Lights Out Novels & Stories

My muscles feel so relaxed now. It's almost 6 p.m. right now. After the therapist finally finished, I go into my room to change clothes, but the lights go off. "Shit, it's so dark. Dominic??" I call him from our room. One, twice, still nothing. The electricity shuts down. Even I can't turn the light on, and I don't know where the flashlight is. Oh. I forget I have a flashlight in my phone, though. Just when I unlock my phone, I feel a rough hand close my eyes.

Zared sat on the bed and switched off the lights and the lamp as Lily lied on the other side. "Don't.open.your.mouth."

When Killian leaves I sit up on bed worrying. Suddenly, the lights go off. We were plunged into darkness from a black out. It was then I was used of their plans. This was going to be a massacre. I reach around and find the flashlights I packed for something like this. I leave the flashlight off, so I don’t blow up my cover of pretending to sleep. I really wanted to sleep but I couldn’t, bit with everything going on around me. My eyes were closing when I heard frantic knocks.

: "Residence Security System: Conti Apartment - Master Bedroom - Lights OFF." The words "Lights OFF" pulsed on the screen, a brutal, undeniable verdict. The room tilted violently. A strangled cry escaped me. I barely made it to the powder room off the foyer before I was violently sick, retching until there was nothing left but bile and tears. I slumped against the cold marble wall, gasping.

I pour a drink, let the burn of it settle in my throat, and turn off the lights. In the dark, plans are easier to perfect. I mute the feeds but don’t kill them. I like the dark watching with me.

The hum of Lilion Global’s headquarters was the kind of constant, low sound that you stopped hearing after a while—until it vanished. It happened at 11:17 PM. One second, the floor was lit by soft recessed panels, the server banks down the hall humming with data, and the city skyline glowing through the floor-to-ceiling glass walls. The next, every light died at once. The air conditioning cut out with a sharp click, and silence rushed in like floodwater.

"Initiate the Blackout Protocol. If they want to audit me, let’s see how they do it in the dark." Suddenly, every light in the county—the porch light, the SUV's sensors, even the distant town's glow—died. The only thing left was the bioluminescent blue pulsing from the "Chronicle" on the Traveler’s arm in the distance, and the terrifying, silent scream of a mother ready to kill for her child.

he mutters, just as another crack of thunder splits the sky. The lights flicker once, then again, and everything suddenly goes black. Sophie screams again, and this time Lucas joins her. “Okay!” I clap my hands, trying to instill confidence that I currently do not possess. “Okay, we’re good. It’s just a power outage.” Tyler’s phone flashlight clicks on, casting sharp shadows along the walls. It catches the twins’ wide eyes. “Calm down,” he rolls his eyes, even though his voice is soothing.

You need to be ready. Or you need to run. She typed: Ready for what? The three dots appeared. Disappeared. Appeared again. Then: *To wake up.* The lights went out. Not flickered. Not dimmed. Dead. Complete darkness in a building that had never lost power in three years. Luan stood motionless. Her hands were steady. Her breathing was steady. But something inside her—something that had been sleeping for a very long time—lifted its head. The dog howled again.

Lights blinked in office towers. Elma closed the notebook, turned off the light, and went to bed without checking her phone. For the first time, she didn’t need to.