The Day the Power Went Out

AI and I wrote you spooky Halloween story. Boo!!!🤪😎😁

The Day the Power Went Out

Opening Scene:

INT. BATHROOM – NIGHT

(Steam fills the bathroom as LUCY, 30s, soaks in a tub. The water gleams under soft light. She leans back, eyes closed, enjoying the warmth.)

LUCY

(to herself, sighs)

Finally... some peace.

(CLOSE-UP on her face as the lights above her flicker. A subtle hum grows in the background. Then... silence. The lights blink out.)

(Cut to black.)

(She jerks upright, water splashing. The dim moonlight filters through the window.)

LUCY

What the...?

INT. BEDROOM – NIGHT

(She gets out of the tub, hurriedly drying herself off, tossing on comfortable clothes. Grabbing her phone off the nightstand, the glow of the screen illuminates her face.)

(Close-up of the phone screen: ALERT! ALERT!)

(Suddenly, the phone dies, leaving the room in darkness.)

LUCY

Okay, that's weird...

(She looks out the window. The entire block is pitch black. No streetlights. No sounds. Just a still, eerie silence.)

(Beat.)

(She pulls on a jacket and steps into the hallway, flicking the switch. Nothing. A growing sense of unease takes hold.)

---

INT. KITCHEN – NIGHT

(She grabs a flashlight from a drawer and heads toward the front door. She opens it, stepping out into the night. Her breath visible in the cool air.)

EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD – NIGHT

(Every house is dark. Not even the hum of distant traffic. The world feels... too quiet. Lucy stands there, scanning the street, her breath shallow.)

LUCY

Hello...? Anyone?

(Cut to: overhead view of the neighborhood—complete darkness stretching for miles, under a starless sky.)

---

INT. LIVING ROOM – NIGHT

(She stumbles back inside, grabbing her phone again. She tries restarting it, but nothing. Then, she notices the faint flicker of light outside. Through the blinds, she sees her neighbor's house. Someone’s got a lantern or candle going.)

(She rushes out of her house and heads across the street. She knocks on the door.)

NEIGHBOR

(from inside, nervously)

Who is it?

LUCY

It's Lucy! What's going on? The power’s out everywhere.

NEIGHBOR

(through the door)

It's the whole city... or maybe more than that. I heard there's been a solar storm. Took out everything. No power grid. No electronics. It's just... gone.

LUCY

(a beat)

How long are we talking? Hours? Days?

NEIGHBOR

Maybe longer... much longer.

(Lucy's face changes as the weight of the situation hits her.)

---

NARRATION:

(Voiceover as the camera pans up toward the sky, beyond the neighborhood.)

LUCY (V.O.)

What none of us knew that night was that this wasn’t just another outage. The world had changed. For good. No one was ready for it. No power grids. No communication. No way to know who was out there. Or what was coming next...

(The camera pans out, revealing cities worldwide, dark and still.)

*************

The Day the Power Went Out

EXT. LUCY’S HOUSE – LATE MORNING

(Lucy stands on her porch, Max at her side, staring at the deserted street. A soft breeze rustles the trees, but there’s an eerie stillness, like the world is holding its breath. She sighs, rubbing Max's fur as she contemplates the reality of their new world.)

LUCY

(to Max)

Well, boy... guess we’re really on our own now.

(She heads inside, trying to distract herself from the growing dread. Max follows.)

---

INT. KITCHEN – LATE MORNING

(Lucy goes to the sink, twisting the faucet. For a moment, water flows out as normal. She fills a small bowl for Max, setting it down.)

LUCY

(attempting humor)

There you go, bud. Enjoy it while you can.

(She twists the faucet again, watching the stream slow, then sputter, until it stops entirely. Lucy frowns, staring at the now-dry spout.)

LUCY

Oh no...

(Quickly, she moves to the bathroom and tries the sink. Same result. The water pressure is completely gone. She slams the faucet shut, frustration bubbling over.)

LUCY

Of course... no power, no water...

---

INT. LIVING ROOM – AFTERNOON

(Sitting on the couch, Lucy cradles her head in her hands, thinking back to all the times she’d let the tap run without a second thought. She glances around the room, her eyes settling on the empty electrical outlets. The silence, once comforting, now feels suffocating.)

(Max watches her, sensing her distress.)

LUCY

(to Max)

I didn’t even think about it. We just... always had it. Water, lights, heat... everything. How did I never realize how fragile it all was?

(She gets up, pacing.)

LUCY

No electricity means no water. No fridges. No phones. No internet... no way to communicate with anyone outside of walking distance.

(She pauses at the window, looking out at the stillness beyond. The hum of modern life has vanished, leaving only a deep, empty quiet.)

---

NARRATION:

LUCY (V.O.)

I used to wake up and scroll through my phone before I even got out of bed. Power was just... there. Always. Every light switch, every hot shower, every load of laundry. I never thought twice. Now, it’s like the world is running on empty... and I don’t even know where to begin.

---

EXT. BACKYARD – AFTERNOON

(Lucy steps out into her small, fenced yard. There’s an old garden hose coiled near the side of the house. She unravels it and turns the spigot. Nothing. The hose hangs limp, like a useless relic of the past.)

(Max sniffs at the ground, but even he seems to sense the change.)

LUCY

(determined)

Okay. We can’t rely on taps anymore. We’ll need to find water. Fresh water.

(She glances over her fence to the nearby forest at the edge of the neighborhood. A small stream runs through there, she remembers from her occasional walks. But getting to it, without knowing who—or what—might be out there, is a risk.)

(She looks down at Max.)

LUCY

(softly)

I guess we’ll have to start learning the hard way...

---

INT. GARAGE – AFTERNOON

(Lucy rummages through old camping gear stored in her garage. She pulls out a portable water filter, dusting it off. She grabs some empty bottles and backpacks, preparing for their journey to the stream. Max stands by, watching her every move.)

(She stuffs supplies into her pack—matches, a knife, the flashlight with barely any juice left. Each item feels more precious now, like she’s stepping back in time to a life where nothing is guaranteed.)

LUCY

(to herself)

Back to basics...

---

EXT. FOREST – LATE AFTERNOON

(Lucy and Max walk cautiously through the woods, the air cool and crisp. The sound of water becomes more distinct as they near the stream. Lucy kneels by the bank, pulling out the water filter and attaching it to one of the empty bottles.)

(She pumps water from the stream, watching as it flows slowly into the bottle. Max sits nearby, panting softly, his eyes scanning the trees.)

LUCY

(mutters)

Thank god for camping gear...

(She hands the bottle to Max, who eagerly laps at the fresh water.)

(Lucy takes a sip herself, the cold water soothing her dry throat. But even as she drinks, she can't shake the feeling of how fragile everything is now.)

---

NARRATION:

LUCY (V.O.)

It was a strange kind of awakening. We’d all grown so comfortable, so reliant on things we didn’t understand. Power, water, food... everything brought to us with the flick of a switch or the turn of a faucet. But now? Now it’s just us and the land... and whatever’s left out there in the dark.

---

INT. LUCY’S HOUSE – NIGHT

(Lucy and Max return to the house, carrying their filled water bottles. She lights a candle, sitting on the couch with Max beside her. The silence feels heavier now, almost suffocating.)

LUCY

(sighing)

This isn’t going to be easy, Max. Not by a long shot.

(She looks at the candle, the flickering flame barely holding back the darkness.)

LUCY

We took everything for granted, didn’t we?

(Max rests his head on her lap, his presence comforting as the realization sinks in.)

---

EXT. CITY – WIDE SHOT – NIGHT

(The camera pulls back to show the entire city—once vibrant and filled with light, now a sea of black, dotted only by the occasional flicker of candlelight from windows.)

---

NARRATION:

LUCY (V.O.)

No one ever thinks about what happens when it all goes away. When the lights don't come back on. When the water doesn’t flow. We lived so far removed from the world that kept us alive, we forgot how to survive without it.

---

INT. LUCY’S HOUSE – NIGHT

(Lucy stares out the window, watching the darkness, her mind racing. The uncertainty of tomorrow lingers heavily on her.)

LUCY

(softly)

We’ll figure it out, Max. We have to.

(Max shifts, closing his eyes, but his ears twitch, ever alert.)

---

(As the days go on, Lucy and Max will face more challenges—food shortages, other survivors, and the constant threat of the unknown. But the true horror, they begin to realize, isn’t just the darkness... it’s how unprepared humanity is for a world without power. The conveniences they once took for granted are now the keys to survival, and Lucy will have to rediscover ancient skills in order to adapt.)

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Fade out.

Happy Halloween 🤪😎😁😘