The average family dinner?

Richard and Jess headed into the kitchen to find that their dad was already at the dinner table. Their mother was getting the dishes over so that they could eat. The smell of food filled Richard's lungs with every breath he took. It smelled like they'd be having a classic, and Richard's favorite, spaghetti and meatballs with homemade garlic bread.

"Hey they champs, how was did your days go?" Richard heard their dad say.

Richard's dad was around the same height as Richard, if not an inch taller. He had black hair with a few specks of gray starting to poke their way through. Although he was older, in his last 40's, that didn't mean he let his body go. Whenever he wasn't working, sleeping, or having dinner, he made sure to work out. For at least one hour every day for as long as Richard could remember, he could hear his dad in the gym, down in the basement working out. While he worked out, he wasn't super bulky, his muscles were noticeable but not so large that they got in the way. His skin was on the paler side, as most of the time he was out of the house, it was during the night for his job at the mall in town.

"Oh, nothing much for me, Richard and I just got done watching Beauty and the Beast though!" Jess said with an innocent giggle added at the end.

"You mean you watched it as I fell asleep" Richard responded looking over at his sister.

"You definitely take after me Richard. Within five minutes of a movie being on screen, I'm out like a light", Richard's dad said.

Richard pulled a chair out for his sister before sitting down at the table with his dad. Soon his mom came over carrying Richard's favorite part, the garlic bread.

"Mom this looks great!", he said, reaching out to grab a piece of the bread as she placed down the bowl carrying it.

"Well, I decided since Jess got her favorite last week, that you could have yours this week. Especially since I've been craving some since last Monday."

With that, everyone dug into the food that was in front of them, leaving very little for left overs. Just a little something that Molly or Jules if one of them came home to eat. Jess and Richard took glances at each other when they didn't expect the other one to notice. They managed to not get caught by the parents who seemed to be oblivious through the whole thing and didn't catch on to the loving connection between Richard and his sister.

Nearing the end of dinner, Richard started to get that uneasy feeling of dread and despair he felt earlier when that shadow thing stepped out of the wall. Richard glanced over at Jess, not smiling this time but fear in his eyes. He saw that the same thing was in Jess' eyes, she felt it too. Then they felt it, a sudden clap of lightning from the night sky with no clouds in sight, thunder rolling through the very essence of their bodies. Richard felt that the threat was gone, looking at Jess, she seemed to ease greatly too, now relaxing. They looked up to see their parents taking their dishes to the sink, seemingly unaffected by what just transpired.

"Thanks for dinner mom, I should head to bed though, I had a long day at work.", Richard said while his mom and dad had their backs turned to them.

"Me too, I have to get some homework done for school", Jess said taking the hint, and following Richard's lead.

"Okay, you too have a good night.", Their mom replied.

"Love you too", they both replied in unison.