A Stride Towards Something New (NaNoWriMo13)

Chapter I: Cupcakes

The morning rain creates an afternoon fog on my window as I stir my already cold cup of coffee.

Whoosh.  

Wind billows through the open, creaky windows I couldn't even seem to bother to shut close. Tsk, tsk, Sammie. What's with the gloom?

I stare out into the piles of traffic starting to form, the tall buildings that crowd the city and the sky overhead allowing its tear ducts to burst open with all its might. 

Pitter patter, pitter patter.

I look over to my phone laying forlornly on my dinner table set for one; no calls, no messages, nothing. Solitude has never seemed so daunting. I sigh and watch the particles merge to form a cloud of loneliness and disappear all in one poof and I think 'Can I do that? Can I just disappear into thin air?'

22.

I just turned 22. Today. And no one, not even my sister bothered to call me on my birthday. But who would, anyway? Who would want to talk to someone who's half-despaired, half-deficit in attention? Tell me, who would?

As I look fixedly upon the harsh tempest, I start to reminisce the days of innocence; when people were genuine, not fake; when people loved, not envied; when people cared. Cared. Such a worn-out four letter word that has lost its meaning over the vista of years, all because some idiots had forgotten what it means to c-a-r-e. Some people need a good hit on the head with a dictionary.

My thoughts are suddenly interrupted by a sharp rap on the door and I almost immediately jump out of my chair, nearly falling over in the process.

Who's at the door?

Could it possibly be my friends?

Could they possibly have remembered my birthday and were my thoughts about them too harsh?

I plaster a big grin on my face as I make my way to the door, my pace increasing and my happiness becoming greater tenfold when the knocking becomes rapid.

When I swing open the door, however, my big grin soon becomes replaced with a frown when I find that it's just house-cleaning.

"Good Morning, miss. How's your day?" asks Pattie Maze, the middle-aged house-cleaner who frequently cleans my apartment in and out. 

"Great, Pattie. Just great." I reply, hoping my distressed tone doesn't give way. 

"Of course it must be great, miss! It's your birthday and you're finally 22!" I flinch at her cheery tone.

At least the cleaner remembers, I think bitterly.

"Well, I don't really-"

"I have brought you a cake." 

"That's really nice of you, Pattie, but I don't think-"

"It's more of a cupcake."

"Thanks, but-" 

"I bought it with my last month's salary just for you, miss."

At this point, I'm stunned to the point that words seize to form in my mind and I blatantly stare at the woman in front of me. She bought a cupcake with her last month's salary just for me. My heart clenches at the thought with some emotion that I can't decipher into words more complex than absolute gratitude and appreciation. 

"Thank you, Pattie, that's really, really kind of you. I mean it."

"Oh don't you worry, miss. I-"

"Please, call me Sammie."

"Don't mind if I do. Where should I place the cupcake, Sammie?"

"The coffee table would be fine, thank you."

I watch Pattie as she walks towards the coffee table and slowly sits on the couch, and then carefully takes out a tiny package from her handbag as she tentatively unwraps a rainbow cupcake out of it whilst placing a candle on it and lighting it up.

"There you go, Sammie."

I notice that she starts to help herself up and I begin to ask without thinking, "Aren't you going to stay?"

"Oh no, dear. I've got my grand-kids to take care of at home. You enjoy your special day however you want, Sammie. I really hope you don't mind that I don't stay."

"Of course not, Pattie. I just… I can't thank you enough."

"It's not a problem, dear. A cupcake is honestly all I could afford this time of the year. Maybe on your 23rd birthday, I'll surprise you with a grand cake. Ah well, until next time!"

"You don't have to, Pattie. I should do that for you."

When she begins to retort, I quickly say "Until next time, Pattie!" 

I wave to her as she exits the door and closes it shut and that's when I start to cry. It's not because I'm sad, no. It's because I'm happy; happy because someone actually remembered my birthday, happy because someone who has not even known me for a year wished me unlike my so-called 'friends'. Honestly, who needs them if they can't even remember your birthday? My sister didn't even have the courtesy to call nor message me at all. She's probably eyeing a new pair of heels as we speak.

Pushing those thoughts aside, I stride towards the coffee table and make a wish. I wish for something new to finally happen to me. Something exciting; something adventurous; something which involves… romance? The latter has its doubts, but it must be something that would forever leave a permanent mark on my life that could never be erased. Something that would leave a huge impact; something that would change my perspective of things. Something, just something. 

I finally blow out my candle and take a look outside to see that the temperamental rain has stopped and a radiant sun is shining gleamingly down upon the city. 

Well, that's funny. The sky must be bipolar today.

As I lean against the window-sill to take a better look, my hands suddenly come into contact with a withered brochure that I must have received a week or two ago.

'Come and visit the new amusement park in Lechesterfield Crest!'  it reads.

'Where love and happiness reigns all, something fruitful is bound to happen to you when you visit us!'

Something fruitful now? How coincidental is that I had just wished for something exciting to finally happen to me? I turn over the brochure to take a look at the address and that's when I decide that I must pay a visit to the park.

Who knows? Something just might happen.

_____________________________________________________________________ 

Comments rule! *inserts grin*