What I felt was more like a verdict being reached inside me: that this man would answer for what he had done, fully, through every lawful means available to me, and that I would live to see it.

And then, before I could say a single word, the fluorescent lights overhead convulsed with a violent hum, and the entire ward was swallowed, all at once, into total darkness.

Chapter 7 — The Shadow in the Dark

The silence of the darkened intensive care unit was deafening.

The steady beeping of my heart monitor cut out, replaced by the desperate clicking of backup generators struggling to engage.

And in the pitch black, something changed.