Hey, I’m a writer
My name is Eliasaph Anderson, however like Rob Base, I’m internationally known…as Maze. I’m starting this blog to get my writing out into the world and see if my writing is actually, somewhat, enjoyable. This is mostly for fun and because college clearly isn’t taking up my entire life. I would greatly appreciate anyone and everyone to leave comments on my stories and to share them with your friends and family if you enjoy it. Or if you hate my stories then share them with someone you hate, I don’t care. So without further ado…
This first piece is one I did a year ago for a friend’s birthday. It’s like 13 pages so if you don’t like long stories then you should really pick up a book once a year or if you don’t have the time then skip to one of the other stories.
Birthday Wishes: The Case of the Birthday Demon
By: Eliasaph Anderson
“Today’s November 22nd and I still have nothing for Lauren’s birthday. I need a really awesome present, but I have no clue what the heck I should get.” I said frustratingly. This was a serious matter. Lauren threw me a birthday party for my birthday and I’m getting her pictures of Tucson. I can do way better than pictures. I don’t even take good pictures. All of those thoughts were rushing through my head.
“How about you get her a book or take Becca’s suggestion and buy her that Ed Sheeran record?” Saturn suggested. Saturn’s a half dragon, half human friend of mine that I’ve known since forever. For 518 years old, she looks like a super model with blonde hair and red highlights. She never leaves my side, which can get kind of annoying. She was sitting on top of my bed as I was pacing through my dorm room. For a dorm, it was pretty spacious. As you enter, there are two beds and desks on opposite sides of the room. Both beds are positioned along the side walls with the desks at the end. The bed immediately in front of the door belonged to my roommate with his desk stationed along the side wall at the foot of the bed and a water tower with a half full water jug on top adjacent to the desk. To the wall on the right side of the room was my bed with my desk at the foot facing my bed instead of the wall. In-between the beds, at the back wall, sat my dresser with my 24 inch T.V. and PS3 on top. I paced in the area in-between the beds along the green carpeted floor.
“Calm down, Maze, you’ll think of something,” Izzy replied. Izzy is the ultimate genius of the group. He’s a spiky, red haired super nerd with a talent for working with machines. “Besides, it’s not like you can just ask her what present you should get her. You did that and she told you to send her pictures and nothing else.” Izzy had a good point, as always, which gave me an idea.
“Prodigious! Izzy once again, you’ve proven that you are a remarkable genius. I can’t ask my Lauren what she wants, again, however, she isn’t the only Lauren I can ask.” I said with such excitement because I did in fact have another Lauren to ask.
“You can’t ask T.Z. Lauren! That’s cheating!” Saturn shouted how much of a bad idea that was. It was kind of cheating, but very much a great idea. “Why isn’t it enough to just get her the pictures? Why must you make everything so extravagant? It’s just unnecessary.”
“It’s necessary because she’s my friend, she gave me my first surprise birthday party, she was there for me last winter break, and she was the first one to make me not hate my birthday for one year. I need to pay her back and make her birthday wonderful. I do the same thing for all of my best friends whether it’s buy a present or take you all out to lunch or just buy a cake.” This was very important to me, but sense I actually didn’t know Lauren as much as I thought at the time, it was hard to get her a present without T.Z. Lauren’s help. Perhaps, I should explain. T.Z. stands for Twilight Zone, ergo, Twilight Zone Lauren is a different version of Lauren. T.Z. Lauren is actually a Lauren from another world similar to Earth, but in another dimension entirely. The gang has been to that world before and are able to go back and forth between that world and Earth whenever we want thanks to Izzy’s portal. It’s a little complicated and I don’t have time to explain everything.
“Ok sure go ahead,” consented Saturn, though, not all that thrilled about it. All three of us left the room and walked over to the women’s plaza down the street. It was around 6pm so not many kids were walking about, especially not around the plaza. It was the perfect place to hide an underground lab with a giant dimensional portal. The plaza was a large circle of connecting gray rock archways with women’s names engraved on the top of each. In the middle was a spiral made of different colored, shiny rocks. Like really shiny. We stepped in the middle of the spiral while Izzy tapped the ground in a pattern of the How I Met Your Mother theme song and then the area we were standing on lowered underground like an elevator.
Izzy’s lab is amazing, but it’s not just a lab, it’s also one of our bachelor pads. I like to think of it as our teenage and not-so-gloomy bat cave. I call it the Renegade Den also known as the KK Den. Renegade Den because in this world, we’re a group of masked vigilantes called the Renegades. KK Den because to us and the ones who know who we really are, we’re the Keyblade Kids. Yes, both titles were my idea. Getting the whole world to call us the Renegades wasn’t easy but it worked. Our den has a huge flat screen T.V. with all the latest game consoles and a bookshelf with numerous games and movies. Surrounding the T.V. are two red sofas and two black egg shaped gaming chairs. Behind the lounge area was the kitchen, not much has to be said about that, and at the back of the den is the lab with the garage further behind that. The huge, grey, oval shaped dimensional portal was to the left of the lab. You know, that giant ring with a whole bunch of wires sticking out and the small step ladder attached to it, so people can walk through.
It didn’t take long for Izzy to finish preparing the gateway with all the coordinates set. Saturn gave me my sword and pistols and I went through the portal. Twilight Zone Winchester is much different than our Winchester. Instead of a small city it’s a huge city. It’s like New York City without the super busy traffic and it has a giant college called Winchester University. Handley is still the same, except for the fact that the campus is bigger. I came out the portal in the T.Z. Keyblade Kids hideout. This base however has a wall for their weapons and outfits instead of a room. There were also a bunch of decorations and a huge white table full of food. Everyone was preparing for some kind of party. “Hey, cool Maze is here!” Sam shouted across the room. Even in this world the guys still make fun of me. This time it wasn’t me they were making fun of but rather T.Z. me.
“Hi Maze!” Everyone shouted. I mean everyone as in Sam, Andrew, Maze, Jose, Ben, Austin, and Brett.
“What’s going on here guys?” I asked.
“We’re preparing Lauren’s 20th birthday party.” Ben replied. “While we’re preparing Blaire is distracting Lauren by taking her shopping at the mall.”
“Yeah, but they’re almost done and Blaire doesn’t know what else to do to keep Lauren from coming here.” Andrew sounded very concerned by this. No one had any clue how else they were going to stall Lauren.
“Groovy, I just came to get Lauren’s help with something.” At the moment I said that, they all smiled at me.
“Maze, you’re gonna need to distract Lauren for us while we finish,” T.Z. Maze said with a giant smirk on his face. I agreed since I needed to talk to Lauren anyway, so it was a win-win.
“Sure, but I’m going to need your car and license,” I told Maze. He gave me his keys and I transformed and rolled out. Shut up, I’m telling the story. Anyway, I drove Maze’s black and blue ’67 Camaro, Lilith, which is the same as my Camaro back home, to the Apple Blossom mall just to catch Lauren and Blaire leaving the mall. I parked in the lot and waved them over. It was freezing outside, but luckily I wore jeans, sneakers, a t-shirt, and my leather jacket over my spring jacket. Even though I came prepared, I was still cold.
“Hey, Maze!” Shouted Blaire as she ran up and hugged me with a bunch of bags in her hands from her shopping conquest. Lauren greeted me and hugged me next with her hundreds of shopping bags. It was odd that Lauren just hugged me like that, usually when I want a hug I have to ask for it. There are rare moments when Lauren actually hugged without me asking, but this wasn’t my Lauren so the rules were different. “So, why are you here, Maze?”
“I came to get Lauren’s help with a dilemma I was in. If you guys aren’t too busy.” I stared at Blaire with this look saying that I was tagging her out for today and luckily she understood. I’m pretty sure my Blaire wouldn’t.
“Oh no, we just finished shopping and were going to drop these bags off at the lair.” Blaire replied.
“What did you need my help with?” Lauren asked concerned.
“It’s nothing major, I just wanted your help getting your counterpart a present for her 18th birthday.”
“Sure, I’ll help. Do you wanna go now or can I drop these bags off with Blaire first?”
“Oh no it’s ok if you go with Maze and he can drop you off at your house while you help him with whatever he has to do. I’ll just meet you both at the lair and ask the others about dancing.” Good thing Blaire is quick to react or else Lauren would’ve gone to the lair way too early. Blaire was already in her car ready to leave.
“Ok then, I guess we should go look for that present.” With Lauren’s agreement, Blaire left and I helped Lauren stuff her bags in the back of the Camaro. We went to the skating rink because I wanted to have some fun to celebrate Lauren’s 20th birthday. The indoor rolling skating rink wasn’t packed but it was booming with music and lights flashing everywhere and tons of loud people running all around. We sat at the food counter to talk a bit. “So you’re trying to find the perfect present for the other me’s 18th birthday? Why don’t you get her what she asked for?” She looked at me with a questioning glare.
“I am, but I want to get her something better than just pictures of my school. However, I’m stumped on what I should get. I’ve received multiple suggestions but I’m not sure which the best is.”
“Aren’t you cheating by asking me what you should get me?” She laughed as she said it like I was doing something stupid.
“You girls are all the same, you know that? Saturn said the same thing. But, no, it’s not cheating, it’s genius. C’mon, will you please help me?” I had this huge smile on my face and couldn’t help but chuckle at the fact that she thought what I was doing was cheating.
“Yea I’ll help you. However, first, you have to do something for me.” She kept laughing like she had something not so fun in mind. “I want you to help me with a case.” I was shocked. That’s what she wanted, just some detective investigation? I can definitely do that. You see, T.Z. Lauren works at the Winchester police department. Ben and his dad actually are detectives there and takes care of all of the demon related cases. Ben got Lauren to work there as his assistant because of her analytical prowess and the fact that they used to date. Lauren was more interested in helping in the forensics department because it taught her more about being a doctor, but she’s given her own small cases to work once in a while and she loves it.
“Sure thing. I can totally do that. What’s the case?” Now I was excited. Not only do I get help retrieving the perfect gift, but I get to help solve a case and kill some demons.
“This past week, people have randomly turned crazy and have attacked everyone and destroyed everything near them. In some cases, witnesses have reported that the people turned into enormous, black monsters. All that I’ve been able to find out is that this incidents happen between sundown and midnight, the longest event lasted half an hour, and that each person turns back to normal and remembers nothing of their madness, like they were brainwashed. Nothing else makes sense. The times of the incidents are random, these people have nothing in common, and there’s no evidence that says that they were controlled physically or anything.” She suddenly became very serious and I could tell she was really in a rut.
“Yep, this seems like a demon case, but it’s not one I’ve ever dealt with before. This demon must be new and very powerful. Have you asked Ben to help you?” As soon as I asked, I regretted it. Lauren became super mad and then depressed within 2 seconds. I get she was still not over the break-up.
She replied in a much sadder voice, “we were working together at first, but I just couldn’t take it, he’s not the same, too much to deal with.” I didn’t understand, Ben has been my best friend since preschool and he’s always been nothing but a great guy. However, in my world, we separated after preschool and I never saw him again, but in this world, Ben has always been Twilight Zone Maze’s best friend and is also a great guy, but is more silent. As I was told, he and Lauren were great together and he was the happiest guy alive and wasn’t his gloomy silent self. Why they broke up, I have no idea but it was a sore topic at that moment so I did the only thing I could.
“Let’s go skating, dance a little, have some fun.” I put on my skates, grabbed Lauren’s hand, and pulled her over to the rink. I also did the dumbest thing I could, like that’s new. I jumped right onto that wooden floor, flipped back, and fell on my butt. It hurt so freakin much I grunted, “son of a bitch,” though not low enough that Lauren still heard it. She burst into a laugh that lasted so long, I heard the entire song, Centuries by Fall Out Boy, stood up and rubbed my butt until it was comfortable enough to skate around, stared at her with narrowed eyes, and skated one lap around the rink until she finally stopped because she was then on the floor laughing and blabbing about how much her stomach was hurting. I fell on purpose to make her laugh but I wasn’t expecting that. The things I do for my friends, I thought as I rolled my eyes. That day was not the day for me, but then again; what day was?
We skated around for a good 2 hours and ate some chili cheese fries until, an incident occurred. A woman screamed from the other side of the rink, “Help! There’s a monster near the bathroom!” We dashed to the bathrooms to see the monster cornering the screaming woman by the vending machines. I left my weapons in the car so instead I yelled,
“Hey, ugly your mother is a monkey!” The creature slowly turned around and roared at me. It wasn’t until then that I actual observed the demon. It was black, huge, had short hind legs, tall front legs, and its face creeped me out. It had two scary yellow eyes, ears like a bat, and a mouth like a predator from Aliens vs Predator. Demons like these scared the holy bejesus out me. This is why I absolutely hate scary movies, I don’t even want to touch a scary movie because it might transfer this creeper into my dreams. After it roared, Lauren and I ran so fast I thought time slowed down.
“Really!? You call it’s mom a monkey!?” Lauren shouted.
“Monkeys are ferocious little beasts!” I yelled back, but I knew that was not what she meant. We ran back towards the food counter and faced the approaching abomination. Lauren took out some knives from her brown, high heeled boots and threw them at the demon’s eyes. Only one managed to hit, but once it did she then fired her pistol at it which must have come out of her holster under her leather jacket. She shot half a round, but it did no good, the demon kept coming. I needed my sword, though, it was blocking our way to the entrance. I looked at Lauren and gave her an “I’m ready” look and ran towards the demon. Lauren shot at it to distract it as I slid under the giant as it swiped its arm at me. As I was relieved it missed me, I was still scared because now it was chasing me out of the building. It completely destroyed the glass doors.
“Over here you behemoth!” Yelled Lauren as she shot at it. I finally made it to the Camaro and grabbed my sword from the back seat. When I got to the ally Lauren led the demon into, I saw her throwing two glimmering boomerangs at it. They were blue and silver boomerangs that left a trail of snowflakes whenever they were thrown. They were pretty but they were also very deadly because they are so sharp, they could cut skin like it was butter and if hit by them they would also freeze you. She must have pulled them out of those pockets attached to her jeans. I have no idea where she kept all of those weapons on her without people noticing. Though her attacks were actually affecting the beast, it was still slowly charging toward her and she was cornered. I unsheathed my blade and charged at the demon. I climbed up its back and jumped off his head. It was a Marth flip from smash bros., took me a while to master, but super cool when it works. I came falling down facing the demon and slammed the flat side of my sword on top of its head. As I landed on the ground, the demon collapsed and made a huge rumble. As I stood up, Lauren shouted, “Maze, watch out for-,”
“Ouchies!” I shouted. I then realized what the end of that sentence was. “Watch out for the boomerang.” It sliced my left arm and frosted the area. It hurt so much I thought I was having a sickle cell attack. “Really?! You couldn’t have not thrown it as I was attacking the stupid demon?”
“Well, I wasn’t the idiot who jumped on the demon as I was attacking it. You didn’t even warn me.”
“If I did, then that thing wouldn’t have been distracted, would it?” She stared at me with a judging look on her face. “Could you stop thinking I’m an idiot and please fix the wound your killer boomerang gave me?” She pulled out this vial from her boomerang pouch with a crystal like liquid. She poured a little on my scar and the frost melted away along with the pain. After bandaging it she asked,
“What are we going to do with that thing?” After her question, the monster shrunk down back to a human 20 year old guy.
“Well, that answers your question, I guess we take him back to the roller rink.” We picked the guy up and dragged him back inside the rink where a girl had recognized him.
“Oh Chase,” she gasped and ran over to us while we laid him on the floor. “What happened to him?” A question I couldn’t answer clearly, but I tried my best.
“Unfortunately, he drank something from the vending machine that caused him to go out of control. We found him passed out outside. You should call an ambulance quick, to make sure he didn’t hurt himself.” Lucky for me she didn’t ask any other questions and called 911. After her call, it was time to ask her some questions about this Chase guy.
“Do you know if there was any other reason why your boyfriend may have gone crazy? Just in case it wasn’t the soda from the vending machine.” She looked at me when she said the last part. Like she had a better lie to tell.
Now the lady was starting to cry, “No I don’t. We just came to celebrate his birthday and he went to the bathroom for a little bit. I realized he was taking a while in there and his cake was ready, so I went to check on him and then the monster came out and started attacking me.” She was down in tears now, still scared of her monstrous boyfriend attacking her. “I thought that monster had done something to Chase, but when some people went in to check, he wasn’t in there.”
“It’s alright now, the monster is gone and your boyfriend is safe and sound. There is nothing to worry about.” Lauren quickly consoled the woman and we went to the car to sort out our situation. “Well, that wasn’t very helpful, this incident happened exactly like all the others, we having nothing to go on.” She was super bummed. Though she still missed the most important clue. I drove to the precinct and dragged her to her desk to view the case files. “Why are we here?” She was so not on her game that I was becoming irritated and blunt Maze was about to burst, but I remained patient.
“I think we need to look at these files again, who knows maybe something’s missing.” I smile as I sort the victim files in a way that you could clearly see the shared birthdays. It took a while but she finally found it.
“Oh look! These victims all had these incidents on their birthdays! I can’t believe you didn’t see that!” She slapped my arm playfully because she was excited. I was about to blow it when I remembered that she was going through some things and it was her birthday so I let it go.
“Jeez, for being a young detective best known for her analyzing and observation skills, I can’t believe you didn’t see it before, but you’re amazing.” I put just enough sarcasm in there that she didn’t notice. Just after that moment a lady made an announcement on Lauren’s police radio.
“There is a 217 at the Fairaday Apartments on Cork and Cameron. Wife going rogue at birthday party.” And that was our cue to drive over to the apartments. By the way, a 217 is police scanner code for an assault with intent to murder. Just as we rolled up, a huge black figure burst through an eighth story window falling toward my car. I screamed out,
“Not the car, not the car, please not my car!” And thankfully it didn’t land on Lilith, but the car next to it. This demon was basically, a black praying mantis with bigger and sharper claws. The demon quickly ran down the street while attempting to slice at anyone whom had been running out of its way. Lauren looked at me and asked,
“‘Not my car?’ That thing could’ve hurt innocent civilians and you ask it to not hurt your car?”
“What? Lilith is very important to me and I do not want her getting hurt. Is that so wrong?”
“There is something extremely wrong with you. I think you’re insane.”
I laughed, “Like no one has ever told me that.”
“Let’s just capture this monster and hopefully find out what is causing this mayhem.” Lauren started running down the street when I suddenly got this strange, dark vibe. It was coming from the apartment rooftops, however, when I looked up there was nothing.
“You go ahead, I’ll catch up!” Lauren just kept running so I assumed she heard me and hurried to the roof. I found a figure standing at the edge of the hotel where Lauren was fighting the mantis demon. I found it odd they didn’t get that far, but wever. Anyway, I pulled out my sword and got the figure’s attention, “Don’t worry, just stand right there and I’ll end it quickly.” The figure turned around and it surprised me to find that it was Ben in a black cloak, a red and black jacket, black jeans, and red and black sneakers. “Seriously? You’re like a red Nightwing spying on Batgirl because you don’t think she can handle herself.” For those who clearly don’t pay attention when I educate you in comic book trivia, Nightwing is the older Dick Grayson who dated Barbara Gordon, who became Batgirl and when she did, Dick became crazy protective and was against her becoming a superhero.
“I had to. She might not have wanted me working with her, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have her back whenever she gets in trouble.” I knew he was hurting inside even though he was trying to seem like he was alright.
“You’re still depressed about the breakup, she didn’t want you on the case, so you’re helping her behind the scenes so she cracks the case and feels good about herself, while you make sure she doesn’t get hurt. C’mon, Ben, I’m not that much of an idiot, get your head out of your ass and help your ex fight that demon.” Just as he was about to reply,
“Or you can both die right here,” said a creepy voice that sounded like there was a sub-voice also talking at the same time. That terrible vibe immediately came back and it was coming from an ugly, black lion-man demon with a silver mane. Okay, that demon wasn’t very ugly, it actually looked freakin sweet. Ben ran up to me and said,
“If you’re the demon causing all of these incidents then I can’t wait to kick your ass.” I looked at him and back at the demon and just went with it.
“Yea what he said,” I said as I readied my blade.
Lion guy just laughed and said, “Unfortunately, I’m not done hunting for my prey yet, so I’ll leave you two with my colleagues.” Then twelve regular mutated zombie men demons appeared around us and silver lion jumped off the roof. I slashed and hacked at the small fry while Ben just put six bullets through six demons in one second.
“Well, that was easy. Nice shooting Quick Draw.” Ben put his pistols back in their holsters and hi fived me.
“You continue helping Lauren and I’ll track down that demon.” He ran off the roof before I could even say anything. I got a phone call from Lauren telling me to meet her at the Camaro.
“Where did you go?” She asked as she was leaning against Lilith, arms folded, and a mix of anger and a tiny bit of concern. I felt more scared of her than the lion demon.
“I found the demon causing all this on top of the roof, but it got away. How was your demon chase?”
“You found it?! And it was easy, I froze it and it turned back into a normal woman soon after.”
“Groovy smoothies. Anyway, yea I did.” I told her about everything that transpired on the roof, except I left Ben completely out of the story. Better not to mention that he had been secretly watching hear. Once I thought about it, I realized that was kinda stalker-ish. It was going on 7 p.m. and we were lost. We couldn’t do anything until another incident occurred, so I proposed a new plan. “How about we wait until the demon comes for you and then we’ll kill it?” She didn’t take it well,
“I should shoot you,” she said. I laughed nervously. Of course she would say that, most girls get angry when I use them as bait. How many times have I done it? Many. Some girls know they’re bait, others do not, the ones that don’t usually slap me if they do find out. Either way, no girl likes the idea of being bait for dangerous monsters.
“I understand that, however, this thing is going after birthday guys and girls and you’re most likely next on the list, so when lion guy comes after you, we kill that birthday disaster. Sound good?” She stared at me, sighed, and finally said,
“No, that is a terrible idea, but it is the only one we have so fine.” With that, we went back to the lair and surprised Lauren with her party. She was super excited. Everyone was there and dressed in suites and dresses. Somehow Ben made it there before us and dressed as well. Lauren left to suit up in one of her new dresses.
The party was amazing. The disco lights, yellow and blue balloons, a Squirtle cake, songs by Ed Sheeran and The Supremes, and lots of food. I was scarfing down some chicken nuggets when Lauren walked back into the room wearing a red and silver spiral cocktail dress with her silver high heeled shoes. Her shiny light brown hair flowing in the air, her brown eyes sparkling like diamonds. I almost stopped chewing my food the moment I laid eyes on her.
“You get a good look there, buddy?” Asked Ben as he patted my back. I almost choked when he did it.
“Me? Yea I’m peachy keen. I’m sorry for staring, I’m just an idiot.” He laughed. I was actually worried he would be kind of angry, instead he laughed.
“It’s cool bro, I don’t blame you.”
“Groovy.” Lauren came over and asked what we were talking about and we just laughed. She didn’t understand, but she didn’t need to. We all chatted, shared some drinks, ate, danced, and joined in Andrew’s terrible singing of numerous songs. We had a blast. Once it started getting really late, I knew it was time for a chat. I pulled Lauren aside and asked her, “Have you figured out what I should get for my Lauren?”
“I’ve thought about it and yes, I have the perfect present.”
“And…….” I waited for her answer.
“Honesty.” I looked at her like she wasn’t making sense because well,
“You’re not making any sense. What now?”
“Honesty. Be truthful with Lauren. Be a true friend to her.” I was still confused.
“I’ll say it again. What now?”
“Be a true friend, Maze. You’re still not very close to Lauren because you’re scared.” I was scared now, I didn’t know where she was going with that. “You wonder why you’re not as close of a friend to Lauren as you are everyone else because you don’t want to be. You don’t share all your feelings with her, you refuse to let her know everything about you and your life, and you just use her to dump your problems on so you feel better.” As I listened to her rant, I grasped that she was right. When I first met Lauren, she was just this awesome comic book loving girl who I barely knew and liked chatting with. As I continued to hang out with her, I told her secrets I never told my closest friends. Meanwhile, we rarely hung out. We talked every once in a while and went to the movies every four months or so. I was in a dark place when I was with Lauren, but after I became happier, I hung out with her less. I truly wasn’t a good friend to Lauren. Just like everything else, I was too scared to get close to someone. Let them know the real me. “For her gift, be a real friend to not just her, but everyone. Stop being so distant and stupid and let go of yourself. Of your past, your fears, your doubts, and be with your true friends. That’s the present you should give.” I just stood there, astonished. I’ve been in college for only a semester at that time and I was lonely. I missed all of my friends back home while I was off on a crazy adventure looking for one. I learned that semester, that my friends and family in that quiet little town were all I needed in the world for me to feel like I was at my perfect home.
“Saturn has to stop talking to you, you know that?” She stared at me while Longest Time by Billy Joel played in my head. “But, you’re right, like always. I know what I need to do.” At that time, my bad vibe erupted as Lauren almost passed out. We knew that lion head was nearby and it was time to go hunting. We drove out to the Winchester University Gym and prepared for the demon to show.
“Nice for you to trap yourselves for me. It makes it easier to capture my prey,” silver lion said in that creepy 2 person voice. A swarm of zombie looking demons surrounded us with the big cheese watching from afar. Lauren and I looked at each other and nodded. We charged in and kicked demon butt with no weapons. They were easy, why not have fun? Anyway, I punched a few in the gut and roundhouse kicked some others. Lauren just flipped all over the place, kicking skulls one after another. After a bit it got tiring, so I shot at a bunch with my guns and Lauren sliced the heads off the rest with her boomerangs.
“Give it up, birthday demon, you’re next,” said Lauren with total seriousness. I understood why. It was 11:30 p.m. meaning that we only had an hour left to finally kill that son of a bitch. The lion-man just laughed.
“You have it all wrong, you are next.” He paused and as he transformed to an uglier form of himself with four arms wielding swords and a huge split mouth with drool seeping out, he added, “On the menu tonight. You see I’ve been turning humans into demons to rebuild our army while also searching for the perfect human to eat. And you little runt will taste quite delicious.” He said all of that as he slowly inched toward us.
“She’s small, but not that small,” I added, I wasn’t sure what else to say, I had no insults at the time. Lauren just looked at me with displeasure.
“Why on people’s birthdays? Why only during their birthday?” She was thinking of a plan I’m sure. Either that or she was just curious.
“Because birthdays are when extreme emotions come out. Whether of joy or sadness or anger, those emotions make it easier to create demons and make human flesh taste very delicious.” His explanation just creeped me out even more. So much that I just wanted to hurry up and kill him, so I didn’t have to look at his ugly face anymore. It was like looking at a mangled puppy or Andrew’s face. Actually, Andrew’s face was worse. Out of nowhere, Lauren collapsed. Darkness was jutting right out of her body and as she rose, her hair turned black, a purple and black scythe appeared in her hand and her eyes turned yellow. Unfortunately, she just turned into a demon. A powerful one at that. I was greatly confused because the somewhat lion demon attacked her although she was a demon. I guess she changed because of the lion’s power of turning birthday people into demons, meanwhile, Lauren was different because she was a little in control of her demon self. She not only tried to kill the birthday demon, but me as well.
I had my sword drawn and blocked all of Lauren’s swings of her scythe as I attacked the demon as well. It was a battle royal throughout the gym. After a while of dodging and striking at the demon, it was able to knock demon Lauren to the ground, too tired to get up. I then faced the four sword wielding demon myself. It was hard. I jumped and dodge rolled around it, but there was no shaking that thing. I was immobilized with blocking two of its swords’ attacks. Lion face was about to end me when I saw a scythe cut the demon’s head clean off and the body dissipated into black smoke. From the smoke, Lauren walked my way, looking for another kill. I readied myself to keep fighting when all the darkness inside Lauren also dissipated, reverting her back to normal. “Whew, that was a hell of a lot of fun. And weird at the same time.” I made a questioning look at what she just said.
“You try to kill me and say that was fun? And you said I was crazy.” She just laughed. There wasn’t much left to say after that I guess, so I laughed as well. I walked over to her, fist bumped her, and said, “Well, we did it with 1 minute to spare, but this case is officially closed.” We got our things and went back to enjoying the rest of Lauren’s birthday party. And that everyone is how Lauren and I spent her 20th birthday and how I found the perfect gift for Lauren’s 18th birthday.
“So you did what T.Z. Lauren told you and just became a better friend?” Ariella asked.
“And just gave Aunt Lauren the pictures she asked for?” Klaus chimed in. Sam, Jose, and Andrew didn’t say anything, but were also curious.
“Have you been paying attention at all? For 11 year old kids, you two are dumb,” I said with a chuckle. “Of course not. For Lauren’s birthday I gave her those pictures and an honorary Renegades jacket and access to our lair along with telling her the secret about the gang being the Renegades and all the adventures we’ve been on. Now that’s a birthday present.”
“Dad, you told us that long story with all of that random heartfelt stuff, just to tell us about your adventure getting a birthday present? You are crazy.” Ariella wasn’t a huge fan of the story, but I liked it. It was one of the good ones. Unfortunately, everyone else except for Sam agreed.
“What? You two wanted a bedtime story so you got one. Now, be good kids and go to sleep. And don’t you even think about firing your pistols at the wall.” They both moaned and went off to bed. As they did so, I stared at the picture of the Twilight Zone gang and myself at Lauren’s birthday party and continued to reminisce.