Striptease

Moment

[Everleigh]

"Wow! This is so super cool, sissy!"

My little sister, Teresa, exclaimed as her bright eyes widening while taking in the vast display of a party around her, the party that was also her birthday and I've got to say, I think I really outdid myself here.

Not only was the party successful so far, all thanks to the amazing party planning company I hired to whip up such an extravagant event for my little sister, she only deserved the best and nothing but the best, Elodie hasn't made her abrupt and unwelcome appearance at all during Esa's birthday party.

And for that knowledge, I was immensely grateful that something, or rather someone, was able to keep her at bay so she didn't have a chance to ruin my little sister's birthday.

Even though that thought was a bit depressing to think about, I tried not to dwell on it for too long as I squared my shoulders and straightened my spine.

Today was not the day to be dwelling and moping around about the past and what could've been.

Today was a day of celebration and some good ol' fashioned fun.

Teresa couldn't have agreed with me more then she already was now, her giggles and squeals of excitement as she ran around the playground that was lined with balloons, banners and whatnot for her party and it was all making me smile as I felt a bubble of happiness blossom in my chest.

Because she deserved the absolute best. Because she was just a good kid who came from a bad home life, no thanks to our cracked out meth head of a mother, and I've been trying to right all of the wrongs that Elodie caused in our lives.

I wanted Teresa to grow up feeling loved and appreciated for her talents and skills, not whether she could skate off the backs of hard working citizens like our mother always did and still continues to do so to this day.

No.

That's enough with thinking about her today.

I shook my head subtly to myself, forcing my mind to bring me back to the present, where my little, sweet sister was running around on the playground and multitasking between playing a game of hide-and-seek with her friends and checking out the hired partiers who could help make her birthday just a smidge bit better, like the talking mermaids and balloon artists that I hired which came with the partying company I spoke to a while back.

I wasn't going to let thoughts of my mother ruin Teresa's big birthday, I refused to even think about it.

This isn't going to be about Elodie, this was about my little sister, who I've practically brought up mostly on my own since she was a newborn, who deserved nothing but the best things I could get her.

The smallest twinge of a bright grin started to pull at the corners of my pink lips, I couldn't wait for present time to roll around after Teresa blew out the five candles in the exquisite devil's food cake with chocolate buttercream icing that I had made only a day or so ago to keep the taste as fresh and as richly decadent as possible.

I could only hope that Esa liked what I got her, I ended up splurging a bit a few weeks ago before her birthday and I had bought out pretty much everything that was mermaid themed because, as one could naturally assume, Teresa was now going through the mermaid phase that nearly encompassed every young child around her age.

But I didn't mind buying the stuff in the least bit, as long as she was happy and somewhere, she knew that she wouldn't have to worry about not having food on the table or any toys to play with, then I was happy as well.