Blackout

I never expected something like this to ever happen in my life, but it did and now after living with this for the past three years, I think now is the perfect time to tell you so this is my story of that night.

I'm from Cleveland and I used to work as a white-collar employee. The workdays were grueling and exhausting, but it paid the bills and supported my family. My wife, Stacy, was a nurse down at the hospital and at the time was four months pregnant with our first child. I married her at 21 while she was 20, but with each passing day, I find myself loving her more and more. We always spoke of getting married, having kids, and growing old together. Besides her being so beautiful she was the sweetest, kindest soul I've ever met and she was very caring towards others and every night when I came home from work, she always knew what to do to cheer me up and I would do the same for her. But our lives would soon be flipped upside down and it started when we met him. That Saturday, we both were lucky enough to have that day off and so we decided to have a date night. We went to the city early and walked around when I noticed a man wearing a black, torn hoody. His pants were also raggedy and torn, but it was his eyes that caught my attention. They were as orange as fire and seemed to burn like raging flames. We walked past him and I could feel him looking at us, but said nothing. Instead, he went the opposite direction and put his hood on. We spent the afternoon shopping and getting some lunch and I saw the same man again, looking directly at us but said nothing. I looked at his hands and could see what appeared to be scars and blisters. He then looked to the sky as if he could see something that I or anyone else couldn't and I could see that nervous expression on his face. 

We arrived home and began to get ready for dinner. Stacy could see something was bothering me and even if I put it off, she read me like a book. I told her about the man I saw and she just casually said it was another homeless man. I brought up his eyes and she said he was likely on drugs cause she's treated multiple patients with the same eye color while on drugs. I went downstairs for a drink when I heard a knock on the door so I opened it to see the same man standing there. "Can I help you?" I asked him. "You and your wife need to leave. Pack what you can and get as far from here as possible." The man replied. I stepped in front of him, closing the door behind me. "Listen, I don't know who you are, but you've been watching me and my wife all day and now you're here, telling me we need to leave?" I questioned as the man looked up at the sky again. I looked up and still couldn't see what he saw. "What are you looking at?" I asked. "There's nothing there," I stated. "You think that. But something is on the way and you both need to go if you don't want to see your city perish." He said now looking me directly into my eyes. I could feel him looking into my soul as if he knew what I was thinking. "Okay, I'm going to have to ask you to leave or I'm calling the police." I threatened and the man, putting his hands up in a surrender pose, backed away without saying another word and walked the way he came. I looked back to the sky and thought I saw something behind the clouds, but it was my mind playing tricks on me and how stupid and wrong I was. 

I took Stacy to one of the many steakhouses in the city as she was having an intense craving for a steak and I'm not one to argue when my wife is hungry especially being pregnant. The dinner was absolutely delicious as expected and every so often, I kept looking through the window to see the same man standing outside only he wasn't looking at us this time - he was looking up at the sky once more. Stacy saw him and wondered what the hell he was doing. I asked if she still believed he was on drugs and she flashed me a look she always gave me when she didn't need me being a smartass. I chuckled and continued eating when the man walked away. When we left the restaurant, we went to my work office as I needed to grab some documents my boss left for me. Inside the building, I ran into my coworker and friend Randy, who was working overnight and as the three of us were chatting, a soft rumble trembled and shook the building. An earthquake? In Cleveland? The lights flickered for a second then everything stopped. We were shocked as to what happened. We never have earthquakes here and this surely was a shock for us. We went to the break room and turned on the TV. A breaking news report came on indicating that the tremor was the result of a nearby explosion at the plant and a transformer. The power suddenly went out, plunging us into absolute darkness when the backup generators came on. We looked outside and the whole city was in a blackout. Sirens were heard from emergency vehicles and then another tremor was heard and felt. This one lasted a little longer and when I looked towards the direction the vehicles were heading, I swore I could see something moving through the darkness. I could hear what sounded like gunshots and screams. The next thing I knew, and even more powerful tremor occurred this time closer causing the building to shake and feel like it was about to give in. We all ran from it and into the streets among the panic and chaos of people looking for shelter. I looked around and noticed a dark, shadowy figure disappear behind one of the buildings. It wasn't massive but it wasn't human either. It moved with such brute force and quickness, I started to believe this thing is what caused the blackout. Keeping up with Randy and Stacy, we ran for cover inside a 7/11 when we spotted the same man. The man I have seen all damn day. Everyone was running but he just stood there, appearing to not be in any way intimidated or scared. The shadow figure appeared atop one of the buildings and leaped from it before landing a few yards from the man. His landing caused another tremor and he was no bigger than the man. Although the city was blacked out, the backup generators from other buildings and the lights from the cars gave enough light to shine on them. The man removed his hoody to unveil his muscular, built figure with scars and what looked like ancient type tattoos. His eyes glowed the same orange color and his hands became engulfed in fire-like lights. The shadow figure let out an enormous, thundering roar and the man charged it at a supersonic speed. All I could see was the man's orange glow and the shadow figure fighting each other as they crashed through buildings and even levitated into the air before the man was thrown to the ground with such force it created a crater. The man recovered quickly and caught the shadow figure in mid-air before hurtling it into the sky, beyond the clouds. The man launched himself after it and for a few seconds, we could see his orange glow flash through the sky like a bolt of lightning. I now knew what he meant by telling me we needed to leave - it wasn't a threat. It was a warning. The man came crashing through the window, breaking me out of my thought as he slammed into the wall. He groaned in immense pain as we rushed to help him. His mouth and face were covered in blood and his fists were bruised and cut while his body had some gruesome cuts and slashes. 

The man lifted himself to his feet and was determined to end this thing. I looked at him and then at the shadow figure, the bringer of doom, and went to speak, but the man, as if he knew what I was going to say, cut me off before I could utter a word. "Save it. It's okay." He said as he turned to me. "What is that thing?" I asked as the shadow figure began to destroy multiple cars in an act of frustration and being impatience. "This thing is from my world and the reason why I am all that's left my kind." He said. "I won't let your world suffer the same fate as mine and I can't kill it here. I have to take it to the outer realms and destroy it. Even if it means sacrificing myself." He explained, turning to look at me. I could see the tears beginning to form in his eyes as he placed his hand on my shoulder. "You're a good man, Daniel and you will make a fine father." He said, shocking me and Stacy as he flashed us a wink and smirked. "How-?" I began to ask but he held up his hand at me. I nodded, understanding his glance as he looked back towards the shadow figure. "Wait. Who are you?" Stacy asked him as he turned to look at us and everyone in the store. "I've been known as many things from other worlds. But here, your people have known me as Hellfire." He replied and then left the store. He walked with a purpose, eyes glowing even brighter and his hands along with his feet glowed the same orange. The shadow figure let out an ear-piercing animal-like screech as Hellfire let out a yell of his own and the two foes charged each other and upon impact, caused a sonic wave that knocked us to our feet and shattered the windows. The two displayed abilities and skills I've never seen before. Hellfire threw fireballs while the shadow figure was teleporting around him until Hellfire caught it and threw him into the air. Hellfire blasted from the ground, causing another tremor towards the heavens and we all looked up to see his glow fading away until it disappeared and then the power was restored in the city. People began to cheer and applaud at this but me, Randy and Stacy looked at each other. Stacy rested her head on my shoulder as we looked up at the night sky when I saw it. The orange glow from Hellfire came hurtling back like a meteor. "EVERYONE TAKE COVER!" I yelled and as we ran back to the store, Hellfire collided with the Earth, creating an, even more, stronger sonic wave and causing several buildings to partly collapse while smaller buildings fell to the ground. The store ended up falling on top of us and everything went dark.

I awoke the next day in the rubble from the store and struggled to my feet. I instantly felt a sharp pain and my arm was broken. My bone was sticking out from it. I found Stacy laying on the ground and I began to unbury her from the debris. I at first thought she was dead until I checked for a pulse and she was alive. She opened her eyes and saw me next to her. She wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug as I held her close. I looked at the destruction of the battle. The city appeared as if a tornado came through. Randy, though, didn't make it. I found him crushed to death from the debris. He along with fifty others died from the impact. Luckily, for me and Stacy, the baby was going to be okay and the city took a few months to repair and get back to normal. The media covered it up like a tornado and we were told to keep it quiet, but we knew better.

It's been three years since and nobody really speaks about the events that happened here. I know that whatever that shadow thing came to our planet with the intention of destroying us but we had a guardian angel looking out for us. I haven't seen him since that night and they never recovered his body when he crashed landed. I sometimes wonder if he's still out there or if he left the planet, but I swear when I was leaving work today, I saw a man in a torn hoody looking at me. He said nothing but gave me a simple nod and went about his way. Maybe it was him, maybe it was a stranger. But if you hear this, I just want to say thank you wherever you are