LEVI
~Fourteen years ago~
The storm had jolted me out of slumber, with thunder so close that it seemed to split the sky in half as the sound rattled the windows. I jolted upright in bed, ears ringing, and it took a second to realize the room was too dark and too quiet even beneath the roar of rain.
The power had cut out, and I glanced toward the digital clock on my nightstand, but it was dead. Grabbing my phone, it was after midnight, and I swung my legs over the side of the bed, asking myself why the generator hadn’t kicked in.
Muttering under my breath, I pulled on a shirt and headed for the basement door, already running through what could’ve gone wrong, and I had just reached the top of the stairs when the doorbell rang.
I froze, rechecking my phone to see that I hadn’t seen wro
