That evening when I returned from work, a thought suddenly registered in my head: my apartment was completely and utterly dark. The usual faint glow of the city lights that shone through the windows after you’d turn off all the lights was gone, replaced by an eerie black. So was the hum drum of the fridge, the sound of air passing through the heater, and the whirling of my neighbor’s annoying washing machine. It was more silent than it ever had been. The only light was from an occasional car outside, turning into the pitch black apartment complex. Driving home, darkness engulfed both sides of the street where there used to be entire neighborhoods, as if they were swallowed by the pitch black nothingness. The traffic lights were also gone, replaced by long lines of cars stopping and going, and stopping and going again.
And so I sat there in my room, looking out the window. Except there was really nothing much to see. The darkness inside my apartment blended together with the darkness of the trees and buildings outside as one of the same - all a grotesque black, the darkest shade of black, #000000. The only that wasn’t the same shade of black was the night sky, which stood out against everything else as a dark black-greyish hue.
Earlier that day, I headed to Safeway for some bread and bottle water, which was probably going to be my meals for however long the outage lasts. The usually lit up signs of the strip mall was absent, and inside the windows was all dark, much like an abandoned mall. There were only a handful of cars parked, mostly outside of Safeway. As I went inside, entire sections had no light, except some where the dim lights powered by the generator illuminated the way. The workers had already emptied or sealed off all the freezer sections.
Since the power was out for almost all areas in my neighborhood, including restaurants and shops, the few that were lucky enough to be spared were bustling with people. Driving past a corner coffee shop with the unusual but welcoming “OPEN” sign lit up, the entire shop was packed to the brim of hungry morning commuters. The drive through line at the seemingly only open Starbucks wrapped around out the driveway, blocking the intersection. It marked a stark different to the dim and empty Safeway.
At work, our building was crowded with people, including parents bringing their kids. All the conference rooms were occupied, and it took me quite a while to find an empty room to charge my portable charger.
Without an actual flashlight, I stumbled around the room, using my phone, attached to my portable charger, as the only source of light. Laying in my bed in the darkness, I checked the outages map on my phone, which was like our usual neighborhood map, but densely speckled with numerous red pentagons, signaling all the areas without power. Things weren’t looking too good, as not many areas had been fixed since the outage last night. With a new estimated restoration time of 3 days away, I called a few hotels in the area, but they were all booked. And so, I laid there rather uncomfortably under my 2 duvets and 1 fleece blanket. The cold apartment air made me feel like I was out camping. It was going to be a long few days.
The power ended up getting restored after 3 days.