Chapter 32

After all of that, I raced home to make sure that Grandma was alright. I knocked on the door, and Grandma answered. "Ivy!" she exclaimed, giving me a hug. "You're okay!"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said. "Are you okay?"

"I'm not okay!" Maya shouted from inside the house. "I promise!"

I ignored her and asked the same question to Grandma again. "The demons didn't come into our house," she answered. "We're very lucky. The Zhangs' house burnt down. I'm going to bake some cookies for them. If either of you would like to help, you can."

"Sure, I'll help," Maya said. "Well, as long as I get to pick the music that we listen to while we make the cookies."

"I'll pass," I said. "I'm tired, and I have work tomorrow."

I went up to my room, and immediately crashed onto my bed. My seventeenth birthday had somehow managed to be exhausting, terrifying, and thrilling all at once, and I loved it.

The next day, I woke up early to go to work. When I got there, Rosie had me take pictures of the damage around Cedar Creek. I saw that the demons had caused all kinds of chaos throughout the town. Many of the houses had been broken into and a few had been destroyed. Statues had been toppled and several trees had been uprooted. Thankfully, all of the citizens of Cedar Creek were fine, but we all were fortunate. If this were to happen again, we probably wouldn't be so lucky.

I spotted Adam on the way home from work, but he was too busy redoing all of the work that had been undone by the attack to talk to me. He promised that he would talk to me later in the week though.

When I finally got home, Maya greeted me at the door. "I'm going to the park again with Henri, Jack, and Raj," she said. "Do you want to come?"

"Sure," I said. I followed Maya to the park, and when we got there, we saw that the boys were already there. "Hi everyone," I said.

"Hello Ivy," Henri said.

"Maya!" Raj exclaimed. "You're okay!"

"I thought I texted you that," Maya said. "Did you give Ivy her gift?"

"Yeah, she really liked it," Jack said. "The demons kind of ruined everything though."

"It wasn't that bad," I said. "At least I had an exciting birthday."

"Not in a good way," Henri said. "That was scary. What if Anthony comes back?"

"That would be terrifying, but we could get rid of him," Raj said.

"I bet he looks like Brendon Urie by now," Maya said.

"That makes no sense," Jack said. "Anthony didn't look like Brendon Urie before, so how could he look like him now?"

Maya didn't really have an answer for that. "Uh...I don't know," she said. "Some of those demons did look like Brendon in Emperor's New Clothes."

"You keep talking about that video," I said. "I don't think you know what it means."

"Did you just reference The Princess Bride?" Henri said. He gave me a high five and then said, "That's my favorite movie!"

"It's one of my favorites too," I said. "It's just so quotable!"

"Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die," both of us said simultaneously.

"Oh, I love that movie!" Henri exclaimed.

"I've never seen it," Jack said.

"Inconceivable!" I shouted.

"Really Jack?" Maya said. "You've never seen The Princess Bride?"

"I haven't," Jack said.

"We're making you see it," I said. "Consider it revenge. You did drag me to that bookstore once."

"This actually sounds fun," Jack said. "Maybe not as fun as the bookstore, but it will still be entertaining."

"I'm still trying to figure out how you've been friends with all of us for so long without having seen The Princess Bride," Maya said.

"I went this long without listening to emo music," Jack said. "Speaking of emo music, did you know that Pete Wentz and Patrick Stump hold the world record for highest number of interviews done by a duo in twenty four hours?"

"Of course I knew that," Maya said.

"Can we get back on topic?" Raj said.

"What were we talking about earlier?" I asked.

"The demon attack yesterday!" Raj exclaimed.

"I'm scared," Maya said. "Anyone from Hell could come back and attack us, right? What if Hitler comes next time?!"

"Relax Maya," Raj said. "I seriously doubt that Adolf Hitler is going to attack some random town in Iowa Sector."

"We should be prepared just in case," Jack said. "Let's see how many of us would be targeted by Hitler if he were to come back. Are any of you Jewish?"

"I'm not Jewish, but my dad and my grandma are Jewish," Maya said.

"If I'm remembering correctly, which I think I am, then you would be considered a Jew by Hitler," Jack said.

"That makes no sense," Maya said. "I worship the Holy Emo Trinity."

"Well, that's Hitler logic for you," Jack said. "Not to mention that you're mixed race, and Hitler disapproved of racial mixing. I'm sorry Maya, but if Hitler attacks Cedar Creek, you're probably going to be one of the first to go. Are any of you Romani? Polish? Jehovah's Witnesses?"

"No," all of us said.

"Communists? Disabled? Homosexuals?" Jack said. "Oh wait, that's me."

"And me," Henri said.

"I think we're both going to die if Hitler comes back," Jack said.

"Will Ivy and I be okay?" Raj asked.

"Well, Hitler did put some people in concentration camps for 'having Asiatic features,' so Hitler would hate you too," Jack said.

"Seriously?" Raj said. "So we're all going to die if Hitler breaks out of Hell and attacks us?"

"Yes, I believe so," Jack said. "But did you know that Hitler was rejected from art school twice? Between the five of us, maybe we can paint a better picture than him or something."

"I'm horrible at art," Maya said.

"Me too," I said. "I like photography, but I can't paint to save my life."

"Jack, you've seen my art projects," Henri said. "I almost failed art in Sec 1!"

"What's that?" I asked.

"First year of secondary school," Henri said. "The schools in Quebec are different."

"Sec 1 is like seventh grade, right?" Jack said.

"I think so," Henri said. "Anyways, I'm a horrible artist."

"So maybe we couldn't paint a better picture than Hitler," Jack said. "We're screwed."

"Except for me," I said.

"Except for Ivy," Jack agreed. "Although Hitler might try to kill you just because you're friends with all of us."

"What are you talking about?" Maya said. "I'm not friends with her!"

"Fine," Jack said. "You're friends with Raj, Henri, and I. That's still enough of an excuse for Hitler to kill you. Remember, we're talking about one of the most despicable people ever to exist. Honestly, I doubt that any of this is going to happen. He's probably in some maximum security torture chamber in Hell right now."

"J'espère," Henri said.

"It's getting kind of late," Raj said. "I'm going to have to get going."

"We have to leave too," Henri said. "I need to practice for my concert tomorrow. Goodbye everyone!"

"Bye," I said. Maya had put her headphones in, so I went over to the swings and started swinging. It felt nice to be high up in the air. It reminded me of when Chloe and I used to go to the park together when we were in elementary school.

Just the thought of Chloe brought back a wave of emotion. I wished that I was alive and hanging out with her instead of Maya. Maybe we had mistreated the other kids at our school, but we had some innocent, wonderful memories together too.

I just missed life.