All of that lead up to this very moment; Katie and Lively kept dancing, laughing in joy. This was their last night with their family before they left for college. While Lively was going to miss her family, Katie was extremely excited to leave. She finally wanted to meet people who shared her interests.

"Kids... dinner." Linda shouted from the kitchen. Katie was dancing stupider than ever, making Lively laugh. She's full of hope!

"Coming!" The twins shouted. As Katie and Lively looked for their phones, it started flickering and mysteriously began self-updating. The twins obliviously grabbed their phones and run off to the kitchen. Linda was washing dishes among balloons and a "we'll miss you Katie and Lively" banner. Linda's sweet homey kitchen signs were placed around, reminding the family to stay positive and never not be themselves. Katie and Lively bounced in, Katie affectionately playing the drums on Aaron's head with water bottles.

"Bah dah bah da BAH! Doo doo BAH!" Katie imitated, drumming on Aaron's head. Aaron laughed at his older sister's antics.

"Stop." Aaron said, still laughing. Lively took a seat at the table, laughing as well. Linda walked by and closed a stray cabinet. Linda smiled at Katie.

"Well, someone's in a good mood! Hey, to celebrate your last night, Katie and Lively faced cupcakes!" Linda shouted. Linda held up a slightly horrifying melted Katie and Lively-face on a cupcake in both hands. Lively's eyes widened.

"Whoaaa!" She said. Katie laughed a little.

"Wow!"

"Any time I miss you two, I'm going to bake you and eat you!" Linda said, smiling at the twins. Aaron held up a cupcake for Monchi.

"Here, catch the cupcake, Monch! Catch the cupcake." Aaron tossed the cupcake. It somehow landed on the side of Monchi's head. Monchi started to run in a circle, trying to lick it. "You'll get it, buddy." Aaron said hopefully. Lively smiled as she watched the family dog. Katie leaned her arm over the chair she was sitting in.

"Aw, man, I'm gonna miss that little dude when I leave." She said. Lively nodded, then took out her phone.

"Speaking of which, PAL check Katie and me into our flight tomorrow." Lively requested. Her phone sent the information to Katie's.

Check-in at 9am. The phones said together. Aaron went quiet, playing with his dinosaur figures, he's nervous and vulnerable.

"Katie, Lively, you know how velociraptors usually hunt in pairs?" He asked quietly. Lively frowned and looked at her younger brother, slightly worried. "Well, what happens when one leaves the pack, and... and...um," Aaron struggled to get the words out. Lively knew what Aaron was talking about.

"Aw, dude, don't worry." She said. Katie nodded.

"Yeah. You'll make new friends. Maybe you could meet another smart, charming, dinosaur loving nerd." Katie said. Lively picked up one of Aaron's dinosaur figures and glanced at him, smirking.

"Or lady nerd." She said, making Katie chuckle at her twin's teasing. Aaron started to playfully panic at the mention of meeting someone else.

"What? No. Who would want that? That's-heh heh- crazy!" He gasped and widened his eyes. "I can't breathe!" Aaron said. Katie and Lively laughed at their brother's antics. Aaron smiled nervously.

"Do you really think I'll be okay without you guys?" He asked again. Katie and Lively smiled.

"We know you will. Raptor bash! Rah!" Katie makes a claw hand and sticks it out. Aaron and Lively do the same. "Rah!" The three siblings chuckled. Katie turned to Linda.

"And hey, Live and I made something for you guys." She said. Lively smiled and turned in her seat, looking at the computer. Katie displayed what's on her laptop screen. A YouTube video of the family as puppets called "ONE LAST GOODBYE!" Linda smiled

"Oo, hon! That looks so cute! Did you make the art for the characters, Live?" Linda asked. Lively nodded.

"Yup. Click play, Katie." Lively said, excited to show her family the twins' hard work. Katie chuckled and did so. Katie clicked play, but a YouTube ad interrupted the twins' film.

"Ugh. Skip. SKKKIPPP!" Katie tried to skip the add. Linda wiped at the screen.

"Ugh, come on, you got schmutz all over the screen." Linda said. Lively tried to bat her mom's hand away.

"We know, we know, but you're just smearing it." She said. The logo of a company called PAL Labs appeared and Marko Bowman, a dark skinned, 23 year old stood in front of what looked like a campus.

'Hey there, I'm Mark Bowman, founder and CEO of PAL Labs.' Mark introduced. Katie and Lively smiled.

"Ooo a new PAL announcement!" Lively said. Katie looked at the screen.

"You better update the editing software, man." She said.

'We here at PAL like to do the impossible: From the PAL personal assistant,' PAL, a talking AI assistant portrayed by a simple smiling face on a phone. 'To smart appliances,' A woman used her refrigerator with a PAL chip to dim the lights in her home. 'To even teaching dogs how to talk.' A terrified dog was wearing a metal helmet. The dog spoke in a pained voice.

'Heeelllloooo. I aaaammm doooooggggg.' Monchi cocked his head at the dog, and grunted, confused.

'But we here at PAL are about to drop our biggest invention yet. Your cell phone is about to take its first steps.' A sleek, advanced robot was shown on screen. Linda, Katie, Lively and Aaron all murmured in shock.

"Whoa!" The twins gasped in aw. Linda pulled out her iPad.

"Is this real, or...?" She asked. Aaron pulled out his phone.

"Yeah, hold on..." Rick walked in from work.

"Hey, gang!" Rick greeted. He wasn't that surprised to see his family all staring at their phones. Rick was the only one in the family who didn't have a phone, computer, iPad or any electronic device. He believed that electronics took away a person's ability to truly experience nature.

"Hey, hon." Linda said, glancing up at her husband, then returning her attention tp her iPad. Katie didn't look up from her phone.

"Oh, hey Dad." She said, unenthusiastically.

"Hey, Dad." Aaron and Lively greeted. Rick sat down, enthusiastic and happy to see his family.

"After a long day at work, nice to see your faces," No one acknowledged him. The family's faces were awash in light from their screens. "Bathed in ghoulish blue light," he clapped is hands. "Wonderful." He said sarcastically. Getting no response, Rick tried a new tactic. "Ok, you know what? Brilliant idea. This is our last night together before Katie and Lively leave, so let's savor this." Rick said Though the family looked at Rick with a worried expression, they are used to this. There was a little plaque hung above the kitchen entryway that read, 'No Cellphones at the Table!' "How about we put our phones down and we can make ten seconds of unobstructed family eye contact. Starting right!" Rick began. Lively frowned and set her phone face down on the table. Katie frowned.

"This seems.."

Aaron tried to get one last tantalizing glimpse of his phone.

"Put your phone down." Aaron put his phone face down on the table. "Now!" Everyone set their phones/iPads down and stared at each other incredibly awkwardly. This lasted a very long time. Lots of weird stares are exchanged. Everyone looked insane and wildly uncomfortable, aside from Rick. "See, this is good, right here. This is natural." Rick said. It's far from natural. Aaron let out a pained noise, his eyes red and twitching, trying to keep himself from blinking. Rick looked at his son. "No, you're allowed to blink, it's just, eye contact." He said. Monchi attempted to focus his eyes but failed. "Look at Monch right there. That's the spirit right there, huh?" Rick said. Katie made an incredibly bizarre face and stared at Rick. Rick frowned at his daughter. "Katie, it seems like you're not taking this seriously." He said.

"What makes you say that?" Katie asked in a strained, hilarious voice. Linda, Lively and Aaron attempted to hold in laughter. Rick sighed.

"Guys-guys everyone, focus! Keep focusing!" He said. Katie opened up her laptop and looked at everyone.

"Ok, now that we're all really comfortable, I can't wait for you guys to see mine and Lively's new movie," she said. Katie took Lively's hand, the younger twin smiling at the older. Rick sighed and settled in, trying to be a good sport. Lively shrugged her shoulders.

"We think it might be a master pieceee?" She said, her voice getting increasingly high pitched. Katie hit play. On the computer, a fully unhinged Katie and Lively movie played, starring a Puppet Katie and a puppet Lively. The two puppets were staring excitedly at the California College for Film School. Suddenly, the two puppets shot out rainbows, followed by a loud horn blasting. Rick stared at the computer, squinting. He was unable to make sense of this thing. He tried watching hard, and was completely bewildered. Linda made motions to Rick to get him to say something nice. Katie was yet again, let down by her dad not seeing her. Katie frowned.

"What? What's the face?" She asked. Rick watched the movie.

"Uhh, well, I just, wonder...do you really think you both can make a living with this stuff?" He asked. Lively frowned. She was getting upset that her dad was refusing to accept that this was her and her twin's dream.

"Dad, can you finish watching it at least?" She asked. Katie sighed and stopped the movie and looks hurt. Lively sighed and wrapped her arm around Katie's shoulder on comfort. Aaron looked to Linda to do something. Rick nodded.

"I will, but I just worry that you're both going to be all the way in California and, you know, we're not going to be able to help you, you know, if things don't...pan out..." Rick said. Linda kicked Rick's chair, trying to get him to stop. Rick looked at his wife. "Lin, why are you kicking me? I don't understand." Rick said, clearly oblivious to the fact that she was trying to save her husband and daughter's relationship. Katie couldn't believe they're going through this again.

"Are you," Katie sighed. "Do you just think we're going to fail?" She asked, looking over at Lively. Lively looked at her dad, a hurt look in her eyes. Rick started to panic.

"Uh, I never, uhh- Lin, help!" Rick said, desperate to keep the atmosphere cheery. Linda sped the dial on the cookie timer up, making it go off.

"Whoops! Looks like the cookies are ready! Who wants delicious cookies, instead of talking about this?" She asked. Rick was trying to get Katie and Lively to see what he meant. Rick sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Oh, it's just...failure hurts, kids. I want you to have a backup plan." Rick said. Lively sighed. Her dad didn't even attempt to finish watching the movie until it was over to give his feedback. The twins were super let down. Katie sighed.

"Why do you always have to do this?" She sighed, grabbing her laptop. "Ok, you know what? I'm just going to go," Katie said. Before she could leave, Rick reached for the laptop. It was going back and forth as the rest of the family watched in fear. They yank hard at it.

"No, no, look, I'll watch it."

"Dad, it's too late."

"Look, I want to watch it. I want to watch it. You're the one who's not letting me watch it."

"Dad, lemme just-"

"Why are you making such a big deal of this?"

Lively's eyes widened. This was going to go very badly.

"Dad, let go!" She shouted. Finally Katie pulled the laptop from Rick's grasp and it fell to the ground and the screen cracked, the screen going blank. Lively gasped. This was the only way she and Katie could make their videos. Now, it was gone. Everyone looked at the laptop in shock. They're all speechless. Katie slowly walked over and picked up the laptop. She can't believe it. Lively sighed and got up, placing a somewhat comforting hand on her sister's shoulder. Rick tried to fix the situation.

"Uh, uhh - I mean, if you think about it, the people who made the computers are the ones to blame," he said, chuckling. "I mean, that's how they make money, you know, you gotta keep buying more, and," Rick continued, clearly not helping the situation. Linda motioned for Rick to stop as Katie's sadness soured to anger. She stomped out, Lively following, disappointed in her dad. Rick sighed. Katie, Lively, C'mon!" Rick pleaded. Katie looked back at Rick.

"Dad, THIS," she held up the laptop. "Is exactly why I'm excited to leave tomorrow." She said. Rick looked at Lively. She frowned and turned away.

"Me to." She said. Rick sighed. Now both his daughters were mad at him. And he had almost no way of fixing it.

~~~

Katie slammed her door as she and Lively walked through it. Katie plopped on the bead, laying on her back. Lively sighed and sat on the bottom bunk bed, watching as Katie started angrily packing. In a box marked "Give Away," she tossed some items including a little wooden moose. Lively gasped when she saw Katie put the moose in. That was her and Katie's most prized possession, given to them by their dad. Lively sighed sadly. Rick had really screwed up big time. Katie shoved the box out the door. Her anger faded to sadness. She climbed up the latter and lay down on the top bunk, hurt. She began scrolling through pictures of her, Lively and her father on her phone. She saw an adorable one of Rick, Lively and Katie happy in the family car. Katie was sitting in the front seat, her hands on the wheel, sitting in Rick's lap. Lively was sitting in the passenger seat, holding up a peace sign with her fingers. What happened to their relationship? Katie sighed.

"Why is he like this?" She asked. Lively sighed and lay down on her bed, closing her eyes. A few stay tears fell from her eyes. She wished things could go back to the way they used to be. When they were all happy.

Rick sighed as he washed dishes in the sink- wondering the same thing.

"Why are they like this?" He asked. Linda knocked quietly on the door to get his attention. She took a breath and then tenderly broaches the subject.

"Did you talk to them yet?" She asked. Rick turns off the water and cleared his throat.

"No, not yet," He said. He stared quietly out the window. He sighed. "I dunno what happened, Lin. I know teenagers are supposed to rebel against their parents or something, but, I dunno, I just thought that we'd be different." He said. Linda softly challenged Rick, walking closer to him.

"Rick, don't you think you might have some control over that? You just broke their laptop. I mean, look, we haven't had a good family picture in years because you and Katie are always arguing. And you always drag Lively into it." Linda said, gesturing to the wall of bad photos. Rick pointed to a joyous family in a black and white stock photo.

"What about that one?" He asked. Linda threw her arms up, exasperated.

"That came with the frame!" Linda said. She then turned to Rick and sighed. "Whenever we have a problem at home you always throw your whole self into fixing it. And I love that about you. But now, this is broken," she said gesturing to the home, talking about his relationship with Katie and Lively. "Okay? Because if those girls leave and never comes home again," she sighed. "That's a problem, I don't think we can fix." Linda said. Rick sighed and turned away, looking at the sink. Linda walked over and put her hands on his shoulders. "I know you can do this." She said. She walked away, leaving Rick alone with his thoughts, trying to figure out what to do.

After getting ready for bed, Rick walked over to his daughters' closed door. He went to knock on it but paused, sighing. He rubbed the back of his neck. He looked down and saw a box labled, GIVE AWAY. His heart broke when he saw a dusty wood-carved moose. Rick sighed and picked the moose up, brushing some of the dust away. Rick then grabbed Katie's camcorder and walked into the living room. He connected the camcorder to the TV. He sat down on the couch as the camcorder played an old Super8 movie on the screen. The video started and it showed a younger Katie, sitting on Rick's shoulder. They were walking through the woods. The camcorder moved down, showing a little Lively, holding Linda's hand. Katie was looking around in wonder. She then started giggling, making Rick chuckle.

Rick watched, leaning in, remembering when his relationship with his daughters was better than this. The screen went to static, then showing Katie and Lively standing on the couch, waiting for Rick to come home. When the car pulled up, Lively gasped.

"Daddy!" She shouted. Katie and Lively smiled back at Linda, then ran out to greet their dad. Rick chuckled and pulled his daughters into a hug, lifting them up and making a "nom nom" sound like he was eating the twins. The twins giggled. The screen went to static again. It then showed a handmade CD called THE MITCHELL TALENT SHOW MIX. Linda turned the camera to face her.

"And now, the Mitchell Family Talent Show!" She shouted. Linda pointed the camera to Katie and Lively, who slid into the screen in their socks and singing "Live Your Life."

"Mai-la-hee!" Katie pointed to Lively. Lively smiled. Rick comes sliding into frame- wearing a stupid outfit

"Mai- la- ha!" The twins then pointed to Rick, who came sliding into the frame wearing a silly outfit.

"Mai-La-Hoo!" Rick sang. They then sang together.

"Mai- la- ha ha! So live your life! Hey-eh-eh-yeh!"

Rick laughed lightly at the memory. The scene then changed, showing Katie and Lively standing outside the car with their bags packed in front of a bus. Lively was looking around excitedly.

"Bye, Katie! Bye, Lively! Are you two excited for camp?" Linda asked, recording. Katie slowly turned around and started crying. Lively gasped and turned to her sister, placing a tiny hand on her sister's shoulder, trying to comfort her. Rick quickly opened the door and ran out to Katie and knelt down next to her.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa whoa. Hey, what's wrong?" Rick asked, Katie kept crying. "You'll be back before you know it." Rick said, trying to comfort her. Katie then grabbed Rick's legs, and holds on tight. She buries her face in his leg.

"Don't make me go." Katie pleaded, her voice muffled. Rick looked back at Linda.

"Well, look, lemme just, uh," Rick walked back to the car and took a wooden moose off of the dashboard. He smiled at it and walked back over to Katie. "Hey. Take this." Rich said. He handed Katie the moose. Katie stared at it in shock. Lively looked at he moose.

"But this is like, your favorite thing." Lively said. Katie wiped her nose, sniffing. She nodded. Rick smiled.

"Well it's yours now, Katie. You need to make sure to share with Lively to," he knelt down to the twins again. "You see, this little guy is scared to be alone so you two are going to have to cheer him up for me, okay?" Rick said. Katie nodded, her tears almost dried up. Rick smiled. "You know how to say "I love you" in moose language? Here lemme just," Rick took the moose from Katie and then started making crazy moose sounds, making the twins laugh. Rick tickled Katie. "Don't you laugh! Come on, you're supposed to be sad!" Rick said. The screen went blank. Rick's smile fell. How did he let all this slip away? He removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes, sighing in frustration. Rick stood up. A determined look fell across his face. "Alright, let's fix it."