The Mystery Fighter II

The Mystery Fighter II (3)

I looked down at the un-lit candle positioned on the big vanilla muffin in my hand. Small, colorful sprinkles covered the pink frosting on top of the muffin, seemingly lighting up the dark surroundings. I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my lighter, hearing a few sprinkles fall to the ground as I lit the candle. Holding my breath, I walked out of the dark storage room and into the bar, keeping my hand in front of the candle fire as to not have it go out.

Celine stood with her back to the storage door, therefore not seeing me when I entered the bar. On the customer side of the bar was Anthony, lazily sweeping over the counter with a dirty towel as he listened to my sister's story. Or at least pretended to. 

As soon as I stepped out, he looked up, his eyes immediately locking on the candlelit muffin in my hand. The small smile on his face made Celine turn around, the confused expression on her face replaced with excitement as she noticed what I held out for her.

"Happy birthday, Ce." I put the muffin on the counter, a sensation of pride sweeping over me as I looked at Celine's gleeful expression. I made that happen.

"Make a wish before you blow out the candle," Anthony reminded her, dragging a bar chair from his left to sit on as Celine looked at the muffin with a thoughtful expression.

A birthday wish, what bullshit.

How many times had my mother reminded me to make a wish, as I was about to blow out my own birthday candle? Never had my wishes come true: My dad never returned, my mom's sickness never went away. Even the simpler wishes such as the return of my lost skateboard, an A on my English paper or some actual friends; they never came true.

If you wish for something to happen, you have to get it yourself.

But looking at my sister's happy face, staring so intently at the muffin I was afraid the fire would go out, I knew I couldn't ruin her birthday wish with the harshness of reality. She was putting too much into thinking out the perfect wish. Let her have her moment.

For the rest of the night, the three of us sat by the bar with a now eight-year-old Celine making sure to keep the conversation going. Anthony had found a bag of chips in one of the cabinets in the storage room, making me realize how much I missed the luxury of buying something as small as a bag of chips.

As the night dragged on, I knew I had to get the birthday girl in bed, and looking over at Anthony, I doubted he wanted to hear another one of Celine's experiences from school. Plus I needed to talk to him about the apartment he had messaged me about.

As my sister yawned, I helped her off the bar stool and told her to go to bed as it was well after her curfew.

"How was the apartment?" Anthony asked when Celine was on the other side of the door, leaning forward onto his elbows.

I sat back down on the chair, twisting the paper muffin cup between my fingers.

"It was nice, not too far from the Elementary school she goes to, so she won't have to change schools at least." It would be about a twenty-minute drive to her school, not all that bad, but still worse than the ten minute drive from the bar. However, I wasn't in any position to be picky.

I bit back my pride as I continued. "It's still a bit too expensive."

Even though he had found one of the cheapest apartments around, it still wasn't cheap enough. The break-in where money had been stolen from our last apartment had really robbed us more than I had admitted. However, in the time we'd stayed in the bar, rent less, I had managed to steadily build up our money supply. It wouldn't be too long before we were able to rent an apartment. I would just have to set this apartment off for the time being, knowing that someone just as desperate for an apartment as us would rent it soon.