Author's Note: As this is my first submitted story, I'm very much interested in what everyone thinks about it, and how it might be improved.
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Before I tell you what happened last night, I'd better give you a bit of background about our family.
First off, my name is Jason. I'm eighteen, and soon to be on my way to my first year of college. The event I'm writing about took place around my eighteenth birthday.
Mom and dad have never really been around much, they work a lot and travel a lot too. They're home about a day a week, so my sister and I tend to take care of things while they're gone, so they don't have to worry about it when they get home.
Ah, my sister. You know how people say twins share a special bond? Well it wasn't that way with my sister and I. Jessica was born ten minutes after I was, and as far as I knew our birthday was the only thing we had in common.
At school, we run in totally different circles. She's more the artsy type, and I'm a sports and science kind of guy. I'd love to tell you that I'm team captain and get all the girls, that I'm six foot something, have a six pack and I'm so well endowed I make horses jealous, but it's just not so.
I play football, volleyball and baseball, so I stay fairly active. I'm only 5' 7", about 160 pounds and generally so average looking you couldn't pick me out of a crowd. Jessica is 5' 2", maybe 100 pounds and works out in the gym to stay fit. She's naturally pretty, and about as semi-popular as me. Though, like I said, our social circles seldom collide.
We had never been close as children, we were just, well normal to each other. Even with mom and dad gone most of the time, Jessica and I rarely talked with one another. The one thing that brought us together, in years past, was my sister's completely debilitating fear of storms. When we were younger she would climb into bed with me, and I would hold her close to protect her.
It was late July, and the worst storm on record was still thrashing our small two bedroom home, like it had been all day. Jessica and I had shared a bedroom since childhood, an arrangement neither of us had been particularly happy about as we grew older, but it had been tolerated. To give my sister a bit of privacy I had put up a curtain to divide the room down the centre when we slept.
I was surprised that night when I heard her soft voice in the night shortly after she had gone to bed.
"Jay?" She called softly. "Mmm?" I had responded sleepily, though I was quickly awakened by the loudest crack of thunder I can ever remember hearing, the storm was still raging on, and had seemingly intensified. "Can I join you?" She asked, her voice trembling noticeably. "This storm's fuckin' horrible." She added, clearly near to tears. "Yeah, come on." I offered, quickly lifting the blanket for her. A flash illuminated the room at that moment and it wasn't until I heard her gasp that I remembered I'd been sleeping naked.
I dropped the blanket instantly, and though the darkness of the room hid it, I had turned a deep crimson red. "Jess, I... I..." I began, but another ferocious crack of thunder hit, and Jessica screamed in fear as she leapt towards my bed, jumping over, and behind me. As she lay atop the blankets I got up to put on my boxers as quickly as possible, before returning to the bed.
"Jess, I..." I began, "It's okay. I don't care; I just can't sleep alone like this." She assured me, though I thought I had heard something else in her voice, it sounded almost dizzy, though it may have been something else.
Nothing more was said about it and before long Jessica was under the covers, and I had my left arm around her shoulders, holding her close. It wasn't long before I had drifted off to sleep once again.
