*THE BLACKOUT - CHAPTER 3&4 VOICES IN THE DARK
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The lights didn’t just go out.
They were _snatched_.
One second Elina was scrolling on her phone in her room. The next, total darkness. Not even the streetlights outside.
Her heart started pounding. This wasn’t NEPA. This was different.
“Hello?” she called out. Her voice sounded too loud in the black.
No reply from her little brother in the next room.
Then she heard it.
Whispering.
Hundreds of voices, all speaking at once, coming from _inside_ her walls.
A cold hand brushed her ankle.
Elina screamed and jumped on her bed. Her phone light flickered on for 2 seconds — and she saw them.
Footprints. Wet, black footprints. Walking from her door… to her bed… and stopping right beside her.
The light died again.
Her door creaked open by itself.
And in the darkness, a familiar voice whispered:
“Elina. Don’t turn around.”
It was Theo.
Elina didn’t breathe.
“Theo?” she whispered. “Is that you?”
The footsteps stopped behind her.
“I told you not to turn around,” his voice said. But it was wrong. Too deep. Too calm.
“The Blackout has rules now.”
The whispers in the walls got louder. She could make out words:
_Give us one. Give us one._
“What do you mean rules?” Elina’s hands were shaking. “Where’s my brother?”
A pause.
“He’s safe. For now.”
Something wet dripped on her shoulder. She didn’t dare touch it.
“But the city needs a trade, Elina. Light for life.”
The room suddenly lit up with blue light — coming from Theo’s eyes.
He was standing in her doorway. But it wasn’t really him. His shadow on the wall had horns.
“The people who caused this blackout,” Theo-that-wasn’t-Theo said, “they want you. Because of what you saw last summer.”
Elina’s blood ran cold. The accident. The thing in the forest.
“I don’t—”
“You do.” He smiled, and his teeth were too many. “So here’s the deal. Come with me willingly, and the lights come back. Your brother lives.”
“Or?”
“Or the blackout never ends. And we start taking people one by one.”
Outside, the whole of Lagos was silent and dark.
And Elina had 10 seconds to decide.
*END OF CHAPTER 3&4
_Cliffhanger: Will Elina go with him? Who are “they”?_
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"What should Elina do?? Comment 👇#TheBlackout #DarkFantasy #Thriller #Nigeria #Mystery
- Writer
