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The sunlight came directly through the window, and onto the face of the sleeping boy, Jack. He stirred and pulled the covers up over his head in an attempt to block the sudden flood of light, but he failed to go back to sleep.

Why did you have to go and mess it all up, Scott? Jack thought to himself. Now I have to get up early to go see Mom.

He stuck his head up from under the covers. Rachel, his sister, was already awake, sitting on the far side of the room staring out the window. He noticed her stare for a few minutes before he decided to get up. He went to the window, sticking his head through the opening between the two sash windows. It was past his bedtime.

At this moment, there was a flash of massive light in the distance. It was not like lightning, which usually passed through the atmosphere without any noticeable effect, this was one of the biggest lightnings he had ever seen. The entire sky was lit up in a blaze of illumination, and the sounds of thunder echoed throughout his room. The tree tops in the distance swayed in what seemed to be ebbs and flows of sound as the lightening hit. The tension in the air caused every creature to become silent and stand out in open, unnatural fear. Even though the storm was miles away, the wetness of the droplets hitting the grass could be felt, and the smell of the ozone in the air was as if a striking of his head. Jack was mesmerized as he watched and wondered.

Finally, after many moments, it was gone and the sudden tension was broken. The trees started to move and the animals went on with their business.

Rachel, on the other hand, didn't even notice. She just kept on staring out the window and crying. Jack asked her what was wrong, but she just shook her head and said nothing. Jack finally got up and went to her. He didn't know what was wrong. All of the planets were doing well and the Earth was rated a nine out of ten.

The most significant aspect to Jack's life was being his girlfriend Rachel, whom he loved and cared very deeply. She had curly brown hair, a slight round face, green eyes, and was usually smiling. She was a very good friend, and she and Jack shared a room. They went to school together and had many of the same classes. At this time, she was in the 4th grade, and Jack was in the 3rd grade. They were having a pretty good time together.

Rachel wore a long sleeved shirt, blue pants, shoes, and had a towel around her neck. Jack wore blue pants, a shirt and run flip flops.

He said, "Rachel, what's wrong? We're not having a sleepover, are we?"

Rachel looked up and said, "No, Finish you're homework. Then we can hang out. Sarah is having her birthday. Mom wants us to go pick up presents, so we have to be ready by five."

"Okay, thanks." He said as he turned and walked back to his room.

He finished his homework and went to hang out with Rachel. It had been fifteen minutes. He finally found her and a group of people standing outside talking. He recognized Sarah and Scott Thompson, a boy in his third grade class. Rachel had a bag in her hand and wore a wrapper-type dress and had a pair of sandals on her feet. Sarah was holding her hands together, one to the other and thumb stroking, while the other one was in the air, crying.

Rachel moved passed Jack and headed towards the car. As she walked past he called, "Hey Sarah. See you in a couple of hours."

He got in the car, buckled up and said, "Kay, thanks." as he sat back in his seat. He turned and said, "So what did you decide?"

She looked at him, smiled and said, "Do you still want to go to the mall?"

Jack said, "Sure. But how about I stay and you go get your stuff."

"Well, I didn't really get my stuff done, so I guess you can be the mall partner, M."

He smiled and said, "Oh, okay."

She said, "Are you sure you're cool with it?"

"Sure. I like hanging out with ya, even if I am the same age as ya."

She laughed and said, "Yeah, I know what you mean. Anyway, I have to go get my stuff and call my mom, OK?"

He said, "Yeah, sure."

She ran into the house and she and Jack just sat in silence for a few minutes. Finally, he said, "So Scott is sort of your brother. I mean, it's hard to believe he's thirteen."

She said, "Yeah, he is sort of my brother, but we're not really related, at least not like you and your mom or me and my brother."

"Oh, so the only family we have is each other? Where do you get that?"

She giggled and said, "Well, besides Mom. She is our mom. She is sort of our family."

"Yeah, I guess so." He said. They sat there for a little while and then Rachel got up, went back in the house and made her call to her mother. He also made one to his mother, but she hung up on him. He didn't mind, as long as he made one to her in the morning. He looked out the back window into the front seat and thought about something. "If I could turn back time like that storm and have Mom be here with me and Rachel, then everything would be all right.
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