It always just a bag of rice, & she was always out of her mind.

It was just after midnight in small town called Ashland. Rain was tip tapping on the roof and beading up on the windows, the soft blades of grass on the lawn were sure to be sparkling with dew when it finally stopped raining. After what seemed like hours, Jessie had finally gotten her baby girl to fall asleep and she could finally start working.

Jessie was the owner of a small clothing shop located in the center of town. For the most part, it was just Jessie and her best friend Alfie running the show. Alfie usually ordered the products from their vendors, but she was on vacation with her family so it was all up to Jessie.

Sitting down with a hot cup of coffee at her computer seemed pretty cozy, but she couldn't help but overthink when she realized it was dead silent. Jessie was a single mom and had been struggling for a while. Struggling to pay the bills, keep her business afloat, and find time to take care of herself. Being a single mom was tough , tougher than anything she could have imagined. Her husband passed away due to a car accident a few years back before the baby was born, leaving Jessie behind to find her own way in life.

She had given up everything to follow her dream and start her own business. She moved far away from her family and the old house since it held way too many painful memories. Now it was just the two of them, and she was responsible for making sure that they were able to get by. It was such a heavy weight for Jessie to hold on her shoulders, but she managed to get through it.

The rain finally started to let up which left the house even more silent than it was before. Knowing that morning would come sooner than later, Jessie started to scroll through webpages looking for more products to order for her store. After about 30 minutes of scrolling and hitting "add to cart", she heard a soft knock at the front door. It was almost 1:30AM when she heard the knock and decided that maybe it was time to set the security system to "armed stay" then go to sleep.

Just as Jessie was rinsing out her coffee mug in the sink, she heard a soft buzzing noise followed by the lights flickering a few times. Shaking it off, she went to go check on her princess one more time before she finally got some rest. Satisfied that she saw her sleeping soundly in her crib, Jessie turned out the lights and headed to her room. That's when she heard an even louder buzzing noise than the one before, the lights went out and suddenly she was left in complete darkness. She figured it was just another power outage and went to bed, but in the morning she would discover it was much more.

The sound of crying woke Jessie up from her deep slumber. She groaned seeing that it was only 8AM, but she got up and went to go check on the baby. Looking out the window, it seemed a lot darker than it should have been, but it was still early, maybe the sun was somewhere sleeping in like she wished she could have been. After rocking her angel back to sleep, Jessie knew there wasn't anyway she was going to be able to go back to bed herself, so she decided to watch some TV.

She sat down on the couch with her fuzzy blanket trying to keep warm, it was colder than usual this morning, she could have sworn she left the heater running last night but she must have turned it off. Pushing the Power button on the TV did nothing, no static, no noise, no video, just darkness. All she could see was her reflection starring back at her with a puzzled look on her face. Jessie tried replacing the batteries, no luck. Maybe the TV was broken. She decided to try and make some coffee instead so that she could go sit out on the porch and at least enjoy some peace and quiet. Upon opening the fridge, Jessie noticed that the light was off and the food inside was warmer than usual. "Great", she thought. "'l will just call the office later and ask for someone to come and fix it."

Since Jessie couldn't really entertain herself much, she decided to get the baby in the stroller and go for a walk. Getting some fresh air wouldn't be a bad idea and besides, today was Jessie's only real day off. Maybe she could find some kind of inspiration to finally launch her own skin care line that she could sell in her store. She had been dreaming of that for months, but never had the motivation to actually go through with it. Jessie wasn't sure if she wanted to add one more thing to her plate, she was already so busy as it is, she felt like sometimes she couldn't even remember to breathe.

The grass was wet and it smelled like fresh rain outside. Jessie popped out her umbrella to cover her and the baby so that they wouldn't get hit with the leftover droplets falling from the sky. Walking on the sidewalk near the shops and restaurants seemed, not natural. There were no lights on in any of the buildings, no one could been seen in the window of the bakery making fresh muffins, no smell of sweet blueberries and cream batter, nothing. Jessie was starting to get a little worried, it was a Tuesday morning, surely someone else would be out for a morning jog or unlocking a door of some storefront to get ready for the day, but there was no one. There was only Jessie, the baby, the colder than normal air, and the darkness. The sun still wasn't even out and all of the streetlamps were pitch black. Fog filled the air, and so did Jessie's fear.

Jessie made it back to the house and tucked the baby in for a nap. She tried calling the office, but the phone line was completely dead. It was like the power just decided to go out and never come back on again. With the baby sleeping peacefully in her room, Jessie decided to check with the neighbors to see if they knew anything about this power outage. She walked next door to the large, modern looking home and tapped three times, hoping someone would give her some answers. After about a minute, there was still nothing. Jessie tried the house on the other side of her and there was no one home either. It was like there was some strange sickness that made everyone just disappear into thin air, and for some reason Jessie and her baby were the only ones left in their entire town.

A few days went by and there still wasn't any power or any sign of people. Jessie was starting to go crazy sitting in there by herself as she couldn't even tell if it was day or night anymore. It was just dark all of the time. She tried to use what battery she had left on her cell phone, but she couldn't get any signal anywhere that she went. The baby was starting to get even more fussy than usual and she was running out of ideas on how to keep her calm.

Finally, Jessie decided that she had to try and find someone else, something else that could explain to her what was happening. She got herself and the baby dressed and headed for the car. Maybe it was only happening in her town, maybe there was something else out there for her to discover. Jessie put the keys in the ignition and slowly backed out of the driveway. She pondered what she was going to find, who she was going to meet. Jessie and the little bag of rice that she called her baby, all dolled up in a little pink dress, drove off into the darkness.

After 10 minutes or so of driving, Jessie came upon a building that had a few lights on and she could see some shadows shuffling around inside. She put her blue Chevy Cruse in park, grabbed the baby and walked up to the front doors. The entire front office smelled musky and old, like no one had been here in ages. There were no signs on the front door showing what the building was, but she figured there must be someone here that could help. Jessie rang the bell and waited, soon a short, thin woman with long curly brown hair came up to the desk.

"Hi, can I help you with something?" she said.

"Uhm, my name is Jessie and this is my daughter, Rose. We just came from home and the power has been out for a few days, I saw the lights on in your office and thought I would ask if you heard it too."

"No, there haven't been any strange happenings here Miss. Heard what, exactly?" She looked at Jessie with curious eyes. She couldn't help but notice Jessie was carrying a bag of rice wearing a dress.

"The buzzing, the loud annoying buzzing. It's been getting worse the past few days. The lights haven't come back on, there's no people anywhere, the whole city has gone dark. I'm so scared!" Jessie started to pace back and forth.

The lady walked up to Jessie and pulled her in. "It's okay Miss, we can help you. I know exactly what you're going through, we help people all of the time. Come on." She gestured towards the door behind the desk, suggesting that Jessie follow her.

"Thank goodness" Jessie said

The two women walked together through the door and into a room covered in old fashioned flower wallpaper, brown trim on the walls, and tan carpet. It was cozy, and it felt like a place where nothing bad could ever happen. Jessie could see people sitting together in a room watching a movie while she walked with the lady from the front down a hall with the same wallpaper.

"Here we are honey. Have a seat in the movie room while I go and talk to the manager. I'm sure we can fit you right in."

Jessie sat down in an empty seat near the corner of the room, still holding what she thought was her baby. At least she would be safe here, that's all that mattered. She found some kind of light within the darkness lurking outside. She sat back and closed her eyes, listening to the sound of the TV fade and she fell asleep.

"Mr. Theron, we have a woman who needs to be checked in for our inpatient program. She came in saying there were no people around, that the whole city was dark, and she's holding a bag of rice saying it's her daughter. Poor lady, it just breaks my heart. I know we aren't taking new patients, but she needs us."

"Alright dear, get her cleaned up. I think we have another set of clothes in the back that she can wear. She will be bunking with Amy in room 403. I can't turn her away knowing what's going on. It's probably some type of severe PTSD but we won't know for sure until we evaluate."

"Thank you Sir, I will make sure she's ready for tonight's session. I think we really have a chance at saving this woman."

"Let's hope so dear, go get her ready."

"Yes sir."