The Alien
Although it did not sense light in the same way the humans did, the Alien (earth name: Hortense) knew there was a difference between the waking time and the sleeping time. The latter tended to guarantee Hortense’s security as it explored the barren and it thought, beautiful desertscape which the humans referred to as “Las Vegas.”
Hortense was not visible to the usual human eye. Some humans could see it though, it had deduced, displeased, one late night as its placid stroll through the desert had been unceremoniously disturbed, soiled really, by a screaming earthling teenager who, apparently through some genetic mutation, was able to detect its nearly three story high presence as Hortense had been enjoying its vacation from its distant home.
The teenaged mutant human female had been with her earthling male companion of similar age and rotundness, who could not see Hortense, and a terse argument between the couple had ensued.
The alien missed its significant other, who had not been able to make the journey due to administrative issues with work at the time Hortense had departed its home, magnitudes of light years from Earth.
In addition to having its equanimity disturbed the night before, by having been observed in the desert by the mutant human as Hortense had attempted to leisure, it also was currently experiencing a sense of unease. The waking time had just quite abruptly become the sleeping time. Hortense had reviewed a detailed schedule of when this was supposed to occur and the sudden darkness it was now witnessing was not on that schedule, undoubtedly.
Where was that graveyard again? With the aid of its exogalactic phone, Hortense navigated toward the alien graveyard in the unanticipated dark of the American desert. Hortense had heard it was a must see if one was to vacation in these parts. As it had been making its way to the graveyard, Hortense had sensed something unusual about the building in which Fegefuere's Emporium resided. Hortense had unexpectedly sensed the glittering building posed a threat to its existence.
The cumulative effects of: the waking time quite abruptly becoming the sleeping time, the panicked teenaged mutant, and also the unease it felt as it passed the Emporium, was a foreboding, an unexpected sense of oddity and unease which Hortense was determined to overcome, lest it undermine its trip.
Would this abrupt change of light further disrupt its vacation it wondered, inwardly groaning at the expense of interstellar travel.
Vencesla In her hotel room
Vencesla relaxed in her hotel room, in her favorite red satin bathrobe, emblazoned with her family crest, smiling up at the ceiling, greatly delighted by her accommodations. She would take the escalator to her spa appointment in less than an hour and was greatly anticipating this treat of relaxation. What kinds of products do they make available for purchase, she wondered, dreamily gazing up at the Art Deco lighting in her strip facing suite.
The night before, Vencesla had seen her Grandfather in a dream, which almost never happened. Grandfather was burning in hell and had urged her to pray for her mother, his daughter, so her afterlife could be better, perhaps comprised of cooking and dancing rather than eternal hellfire and damnation.
Vencesla, with effort, remembered with an increasing degree of specificity the unfamiliar and extremely vivid dream, recalling suddenly that in the dream she had been holding his hand as a little girl. This caused Vencesla to shudder involuntarily, recalling the many times Grandfather's behavior had terrorized her. She had spent her childhood at his enormous home. He made up lurid lies and told them to her mother in front of little Vencesla and she had grown up with ever aggrandizing fear when her mother continued to accept all of it and never questioned him. Grandfather had often acted with the intention of instilling fear in Vencesla, and in isolating her. The memory of it, of him, his power over her, had abated as the years without him accumulated, however, unexpected reminders of him were still cause for cognitive dissonance.
Vencesla smiled and patted her pillow, thinking of the cab she had taken to where she had collected her rental car. Grandfather would have been angered beyond toleration to know Vencesla was driving a car on her own; he had not allowed her mother ever to operate a car, and even now, years after his death, Vencesla’s mother did not operate machinery on her own.
Perhaps driving freely through the Las Vegas dessert, albeit very carefully, is what had brought forth the dream from her unconscious, she mused, as she quietly rode the escalator to the spa level.
Vencesla experienced a nasty jolt when, upon entering the spa, she was greeted by a male spa attendant who bore a startling resemblance to her late grandfather.
As Vencesla made her way to the spa, back home, Vencesla’s mother took her last breath, felled by an aortic catastrophe. However, Vencesla would not learn of this until later.
Another spa attendant, a woman, led Vencesla away from the Grandfather doppelgänger, to a comfortable waiting area where Vencesla was given a preparation of lemon and hot water and she sat, attempting to shake off the feeling of anxious foreboding she had intensely experienced moments earlier, upon having seen the Grandfather doppelgänger.
As Vencesla was selecting a magazine to peruse, seated in a spa issued fluffy robe, the entire spa went dark. Dios mio, she thought, frowning and clenching her jaw and placing her hands to her lips, how foolish of her to have believed, even for a moment, that seeing him in a dream would not portend greater troubles.
The last blackout for Vencesla had been back home at one of the local malls, and although she had been okay, Vencesla had later learned that several people had been mugged in the chaos. No stores had been looted, however, unlike when a much longer and more terrifying blackout had taken place two years prior.
Vencesla’s heart raced as her body unconsciously recoiled, in anticipation of a worst case scenario perhaps beyond anything she had even contemplated. The mirrored ceiling above her, which only a few brief moments before had delighted her, now reflected back the startled face of a terrified, petite, young lady.
Just as unexpectedly, a series of emergency lights began to dimly illuminate the spa waiting room. Vencesla was as astonished as she was relieved by the speed at which the blackout in the desert had been met with preparation.
Precious & Alfonse in the Hotel Lobby II
“Do you think it’s for a movie, Alfonse?”
Puzzled, Precious surveyed the glitzy din in the lobby of the five star hotel. Even as darkness had enveloped the large lounge, many patrons seemed to continue partaking.
As it was not visible to her from the two tone velvet, damask and crystal adorned bar, Precious could not tell if the gambling on the casino floor had been interrupted.
Alfonse had gotten up and Precious was able to make out his silhouette in the darkened lounge. The dim lighting was the reason she initially thought they had inadvertently entered a film shoot in progress.
It happened all the time at home, she thought, quizzically surveying her surroundings.
Fegefeuer’s Blackout
A trembling and shaking began to overcome Fegefeuer’s Emporium. There was a loud rumbling thunderous sound as Fegefeuer’s eyes widened and perspiration collected on his brow, and then shock.
At first Fegefeuer had though it was a rare Las Vegas earthquake, however the sight he now beheld said different.
The rumbling continued, and the smoke Fegefuere had so assiduously arranged for had begun to billow away from an emerging center of activity, not far from the first aisle of the Emporium. Fegefeuer could not believe what he was seeing, and he struggled to retain his composure.
In the center of what had been the first aisle, the ground was opening and light and stone were emerging, and dirt spewed out, like a darkened volcano. The fog continued to clear and a hill began to emerge and grow out of the chasm that had erupted. It was more than a crack in the floor of the first aisle; the first aisle was gone, the carpeting was gone and a craggy hill was rapidly emerging and growing into a two story, then three story, hill.
The fog continued to clear. Fegefeuer was terrified. Still attempting to compose himself, he outstretched his hand before him.
The hill continued to emerge from the ground and pierced and then collapsed the roof of the Emporium. Streams of intense sunlight crashed the tableau.
A grinding sound continued, and then louder, and louder, and finally the desert sky was suddenly visible to Fegefeuer, who looked up in trembling horror.
Everything then became dark, as the streaming light disappeared and Fegefeuer caught his breath and clutched his hand to his chest in the unexpected moonlit desert evening.
What is happening? His mind raced.
Below the Emporium was Fegefeuer's cellar, where seven rows of desks and computer equipment sat, accommodating Fegefeuer's other pursuit. When Fegefeuer wasn't selling pool noodles he was composing and debugging lines upon lines of computer code under Las Vegas Boulevard.
To Be Continued
(Editor's Note: The Blackout at Fegefeuer's Emporium is fiction)
The Blackout at Fegefeuer's Emporium I
The Blackout at Fegefeuer's Emporium II (Available December 20, 2023)
The Blackout at Fegefeuer's Emporium III (Available January 20, 2024)
