Page 55 of Black Hollow: Awakening

“I know what you mean,” Abigail said quietly. “I feel it, too.”

So he wasn’t wrong. He pictured Morgan’s face in his mind, then whispered to himself:

“What are you?”

PART II

…where everything goes from bad to worse.

December 23 | Monday

It was approaching six in the evening. Will was standing in a massive line for the checkout at a local supermarket. The irritating beep of the scanner rang in his ears, amplifying an unbearable headache.

He usually didn’t do his shopping at the last minute, especially not before the holidays (though judging by the surrounding crowd and the picked-over shelves, he was in the minority), but just an hour ago, he’d realized his fridge was practically empty. He wouldn’t have made it through the days off.

“Danny!”

Hearing the shout, Will spun around, his hopeful gaze scanning the crowd.

Of course, it wasn’t his Danny, just some kid who wasn’t listening to his parents. Will had no idea why he’d expected to see his friend. Maybe because guilt was eating him alive. That, and worry. He’d been trying to get in touch with his former roommate to make sure he had a place to stay, or at least to arrange a time and place to give him his money, but Dan hadn’t answered his phone or replied to a single text.

Will hoped Danny just didn’t want to talk to him. He’d never forgive himself if something had happened to him.

Finally, after several long minutes, his turn came.

“Good evening,” the cashier greeted him politely.

“Good evening,” he answered mechanically, returning her smile.

And then it happened again. That specific, unpleasant shiver ran down Will’s spine, and a moment later, all the lights went out and all the electronics died. Murmurs of dissatisfaction rose from all around.

“Sorry,” Will blurted out reflexively, feeling awful.

“It’s not your fault, don’t worry about it,” the girl replied. “It’s just a power outage. I have to ask you to be patient for a moment, I’m afraid. We should have a backup generator, but it’ll probably take a little while to kick in.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” the man behind Will huffed. “I’ve been standing here for almost half an hour!”

“We have to wait. I can’t ring you up without power.”

“What a pathetic store!”

“Exactly! First you don’t open all the registers, and now this stunt? What is this?”

Will felt terrible. First, because he was once again acutely aware of his lack of control. A few months had passed, and he still couldn’t manage it. Secondly, because of the problems his sudden, though rarer, flashes of power caused for bystanders. This cashier didn’t deserve to listen to all this complaining. But the people in line didn’t deserve to wait another twenty-plus minutes just because some freak had messed everything up with his own incompetence.

Unable to take it anymore, Will left his items on the conveyor belt and walked out of the supermarket. A few people followed his lead, probably as a sign of protest, but he just wanted to escape it all.

It was raining. He got home soaked to the bone. He changed, then remembered he truly had nothing left to eat but two packets of instant noodles and a half-rotten lemon. Oh well. In the morning, he’d look for some small neighborhood shop; maybe he’d get lucky and it would be open.

He sat down in the living room in front of the TV, feeling completely burned out. The last few days had been damn hard on him. He couldn’t get used to the silence. He’d been weaning himself off their shared commutes, meals, jokes, and late-night movies for a while now, but Danny’s total absence was something else entirely.

The mindless shows on TV couldn’t distract him from his grim thoughts, so he decided to call his grandparents.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Grandma.”

“Willy! Ernest, it’s Willy calling!”