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Kelly lit the last candle and looked back at the couch. Megoth, Sam and Kelly’s sister were listening intently at Megoth’s small battery powered radio. Worst blackout in American history. From Maryland to Canada – Canada! – all coated in a blanket of darkness. Manhattan, Detroit, Toronto, Buffalo. He sighed. Why is it these things always seem to happen to us. He looked at Sam again. Why is it that my sister has to be here? “Megoth, I’m opening a bottle of wine. Might as well.”  Kelly returned to the couch and set four glasses down. “Anything new?” he sat next to Sam, she looked over and smiled. Something about being in candlelight, it made her eyes twinkle. Megoth answered. “No, it looks like we might be out for a while. I was so looking forward to kicking your butt in Madden, too, Kelly.” “It’ll take more than the biggest blackout, ever, to save your fat ass.” “He’s not fat, Kelly! Would you stop calling him that! He’s lost almost thirty pounds on his diet!” “His diet?” “I’ve been… been on the Atkins. It… It sucks. But I did lose what little baby fat remained.” “Sometimes I think you think you still live in an alternate dimension, Megoth.” “Technically, we all do, if you look at the big picture of things—“ The phone ring caused them all to jump, Sam let out a little cry and jumped back into Kelly, the top of her head hitting his chin. He yelped and spilled his wine all over his lap. Rosey scrambled up as the ringing seemed to become more urgent and loud after each ring. “Where the fuck is the phone?!!?” She cried out, as Kelly was like, “My chin!”, then, “My pants!” Sam held onto her head, saying I’m sorry and ow at the same time. Megoth reached behind the couch and picked up the receiver on what seemed like the hundredth ring. “Yes?” he answered, holding it upside-down. “Hello? Megoth? Kelly?” The small voice from the phone called out, Megoth pulled the phone away from his head and looked at it, as if the black out had somehow broken it, when Rosey smacked his arm and took it from him. “Hello?” She said, holding the phone the correct way. “Oh, hey Jake, it’s me, Rosey, yeah, how are you? We’re fine, yeah, in the dark. It sucks but its okay, you startled us, we didn’t think the phone worked… no… no we never picked it up… Want to talk to my brother? He’s a little upset because my friend spilled wine on his pants. Hold on…” “I don’t want talk to him…” “Take the phone, Mr. Wet Pants.” Kelly took the phone, Sam looked at him with a cross of embarrassment and pain. He smiled at her and shrugged. “Jake! Good to hear your stupid voice. What happened? The fucking power went out, what do you think happened? Oh, with the pants? Rosey’s friend? Is she what? She’s sitting right next to me and totally heard what you asked--” “I totally heard.” “See, she heard you. Now I’m faced with an impossibly embarrassing situation when I get off the phone fueled by your immaturity. I hope you’re pleased with yourself, Jake Bruno. What? Um… we’ll be okay. You and Faithy stay there in sunny, powered California and the rest of us will just sit in the darkness in an awkward silence. Have fun, dude, call me when you want us to pick ya up at the airport… oh… flying into Long Island? I guess that makes sense. Well, then, call us when you two get back up here. Aiiiight? Want to talk to Megoth? Didn’t think so. I’ll give him a kiss for you. Later.” Kelly reached over and handed the phone to Megoth. “Jake says hi, fatto.” “I heard. We all heard your conversation, Kelly.” “So?” “So, what, Rosey?” “Jake asked you if you thought Sam was hot…” “OmigawdRosey…!” “I didn’t think this could get anymore uncomfortable, sister, thank you. Look, Sam, let’s just get it out in the open, okay? Yes, you’re very attractive, and if I have to use the words of my lesser intelligent friend and sister, ‘hot’. But, like, I babysat you, right? While this may be a perfect situation where… stuff can happen, no lights, candles, wine, I don’t think it’s a good idea, and that’s not including that my fat friend and my SISTER are here with us. Right now, all I can say is: friends, okay?” “Hey Rosey, you didn’t tell me he was as arrogant as he is cute.” “What?” “Kelly, I agree with you, no lights, wine, candles, small history, attraction, it does seem perfect for night of, uh, you know, but, honestly? It never crossed my mind. I just got out of high school, this is my first year at college, if I choose to have sex, it’s certainly not going to be the first time I’m up here. And it’s certainly not going to be with my old babysitter whose sister is one of my best friends…!” Megoth made a noise that was half between a snort and a laugh. Rosey’s mouth was open, the sides of it curled into a smile. Kelly’s eyes were darker than the outside. Megoth made the sound again, he felt like he was going to explode in a fit of hysterics. Girls may have rejected Kelly Rose before, but he’s never been witness to it. Most of him just wanted to scream out: DAAAAAAAAMN! DAMN, BOY, SHE JUST BURNT YO’ STUPID ASS, but felt it wasn’t the right time. But, oh, did he want to scream that. He tired but couldn’t read Kelly’s face, half because of the dim light and half because Kelly was showing no sign of emotion. The candles burning made more of a sound then they did. There was a muffled crash from the other room, Megoth suddenly lost the urge to die of laughter and sprung up off the couch. Sometimes, in his opinion, a muffled crash was a lot worse than a loud one. “What is it, Megoth?” Kelly was next to him, sensing something as well. “That’s the room I was keeping the Albert prototype in. When… when… I checked it before and switched it off, three days of uploading and AI programming I had to lose, but…” “But what, Yoda?” “There… (Yoda?)… There… was no detection, I ran a diagnostic check with my wireless, there was not even a spark or… or… a flicker… or…” “Something could have just fallen over?” Sam had crawled next to Rosey on the couch, the air suddenly seemed alive with tension. The closet candle to Albert’s room fisssed out. “Uh-oh”, Megoth said. Kelly looked at Sam and Rosey. “There are two things in life I fear the most, one of them is when Megoth says, ‘uh-oh’.” Something was moving in the darkness. Megoth grabbed Kelly’s shirt and pointed. Rosey gasped and Sam covered her mouth. The shape was of a young person with very long ears, almost a foot long, though no other details could be seen in the dark. It moved silently, swiftly. Kelly looked over to Megoth and mouthed, Albert? Megoth nodded. Kelly moved forward, and if to talk to him, and Megoth stopped him. He glared at Megoth. What, he mouthed, it’s just Albert. Megoth frowned, and rotated his finger by his temples. He’s not the same, he might be crazy, Megoth mouthed. Kelly reached into his pocket and didn’t feel the weight of his special lighter. He cursed under his breath and remembered he left it by the last candle he had lit. The shape reached a candle, and snuffed it out under metallic fingers. He then looked over to the couch area. 
   
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EVERYTHING JAKE is TM & (C) 2000-2011 by Mike Rosenzweig. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
