Power Failure

Laura stepped slowly and carefully down the hallway. She knew it well in the light, but the darkness made it strange, alien. She lost all sense of distance and scale the further she went. She did not know how far it was to her own door. The corridor was a usually unremarkable and unremembered part of her daily routine. It was a place for thinking of other things; things to do, people to meet. She was surprised that something so much a part of her ordinary day could become so strange, so alien.

She turned the corner and stubbed her toe on the first of the steps. She bit off her cry of pain, looking around guiltily, but, of course, she could see nothing and no-one. It seemed unusually quiet; there was no muffled mutter of televisions, music or any other noise. She walked slowly up the steps, counting each one.

She turned the next corner, her hand floating along the wall in front of her. She touched something cold and her hand shot away from it. She whimpered, easing her hand forward once more, biting at her bottom lip.

Laura sighed in relief as her hand revealed the familiar shape of the fire extinguisher. She knew then that her door would be the next along the corridor. She sighed in relief and lent back against the wall.

Then the hand touched her.