Chapter 1

Happy Birthday

That's what the sign read as I entered the dining room area. It was a large banner we had gotten to make birthdays here just a little more cheery in the caves. Birthdays meant a lot here. They weren't just another year of life, but another years in our bodies.

It was a big deal to the humans to keep their bodies, but this was the exception to their silly birthday concept. Because it wasn't a human's birthday, it was a soul's. So I guess if I followed their idea it would mean just another year of stealing a body from an innocent human.

But I was a soul. And a soul who belonged in these caves. A soul who wanted, and sometimes even needed, a human body.

I'd spent the better part of my day pulling weeds in the fields. The usual weed pickers weren't there, just Brant and Maggie today.

Which felt extremely odd to me because Maggie was in the kitchen most of the time. She loved cooking. It's where she belongs. But than why would she be in the fields?

Or better yet, what was keeping her from the kitchen?

Well, as I entered the dining area for lunch under the big Happy Birthday sign it became pretty obvious.

I saw all my friends gathered around a table. The table had brightly colored presents. And a cake that kinda resembled a soul, but it's the thought that counts.

They had tried to make the cake look like a soul: like me. But truth is since 3 years ago when we put Sunny back in not many souls had been brought back. It was just too risky, since we rarely got the bodies back.

But at least it was an oval shape colored silver and about 15 thread like tentacles. Besides, it can't be easy to make cake here anyway.

"Happy Birthday Wanda," they all shouted. Of course it was my bodies birthday, but I still didn't mind. They all thought I was 20 though, thanks to my little white lie long ago. But I was only 19. I didn't think it really mattered, but if I confessed now Ian and the others might be mad at me. I just wanted Ian to love me. Is that too much for me to ask?

I gasped naturally, since I actually wasn't expecting anyone to make a big deal over my birthday. They did it for everyone, but I'd never thought about them doing it for me.

Ian came up to me and gave me a big hug. It was a mixture of holding me tight and picking me up. I cuddled my head into his loving arms and smiled up at him. "Happy birthday Wanda," he said as he kissed my head and I giggled a little.

I slowly pulled away from him and faced the crowd. "Thank you everyone," I said to everyone, "This really means a lot and I love it. Thanks," I said, little tears of happiness forming at the side of my eyes. It all looked so beautiful and that people had worked so hard just for me. I don't know why, but I just loved it.

We went first and just socialized, kind of at like a human party. We made friends with people we didn't know, although most of us knew each other and talked about our days. Despite the constant work, we all seemed to have pretty good social lives inside the caves. And we seemed to have developed cliques so people were rarely all together talking.

There was the "Action" clique, as Kyle called it. That involved Mel, Jared, Ian, and Kyle. They would go to the soccer field on days off or in their spare time to rewind. Or Ian would come with me. I didn't like soccer still because this body was always too weak for me.

Then there was the soul crowd: me and Sunny mainly. Also we accepted any humans who wanted to hang out with us since it was our natural nature like that.

There were the cave leaders: Jeb, Doc, and Jared. Although, only Jeb and Doc were usually together planning ways to improve the caves. I think their newest idea is expanding the caves for more places to store food and sleep, but we have to be careful because Doc thinks it's possible that there's more lava. They go and have hour long council meetings deciding what to do and I attend because I'm the head of the souls. I make decisions relating to that and make my opinion when needed. But I don't really like attending the meetings anyway. I'm not fond of the power I have during those things.

There are the gossipers. They're leader is mainly Sharon so I'm not welcome there most of the time. She still doesn't like me despite all I've done to try to change that. I'm starting to think there's something more to her hate towards me. At first I thought it was because I'm a soul but she seems to love Sunny. I just can't remember anything negative I've done towards her.

Anyway, we were chatting at my party. Melanie came and hugged me and told me happy birthday. So did Jamie. I hugged Jamie back and he laughed as I ruffled his hair up. Jeb came and wished me a happy birthday too. He told me he had some big plans for me, but didn't say what. I thought about it for a few seconds but then got distracted with other things. Things like other people screaming "CAKE! CAKE! CAKE!" Which I knew Jamie must had started, he's always the first to line up for birthday cake.

We all had no choice but to start the cake after he had made a big deal about all of it. I cut it open and discovered it was vanilla on the inside. We all ate happily, although I made sure that Jamie got the first piece. Some boys are just so obsessed with cake. I think he'd rather have a slice of cake than a girlfriend at times. But that theory has not been tested yet. We haven't gotten a girl his age in the caves yet for him to even think about girls. But he his seventeen so I'm sure he does. Note to Self: Ask Mel if Jamie thinks about girls yet.

Then I opened presents. Mel and Jamie had made me a necklace out of beads. Sunny and Kyle(Although I think it was more Sunny's gift to me) had bought me a dress from when they were on their last raid. I remembered telling Ian I loved it once. But neither of us had been on the raid when they bought it, so I guess they had worked really hard.

The biggest surprise was that Ian didn't give me a gift. Not that he had to, but he loved me. The least he could have done was a card or a hug or something to show his love. I liked poetry; he could had written a poem to me. That brought a frown on my face that no one could cheer up, not even Ian.

It got about 4PM and Jeb had sent everyone to work again. My birthday was no excuse to stop the work. We both had agreed on that. I wanted to go and work but Mel wouldn't let me. She had dragged me into her room before I had a chance to question her.

She quickly undressed me and put my new dress on. She brushed my hair. I was quiet because I wasn't sure why she was, but I let her. She put my hair up in a ponytail tired by a single thick red ribbon and it looked nice. She put mascara and red lip stick on but I didn't know why. I asked her why I needed all of it and she said "You'll need the lipstick tonight, just trust me". I had almost asked why I needed my lips, but then I remembered how Ian loved to kiss me and more when we were alone. Not anything too far, but make out and cuddle. He couldn't help it. He's just a kisser. And so am I.

She started walking me down the halls and I had no idea what would happen next.