I was actually at her house.

For 4-6 months, my parents had been in the habit of going out to weekly dinners with the girl's mother (a single mom). They would leave the four of us alone with (let's just call her) Brandy and her 6-year-old brother Caleb, at Brandy and Caleb's house (Caleb was allergic to our cat so they couldn't come over to ours). Looking back, I think it's insane that our parents left two 10-year-olds (me & Brandy) to mind a pair of 6-year-olds, a 4-year-old and a severely autistic 8-year-old, but this was the early 90s.

Caleb and Brandy's behavior became increasingly erratic and disturbing as the summer progressed, but the three adults kept brushing it off as "kids will be kids." By the time of the incident, my family was about to leave the state of Alaska. The movers had taken everything out of our house; it was empty. I *begged* my father not to send us to Brandy & Caleb's house. I said the four of us would rather hang out in the empty house than go to Brandy & Caleb's one more time. He didn't listen.

I remember the date well, by the way, because Mount Spurr erupted later that evening, raining ash down on Anchorage. The slick ash on the roads delayed our departure from the state for another day.

https://www.washingtonpos[...]25508f35b/

That volcano KNEW.