I've told this story before, apologies if it's a repeat for some!

I was sleeping at my grandparents house with my extended family. Their house ran on generator power and was in a remote bush area here in Australia. I did not understand this at the time, but at night, they turned the power off to the main house and only had a smaller generator running to the annex which had the fridge and freezer in it.

As such, when I awoke in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, I experienced a 'dark' I had not seen before, as there is always a source of light at home (street light, car lights, ambient clock light etc.)

I was crying because I thought I was blind. I felt my way down off the bunk bed, felt for the light switch, turned it off and on and wept. I could hear the switch going on and off but there was no light. I literally couldnt see anything. I eventually climbed back into bed and cried myself to sleep.

When I awoke, I was relieved to find I could see. I tested the light switch as soon as I got out of bed and found it worked. I started crying again (because confused children tend to cry from frustration) and I ran out to the kitchen to tell the adults that I had experienced random blindness. However, whenever I tried to to explain, they kept correcting me.

I would start to say ' I woke up last night' and they would jump right in and say "THIS MORNING" assuming I was talking about having recently woken. I looked at them for a second and tried to explain that I was talking about the night. I would again try to say I woke up at night and they would should over me "This morning! you woke up this morning!!!" Cue more crying.

I got frustrated the third or forth time and just walked away (being told off as I did so for being disrespectful.) Althought I know now the cause of the darkness, it baffles me that grown adults would be so rabid to correct someone that they would ignore a clearly distressed child. A narc is so obsessed with being right, with having dominion over you, that even when your standing in front of them crying, they will jump to prove how unworthy you are.

I have so many other examples but this one was a early warning sign that has stuck with me.