Originally Posted by acenaspheru

With a bright blue flash and a loud pop the light burned out.

Nothing new.

How many times had it done that in her twenty-six years of life?

Too many to remember; it was an unimportant event in and of its self.

It was dark in the room now.

Only a small trace of light from under the door penetrated the cool darkness.

With the light now gone, the temperature dropped a few degrees.

Or maybe that was just her imagination.

Slowly she rose from her bed and opened the door.

Out in the hall the light overhead shone brightly and cast enough light into her room that she could see.

This time it had not just burned out, but had cracked down the middle.

Though odd, this did not faze her and she continued into the dark kitchen.

Her long hair rushed past shoulders as she leaned down to open the bottom drawer where the spare bulbs were usually stored.

She discovered that she was out of luck.

Someone had forgotten to buy more.

No big deal, she had plenty of candles.

It was a Friday night and as such, her roommates were out getting drunk and had left her alone.

She entered the hall and with a bright blue flash and a loud pop, the light burned out.

She turned slowly and headed back to the kitchen to get the matches and some more candles.

However as she turned the switch on, a bright blue flash and a loud pop caught her attention.

Now this was getting ridiculous.

She had just changed that bulb herself the week before.

She was beginning to feel a little unnerved at this point.

Sure three light bulbs could coincidently blow in the same fashion within five minutes of each other, but it was a very odd coincidence.

She pulled her cell phone from her pocket and turned it’s light on to be able to find the matches.

Just as she found them, the battery died.

She was beginning to tremble now and she broke three matches before finally getting one lit.

When she did it blew out immediately.

So she tried another.

This one stayed lit but she wished it hadn’t.

Looming beside her was a purely black mass in the vague shape of a human.

She screamed and dropped the match.

It went out the second it touched the ground.

She grabbed the pack of matches and ran.

She was used to the apartment enough that she found her way easily to her room and slammed the door shut behind her.

She locked it quickly and frantically felt around her desk for the candles.

Finally finding one she lit it and began to feel a little better.

She sat there for a moment in the utter silence and thought about what had just happened.

It had to be a shadow from outside the window.

Many people passed up and down on Friday nights and it was most likely someone who had stopped in front of the window shortly.

Slowly she lit the other candles and spread them out around the room.

She climbed up onto her bed and scooted back up against the walls.

She pulled her legs up to her chest and stared wildly around the room, feeling as though something were going to happen.

Suddenly she heard the shatter of glass in the next room.

Someone had broken in.

As if that wasn’t enough the candles began to blow out one by one.

When only one remained lit she pulled the covers up over her head and closed her eyes tightly.

She screamed as the door was ripped off its hinges and boot falls closed in on her.

She peered out, unable to look away and was frozen as she watched the man raise a knife.

This was the shadow she had seen when she lit the match.

She let out one last piercing scream as he brought it down into her chest.

She screamed as she sat up suddenly.

She looked around the room in a daze.

The light was on and all her candles still sat on her desk.

With a bright blue flash and a loud pop...the light burned out.
(c)carthianacenaspheru 2009