Phoenix didn't need to do much to prepare for Elias' arrival. Most of the house had been swept and mopped, but throughout the years, their birthday activities were always sequestered to the kitchen and the TV room. She had a pan of lasagna sitting on her stove and was cleaning off the personal bar she had.
Once the bar was cleaned off, she moved a few strands of her auburn hair that were hanging in front of her eyes and, out of habit, ran her fingers through the rest of it that draped just above her shoulders.
She surveyed the kitchen and the living room to make sure it was all clean.
The two rooms were right next to each other with no separation by doors or walls. She walked to the center of the area and looked around.
The kitchen was practically spotless. The counter tops were clean as was the bar where she had two bottles of Jack Daniels.
The TV room was the larger of the two.
Phoenix glanced over the room at first to see if anything stood out. Her eyes fell upon the trophy stand at the far right. The stand was polished earlier in the day, as were the trophies that stood upon it, so her gaze didn't linger. She moved her gaze left to the couch but she was only able to see the back of it from where she was. The flat screen TV and the stand it was on were both clean as well.
She stepped through the room, inspecting everything she laid eyes upon. It was here that she came across the first stain. The beige couch, that she positioned in front of the TV, was tidy with two miniature pillows on each end of it. She noticed that one of the pillows had a small red mark on it, groaning as she recalled the cause of the mark and shaking her head disapprovingly. The mark was on one of the corners so she turned it in to the couch to hide it.
The other two chairs that made up a matching set with the couch were in an acceptable condition as were the two small tables that flanked the couch.
One table had the remote for the TV and the other had a picture frame that caught her eye. She picked it up to examine it. It was a picture of her and Elias when they were in their teens. Elias had Phoenix seated on his shoulders as she held up a large gold trophy, drenched in sweat to the point where her track clothes clung to her like a second skin. Their faces were both lit up with joy and excitement as they reveled in her win.
Phoenix smiled as she reminisced about that day, the nervous flutter in her stomach as she waited for the race to commence, the rush as the shot was fired to signal that it had begun. Though she heard 'Do your best' and 'good luck, words of encouragement that were expected, from her mother and friends she remembered hearing Elias' words echoing in her mind above all "Finish this up fast, victory party is in an hour".
She glanced up from the picture and looked toward the trophy stand where the gold trophy dwarfed all other trophies placed around it. She set the picture in front of the trophy as she had done with pictures of other past competitions. She glanced over all the other pictures set in front of her golden accolades until her gaze fell upon the only odd one out of the set.
Left of the gold from her race was a palm sized silver trophy with a B at the top. The corresponding photo showed her and Elias as children holding their trophies. Elias held a gold trophy with an A at the top. Elias had a large, toothy smile plastered across his face where as Phoenix had an obviously fake smile awkwardly affixed to an otherwise discontented expression. Behind them were their fathers.
Elias' father was a cheerful looking man that mirrored his son's Cheshire cat grin. Phoenix's father was a Goliath sized man, standing head and shoulders above Elias' father. He too mimicked his child's expression.
