The Sight (bxb)

Chapter 18 - No Electricity

One of the disadvantages of living practically in the forest was that a power outage was basically guaranteed during a strong storm. Evan had been used to it for sixteen years, so he knew exactly the routine that followed. Unplug TV cables, pull back all curtains, light candles and flashlights.

"Did you find the flashlight?" His mother's voice came from behind. Evan stared in disbelief at the light coming from his hands but kept his resolution and bit his tongue. With the arrival of the new school year, he decided to try to improve his relationship with his parents. Or at least not make it worse.

"I wasn't looking. I have my phone," he replied, turning in her direction to show her the aforementioned device he was holding.

"You'll drain your battery unnecessarily." She shook her head at him disapprovingly. She knew her son and his need to be on the phone all the time. Evan, on the other hand, thought that using both the phone and the flashlight was even more pointless. Either way, he'd be playing on his phone, so he might as well shine with it.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Improving their relationship didn't mean he planned to improve his response style as well.

"You understand that when this happens, I will tell you that I said so?" He had no doubt about it. Just as he kept his answers, so did his mom. Some things just didn't change.

"But it won't happen," he assured her. He was determined to use his phone as little as possible until the storm passed. The only games he played on it were the offline ones, and the only reason he even had it in his hand was his chat with Kieran. Right now, Kieran was away with his parents for the weekend, so he didn't have as much time to text, but he still spoke to Evan whenever he could. They both knew that they had their last year at the same school ahead of them, but neither of them dared to talk about it. So, they tried to at least constantly talk about anything else.

"Find a flashlight just to be sure." He didn't argue and instead went towards the kitchen, where they had a drawer reserved for special situations like this one. It didn't take him long to find a flashlight under a ton of duct tape, a handy sewing kit, buttons, and matches. As he said, a drawer for special situations.

"Found it!" He didn't even have to raise his voice too much since the house without electronics was eerily quiet. When he was little and the electricity went out, he was always afraid to walk alone in a dark and quiet house. His mom always held his hand, and they counted different things together just to occupy his mind. Sometimes it was seconds before a lightning strike to know how far the storm was, other times steps between rooms in the house.

"Guess what I found!" His father sounded more than enthusiastic. Evan had no idea what could make him so happy, especially in this weather. So, he decided to find him, and his mom apparently had the same plan.

Watching his father sitting on the rug in the middle of the living room opening the top of a battered board game, that was probably as old as he was, gave Evan a flashback to his childhood. Storms, as scary as they could be, were Evan's favourite. The storms meant his parents didn't have to work and could play with him. He couldn't even count how many days and nights they spent over the game board, laughing and sometimes arguing. Competitiveness was one of the innate traits of his family after all.

"You can't be serious," his mom was the first to react. Despite her words, she sounded more amused than annoyed.

"The Bludds' game night, what do we think?" Evan's eyes fell on the box on the floor. He knew the game board almost by heart. And although the surface of the box was so worn that it was almost impossible to recognize the inscription or pictograms of a heart or a star, the game board was still in good condition. The square-shaped board consisted of an outer track and several minor loops each of which started and ended at a space on the outer track. Some of the money cards had been lost over the years and replaced with cardboard cards on which someone had written numbers with a given value, and where the original figures ended up, Evan had no idea. He couldn't even remember when they actually used them and not the coloured buttons.