Chicken Cordon Black?

For lunch we were suppost to have a chicken pasta type of deal, but my Mom had to make a flying trip to Lubbock, so instead...you guessed it...I cooked!

Now my cooking has been known to go good. Ex:
Once upon a time,
I made corn chowder, the kithchen was clean, & no one was harmed.
The End

And there have been times, now mind you there rare but they occured none the less, that my cooking has gone bad. Ex:

Once upon a time,
I made cookies, they became one giant black cookie, and I burnt my finger. Kitchen in a disaster.
The End

Well today was one of those days that the cooking did not have a happily ever...

You see I went ahead and seared the chicken, or attempted to, and it seems that instead of searing the chicken, I schorched it?

This chicken is the blackest dryest chicken I have ever seen!
What went wrong?
What did I do?
Is it supposed to be black?

These are all questions I have no answer to, and probably never will, but at least. luckily, no one was harmed in the making of this chicken.

May all your cooking adventures be had without black chicken.
Chef Sweet T

P.S. Id post pictures, but apparently Im not advanced enough to work this computer.
I apologize.