“What's on?” Colton, my ghost, asked as he flew into the living room.     “Uh, it's some Rift match. I'm not sure who’s playing, though,” I replied from the kitchen. I threw a couple of slices of pizza onto a plate and grabbed a soda can. “I couldn't imagine playing inside the Wall with this kind of weather. I bet they can't hear a thing,” I said while taking a seat on the couch.     “Three boxes of pizza. Two cases of grape soda. Crucible… Michael’s coming over, isn't he?” Colt asked as he hovered around the kitchen.     “Yup. Dad and the rest of the family,” I replied.     “Oh yay… Sara and Conner are coming,” Colt said sarcastically.     “Oi! What do you have against them?” I asked.     “I have nothing against them. I hate everybody,” my ghost replied.     I simply snorted, then took a drink. “Look, your computer chip things are on the top shelf. There's Red Death, Hard Light, Bad Juju. Get whatever you want, then, I don't know, be grumpy somewhere else. I haven't seen the folks in a while.”     “But there's a Crucible game going on; I'm watchin’.”     “Then be good,” I said sternly.     Colt rotated his jet black shell a few times. “Hmm: assimilate Red Death chips until my buffer gets backed up, and be somewhere else; or be good and watch the match… That's a toughie,” the ghost thought aloud. “I suppose I could be sociable long enough enjoy Shaxx’s violent outbursts.”     Just then, there were three knocks at the door. I set aside my plate and got the door. My parents, Michael and Sara Moores; and my brother, Connor promptly entered my apartment. “Did we miss much?” Dad asked.     “Nah, it's just a Rift match. The Elimination game should be starting soon,” I replied. “Help yourselves, pizza and drinks are in the kitchen.”     “Hey, Colt,” Connor said as he walked past my ghost on his way to the couch.     “Hello, mini human,” Colton replied.     “How's it been down in the City?” I asked.     “It's been quiet lately. After the SIVA Crisis, the Devils haven't been much of a threat,” Mom replied. “How has Wolf Pack been?”     “I don't know. They've been at Felwinter’s Pea--" I was interrupted by someone else knocking on the door. I opened it to see Kourtney Osborne waiting outside. “Well, speak of the devil…”     “Hello to you too, Alan,” she said as she walked in. “Hi, everyone else.”     “Hi, Kourtney,” Sara said back.     “So, you managed to sneak away from ‘Lord Dakota’?” I asked, semi-mockingly.     “It wasn't that hard. I wear Chatterwhite armor, and we operate on a snow-covered mountain,” Kourtney replied before taking a bite of pizza. “And by the way, it's ‘Lady Kourtney’ to you,” she said with her mouth full of cheese and tomato sauce.     “Ha. Ha. Ha, very funny…” I replied with a sneer. “Just rub it in, why don't you?”     “Quiet!” Dad yelled. I jumped a little, then turned to him. “It's starting!”     “Sorry, he loves Crucible,” Mom said in his defense. She spun around. “Honey.”     “Yeah?” Michael replied, keeping his eyes glued on the tv.     “You're shouting.”     “Yeah?”     “This isn't our house.”     “It's all right,” I said with a chuckle.     “See? He understands,” Michael said to Sara. My warlock mother shot a look back at him, and little sparks of static energy jumped from finger to finger. Dad just laughed.     Kourtney and I took our seats to enjoy the game, but as soon as I got comfortable, the doorbell rang. I clenched my eyes shut and sighed deeply. Kourtney laughed and parted my arm as I pushed myself back to my feet. “Who all did you invite?” she asked.     “To be honest, just my family…” I replied as I opened the door. It was Dakota Jones and Blake Thower. “Pizza in the kitchen,” I said sounding defeated.     “Ooh, my favorite,” Blake said sarcastically as they entered.     “Oh, hi Capt’n,” Kourtney said with a cheesy smirk.     “Yeah, you didn't fool us,” Dakota turned to everyone else in the room. “Hello Mr. and Mrs. Moores.”     “Captain,” Sara replied. Michael muted the game, propped his chin on his hand, sighed, and forced a fake smile.     “It's like one big, happy family,” Colt said distastefully. I was beginning to agree with him, but only because my apartment was not that big.     “But Crucible’s on,” Dad said softly, but not so quietly. Mom drove her elbow into his rib. “Ow!” he barked.     Suddenly, everyone’s ghosts appeared. Colt, Doc, Monica, and T.C. formed a ring around me, and everyone else stood up as well. I looked around at everyone. “What's going on?… Oh, okay… Y'all know this isn't necessary, right?…”     “Happy birthday, Alan!” Everyone yelled; except for Colt, he replaced ‘Alan’ with ‘A**hole’. A couple of ghosts transmatted a large cake, bearing the Hunter symbol--the Aspect of Blood--and flew it toward me.     “This is real sweet, guys,” I said, trying to sound polite. I don't know anyone that didn't feel awkward during these moments.     “It's about to get even sweeter,” Colt said as he forced the cake into my face. Everyone gasped; apparently that was not a part of the plan.     Icing and batter dripped off of me and fell to the floor. I looked down at the white and red globs everywhere. “Really? On the carpet?”     “Yeah, Colton, that was uncalled for… You're cleaning that up,” Monica declared.     “Yeah right. And I'm so sorry, too,” my ghost replied sarcastically. Monica simply squinted her eye.     I returned to the living room after washing my face off; Colt was vigorously scrubbing the carpet while Monica and Doc supervised. Dad had just walked back in with a new cake that had the same symbol. “Now can we watch the Crucible game?” he asked.