Misbehaving inanimate objects was one of the main things to watch out for when Omar was trying to harm someone or do damage. He had the ability to influence electromagnetic energy. Some people had it to a minor degree naturally; clocks would stop or the TV would start acting up with static when they were around. Omar could control this energy, and he used it destructively, to help him reach his goals. Many thought this gift was supernatural.
Michelle was relieved that she hadn’t experienced anything abnormal on her first day back at work. It had been stressful enough, she thought, as she made her way out of the darkened office, down the elevator to parking, and into the underground garage.
Michelle opened her phone to tell Heather she was on her way home so they could go grocery shopping in a little while. Heather didn’t answer so she left a message that she was just leaving work.
Her heels clicked on the concrete floor and echoed in the almost empty garage. Her boss, Tom Mitsuto, was conscious of electrical costs and pinched pennies to the extent that all the lights were dimmed in the garage after-hours. It was kind of creepy. Michelle couldn’t even see to the far corners of the garage it was so dark. To add to the claustrophobic, oppressive atmosphere, the ceilings were low. Large square concrete pillars held up the ceiling.
As she got to the back of the garage, where her assigned Property Manager space was located, she clicked her key ring to unlock her car’s doors. There was no answering beep from her car and she couldn’t see it because it was behind one of the big pillars.
Then the florescent tube lighting in the garage ceiling started blinking in a static-like way—almost like a strobe light flickering for dancers in a night club.
Uh-oh, Michelle thought. It was hard to run in heels but she started to panic. She ran, then stopped and quickly pulled off her shoes. This was the type of stuff Omar was adept at. Messing with electricity.
She might be getting scared and had paranoia kicking in for nothing, but she wanted to get in her car and out of the damn garage as fast as she could. As soon as she had her pumps off, she ran barefoot toward her car, which she could finally see in its usual place.
Then all light in the garage was gone—snapped out, total velvet blackness, encompassing and disorienting.
With visual orientation gone she lost her balance, bumping her shin onto the edge of a car. She fell forward on her knees and with her forward momentum skidded to a stop on the hard concrete. Damn, that hurt. Her knees were probably bleeding.
Luckily she had a small laser light on her key ring. It was tiny, but very bright. Then she noticed she’d dropped her keys when the lights went out and opened her hands to keep from falling on her face.
She knelt painfully on her hurt knees, on the gritty concrete floor, and swept her hands in circles around her, feeling for the keys. The floor was dirty and probably covered with a thin film of oil, but she didn’t care. She started crawling forward on all fours toward where she thought her car was, stopping every few feet to feel around for the keys. She’d only been about twenty feet from her car when she fell, but it felt like she crawled around for hours.
Finally she banged her head on the bumper of what she thought must be her own car. She felt along the bumper, knowing she would be able to tell if it was hers because she had placed a tiny plaque on the back of it that said, “Heroshi Hawaii.”
And there it was; tiny, raised and square. Good, Michelle thought, she had a set of extra car keys in the wheel well. She felt around the back bumper at the passenger side back wheel and pried off the magnetic box containing the spare keys. Then she stood and ran her hand along the side of the car until she could feel the handle and lock.
What a relief, Michelle thought as she unlocked the car and blessed light came on inside. It seemed brilliant and blinding after being in the dark for so long. Now that she could see, she looked around the garage behind her suspiciously. She still felt as though she was in danger. Anyone could be hiding behind one of the cement pillars, but it was probably nothing, she decided, as she pulled up her pant leg to see her knee. It was bleeding and scraped pretty badly. The other one was worse.
Now Michelle needed to drive to the front of the building, look in the windows, and see if all the lights were out in the whole high-rise. The cleaning crew would be calling her soon if there was an electrical problem that wasn’t isolated to the garage, because they came in after-hours every night to vacuum, dust and empty trash. They couldn’t clean in the dark.
She had one leg inside her car when she felt a sharp pin prick on the back of her neck. Then all went black again as she suddenly lost control of her muscles, falling forward into her car. Someone was turning her over on her back. She tried to open her eyes. It seemed to take an enormous effort to get her eyelids to move. Through a tiny opening slit between her eyelashes, she saw large dark eyes staring back into hers; eyes that were all black, as if they were composed completely of pupils. She knew those eyes. Oh hell, no, she though as she passed out.
Then there were just sensations. Movement. Vibrations. She knew she was going in and out of consciousness. She felt like she was being moved in some kind of vehicle.
Hands on her body...lying on
