Eventually the conversation turned to the now and the beer and wine flowed.  Between mouthfuls of Malbec, Ember told her cousins about glass blowing and blowing off school.  Other types of blowing might also have come up.  Partly of the sexual variety, but also the blowing up and blowing off that inevitably marked the end of her relationships.  Raine laughed and Gale hid behind his beer which did little to conceal his discomfort with the conversation.  Then Gale regaled Ember and Raine with stories from the sky where he worked in construction and went rock climbing in Colorado.  He was about to wax poetic about his motorcycle when the grandfather clock in the entryway began to chime.  They knew better than to talk over it.  The chimes were so loud, it had always seemed like the house was admonishing them.<br/><br/>One.<br/><br/>Two.<br/><br/>Three.<br/><br/>Four.<br/><br/>Suddenly the air became charged with energy.  The cousins looked at one another with wide eyes and held one another's gaze.<br/><br/>Five.<br/><br/>Six.<br/><br/>Seven.<br/><br/>Then the lights went out.  The cousins simultaneously drew in an audible breath and held it.<br/><br/>Eight.<br/><br/>Nine.<br/><br/>Ten.<br/><br/>The windows rattled and the walls shook.  The cousins reached for each other and held tight.<br/><br/>Eleven.<br/><br/>Twelve.<br/><br/>There was silence once again in the house, but the lights remained off.  There was only the moon outside cutting through the windows into the darkness.  The cousins could hear their own hearts beating.  Almost as one they stepped back from one another and a chorus of expletives erupted from all three.<br/><br/>"What in the holy hell…?<br/><br/>"Mother fucker, what was that?"<br/><br/>"Shit balls on Sunday!"<br/><br/>That last one was Ember.  The other two turned to her quizzically, the seemingly haunted house nearly forgotten.<br/><br/>"Shit balls on Sunday?"  All of a sudden, they laughed like they needed it to survive.  And while tears of laughter streamed down their faces, they smiled at one another in flickering candlelight that had not been there moments earlier.