The storm came without warning.

It even took the best meteorologists by surprise.

Many different news outlets reported confusion as that summer night was meant to be clear.

But dark clouds formed rapidly in the Washington mountains and then descended into the suburbs.

While this may have ruined some people's plans that day, my little brother and I were ecstatic.

We loved to climb up on our roof and watch the distant dance of lightning.

And so did my two best friends, Amber and Alan.

Amber, Alan and I had been best friends since elementary school.

We all graduated the year before and were now home for our first college summer.

We had planned to see each other the following weekend, but with the sudden storm.

I called them that day and they both agreed to come over to watch the sky.

We greeted each other excitedly, then pulled out my dad's ladder from the garage

and scrambled up to the roof.

I placed towels down on the shingles, which would keep us from sliding down as we lay there.

The sky was covered in gray fluff now.

No sign of blue peaked through.

We turned our gaze to a distant darkness where the storm was more intense.

From that distance, we didn't see any solid branches of lightning.

Instead, there were flashes of light throbbing behind the hills of clouds.

My little brother, Henry, sat with his knees pulled up to his face.

His eyes fixed on the blooming light in the distance.

Amber batted his back.

...