"One… two… three… four… five… six… seven seven. The storm is seven miles away, kids."

"Mom, I really wish you'd stop calling me a kid," said my older brother, Dameon. "And my science teacher told me that you actually have to multiply the number of seconds lightning strikes by 1.34 to get an accurate reading."

"I believe you, Mommy," said my younger sister, Tiffany.

"Whatever," he replied, while sighing a sarcastic "you people are so stupid and don't understand me" sigh, and followed by his departure from the room.

"Mommy," Tiff pondered, "Why is Dameon so sad?"

"Hormones," whispered my mother, under her breath. When Tiffany stared at her, wide-eyed and clearly about to ask what those were, she said out loud, "Because he's your brother and he likes to think he's right, regardless of whether that's true or not."

"What does regardless mean?" she asked.

"Don't worry about it, Tiff, and why don't you try to go to sleep?"

"Okay, Mommy," she said, and she pitter-pattered up the stairs.

"Ugh," she sighed. "Your siblings…"

"Um, mom?" I said, trying to casually slip in a bit of information. "You know that math test I had?"

"Yes?"

""Well, Mr. Leroy wanted me to get it signed…"

"Oh no," she said, sounding exasperated. "What did you get?"

"A… seventy-one?"

"Oh no, Dustin, really?"

"Yes, I'm sorry mom, it's that dam algebra!"

"Dustin Miles Winston, watch your mouth and… and… Go to your room!"

"Mom, come on," I begged, "When am I ever gonna use this?"

"I don't know but you'll need to, mark my words, and when you do you'll wish you had studied a bit more. Upstairs. March, mister."

"Yes, ma'am," I replied, knowing that she hates it when I call her that.

I stared at my alarm clock, and the luminescent red letters flashed from 7:00 to 7:01. I could hear heavy metal music coming from the room next to mine, along with some muttering about thunderstorms. I couldn't fall asleep yet, but I couldn't go anywhere, either. I flipped open the laptop that my mom often forgets is hidden in my bed, put on some noise cancelling headphones to block out the tunes, and started googling the new Pokémon I'd heard about.

The last thought I remember was Beartic? Really? Before falling asleep.

Actually, I lied. What I remembered was a flash of dark light.