Zapped.

The pain was excruciating. Every nerve in Stephanie's body screamed out at once as the bolt of lightning surged down her spinal cord, taking the path of least resistance to the ground. It took only a moment for the charge to travel through her, but to Stephanie it seemed an eternity of pain, fear and paralysis. Well, almost an eternity. It abruptly ended as her brain short-circuited from the overload of electricity and pain signals and she passed out.

* * *

She woke in the rain, hair and clothing matted against her body. It was dark. How long had she been lying here?

She slowly picked herself up and stumbled, wincing at every step, toward the dark outline of the little cabin she called home.

The lights flickered on as she staggered in. She needed coffee. Or tea.

Standing at the kitchen counter in a daze, muddy water pooling at her feet, she suddenly realized something was wrong. She lifted her hand off the electric jug. It slowly settled from its rolling boil. Stephanie stood staring at the plug lying on the counter.

* * *

Monday. Stephanie was feeling much better. She stood in front of the mirror, carefully arranging the blonde wig she had chosen to hide where the lightning had singed a hole in her own dark curls. Satisfied, she put down the hair-dryer. It whined to a stop on the dresser as she adjusted the scarf tucked into her low-cut blouse and smoothed down the scarlet pencil skirt. She picked up her purse and the sunglasses that covered half her face.

Time to go shopping. She needed to replace a few appliances, but things were under control now. She grinned as the Prius sprang to life. First stop - a visit to the ATM.