Nyctophobia - Recently Discovered

In my 31 years of life, I have never been home alone when the electricity has gone out (at night anyway). It seems unbelievable, I know, but I have never lived alone...so it's not easy to never be home alone at night. I have always had a intense dislike for the dark. The barn owner put up five new flood lights because of my issues with darkness. It all came to a head Sunday night around 8:30pm. My guy was out and I was upstairs getting ready to exercise when the lights began to dim. I figured the AC was draining the power more than usual, but then they began flashing on and off repeatedly, until finally going out completely. We are not prepared for "lights out" at the house, no candles and one flashlight that I use to take the dogs out, and it was at the other side of the house. Luckily for me, I had decided to leave my laptop computer on, and the battery kicked in, giving me the light from the screen. I got down the the kitchen to the flashlight, my cell phone and the dogs, but was panic-stricken. I have never been so scared, ever! I did not realize I would have such a reaction to this situation. Lucky for me, my friend Karen was willing to talk to me for an hour until the lights came back on. I am very grateful. Now that I know how deep my phobia goes in my psyche, I am going to make sure there are more flashlights in the house and that all the doors are locked when I am home alone. I am never going through that again!