THE BLACKOUT

It was a Friday evening and Tommy was munching popcorn in

front of the goggle box. He was so engrossed with the Smurfs

on the screen that he did not realise that his parents had

stepped out of the house to run an errand.

Suddenly, the screen and the lights blacked out! Tommy was

still slurping his coke and thought the Smurfs had

experienced a blackout. After a few moments, it dawned on

Tommy that the entire house was in blackness. He began to

cry for daddy and mummy but there was no response.

He got up from his sofa and began to grope his way to find a

torchlight. He found one but it slipped through his clumsy

hands. It was smashed to smithereens. He was still yelling for

his parents when the ringing of the phone pierced through

the silence and blackness of the living room. At least there

was some display light as the phone rang but to his horror,

the caller ID reads, “Mr Zombie”! At that moment, the

cuckoo clock struck 12 midnight. A chill ran down his spine.

He was scared out of his wits and cried for help.

Then he remembered the electrical circuit box which his

parents used to reset the switch whenever there was a

power trip. He staggered towards that direction and soon

found it but it was locked!

Then the door slowly creaked open, letting in a stream of

light from outside. Tommy was petrified with fear. However,

that was soon interrupted by the strain of the birthday tune

coming from the piano and a gush of greetings from his

parents and friends at the entrance.

Everyone wished Tommy “Happy Birthday” and that turned

out the best and most surprising birthday party he had ever

experienced! He did a gig for good measure as that night was

also the night he had learned to overcome his fear of

darkness!

By Mr Roland Tan