30 (one shot)

30

Phoenix usually visits his mothers twice a year: on his birthday and on winter holidays, covering from the first snowfall until the New Year, which is when he returns to the nation's capital. Ultimately his hometown ("city" being a flattering word for it) was far to the north, and the train ride was so long that it left him totally defeated. But October eleventh was getting dangerously close, and on the afternoon of the tenth, the former attorney trudged to the house that had seen him grow up, carrying his and Trucy's backpack at the same time. The young lady, who turned twelve in February, had started high school the month before and Phoenix was in the middle of a trance over two ideas colliding with each other: one screamed that Trucy was still a little girl, and the other voice snapped that she was growing up too fast and something would have to be done about it. Knowing that the next day is HIS own birthday doesn't help Phoenix with his makeshift plan to pretend time is stuck and doesn't pass. In the midst of his sleepy and worried trance, he never realized that his daughter had already knocked on the door, both being greeted by a tall, dark-haired woman on the other side, smiling from ear to ear in the presence of her only son and granddaughter. Any child expects to be warmly welcomed after months without being seen by his parents, but Mrs. Naruhodō has always been sweet in her own way.

"Phoenix, honey!" she exclaimed, leaving her hands on his shoulders "Tomorrow you will be thirty years old!".

Thirty years
THIRTY years
T h i r t y

The only thing the poor bastard managed to do was smile a little, ecstatic as his mother kissed his cheek and then leaned in to hug her granddaughter tightly, exclaiming that she must have grown about four inches in the Summer Vacation. -If you keep it up, you're going to pass your father soon- and other things like that. Wright ruthlessly entered the home, advancing towards the stairs and arriving at his usual room, which he would leave to Trucy. He would sleep on the sofa, as always when he visits them since he adopted the little girl, four years ago. Four years, the time is really slipping through his fingers ... and although leaving his bed for his daughter was never something that bothered him, for a moment he wished that he and only he could get under those blankets and sleep so that when, upon waking the next morning, he found that he was seventeen years old again and with a whole life ahead of him. He took off his backpack leisurely, not too heavy because they would only stay there for three days, and flopped onto the bed, face down, ready to try to fulfill his dream of waking up as a teenager.

"Dad!" The hurried footsteps down the hall made his face tilt. Trucy was in the doorway, holding the doorknob and cheerful as always when she went to visit her grandmothers. They had a huge field around the house and she, energetic and fan of open spaces, had a better time there than in the small apartment where they live "Oh! Sorry, are you going to sleep?"

"I'm trying. The train ride was too long" he turned around himself, covering his eyes with his arm and letting out a snort. -That, and suddenly I wonder how much I have done in these thirty years of life. I would say that I only did something useful in four of them- "Were you going to tell me something?".

"Yes! Grandma Lila says that dinner will be ready in no time. In the meantime, I'll go with Grandma Eri for a walk. Try to sleep until dinner is ready! Tomorrow is your special day."

Phoenix can't lie and say that he stayed awake, but to claim that he slept would be too flexible. The correct thing is that he sank into a dark haze, being aware of every little discomfort in his body. A little pain in his hip, his neck stiff for hours sitting badly on the train traveling to his hometown, his head throbs a little and he is still able to hear the voices of the three awakened women . He can't make out words, but he can make out sounds and others too, like the opening and closing of cabinets and the noise of the television. As a teenager, he could fall asleep anywhere with enviable speed: standing on the bus, leaning on chairs at some wedding he attended because his mothers had no one to leave him with, sprawled on his desk, sprawled out on the grass. But now, lying in his own bed, he is unable to sleep properly.