Chapter 3

~Destiny~

       I stared out the kitchen window at the sight happening outside. Wind was blowing as harsh as it could and even being inside, I could hear the wind howling. The rain was pouring down as hard as I had ever seen it before, and not a single soul was outside at this time.

       I was certain all the shops closed down early today once there was news of the upcoming store. 

       Dan walked over to me, looking out the window as well. "It's not going to be long before the storm causes the power to go out completely," he said. "I already put candles all over the place and I have flashlights set out too."

       "I hope the power won't be out for too long," I said.

       "Me too," Dan said. "The longer the power is out, the higher chance there is of the food spoiling."

       I chuckled. "Of course that's the only thing you're thinking about food."

       "I'm not only thinking about food," Dan said. "I'm mainly thinking about food but it's not the only thing on my mind. For example..." He wrapped his arm around my waist. "I'm also thinking of my very beautiful wife."

       He started pressing light kisses onto my neck but he stopped when the lights suddenly shut off and our oldest daughter called out, "Mom! Dad!"

       The two of us went into the living room where all four of our children were. "Don't worry," Dan said as he went around the living room, lighting up the candles. 

       "I am worrying," Anastasia said. "No electricity means the fridge isn't running. The fridge not running means the food will go bad. Food going bad meaning I can't eat. Not being able to eat means I'll starve. Me starving means I'll die. I can't die. I'm only eight. I can't die."

       Anastasia was definitely a spitting image of her father. All the two of them ever thought about was food, making food, buying food, and eating food.

       "Tasie, it will be fine," Dan said once he finished lighting all the candles in the living room. He then sat down on the couch and Anastasia immediately sat down on his lap. "As long as we don't open the fridge, all the food can last for two days."

       "Which means that we can't open the fridge," Anastasia said. "We'll still starve."

       "Uh, we have food in the cupboards and the pantry," Ace pointed out. "I think we'll survive. You know what's worst? No internet."

       "You're seven," Dan said. "You don't need internet."

       "But how else am I supposed to watch videos of people getting hurt?"

       "Simple. You don't."

       Ace scowled. "Now I'm bored."

       Harry walked over to the shelf by the TV and grabbed a board game before walking back and setting it on the coffee table. He then signed Can we play?

       We all agreed to play the board game, except for Delta, of course, who was happily playing with her toys.

       Since they were only four pieces of the game, Harry and I were on a team since everyone else was very competitive and wanted to win on their own, even Dan. He didn't care he was playing against his own kids. He played to win.

       Too bad Harry and I were winning. We played board games all the time while Anastasia was busy eating and Ace was busy watching videos of people getting hurt or was visiting his dad.

       A sudden BOOM of thunder did cause us to jump a bit, but unfortunately it really frightened Delta and Harry. Delta burst into tears while Harry climbed onto my lap, holding onto me tightly. 

       Dan went over to Delta and picked her up to calm her down and since he was distracted, I saw Anastasia try to cheat by moving Dan's piece back a few spaces.

       "Tasie, move that back," I said. 

       "How did you know?" Anastasia asked, moving the piece back.

       "Because I'm a mom," I said. "Mom's know everything."

       It didn't take long for Dan to calm Delta down and when she stopped crying, she just snuggled into Dan so he held her the whole time as we continued the game.

       Harry and I ended up winning, which made Anastasia and Ace upset since they were competitive little kids but they soon got over it as Anastasia went to go raid the pantry and Ace found his handheld device that was fully charged.

       Delta was no longer upset due to the storm but she still didn't want Dan to put her down. Harry, on the other hand, got off of my lap and ran over to the living room window. I thought he just wanted to see what the storm was looking like but then he looked at me and pointed at something out of the window.

       I furrowed my eyebrows, standing up and walking over to the window. Nothing else apart from the storm was going on; just the harsh winds and the downpour.

       Harry was still staring at something so when he looked at me again, I asked him what he was looking at. Harry's reply was to sign the word ghost before pointing back out the window, but I still wasn't seeing anything out of the ordinary.

       "Harry, there aren't such things as ghost," I told him, signing along as well.

       Harry didn't give me a response. He just frowned as he looked back out the window as the storm kept raging on.

       It was actually starting to get a lot worse. The thunder was getting louder, the wind was blowing stronger, the rain began pouring faster, and flashes of lightning were appearing more rapidly.

       I had never seen a storm so powerful before.

       Even though it was close to the kids' bed time, Dan and I knew they weren't going to be able to fall asleep with all of the commotion outside. Anastasia and Ace may seem like they were fine but we could tell they weren't. With every thunder sound, they jumped a bit and looked nervously out the window to see what the storm was like.

       Dan went upstairs to gather some extra pillows and blankets from the linen closet before coming back downstairs. He then set them aside for now as he moved the coffee table out of the way so he could take out the couch's pullout bed.

       "Daddy Dan, what are you doing?" Ace asked when the pullout bed was out.

       "Well, I thought we could all have a sleepover in the living room tonight," Dan said. "We could tell stories, eat some snacks, and play more board games."

       "Ooh, snacks!" Anastasia said.

       "Want to help me grab some, Tasie?" I asked and Anastasia immediately got up from her spot to come to the kitchen with me.

       This was exactly what our kids needed to be able to fall asleep throughout the storm. We had them get their pyjamas on first and after only one board game, they all crashed.

       It wasn't even long before I crashed too and when I did, I had no idea what was going to become of Spruceworth when I woke up.

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dun dun dunnnnnnn

psa: the character pov cycle might seem like it's going to reset since ollie is next and grant was first (they count as one) but i wanted to get started with whatever's gonna happen with ollie's pov

trust me, there will be a lot of different characters pov (ollie is just superior)