. "Be glad, remember, you said you didn't feel like being sweaty and you would've been hiking up and down those stairs."
"You say that like I'm not going to get sweaty in here with no fans and no air conditioning."
"True, but not as quickly."
"They said on the radio to unplug fans, air conditioners, and appliances. I unplugged the air conditioner and the fan we had on in the bedroom to keep air moving in there. I unplugged the TV but I didn't know what to do about the stove and refrigerator. What do you think?"
"The stove wasn't on when the lights went out," Jim replied. "So it will be fine to leave as is…as for the fridge, I don't know if it was actively running when the lights went out but either way, we're not lugging that damn thing out to unplug it, it'll be fine. Since this sounds like an all night ordeal, I'm going to get a slice of our leftover pizza, do you want one?"
"You know I don't care for cold pizza."
He nodded. "And yet I'm marrying you anyway despite your odd nature."
Johanna smirked at him in the dim light of the room. "I don't think a man who refuses to eat cold toast should be throwing stones."
"Point taken," he quipped. "But do you want me to bring you anything?"
"No, I'll just keep snacking on the popcorn. We shouldn't be opening that fridge door a lot though."
"I know, I just want to grab a slice of pizza and then we'll leave it closed."
Johanna settled back down on the mattress and picked up the bowl of popcorn to snack on, waiting for Jim to come back and join her. Finally he returned to his place next to her, the sound of something breaking outside making her flinch. "What do you think that was?" she asked quietly as if they'd be overheard.
"Sounded like someone breaking a bottle," he replied. "Don't worry about it."
She blew out a breath. "What do we do now?"
"Same thing as everyone else in the city, sweetheart…we wait," Jim answered.
"I hate waiting," she muttered.
"I know…more than cold pizza."
Johanna gave a soft laugh. "I would much prefer cold pizza to being without electric during a heatwave."
Jim smiled. "Hell, even I would prefer cold toast to this."
"So much for saying the night was going to be better than the day," Johanna commented.
He nodded. "That will teach us to say things like that…look what we did, we put it out there in the universe and now we're in a blackout."
"We're going to have to learn to keep our mouths shut," Johanna agreed. "From now on, we're strictly no comment on how the evening is going to go."
Frank McKenzie turned down the volume of the radio he had clicked on, a small amount of anxiety building within him at the news of a citywide blackout. He glanced to Naomi who was lighting a candle on the table. "Call the girls and make sure they're home," he told her as he met her eye in the dim flickering light.
"I'm sure they are; it's a little after ten o'clock, Frank. They both have work tomorrow and would want to be settling down for the evening, especially Colleen; pregnancy has made her more of a homebody lately."
"Call the girls," he said firmly.
"Frank, I don't like to call people this late in the evening. I'm sure the girls are fine."
His jaw tightened. "Call the girls!" he bellowed. "There's a city-wide blackout and a goddamn serial killer roaming around somewhere, now you call the girls and make sure they're home where they belong!"
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him to dial the numbers himself but she bit it back, seeing the tension in his jaw and the hint of anxiety in his eyes. He worried sick every day about the girls being out in the city with that killer on the loose; worried over Colleen's advancing pregnancy making her slow and an easy target…worried about Johanna's dark hair making her a target as that seemed to be the man's preference for his victims. He had to know they were home every night…and tonight he had missed his nightly calls because of a late meeting. She tried not to dwell on the thoughts of her girls being possible targets, but Frank did…and he wouldn't rest until he knew and she couldn't blame him for that. "Alright," she said softly. "I'll call the girls and make sure they're home."
"Get to it," he told her firmly, standing by as she made her way to the phone.
"Can you shine the flashlight on the buttons so I can see to dial?" she asked as she picked up the receiver.
Frank nodded and switched the flashlight on, holding it steady over the dial pad so that she could see.
"I need to call Franny," Sophia announced as she made her way into the kitchen. "I need to check on my sister."
"Not until I know where my kids are," Frank said sharply. "My girls get accounted for before anyone else."
"You're not worried about the boy?" his mother-in-law asked. "That's a first."
"Mother, hush," Naomi gently admonished as she dialed Collen's number. "I'll check on the girls and then you can call Franny."
The room fell silent as the line rang until finally it clicked and Colleen's voice floated across the line. Frank gripped the flashlight tightly as he listened intently while Colleen assured that she was safe, that her doors were locked and that she had been dozing off on the couch when the blackout hit; putting a premature end to the show she and Paul had been watching.
"You make sure you stay in the house," Frank stated before Naomi could end the call. "Don't you dare unlock those doors."
"I'm not going anywhere, Dad," Colleen promised. "The doors are locked and will stay locked; if anyone knocks, we're not answering."
Frank nodded even though she couldn't see him, making Naomi smile in response as she told their daughter to call if she needed them. She pressed the hook switch on the cradle of the phone, disconnecting the call and then releasing it, listening for the dial tone and then dialed Johanna's number. The line rang several times, making Frank tighten his grip even more. "She's not home…where the hell is she!" he exclaimed.
"Frank, be calm," Naomi admonished. "There's probably a lot of congestion on the phone lines; everyone is probably trying to call family. Let me hang up and dial again before we jump to conclusions."
She disconnected the call and re-dialed the number, praying her daughter would answer this time. Three rings and the line clicked. "Hello?" Johanna answered.
"Bambina," Naomi breathed.
"Why the hell didn't you answer the phone the first time?" Frank bellowed as he grabbed the receiver from Naomi's hand.
"What are you talking about?" Johanna asked. "The phone hasn't rang until I just answered."
Naomi jerked the phone back out of his hand. "I tried to call but the line just rang," she explained. "I hung up and tried again and you answered. I'm sure there's probably just congestion on the lines."
"The man on the radio just said there's some issues with the phone lines," Johanna replied. "They were trying to interview someone but the line was dead. How are you enjoying our plunge into darkness?"
"Don't be sarcastic, dear. We have the candles lit and your father has the flashlight, we're doing fine but he wanted to make sure you were home and safe."
"I've been home since five-thirty," she replied. "We snuck out of work at four today, we couldn't take the heat in the office anymore."
"Are your doors locked?" Frank asked loudly.
"Yes, Dad, the door is locked and Jim is with me."
Frank took back the phone once more. "Is he really or are you just telling me that so I'll shut up?" he asked.
"He's here," she replied before handing the phone over. "Jim, tell my father you're here."
"I'm here, Frank," Jim said as he got on the line.
"Is the door locked like she said?"
"Yes, the door is locked and the chain is on the door; it's new, I just put it on a few weeks ago because the other one didn't look very sturdy anymore."
Frank breathed deeply. "You keep her inside the apartment."
"We're not going anywhere; they're saying on the radio to stay put and we are. Don't worry, I'll keep her safe."
"You do that," he said firmly. "Because if you don't, there will be hell to pay."
"You don't have to worry," Jim said once more before giving Johanna back the phone.
"I promise to stay inside, Dad," she told him. "Believe me, I don't want to go out there in the pitch black. I can hear the noise from the street and it sounds chaotic."
"Just what this city needs, more chaos," he muttered.
"Mom, are you still there?" Johanna asked; hoping her father wouldn't get offended.
"Yes, dear, I'm here," Naomi said, forcing her husband to share the phone.
"Did you call Grandma and check on her?" Johanna asked.
"Grandma is here with us," she assured her daughter. "She called Frankie earlier today and asked him to go get her and bring her to me for a few days."
"I'm fine, Bambina," Sophia called from the background.
"Good," Johanna breathed. "What about Colleen and Frankie?"
"Colleen is safe at home and I know your brother is home because I called Valerie earlier to check on Greg; you know he's got an ear infection. She was getting him ready for his bath and said that Frankie was getting the garbage together to take out so I know they're in for the night."
"Then everyone is accounted for," Johanna said, a touch of relief in her voice.
"Yes, dear; everyone is safe and staying put."
"Your doors are locked?" Johanna asked.
"Yes, your father made sure of it; both doors are locked; no need to worry."
"Except for worrying about how long this thing is going to last," she replied.
"God never delivers something we can't handle," Naomi told her. "We'll get through it."
"I know…I just wish we didn't have to be so hot while we do it."
Naomi smiled a little. "I can put your grandmother on to tell you about how she didn't have the modern conveniences of fans and air conditioners in her youth and they all survived."
"I'll pass on that lecture," Johanna remarked. "Thanks anyway."
"I'll let you go now, darling," Naomi told her. "Stay inside where it's safe, if you need us, call."
"I will. I love you."
"I love you too, Bambina. Goodnight."
They ended their call and Naomi hung up the phone, casting a glance at her husband. "Do you feel better now?" she asked.
Frank nodded. "Yes, thank you."
"That's what I'm here for," she quipped.
"Among other things," he replied, managing a smile for her.
"Can I call Frannie now?" Sophia asked. "Your children are accounted for."
"Yes," Frank answered. "By all means, call Frannie. I'm going to go down in the basement and get the other flashlights…this thing might last all night." He didn't like the idea of that but his kids were safe and so was his wife, everything that truly mattered was accounted for…and in gratitude for that, he could deal with the heat and the darkness for awhile.