Doomsday

chapter six

September faded into October, and summer had clearly transformed into a beautiful autumn. The leaves were multicoloured and falling from the trees, and the weather was crisp and cold. October meant only two things to Reece. Halloween at the end of the month, and of course his birthday.

October 5th was the best day of the year. Not only was it the one day of the year his parents actually tried to get along, but he also received lots of presents, got to stuff his face with cake, and have a birthday party. He also got to open his presents in front of Autumn and make her jealous, and who wouldn't enjoy that? He loved winding his sister up.

He woke up at the earliest possible moment on the morning of his birthday. As soon as he noticed the light peaking through his curtains, he shot up of bed and eagerly rushed down the hallway to his parents' bedroom, swinging the door open and flicking on the light. "Mummy, daddy, it's my birthday!!"

His mother sat up with a soft groan as she rubbed h the sleep out of her eyes and tried to appear more alive. "Happy Birthday, darling," she whispered, her eyes flickering over the clock on the wall and noticed that it was seven in the morning, which wasn't too bad for Reece on his birthday. Last year it had been pitch-black outside and about four o'clock. His dad hadn't been impressed and Reece knew not to do that ever again.

"I'm six now mummy!" He exclaimed with an eager smile. His mother chuckled softly as she climbed out of bed and picked him up, holding him against her hip.

"Techincally, you aren't six until eleven o'clock tonight. That's when you were born."

Reece frowned, and she just chuckled. "What do you want for breakfast?"

Reece thought for a moment, pondering all the different options, before finally piping up with, "Pancakes."

She nodded softly, stroking his soft blonde hair with a smile. "We can do that," she turned to Roger. "Do you want pancakes?"

"It's too fucking early for this," he grumbled, and Reece's eyes widened and his choice of vocabulary. His mother didn't look pleased either and her eyes narrowed into slits.

"Roger! He's six, he's excited. Now, do you want pancakes?"

Roger sat up, grumbling under his breath as he rubbed his eyes and looked disgruntled. Reece's eyes filled with tears but he didn't want to cry in front of his father. He could feel his mother rubbing circles into his back in a soothing manner. "I could eat," he said simply, and pulled himself out of bed and sauntered into the en-suite. Reece stared at the closed door, feeling a pang in his chest.

"It's okay," his mother sighed. "He's just tired. Let's go wake Autumn up for pancakes, hm? You can help me make them."

He nodded excitedly, forgetting completely about his dad as they went over to Autumn's bedroom. Autumn was already awake when they entered, laying on her bed cuddling with her what seemed to be a hundred teddies. She squealed when she saw her mother and Reece. "Birthday!" she cried, pointing at Reece with a wide smile.

"That's right, Aut, it's Reece's birthday," she chuckled. "Can you wish him a happy birthday?"

"Happy birthday," she giggled, and Reece chuckled, feeling a sense of happiness overcome him as he thanked her gently, allowing her to toddle over to him and give him a hug. He gripped onto Autumn's hand as they both ran down the stairs in a fit of unexplained giggles, where the lounge had been decorated with blue balloons and birthday banners, all displaying a big number 6.

In the middle of the room, on the table, was a pile of presents and a couple cards with his name on them. Reece eagerly bounded over towards them, looking at his mother with wide eyes full of pure excitement and hope, silently asking her if he could open them now. "After breakfast darling," she promised.

She was true to her word. After a large helping of pancakes each, thirty minutes later Reece was sat on the floor ripping open presents to reveal a new lego set which he'd been desperate for ever since he saw it in the shop, a toy rocket ship, a spaceman dress up costume, a few other space related toys, and a book about toys. He ripped open a birthday card and looked down at it, noticing immediately that it had been handmade. The front was coloured in with scribbles of crayons, and on the inside, read "To Reece, love Autumn," in very messy but adorable handwriting. Autumn has drawn her 't,' as a cross, and accidentally drawn her M backwards. But nonetheless, Reece thought it was extremely cute.

"Thank you," he smiled softly, leaning over to give his sister a side hug. This elicited a giggle from her, and he tickled her side, snickering as she fell into a crumple of more laughter. His eyes lifted up and rest on his dad, who was slumped across the sofa looking like he'd rather be anywhere else in the world then here. He swallowed, and decided he didn't want to bother him, and so moved over to jump onto his mother's lap instead.

"You like your presents, sweetheart?"

"Yeah," he nodded with a wide smile. "Thank you."

"Your welcome honey. Why don't you go and play with Autumn whilst me and daddy tidy up?"

He nodded and shuffled of her lap to go and sit on the floor with Autumn. Together they began to work on the lego set that he'd been given. Together, meaning he did most the work and Autumn tried to put some of the pieces in her mouth before he quickly stopped it. They were interrupted by a loud bang from the next room, which made Autumn shriek and Reece gasp in surprise. "WILL YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP?!"

Reece's eyes widened at the loud, aggressive sound coming from the room next to him. He'd heard his parents fight and bicker before, but never like this. It was never this bad. His heart was thumping very aggressively in his chest and his breathing was increasing as he gripped onto Autumn's hand and began to comfort her, as he could tell that she was going to start crying.

She wasn't used to hearing their mother shout and swear like that, either. Those words had been from her. Not their dad.

"Don't tell me to shut up," his dad's voice snarled from the room next door. "He's an ungrateful little shit, and Autumn is becoming just the same."

"They're children, Roger!" she shrieked. "It's his birthday! He was excited this morning. And Autumn is three! She's excitable too!"

"They're driving me fucking insane!"  He responded, and Reece could feel the tears burning in his own eyes as Autumn began sobbing. Trying to block out the screaming and swearing that was still happening, he helped Autumn up and quickly rushed them both to his bedroom. He closed the door and sat her down on his bed whilst he put a CD player on to try and block out the commotion from downstairs, so it wouldn't upset her futhur.  

"It's okay Aut," he tried to comfort her, rubbing her back as the music filled the room, somewhat drowning out the angry voices from downstairs. But it wasn't okay. This was his birthday, and it was being ruined.

He sighed, and got into bed, pulling Autumn next to him and tucking the covers over them both. "Get some sleep...it's naptime for you, anyway."

Autumn didn't argue. For once. She closed her eyes and within moments, she was snoring softly. Reece sighed softly, glad that she was calm and sleeping, blissfully unaware of the shouting that was still happening. He closed his eyes.

Maybe if he went to sleep, he'd wake up and realise this was all a dream and his birthday hadn't even happened yet.

Black.