Eternal Youth

Reed Kendall was never the brave one.

He was always a boy of cowardice, hiding behind his best friend Peter or his sister Harlowe for protection.

But that changed when he saw it.

It was an early Saturday morning when Reed's father woke him up for a camping trip.

He woke up, ate, brushed his teeth, and changed.

The three met up with Peter Krieger and his father to fish.

''Hello, Amos!'' ''Hello, Randall! You ready to go fishing?''

After about an hour's drive, the four arrived at Lake Okeechobee.

When they arrived, Reed's father popped the trunk and pulled out their supplies and boat, and the four prepared to fish.

After about 3 hours, they had caught enough fish for now and headed back to shore to cook their catch.

Reed asked Peter ''Hey, Pete, did you hear about that new game IGN reported on? TimeStoppers?''

''Yeah. I'll think I'll pass on that.''

Mr. Krieger asked Mr. Kendall

''Hey, Amos, did you hear about that boy who got into juvie last month?''

''That Gilles boy? Poor parents must be embarrassed to death.''

Then Reed spots an odd silhouette in the water. He points it out to a horrified Peter who asks Mr. Krieger, ''Hey Dad, Reed and I are finished. Can we explore?''

Mr. Krieger replies with a satisfied ''Yes. But don't go too far!''

Once they arrive near the water, a worried Reed whispers to Peter, ''What is that thing?''

Peter replies, ''It's a cryptid.''

''A what?

''A monster with distinct features.''

Peter pulls out his notebook and checks the pages.

''That's a Lady of the Lake. A siren obsessed with possessing eternal youth by sucking the energy out of children, promptly turning them into old people.'

A baffled Reed asks Peter how he knows all this.

Peter explains that ''Long story short, TimeStoppers protagonist, Wesley Wiles, is an imprisoned virus in disguise. He breaks out of my monitor and tries to take over the world.

I stop him. Then, I research the supernatural and discover the truth about the world.''

A still baffled Reed replies, ''Ok... so what should we do?''

''It says here that we need to make it see its reflection in a mirror.

But where can we find one?''

Reed remembers something. ''Oh, I know! Harlowe always leaves a makeup bag in the car.''

''In her words, Just for emergencies!''

Peter then says, ''Good. I'll stay here and keep watch while you go and get it.''

When Reed arrives, he shouts, ''HEY PETER? I GOT THE BAG!''

But no one answers.

A worried Reed rushes to find Peter and finds what seem to be some drag marks leading into a cave. He grabs his bag and pulls out his flashlight to search the cave.

When he enters the cave, he finds a cauldron with green liquid illuminating most of the room inside it.

And a Peter tied up by seaweed.

Reed rushes to help. As soon as he gets close, Peter starts saying something muffled by the seaweed.

As Reed takes off Peter's gag, he quickly shouts, ''BEHIND YOU!''

As Reed looks behind him, he spots the siren who sings an intoxicating song, making Reed go numb.

As the siren ties him up with more seaweed, Reed notices something.

The siren forgot to tie his hands tightly, so Reed's hands were free.

When the siren went outside, no doubt to find more children, Reed frees his hands and frees Peter.

Peter then says ''Thanks!''

And the two hurry out of the cave and head back to camp.

Mr. Krieger then asks the two, ''Did the two of you have fun?

The two then quickly reply in unison, ''Yes!''

Then the two eat hotdogs on the stick for dinner, roast marshmallows, and go to sleep.

The next day the two set out to try and stop the Lady of the Lake.

Upon arriving at the cave, the two plan a trap and wait behind a few bushes.

After waiting an hour, Peter gets out to stretch his legs and gets caught by the siren, and drags him into the cave, and ties him up once more.

Reed quickly grabs the mirror goes into the cave and pokes the siren's back.

As she turns around, she is shocked by her reflection and vanishes into a cloud of mist and floats away with an ear-piercing wail.

Reed unties Peter, and they both go back and spend the rest of their camping trip fishing and playing.

THE END