Damon didn’t know it at the time but he and his sister were to be forever changed.

**Alicia always wanted to fit in. She just wanted to be a normal, regular girl. **Sometimes normal isn’t an advantage. Fitting in isn’t always the right fit in this instance, what was regular simply wouldn’t allow for the adaptation they needed to survive.

Damon was the opposite. He understood that although fitting in had its advantages, mainly to do with safety in conformity, it wasn’t something he would ever be able to accomplish. He understood why Alicia wanted to fit in. She was beautiful. Often that is enough to become Beloved. But it never affords you the chance to fit in. Being beautiful means being different. She always stood out. She couldn’t help it. She was doomed to be popular.

Although he was handsome enough himself, Damon was truly a nerd. He loved science, geography, mathematics, and anything you could find in a museum. Automatically, that made him fit in amongst geeks, but he would never be truly popular or become part of the crowd.

What made to be similar was the love they had each other and a common interest in the sky. They were always fascinated by storms and the goings on of the atmosphere. Anything astronomical was also on their list of shared favorites. Damon would dust off the telescope when the planets would align, and with precision little coaxing, Alicia would join him on his cosmic treasure hunt.

Perhaps this was because their mother, now many years passed, had the same affinity for stars and the stratosphere. When they were children, she would hold them both in her arms on the back porch and watch as the clouds rolled in, mesmerized by the approaching thunder and distant lightning.

Since the war began, both siblings ramped up their training with the reserves. Damon was scheduled to join the National Guard the following month. Alicia and their father were worried for him. Although he was strong in a wiry way, he wasn’t built to be a killing machine like some of the boys. He was tender hearted with a deep sense of appreciation for life and liberty. He would have been a pacifist if times would have allowed. But these times were like shifting sand. You had to become something different in order to be of service, in order to survive. He didn’t love the idea of giving up science to become part of the infantry, but someday he would be allowed to take a new post, perhaps in research. But for now his course was chosen.

The fateful electrical storm, and the uncharted night before, him would change his path forever and alter the tides of the war for good…