Courtney's P.O.V

"Hey, come on!"

I sighed. Danny was taking sooo long!

"Come ON!" I shouted louder.

"Coming!" Danny yelled from the top of the hill. "I couldn't find the keys!"

Danny rushed down the hill, clicking the car lock button on the remote and stuffing the keys in his pocket as he ran, and I smiled, beginning to run myself. We wouldn't be late, after all.

We rushed to the river, managing to get a spot right on the edge, where we could dangle our feet in. Danny splashed me, and I glared at him, with no weight behind my eyes. I knew he was just playing. We got along, even though my bother was twenty-one, and I sixteen. The age gap had little significance. Danny went to a college near our house, so he stayed at home. He would be a junior in college next year, as I would be a senior in high school. I often teased that I was higher up than him.

But we were not here today to think about school. About two minutes after we sat down, the band on the other side of the river started their music. Soon, me and Danny were both on the bank, dancing like fools. From the looks people gave us, it was clear they thought so as well. We didn't care. We knew we were weird, but we knew we were weird in a good way.

Between insane dancing, where we danced crazily with our whole bodies, and sang along to the words best we could, a ways away from others, as not to bother them, and resting, when we lay panting in the grass, our breath stirring the warm July evening air, a ways away from others, as not to bother them, the sky grew dark, and the stars came out, so that when we rested, we could stare at the diamond-studded sky as our breath stirred somewhat-cooler July night air. The moon was the biggest and brightest in the sky.

But not for long.

After about two hours, the band finished, and within minutes, we heard the first high-pitched squeal, then the BOOM! as a firework was launched and exploded. Me and Danny, tired out, watched, our feet tugged by the river's current, cooling us down from our temporary insanity-by-music to the point where our hair was no longer plastered to our temples, and we no longer were dripping. The cooling of the air in the night helped, too.

The fireworks show finally ended with a lovely grand finale, after which Danny stuck his fingers in his mouth and whistled (which I never could do, even though Danny tried to show me countless times) and I clapped with the rest of the crowd along the riverbank.

People got up, began folding up blankets and lawn chairs, lifting coolers and thermoses, and heading for cars.

"You wanna go?" I asked Danny.

He shook his head. "You little nut. The parking lot will be a disaster area. Let's let it clear out."

"Okay…lets walk along the river!" I shouted the later part, enthralled with this idea.

"Let me think about it…okay." Danny chuckled, having said the entire sentence while being dragged along by his sixteen-year-old sister.

We looked along the entirety of the river, "falling" in several times (usually we were pushed by the other), which was actually good, as we were still hot from dancing, and the cool river water helped. We finally dried, and were cooled down to the point we no longer pushed each othe- er, fell in the river.

"Now young lady, what do you want to do with your life?" Yelled Danny.

"I wanna live in a van down by the river." I replied.

"Well, you'll have plenty of time to live in a van down by the river… when you're livin in A VAN DOWN BY THE bwahahaha!" Danny's words were cut off by laughter, unable to hold it in. I laughed too, not just giggles, but real laughs.

As my laughter trickled down to giggles, then disappeared, I moved forward. My foot hit something. A log. It was like a makeshift bridge.

Grinning, I stepped onto it.

"Wish I was light enough to do that." grumbled Danny.

"You ain't fat, you're a head taller than me, and actually have muscle." I chided back.

I got to the middle, and then something in the water caught my eye. What…

I carefully lowered myself to my knees on the log, and reached my hand into the water, pulling out a gray…no way…

"Whatcha got there, Court?" Called Danny.

" A…nintendo64 cartridge!" I called back.

"No way." Danny said optimistically. "Let me see!"

I tottered back on the log, and held up the dripping cartridge for him to see.

"No. Way." Danny said, taking it in his hands, looking at it.

"No sticker…"he mused. He flipped it over, and I stood next to him to see what he was doing.

"It says 'Majora' on the back." He said.

It did.

"It must be Majora's Mask." Danny told me.

"That Zelda game?" I asked.

"Mmhm." Said Danny. This meant yes, for those of you who don't speak boy.

I looked at the dripping game. It was probably totaled, but I felt like it wasn't, a gut instinct, but maybe deeper than that…it seemed like there was a sort of life energy coming from within the game…

"I wonder if it still works?" I muttered.

"Of course not, you baka!" Danny replied, pushing me slightly. "Not after being in that water!"

"Well, you have an N64 at home, and we don't have anything better to do tomorrow…I say lets try it out." I replied. "Besides, I've always wanted to try Zelda. Haven't you?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, then, is it a date?"

"Sure." Said Danny, grinning.

"Who's the baka now?" I asked as I pushed Danny.

We got back to the car to find the parking lot almost completely deserted. Our little field trip had taken about an hour. I held the cartridge. I had dried off the inside best I could without damaging it with the front of my shirt, so now the part over my belly button was crumpled and wet. I didn't want the game to corrode any further, though, if it was still salvageable.

We drove home, blasting music. This was partly because it was fun, partly to keep alert for the five-mile drive home at three in the morning.

We got home, and I set down the cartridge on the kitchen table before face-planting into my pillow. I could hear the "poof" from Danny falling onto his bed right before I slipped under.

Little did I know, as I embraced sleep, another entity within the house finally fully awakened…