A/N: Happy Birthday Cat! May you have a great year! Ugh, that sounds lame. Anyway, I have a little challenge for the Cat Pack- see if you can count the references!
Cat's fingers gracefully danced across the keyboard as she typed the last few words of the latest chapter of Demicraft. She quickly uploaded the document and sent it into cyberspace, the "Your document has been sent" message displaying in emerald green. Hazel should be getting it soon.
Cat sat back and sighed. Today was her birthday, but nothing had happened. It seemed like the universe had forgotten about her.
She recalled the message that Hazel had sent her earlier.
Hey Cat! Happy Birthday!
Sorry I couldn't be with you. Working on a large project. Duty calls, and whatnot.
Have fun! I'll send virtual cake.
-Hazel
Hazel's "large project" must've been taking up a lot of her time. She had been working on it for weeks, and whenever Cat asked any questions, Hazel changed the subject. Very fishy.
"Hey, are we out of Lucky Charms?" A voice called from the kitchen of the small apartment.
Cat sighed and rolled her eyes. "I don't know. Why don't you go to the store and get some?" she called back.
"One problem." A teenaged boy with dark grown shaggy hair and brown eyes poked his head into the computer-filled room. "I'm broke."
Cat fished a twenty out of her wallet. "There. Knock yourself out, Ty. I'm going for a run."
She shut down the computer, grabbed her sneakers, and stepped out into the stale afternoon air.
Earbuds in, Cat jogged for a good half hour, long enough for her to work up a sweat and run off her emotions.
When she returned, Cat took a quick shower and changed into a t-shirt and sweatpants. She then checked her email.
"Junk, spam, ad, ad, junkā¦" her eyes drifted to a fanfiction alert. The subject line was "New PM: Pnut9282". Cat double clicked on the box.
Hazel's message contained a few cryptic words.
Hey Cat, I could really use your help! Could you come down to the old barn on Elm Street?"
Cat clicked out of the email. She should probably go and help.
The girl left a quick note on the kitchen table for Ty, put on her converses, and grabbed the car keys.
The old, broken down barn was as creepy as ever. The outside probably used to be a bright shade of red, but years of weather hadn't been kind to the structure.
Cat strolled up to the yellowed barn door and knocked.
No answer.
She tried again, louder.
Again, nothing
The girl finally tried the door. It was open.
The barn was pitch black.
"Hello?" Cat called out into the inky blackness.
Suddenly, she was blinded by all of the lights turned on at once.
"Surprise!"
A chorus of voices resounded throughout the barn. Hazel and Ty were standing in front of a giant array of monitors, each displaying a smiling face and a username underneath. Budder balloons floated near the ceiling.
Hazel didn't give Cat a chance to react. "Happy birthday Cat!" She wrapped the surprised teenager in a large hug.
"What is all this?" Cat asked, flabbergasted.
"It's your birthday present!" Ty walked up beside Hazel. "Welcome to the headquarters!"
"Yep, you can communicate with everyone here!" Hazel beamed.
Cat was elated. "Thank you guys so much!"
After an hour or so of cake, chatting, laughing, and referencing, the party started winding down. One by one, the faces on the screens signed off. Soon it was only the three friends in the barn.
"I should probably be getting home." Hazel smiled, moving towards the barn door.
She was almost out when the girl suddenly turned around. She looked like she was going to say something, but stopped. "Happy birthday Cat."
A/N: Yep! Happy birthday, and May you have an awesome year! Nope, still sounds lame. Anyway, I don't know what I would have done without you, and I hope that we can stay Best Fanfiction Friends!
