Phoenix

Birthday

"Thomas!" Bucky screams from downstairs, I quickly roll out of bed and throw on some shorts and sprint downstairs, fists raised ready to join in a fight. I look over to see Bucky full dressed with two plates of waffles in his hands.

"Fuck sake. I thought there was something wrong." I snap standing up like normal and walking over to get a glass of juice. "You never call me Thomas"

"Well happy birthday my little Phoenix, I had to get you out of bed somehow." He puts the plates on the kitchen island and pulls me in for a hug.

"Thanks, dad but you could have just knocked on the door," I said pushing him away lightly and nudging him in the side. I went to sit down in front of the food.

"I did. Three times. If that didn't wake you up I was going to set the fire alarm off." He laughed.

"You get me up at sunrise every morning and in winter up at 4:30, so I like my sleep." I shovel waffles down my throat.

"I can always cancel today's plans and you can run laps around the lake all day." he raised his annoying eyebrows at me, I think I have become less and less of a morning person over the last year we have been here, in Russia

"Wait you made plans?" I wave my fork at him not believing he is letting me have a day off.

"Yes it's the first birthday I get to spend with my son, I mean we don't know anyone to have a party but we are in Moscow"

"Moscow? Why?"

"We have lived here nearly a year and you haven't seen much of the county we live in so today you are going to be a normal teenager and a tourist."

"Okay, when do we go?"

"When you put on some clothes for a start. It's December and your in a pair of shorts and no shirt." Buckley laughs and shakes his head clearing up the empty plates in front of us. As I sprint upstairs to change into, a warm coat, jeans and boots.

"Ready to go, old man," I say reaching for the car keys to have my hand smacked away.

"Never should have told you my age and you don't have a licence. Passenger seat only."

We jump into the car, it's a few hours drive into Moscow but it means I get to watch the amazing surrounding as Bucky drives, as we leave the small town that we live on the outskirts of. It starts to rain, my favourite weather, most people would call me strange but the calming effect it has on me constantly gives me comfort. The coolness of the wind just before the first water droplets fall, with the slight breeze, and the light smell of the damp air. Every time it does rain, I spend the time outside, either running around the lake listening to the sound of my feet hitting the puddles or the light patter of the droplets hitting the lake, along with the rustle of the leaves from the trees as they sway slightly. As the cold water hits my face wrapping me up in a further sense of freedom, I can feel the water suffocating my body. Taking off my shirt feeling the cool light drops as they hit the painful memories on the back, allowing me to breathe out knowing I made it. The darkness falling over me and the small house in the distance, always makes me feel more alive than any fight, any achievement or any drug could give me. Even during the lightning and thunderstorms, I would make my way outside to sit on the dock, no matter what time at night it would be. After the storms would pass, I would take in the scent of the wet grass around me, listening to the birds chatter lightly and the settling of the land, watching the dark grey clouds fade into a lighter colour. I couldn't help but open the window to the car trying to grasp and the freedom the rain constantly gave me.

"I can stop the car?" Bucky breaks me out of my comforting daze. "I know you love the rain" he doesn't even wait for a response he has pulled the car to a stop on the side of the small road surrounded by mountains and hills on either side. I take off my coat and leave it in the car, opening the door I sit on the hood of the car the warm metal underneath me warming my jeans the rain soaking into my shirt. Closing my eyes and tilting my head to the sky.