The next day was like any other, except that is was Beth's day off. So instead of staying home, they all went to Clifty Falls, the national park.
They hiked through the forest and near the small, beautiful waterfall.
Beelzemon was leaned over the short rock wall with had a plaque built on the top that had facts on the forest and fall. He was gawking over how far down it was to the small stream from where they were standing.
Alena crept up behind him. "Boo!" she shouted, then burst into a fit of giggles.
Beelzemon jumped violently, nearly falling over the edge of the wall. He actually slipped and fell on his stomach, knocking the air from his lungs in one painful breath.
"Beelzemon, you OK?" Lauren asked in alarm.
Beelzemon coughed in response.
Lauren pounded on his back until he regained his breath.
"Thanks." he said hoarsely.
Lauren smiled. "Sure thing."
Meanwhile, Beth was scolding her daughter. "Don't you ever do anything like that again! He could have fallen and gotten hurt!"
Alena had her head bowed. "Sorry." she mumbled.
"Sorry doesn't cut it!"
"Aw, cut her some slack, Mom," Beelzemon said. "She didn' mean any harm, didja?" he asked, looking down at Alena.
Alena shook her head.
"See?" He ruffled her hair. "She was just playin' around."
"But you still could've gotten seriously hurt!"
"Naw, I'm too tough ta get hurt from a little fall!" Beelzemon said, shaking his head. "So, where we off to now?"
"The car." Beth replied as she turned and started off in the direction they had come.
"Aw, we ain't going home yet, are we?" Lauren asked as she hurried after her mother carefully.
"No, not yet."
The three ended up driving around, visiting the small conservation building to examine the wall with four snakes in it and the turtles as well as the Viewing Room where people could watch birds and other small creatures feeding from a large feeder through a one-way window. They also visited the Clifty Falls Hotel, which had a gift shop in it. They all had fun, especially when Beelzemon scared the two lobbyists as well as a few other people.
After spending several hours at the park, they went home to eat dinner since Alena had been complaining of being hungry. All the time they ate, they talked about what they had seen and what they had wanted to buy from the gift shop.
When they had finished eating, Beth made the three take turns for a shower, much to their dismay.
Lauren worked on her Math homework while Beelzemon played more of Halo 2 since Alena was in the shower first.
The rest of the night was uneventful, except when Beelzemon died on the game and threw the controller at the TV, missing and cracking the entertainment center. This rewarded him with a sound scolding from Beth and the job of fixing it.
Around 1 in the afternoon, Beelzemon awoke. He played a bit more on the Xbox, but grew bored with dying. Instead he decided to sleep on one of the girls' bed. He lay down on Alena's bed.
The viral was confused about how hard the pillow felt. It was like there was something underneath it. Curious, he lifted the pillow to reveal a white binder with a black rose on the front. He pulled it out, looking it over. "Hm? What's this?"
Beelzemon opened the binder and started flipping through its contents. Most of it was pictures, but some was poetry. He lay carefully examining every picture, greatly interested. All the pictures were of a couple, the woman was tall, had waist long dark brown hair that was semi-straight, and had a beautiful figure and greenish-brown eyes. The man was taller than the woman by about three inches, short dirty blonde hair, deep brown eyes and a muscular build, usually both of them carried a gun or more. Sometimes the pictures were of both of them or of either of them.
Beelzemon was so engulfed in the pictures that he didn't notice when the girls returned home until Alena called out to her mother.
"Mom! We're home!"
Beelzemon quickly shut the binder and looked around for a place to stash it. He stuffed it back under the pillow, then tried looking nonchalant as Alena walked in the room.
"Hey, what are you doing in my room?" Alena asked.
"Nothin'!" Beelzemon said defensively.
Alena cocked an eyebrow. "OK..."
Beelzemon got up and walked from the room. He plopped down in one of the green armchairs to stare at the blank TV screen. Every now and again he would dare a glance down the hall at Alena.
"What's up with you?" Lauren asked, looking up from her homework. "You seem stressed."
Beelzemon shook his head. "It's nothin'."
"OK." Lauren went back to her homework.
Beelzemon looked down the hall to see that Alena was looking through the binder. He looked away just as she looked up. He turned on the television and began surfing through the channels.
Lauren paused writing every now and again to rub at her temples, wishing it would soothe away another of her irritating headaches.
"You want somethin' fer that?"
"Hm?" Lauren looked up at Beelzemon, puzzled. "Oh. No thanks. Nothing helps. I have bad posture, so I get these annoying headaches."
"What's posture gotta do with headaches?"
"The strain." Lauren replied simply, looking back down at her homework.
Beelzemon frowned, having not gotten the full answer to his question. He sighed and went back to watching TV.
Later, the group was sitting in the kitchen. Beth and Alena were teaching Lauren and Beelzemon how to play rummy, though neither were very good.
Halfway through the fourth game, the lights began to flicker and the microwave went off. Puzzled, everyone looked up from their cards to look around.
Beelzemon looked to the living room as he sensed a Digi-Portal. "Aww, crap!"
"What?" Lauren asked.
A portal opened in front of the entertainment system before Beelzemon could answer. Two teens stepped out.
"There he is!" the red-headed girl said, hooking a thumb in her belt.
"Hey, Beelzemon." the brown-headed boy said.
"Oh not you two!" Beelzemon rolled his eyes and looked away from the two Tamers.
"Hurry up already! Your Tamers are driving us crazy!"
"Not yet!" Beelzemon grumbled. "I'm not done with this game!"
Alena laid down the last cards in her hands on the table. "I win." she stated simply with a small smirk.
Beelzemon frowned. "Oh thanks a lot!"
Alena shrugged. "Welcome."
Beelzemon set his cards down and got up from the table. "Well, guess I gotta go now."
"Bye." Beth said
"Bye, Beelzemon. It was fun having you around." Lauren said.
Beelzemon smiled. "It was fun bein' here, thanks you guys. Maybe I'll see ya again sometime."
Lauren smiled. "Maybe."
Beelzemon turned and walked to the two Tamers, who walked through the portal. He waved to the girls before following them through.
"Well, that was fun." Alena said as she piled up the cards for Beth to shuffle.
"Yeah, I guess it was." Lauren said in agreement.
Beth began passing out the cards. "This has been a very strange week."
Both girls nodded and picked up their cards.