The last time the power went out in this building, a man in a mask was waiting for me in my apartment with a gun.
My hand finds the railing and I stop moving. My heart is rampaging in my chest. I stand there for maybe ten seconds, breathing through my nose, listening hard. But I hear nothing. No footsteps, no breathing. No sound at all except the distant hum of the city outside.
Then, scared, I climb the rest of the stairs by feel, one hand on the railing, the other holding my fist out in front of me with my keys sticking through the gaps between my fingers. I reach my floor, but oddly, not even the emergency lights are on.
I find my door by counting steps from the stairwell, slot the key into the deadbolt, and turn.
It swings open… and I stop breathing.
The first thing I see in my un
