Darren finally threw the book down and sat up, "This is hopeless!" He mumbled as he swung his feet over the side of his bed.
     He quickly regretted his swift movements as he heard his wife stir in her sleep beside him.
     Slowly looking over his shoulder, Darren waited until he was sure she was back asleep before he stood up.
     The room plunged into blackness as Darren turned off the small lamp he had been using to read his book.
     He stood and walked down into his living room. After flicking on his computer he sat there for a few minutes, trying to keep the clicking on the keys down to a minimum. After finishing with a few of the emails that had sat there unanswered, Darren shut his computer off again and walked into his kitchen.
     He sat at the small table and waited patiently for the half full kettle to boil. Darren scanned the darkened room, his eyes finally resting on the bright numbers that radiated from the microwave. 4:37 AM.
     'The whole world should just be on one big clock' Darren commented to himself, he wasn't the least bit tired. It felt as if he should be sitting down to lunch or something. It most certainly did not feel like he should be sleeping for like 10 hours.
     Reaching up into a clear cuppord, Darren grab his black coffee mug and placed it on the counter. The tin of tea bags was the next thing Darren placed on the counter.
     A bright flash filled the room. Darren jumped slightly startled by the sudden light. Looking toward a large window, he saw another clap of lightning off in the distance. And as if by a flip of a switch, there was a sudden downpour of rain.
     Darren walked over to the window and watched the rain for a bit. It wasn't until he heard the sizzling of the water that was boiling over onto the burner that Darren actually realized his water was boiled.
     He walked over to turn it off and he was merely two steps away when another clap of white lightning sent the house into a pitch black state.
     The house had been dark enough before, but with the electricity out, all the little lights were gone. Darren reached blindly and turned the stove off. He took a step to his right and heard the sickest yelp he had ever heard, he nearly fell to the ground.
     Darren leaned against the table trying to regain what he could of his breath. He looked up as he heard movent.
     Another bright flash - - a figure. Bright flash - - a dog. Flash - -a shock of red hair. Darren let a sigh of relief out. Flash - - Colby, his Colby.
     Blindly, he stumbled over in the direction he had last seen her. The lightning helped, quickly giving him a view of his wife before sending the house back into darkness.
     He finally reached her and placed a hand on her shoulder. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to her forehead, "Did the storm wake you?"
     She shook her head, "No, it was the hissing of your boiling water that awakened me. Then poor Obi had me down the stairs in a hurry. What happened?"
     Darren looked down guilty, "I stepped on the poor thing," He reached his hand out to pat the dog.
     Obi buried his head into Colby. Colby laughed and stroked the dogs coat, "I think he's mad at you Darren.."
     Darren sighed, that dog was worse than a spoiled little child, yet he loved the thing to death and spoiled it even more. "Is he hurt? Can he walk?"
     "Well the speed with poor Obi ran from the kitchen, I think we can safely say he's perfectly fine. Just a bit ruffled by the whole ordeal."
     Darren lead Colby into the living room carefully and over to the couch. He muffled back a yelp of his own as he ran into a table.
     After he made sure she was sitting down safely, Darren walked around the room and lit a few candles that were laying around.

     Ben cursed as the lights went dead around him. He was about to ask Daniel if anything had happened. But he heard Daniel's reaction over the phone.
     "Ok, good, it's not just me."
     "Yeah, stupid storm.. Must be quite the storm," Daniel commented looking over to his window.
     "Ok, so are we all fine with this three way then? You call?"
     Daniel nodded to himself, "Yup, everything is ok. I still don't think this is the best of ideas.."
     "Yeah, well.." Ben was cut short as his phone beeped. "Hell.."
     "What?"
     "Someone on the second line, I'll be back.."
     Ben tried his best to remember what button would connect him to the other caller. He took a guess and just pressed one and brought the phone back to his ear, "Hello?"
     Ben heard a faint hello.
     "Willow?" He asked carefully.
     He heard the person on the other line clear their throat quietly before saying anything.
     "Will? It's you?" Ben asked again.
     "Yeah.." Willow cleared her throat again, "I'm sorry.."
     "Sorry!? For what?"
     "For getting so mad at you.."
     "No, Willow.. I guess it's understandable.."
     "See, you guess it is. It's not. I should have at least heard you out before I got mad and hung up on you."
     "Well still, it's ok.."
     Willow sighed, "Ok, it wasn't supposed to be this way. I don't know what to say now.."
     "To go what way?"
     "Well, you weren't supposed to agree with me Ben. You were supposed to say it was all your falt, where then I would go on about how it wasn't and whatnot, and everything would be forgiven.."
     Ben didn't quite know what to think of that, "So it was supposed to be my falt then?"
     She was silent for a few moments, "Well, not your falt.. But you were supposed to say it was.."
     "Oh.."