Leather & Lace Part 2
Battery-Powered Blackout
By Lady Featherquill
Emma jumped as thunder rumbled in the distance. She tried to pass the motion off as fixing her red-gold hair, but Cara had noticed from across the room. She raised an eyebrow at Emma with a smirk. "Scared of a little rain?" she asked mockingly. Cara was sprawled lazily across Emma's queen-sized bed, leaving the other three girls to find seats on the floor. Emma ignored her and looked back down at the textbook in her lap. Jen's head got closer to her as they leaned against the poster-covered wall.
"It is getting closer," Jen said in a quiet, consoling voice. The statement was marked by another round of thunder. Emma nodded in thanks and tried to read the passage again.
Emma had been slightly dismayed at the beginning of the new semester when the three girls she'd encountered in the woods ended up in her biology class. The community college wasn't large, so she knew she was bound to share a class with them at some point. But since then, she'd become closer to Jen. She was much friendlier on the days Cara and Katie skipped class, which was often. When their professor assigned a group project, Cara hadn't given Emma much of a choice in collaborating with her, Jen, and Katie.
Emma was regretting telling Cara that her parents were out of town. The three girls had arrived after her parents left two days before. And they'd been there ever since - eating all the food, drinking all the alcohol, and leaving messes everywhere they went. At least Jen was there to help her clean each morning while the other two slept off their benders.
Lightening flashed outside the window, followed quickly by another clattering of thunder. This time the lights flickered briefly, making Emma sit up and look around with wide eyes.
"Relax," Cara said rolling over onto her stomach and putting her bare feet up behind her. "Doesn't this old farmhouse have a generator?"
"No," Emma said standing and rummaging through her drawers for a flashlight.
"I thought your parents were rich," Katie said toying with a lock of her blond hair vapidly.
"Ummm, no. Not really," Emma replied opening another drawer. She was unsuccessful but did manage to find a few glowsticks. She sat back down next to Jen and piled the colorful sticks next to her.
"What? Are you afraid of the dark?" Cara asked with a snicker.
"No, I just don't want to trip if the power goes out."
"Suuuure." Emma didn't respond to the sarcastic comment as she pulled her tablet onto her lap and started copying a line from the text. The room was quiet for several minutes aside from the clicking of keyboards and the bored-sounding sighs coming from Cara and Katie across the room.
The storm got steadily closer, seeming to grow in intensity. Another bolt of lightning shone through the window. Emma braced herself for the roar of the thunder. The prolonged rumble made her bones rattle as the lights flickered again. Then they went off completely -- pitching them into darkness. Even her tablet screen went black, showing only a drained battery symbol floating disconnectedly.
"Shit!" Emma said searching blindly to her side for the glowsticks. She located one and bent it between her hands. It cracked, bathing her corner of the room in green light. The neon colored light made Jen's pale face glow, her freckles standing out like black pockmarks.
"Go and grab the candles out in the livingroom, will you?" Emma said handing her the glowstick. Jen took the stick and stood, crossing the room quickly and opening the bedroom door. When the door snapped closed behind her, the room went black again. Katie's disembodied voice sounded in the darkness.
"What are we going to do now?" Emma reached down and found another glowstick, feeling along its length until she got hold of both ends. A bright flare outside lit up the dark room for a moment, and Emma could see Cara was no longer on the bed. She'd suddenly gotten much closer to her. Emma fumbled the glowstick. Another flash showed Cara almost on top of her. Before Emma could break the second stick, Cara's hands were on her.