Undesirably, Jessica was forced to wake up. She got up from the tub and reaches for a towel to dry herself up. This time she wasn’t worrying too much about leaving Tiffany since she wasn’t mad the first time she did so. But Jessica still felt guilty for parting with Tiffany after doing such things with her. She herself did not want it to end soon. After shaking her worries off, she pulls the plug from the bathtub and the water whirlpools down the drain. Jessica waited until the tub was empty until she came out.

“Jessica! Your soup is going to get cold if you don’t come down soon!” Jessica’s mom shouts out again from downstairs as she prepares the table for an early dinner.

“I’ll be down soon mom! I’ll dress up first! I’ll be quick! Please wait for me!” Jessica screams back as she exits the bathroom. Then, she opens her closet and takes out clothes. She unravels the towel around her and it drops to the floor, revealing her bare body. Then, she closes her eyes and hugs herself and touches her back, feeling and remembering Tiffany’s embrace. Then, her fingers handle her ears, recalling Tiffany’s lips. Then, her fingers touch her lips; lips that have never touched those of Tiffany’s. She opens her eyes and snaps out of her contemplation. She shakes her head in disappointment as she removes her fingertips from her dry lips. After that, she takes the shirt she took from her closet and puts it through her head, then through each of her arms. Then she takes her pajama bottoms and puts her left and right leg through the garment’s left and right leg respectively. Then, she takes a hairbrush and brushes her hair in front of her mirror.

“Jessica! Come down already! Don’t make me come up there!” Jessica’s mom screams for the last time as she impatiently calls for her daughter.

“Yes mom!” Jessica replies as she decides to brush her hair as she goes downstairs.

She opens her bedroom door and goes down the stairs. Then, she sits down at the dining table and waits for her mother who had just finished making the last dish for dinner. For the meantime, Jessica looked at the food on the table and inspects each and every one. There wasn’t much that was prepared, but she was thankful. In front of her was a small bowl of mushroom soup. It was barely warm as it was taken out of the cooking pot way before Jessica came downstairs. In the middle was a large bowl. Inside it was soft and steamy rice. She decides to eat her mushroom soup as she waits for her mother. She takes the spoon in front of her, on the table, and puts a spoonful of soup in . The slightly warm temperature of it cleared and her nose and made the cold feeling disappear completely. As she sips the last spoonful of soup, her mom finally comes, holding a pot in her hands.

“Tada!” Her mother exclaims as she places the pot on the table.

“What is it?” Jessica asks as she squinted her eyes and looks at the pot.

“It’s Korean Beef Stew. This is supposed to make you feel better,” her mom answers as she takes the lid of the pot.
“Is this your first time making it?”

“Yes. A friend of mine cooked it for me yesterday. And I liked it so I decided to try and cook it for you.”

“Then let’s eat!”

“Let’s say grace first,” her mom tells her as she stops her daughter’s hands from reaching for the serving spoon.

The mother and daughter pray and say grace, and then they eat afterwards.

“Would you like more rice mom?”

“Yes please.”

“Then I’ll go get some more from the rice cooker,” Jessica answers as she gets up from her chair, carrying the rice bowl.

Jessica opens the rice cooker lid and scoops out enough rice from it. She puts the lid back on and she goes back to the dining table.

“Oh, honey. Since you’ve already started doing little chores, would you mind helping me take out the trash later?”

“No, I wouldn’t mind at all,” Jessica replies. “Is it still raining?”

“Seems like it,” Jessica’s mom responds as she listens to the loud sound created by the raindrops on their roof.

The two women continue their conversations casually as they finish eating their dinner.

“Jessica, what’s that on your right ear?”

“What is it?” Jessica answers back with a question as she touches her ear.

“It looks like pink lipstick,” her mom answers as she looks closer.

“Oh, it must be from the soap I used,” Jessica tells her mom as she wipes the pink stain off of her ear with her fingers. “Wait, I didn’t use soap! What is this? W-wait... c... cou... could this be… Tiffany’s lipstick?” Jessica thinks to herself silently as she forces a smile to her mother.

“Well then, let’s clean this up,” Jessica’s mom orders as she gets up from the chair and takes a couple of plates to the kitchen sink.

Jessica does the same as she brings the dishes for them to be washed. As all the dishes were off the table, Jessica takes a sponge and adds a few drops of dishwashing liquid. She squeezes the sponge tightly a number of times, letting the bubbles from the soap form. She picks up a plate and starts washing them.

“Sica! Don’t wash the dishes, leave them to me. Your hands will get rough if you keep washing the dishes.

“Okay mom.”

Jessica does as she was told so instead of washing the dishes, she took a damp rag and wiped the table clean. She returns the rag to where she found it, and then heads over to the living room to sit on the sofa. After doing so, she reaches for the remote on the coffee table in front of her and turns on the television.

“A large storm has manifested on the eastern part of the country as a low pressure area formed twenty-five miles from land. The storm is estimated to have wind speeds ranging from eighty to a hundred miles per hour and is heading towards the capital city of the country…”

“Jessica! Could you please turn that up! I can’t hear the news with this rain making so much ruckus,” Jessica’s mom requests as she listens to the weather forecast.

“Yes mom!” Jessica replies as she presses a button on the remote and increases the volume.

“The storm has already destroyed a number of homes and fishing boats near the shoreline and residents in said areas have already been evacuated in order to prevent more disasters. A few fishermen have already been declared ‘missing’ this morning as they haven’t returned home since the storm reached land. The storm is expected to leave the country’s area of responsibility in fifty hours. Classes for all schools of all levels are cancelled and will resume the day after the storm leaves the country.”

“So that was why school was cancelled today?” Jessica’s mom asks as she sits beside her daughter after finishing washing the dishes.

“Yes. And that storm was the reason I got wet and why my umbrella flew away.”

“Some parts of the country are expected to have power surges so citizens are advised to prepare in case of the temporary loss of electr-”

“Eeeeeeeeeep!” Jessica screams as the house went pitch black.

As the mother and daughter were watching, the electricity suddenly disappeared. There was literally nothing that can be seen in the darkness.

“Jessica, there’s a flashlight in the drawer beside the sofa. Could you find it and open it?”

“I’ll try.”

Jessica felt the soft leather seats of the couch she was sitting on and blindly made her way to the right side of the sofa. She reached the end and sightlessly reached for the drawer her mother told her. She wasn’t able to feel anything until she heard a loud crash. A lamp suddenly fell as Jessica accidentally hit it as she was searching for the drawer. She kept looking and she finally felt a wooden box. Her fingers made their way to the knob of the drawer and when she was able to grab a hold of it, she opens it and finds the flashlight. She opens the device and was finally able to see in the dark. She points the flashlight towards the broken lamp and finds out that it was in pieces; broken beyond repair.

“I’m sorry mom. I accidentally broke your vase.”

“It’s okay. We never used it anyway,” her mom exclaims. “Hand me the flashlight. I’m going to get some candles.”

Jessica gives the flashlight to her mom and she heads to the kitchen to find candles. She opens a few cabinets under the sink and manages to find three sticks. Then she finds a box of matches inside one of the drawers of a cabinet in the kitchen. She lights one candle, makes it stand up inside a cup, and does the same for the two other. She leaves one behind in the kitchen, and brings two to the living room.

“Jessica, we still need to take out the garbage.”

“But it’s raining hard,” Jessica refuses as the continuous torture of the thunder and lightning freak her out once more.

“It’ll be quick. I promise. We just need to put it outside the gate. It’s starting to stink inside the house because of the garbage that has been left for two weeks. We’ll use raincoats. Don’t worry.”

“Well… okay. But promise me we’ll make it quick.”

“Yes. I promise.”

Jessica’s mom looks for the raincoats as she carries a candle. Jessica, on the other hand, searches for another flashlight. They search for minutes until Jessica finally finds another flashlight in her room. Her mother finds raincoats in the storage room as well. The two meet in the kitchen and they wear the raincoats and buttons them up. They put on the hood and take a flashlight each. Then, each of them takes one out of two trash bags. Then, they head out in the rain. It would’ve been impossible to see if it wasn’t for the flashlight. Even the moon was no match for the vast and dark clouds that the storm brought. They walk down the path towards the house’s gate and they finally reach it. Jessica’s mom opens the gate and Jessica follows behind.

“Put it down here,” Jessica’s mom tells her as the thunder becomes louder.

Jessica puts down the bag to where her mom’s flashlight was pointing to.

Then a large and loud spark suddenly explodes. It was one of the power lines near the house. The strong winds allowed an electrical post to split in two just like how a tree would fall after being cut.

“Mom! Look out!” Jessica screams as she points her flashlight to where the sound manifested.

She caught a glimpse of the falling post and she immediately, reflexively, and mindlessly pushed her mom out of the path of the crashing post. Jessica drops the flashlight in the process and it pointed towards the tall figure. Jessica could see that it would crash directly on her. She closes her eyes, bent down, and put her hands and arms in front of her, a desperate attempt to stop the declining cement post from crashing on her. After a few seconds, she opens her eyes as she could still feel the rain on her face.

“Jessica! Are you okay?”

Jessica looks in front of her and finds the electrical post which was suspended by a few electrical lines. The tall, cemented structure was inches from her hands and her face, but she wasn’t dead. She uses the time to remove her way from the post’s path before it completely crashes down. The wind was still strong and the thunder and lightning kept on going.

“I’m okay mom! Are you!”

“Where are you?” Her mom asks as she looks for her daughter with the flashlight.

They finally found each other and they hurried inside the house. Jessica was wet again, and so was her mom. They took their raincoats off and they instinctively searched the house for towels. After they had found one, they dried their hair and other parts of their body which was soaked by the rain. Then, they sat on the couch and rested for a bit, only with the illumination of two candles.

“It seems like we won’t be having electricity for some time.”

“Yes. I think so too.”

“Jessica…”

“Yes mom?”

“Thank you for saving my life.”

“Oh, that’s nothing mom. The post didn’t even crash fully.”

“Yes, but you were willing to risk your life for me.”

“Well, I did learn from you.”

The two smiled at each other and conversed for a few minutes.

“What time is it mom?”

“It was already seven when the electricity was out, so I think it’s already a few minutes past eight.”

“I think it’s time to sleep.”

“Will you be sleeping in your room?”

“But I’m too scared. I hate the dark and I can’t sleep when I’m in the dark alone.”

“You can sleep here.”

“Here?”

“Lie down on my lap.”

Jessica does so and places her head on her mother’s lap. She lifts her feet on the couch and she was about to sleep on the couch, with her mother’s lap as her pillow. She closes her eyes as her mom her hair gently. Then, she was dozing off; setting out for another adventure in dreamland as she looks forward to meeting Tiffany once more.

"Jessica?"