“C’mon, stop being a baby and get down here.” She peered downstairs into the basement, and shook her head furiously at the thought. “Julie, I swear to you, there is nothing down here.” He sighed, and moved the flashlight around him in a circle, showing that the basement was basically empty.

“I’m not walking around that dark, creepy basement. No way.” She crossed her arms and leaned against the doorway.

“And why not?”

“Because, for one, the power is out, and you want to lurk around in a basement? You know what crazy people do when the power is out, Jeremy? They kill people. You’re, like, walking into a serial killers birthday party or something.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” He scoffed.

“I’m not.”

“You definitely are.” he said, waving around the flashlight as he talked.

“Yeah? Well, I want to live to graduate high school. So I think I’ll take my chances with being ridiculous.” she told him.

“Okay, Julie.” He said, like he was trying to talk down a psychopath. She chose to ignore this.

“Plus, I have arachnophobia. If a spider lands on me, I’ll probably have a heart attack and die.”

“Julie, you’re seventeen.”

“And?” She asked.

“You definitely would not have a heart attack.”

“And you know this how?”

“Because, seventeen year olds don’t usually walk around having heart attacks.”

“Okay. Are you prepared to base your little sister’s life on that logic?” She said dramatically. He put a hand on his forehead in frustration.

“Julie,” He said through his teeth, and she could tell he was trying his hard to be patient, “Just get down here and help me find the fuse box. Please.”

“No.” She said stubbornly, taking a small step back from the stairs.

“Why are you such a chicken?”

“Why are you such a bucket of crazy?”

“A bucket of crazy?” He asked, his laugh echoing through the empty basement.

“Yes.”

“Whatever you say. Now, just get down here and help me. I’ll even hold your hand if you want.” He said, batting his eyelashes and reaching his hand out, like he was talking to a small child.

“Don’t talk down to me.”

“Sorry.” He said, the side of his mouth twitching in a way that told her he was not sorry.

“You’re being dumb.” She told him defiantly.

“Dumb?” He asked in disbelief.

“Yes, dumb. Is that what you pay thousands of dollars to go to college for? To be dumb?”

“Julie, you’re acting like a five year old.”

“Do they have majors in being a moron?” She teased, cocking her head to the side like a curious puppy. He laughed at this, not the least bit bothered by his sister’s insults.

“Julie.” He said seriously, crossing his arms across his chest, causing the flashlight to cast an eerie shadow across the wall.

“Jeremy.” She responded, mimicking his stance. He cracked a smile at his sister’s attempt at being tough.

“Julie-,” He began.

“Nope.” She interrupted, turning to look out the kitchen window. No wonder the power was out, she thought, the storm outside was getting hard to ignore.

“C’mon, please, Jules?” He begged.

“Oh, don’t you ‘Jules’ me, mister,” she scolded, turning back to glare down the stairs, “ Just get back up here and wait with me until mom and dad get home.”

“I have a 10 page paper to type by Tuesday. I can’t do that if the computer isn’t working.” He told her.

“I don’t know, J.”

“Fine,” He said, “I’ll go find it by myself. If I run into any serial killers, I’ll tell them you said hi.” He turned, starting around a corner, and soon, he was out of sight.

“Jeremy!” She called after him, “Come on, J!”

The silence was making her slightly nervous, and the loud roar of thunder echoed through the house, causing her to jump despite herself. She grabbed a flashlight off he counter and bounded down the stairs after her brother.

“Jeremy?” She called again as she rounded the corner. She could see his flashlight, and she knew he was ignoring her.

She broke into a jog in his direction, and jumped on his back, knocking him to the ground. He let out a long stream of profanities as they went down.

“Ouch! Damn it, Julie!” He yelled, climbing to his feet. He looked at his sister, who was now sitting ‘criss-cross applesauce’ on the ground, staring up at him in amusement.

“Sorry!” She smiled, taking his outstretched hand and pulling herself to her feet.

“I thought you weren’t coming down here?” He asked, trying to locate his flashlight, which had rolled away when Julie tackled him.

“I got scared.” She stated, shrugging.

“So you decide to attack me?” He asked, not bothering to hide his amusement as he locates his flashlight against the farthest wall.

“You were ignoring me!” She accused.

“Sorry about that.”

“Whatever. I’m down here. What now?” She asked, bringing the flashlight up to the ceiling, looking for any signs of spiders.

“Now, dear sister, we find the fuse box and turn the lights back on.” He turned, watching her as she adamantly searched the ceiling for spider webs.
Realizing she wasn’t the least bit attentive, he grabbed her arm, pulling her with him as he rounded another corner. “It should be down here somewhere…” He mumbled, moving his flashlight along the walls.

“Found it!” His sister exclaimed, skipping to the dusty looking box in the corner. She opened it, and he watched as she took in all the switches, her brow furrowing in confusion. “You do it,” She said finally, “I’ll break something.”

He laughed, moving to stand by his sister next to the fuse box, and started flipping switches.

“What are you doing?” Julie asked.

“Fixing the lights.”

“Jeremy, you’re flipping random switches.”

“Are not!” He mumbled, continuing to try to find the right fuse.

“Are to!”

“So what?”

“So, you aren’t going to-”

“Got it!” He exclaimed as the lights came to a flickering start above them. He turned from the box to look at Julie.

“What?” She snapped.

“I told you I would!”

“You got lucky, genius.” She said, grabbing his flashlight from his hand, and switching it off.

“Whatever you say, Jules.” He laughed, pulling her with him around the corner, and up the stairs.

“There you are!” Their mother exclaimed as they came through the door, “Where on Earth have you been?”

Jeremy shot his sister an amused look.

“Oh, you know, serial killer’s birthday party.”